Mt. Seymour Proposes Ten New Ski Lifts in Ambitious Development Plan

Big things could be coming to one of the ski resorts above Vancouver, British Columbia, in the coming decades.



The details are covered by Mt. Seymour's latest development plan, a forward-looking document. First and foremost, local skiers will notice the lifts. Right now, Mt. Seymour has four. If every part of the plan comes together, the resort will have 14, including chairlifts, surface lifts, and t-bars.



Those lifts would expand Mt. Seymour's footprint significantly, adding more acreage and helping boost the number of skiers the resort can comfortably host from 1,717 per day to 4,561. Mt. Seymour currently spans about 580 acres. By the end of the plan, it could span about 825 acres.



"We have the potential to expand our winter operation with excellent higher elevation intermediate terrain, mountaintop food and beverage with 360 world-class views, and a little more space for us all to breathe," Mt. Seymour wrote on its website. "We already carefully control our capacity to avoid overcrowding, but we all need more space."

Approval of this kind of plan-called a Ski Resort Development Plan, or SRDP-doesn't give a green light for specific projects. They'll still need to go through planning and review, including an environmental impact assessment and First Nations consultation, according to BC Parks.



But the SRDP does say which lifts would come first, breaking the improvements into phases.



The first phase, which Mt. Seymour aims to begin within the next five years, includes two carpets at the base area. The second phase, Phase 1b, includes replacing the existing Brockton lift and installing a few new summit access lifts.



The Summit Chair would climb up the mountain, finishing near Brockton's upper terminal, and would be accessed by the new Flower Chair and Access T-Bar. Alongside the Percy Chair, which is included in a later phase, the Summit Chair would provide steeper ski terrain at Mt. Seymour, according to the plan.

"The proposed advanced and expert ski terrain in the Summit and Percy pods is heavily weighted towards gladed skiing rather than traditional cleared ski trails," the plan reads. "This is motivated by a desire to preserve forest values, especially old-growth values, and is supported by the relatively low tree density and wider spacing found in these areas, which is already conducive to skiing and snowboarding."



The Percy Chair would stand outside Mt. Seymour's current boundary. So would the last planned lift, the De Pencier.



"Much of the ski terrain sits at a relatively high elevation, shaded from midday and afternoon sun, and is oriented to the east, limiting solar exposure and preserving the snowpack and snow quality," reads the plan, also noting that as part of developing the De Pencier pod, Mt. Seymour would preserve and enhance an existing backcountry access trail in the area.

Mt. Seymour also has its eyes on summer activities like a via ferrata, disc golf, and glamping. "We want to diversify into summer to be resilient to the future," the resort wrote.



This is only a quick overview of everything included in the wide-ranging SRDP. For more information, click here. If you have feedback on the plan, you can take an online survey published by BC Parks, which is open until June 26.

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 12:48 PM.