Skiers ride a lift to the top of Mount Baldy. (Keith Lacey file photo)
As rival ski resorts put their seasons passes on sale, the company trying to re-launch Mount Baldy Ski Area wants to reassure local skiers that the mountain east of Oliver should be open in December.
G-Force Real Estate, the marketing agent appointed to sell the assets of the troubled resort, issued a news release last week saying it “has assembled the required pieces to the puzzle to re-launch Mount Baldy Ski Resort for the upcoming season.”
While some speculation in the community and media suggests this means a buyer for the resort is in the wings, Gary Powroznik of G-Force said it’s more likely to be a consortium of old and new investors.
And a deal has yet to fall into place.
“You cobble this together a bit,” he said. “Because it’s an insolvent situation, and because it’s not carrying on a normal course, it doesn’t matter if we do the deal today or next month.”
The priority, he said, is to open the mountain for the upcoming ski season.
Any sale will happen later.
It must be approved by the court to free the assets from the insolvency.
Powroznik acknowledged that bankruptcy, receivership or foreclosure are legal processes that could be used to free the assets from the insolvent company and allow a sale to take place.
Mount Baldy was closed throughout the 2013-14 season when its previous owners ran into financial difficulties.
G-Force was approved by the Supreme Court of B.C. to find a buyer for the resort’s assets in an effort to reopen the ski resort.
“We’re trying to make sure that the public that wants to ski Baldy knows that we are close,” said Powroznik. “If we announce a deal, we’re sure there’s going to be an immediate offering of season passes by the new operator. We want the public to know that this is a real option and we’re trying to keep them very current.”
The news release from G-Force was issued Sept. 30, less than a week before the Oct. 5 deadline for early season discount passes at Apex Mountain Resort near Penticton.
The deadline for early bird passes at Big White near Kelowna is October 19.
Powroznik was hoping last week to be able to announce a deal ahead of the Apex discount deadline, but he said an immediate announcement on Mount Baldy wasn’t essential.
The resort operator he has found believes that skiers who have purchased Apex passes can still be compensated and attracted to Baldy, Powroznik said.
“We’ve been spending a lot of time lining everybody up,” he said. “We’re very close, but we still have to get over the hump. Everyone seems to be pulling in the right direction.”
Although Powroznik said he has found a resort operator with experience running smaller year-round resorts, he is still looking for locally oriented investors with capital to invest.
There have been potential investors expressing interest, he said.
“We have to pull this together very quickly,” said Powroznik when asked what must take place between now and December. “We’ve done a lot of things to streamline what needs to be done once the glue is together on the pieces. We have to finalize these details. Unless we finalize these details, there’s no deal.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
