After a summer of anticipation, Sun Peaks Alpine Fitness Pool is open to the public, with an official community launch happening Friday, Aug. 23.
Since the soft launch on Monday at 11 a.m., the pool has been accessible. As SPIN sat down with Jase Petersen, owner of Sun Peaks Alpine Fitness, just an hour after its opening, people had begun trickling in.
“Given that this is my first time running a pool, I didn’t want to get bombarded,” he said, explaining why he’s not announcing the pool’s opening until Friday. “I wanted to iron out some kinks.”
There won’t be a ceremonious opening, but following social media posts the pool will be advertised as open in time for Friday.
Operations and conditions of entry
Though on municipality property, SPMRM’s agreement with Petersen is that he operates the pool, as they don’t have the operational capacity.
“Given that I was already renting the gym, it just made sense for it to fall under me,” he said.
As a private health club pool, Sun Peaks Alpine Fitness Pool will run by offering drop in membership passes and individual or family punchcards.
Prices for a day pass are $5.25 for children and seniors, $7.25 for adults and $26.25 for a family of up to five people. Punchards will give users 10 passes for $45 as a child or senior, 10 for $65 as an adult and the option of ten for $50 or 20 for $90 as a family, with each being an individual pass that can be shared amongst the family.
The pool has not offered season’s passes, Petersen said, as it has limited capacity and purchasers may not be able to get the full potential of their pass as the pool fills up quickly.
A two hour time limit has been set during busy times to try and offset the capacity challenge, along with other terms of entry that are listed on a board at the facility’s entrance.
Weekly hours will be 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday to Wednesday.
“Our seasonal permit will allow us to operate anytime between June 1 and Sept. 30,” he said. “So [it’s] weather dependent as to how early we open or how late we close.”
The outdoor pool is not equipped to run during the winter, although it can be heated to take the overnight chill off.
Safety and supervision
Sun Peaks Alpine Fitness Pool won’t have a lifeguard on duty, which would have been a requirement if they were to operate as a community or municipal pool.
“We’ll have staff that will be around and keeping an eye on them,” he said, adding that his staff is trained in first aid and CPR.
Though the staff won’t be stationed outside to supervise, there are cameras at the front desk set up to watch the pool.
“It just means I’m here all day because I’m the one that’s watching the pool,” he said of current operations.
By opening so late in the season this year, hiring new staff isn’t feasible. Next year, there will be staff hired to keep an eye on the pool, but not to supervise it.
There are rules regarding children, especially those five and under, pertaining to the adult supervision requirement to ensure their safety. These are found on the sign posted outside. Adults accompanying children aged 13 and under for supervision only, not to swim themselves, are allowed free entry for that purpose.
On the facility, there’s also a kid’s wading pool that isn’t operational just yet. Since each pool has separate permits, this fortunately doesn’t affect the ability to run the larger one, the depth of which reaches five and a half feet.
Past to future progression
Before the pool could be accessible to the public, there was some construction that needed to be done, followed by a health inspection.
“I was in contact with the local health inspector for the past six months before, to get an idea of what I was needing, what she was looking for, just to kind of help try to speed the process,” he said.
Continuing construction work delayed the inspection, he explained, which had to be complete before that could occur.
Next steps included insuring the pool, as well as getting it filled and balanced.
Now that the pool has been able to open, Petersen has been considering opportunities for next year to expand on what the pool can offer to the community.
These could include swim lessons, aquafit classes and hydrotherapy sessions for physiotherapy.
“I’m actively working on being able to offer swim lessons next year,” he said, adding that there are still logistics that need to be worked out such as getting an instructor to come and teach in Sun Peaks.
A kiosk will offer coffee and grab and go food next year as well, potentially partnered with another local business, Ohana Market & Deli..
“I’m just really excited to add something to our community facility, to build on what we already offer at Alpine Fitness,” he said.
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