Castlegar

Castlegar is considered to be the center of the commercial activity within the region. There are more than 7,500 people in the City and roughly 16,000 in the Castlegar area. During 2002, key business and community leaders came together in order to identify several opportunities which are great for potential investment. The following fields were identified: Hospitality and Tourism, Call Centre, Value-Added Wood Products, High Technology, Microbrewery, and High Energy-Dependent Business.

Castlegar provides lots of physical and outdoor activities that families can do for fun. Among these comprise: Snowboarding and Skiing, Day Hiking, Backpacking, Fishing, Kayaking, Boating, Golfing, and Family Camping. For serious climbers, they can take advantage of the Kootenay Crag, Slocan Bluffs, Mount Gimli, and Hall Siding Bluffs because these are the very best places to climb at. The Slocan Bluffs is among the popular places that climbers go to mainly for sports climbing, with cracks and face climbs for a wide range of levels. It also has a lake that is a good place to go to after a climb. The Kootenay Crag can be accessed via boat or bike. The climb has a range from 5.11 to 5.13. Mount Gimli is located within the Valhalla Provincial Park. It has a good range of 5.9 with 7.8 pitches. It even has a 3rd class descent with four to seven hours of climb time. Hall Sliding Bluffs is just off the highway between Nelson and Yimr. It currently has twelve challenging routes to select from.

The region likewise boasts of recreational trails that provide views of rivers, dams, wildlife, rock slides, highways, mountains and communities. These trails follow a river valley which looks down onto the Kootenay River and Brilliant Dam. The trails include: Elk Cutoff, Brilliant Overlook, Dove Hill, and Skattebo Reach trails.