The announcement came from Whistler that Canadian Olympic Snowboarding champion Ross Rebagliati is leaving his home to take a new position with Kelowna Mountain Resort as their new snowboard and ski director.

It is one of the most exciting and uniquely natural residential resort projects, Kelowna Mountain, being planned with the theme, Gateway to Adventure. Owners Nicola and Mark Consiglios are creating this new site on the 700 acres they own in the Upper Mission.

I walked the site with Mark on November 15 last year. It was muddy and cold and when you got to the top and looked between the two bluffs towards the city it was breathtaking. He is a visionary and as he explained his plans for this development, you knew this would be different from anything we have ever seen before in this part of the world. Much like everything he has built since coming to the city to develop property at Big White.

It was like being in the Walt’s office when he told his people at Disney about his vision for Disneyland. Unbelievable. There were crews and machinery working everywhere. It was fascinating, exciting and for just that moment you were in another place. He makes his dreams a reality and does it with style. The world needs more thinkers like Mark Consiglios, who has a dream, puts his ideas and his money on the table and gets doing what it takes to make it all happen.

I have been impressed with him since our first meeting last year after the Cottages at Secret Point had been completed. There is no question he does it his way, and his construction people know they are involved in something that is different and will be viewed by the public, as “I can’t believe this is. Happening right here in the valley” - - he does it every time.