[KierenGaul]

Kevin,

Thanks for your suggestion on how to keep these danger areas safe. It is a good idea – but it would mean that we would have to employ at least 7 – and probably 14 people to stand around all day in the cold. We simply could not afford it. Would you ask a logging company to do the same thing when they were doing winter logging in multiple areas? Any other suggestions that you have we would be happy to consider these.

I can give you a firm commitment that we will not do a snowmobile tour business because this would seriously detract from what the local snow mobile club is trying to do in the 24 mile area. Also there are far better snowmobiling areas, than the area that we ski. For instance the Norns provides world class riding, and the Castlegar and Rossland clubs provide great trails for their members.

We operate on Crown land so that land that we operate on belongs to all Canadians. This means that it also belongs to most of the guests that we take out each day that enjoy the skiing. Logging companies and ski hills also operate on crown land. However on Forest Service Roads and ski hills there are rules governing winter access to protect public safety – we need some similar rules so that we do not have more accidents on these dangerous but small sections of our snowcat roads

As discussed we have had great support from locals who whenever they have come up have operated safely in the area. Our plan is work with locals on the same basis. If they want to access through the danger areas - we would be happy to arrange this based on a simple phone call. It would involve just pulling out a mobile phone when you are out there, or calling us the night before.

During the winter we employ up to 15 people each day – so have 20-25 staff in total. We take 24-36 guests out each day. We hire the full time equivalent of at least 8 people - that just about all of us have kids in the local schools. We pay the people of Canada an upfront annual fee to use the area, and also a tax on each skier per day. We have invested our money and our time into making this a great operation. All this could be un-done by just 1 serious accident on a snowcat road. All these peoples jobs are at risk if we have just 1 serious accident on a snowcat road. We aim to operate to the highest safety standard in the industry. However this snowcat road safety issue is the real weak link in our operation at present.

Any other suggestion that you have would be appreciated. Please do not hesitate to call us on 1250 362 2271

Kieren