Joey O’Brien, the new managing director of the Mount Baldy ski resort, made a presentation to Town of Osoyoos council last Monday detailing his plans to ensure the short-term and long-term viability and success of the facility. O’Brien and his father have successfully operated numerous ski resorts in Canada over the past several decades. (Richard McGuire photo)
Less than months before the official opening of a new ski season, the new ownership and management group at Mount Baldy ski resort has sold more season passes than ever before.
Joey O’Brien, the new managing director at Mount Baldy ski resort, told members of Town of Osoyoos council on Monday that he remains extremely confident the new ownership group will succeed where so many others have failed in the past.
“We’ve sold more than 1,300 season passes so far … that’s more than Mount Baldy has ever sold,” said O’Brien. “We have proven the demand for a small, well run resort” in this region.
O’Brien informed council that his Chinese business partners remain committed to turning Mount Baldy into a four-season resort that they hope will attract thousands of visitors each day once the new master plan is completed and put into place three years down the road.
Victor Tsao, a Vancouver lawyer, is heading up the investment group.
O’Brien is from Nova Scotia and followed in the footsteps of his father, who purchased and operated ski resorts in that province dating back to the early 1940s.
O’Brien purchased his first ski resort at age 19 and sold that resort 25 years later because “he was bored with it” and wanted to pursue other opportunities.
He has helped turn a ski resort in Canmore, Alberta into one of the most lucrative and busiest resorts in Alberta over the past 14 years.
He’s still involved in that venture, but is committed over the next several years to turning around the fortunes of Mount Baldy and making it a busy and profitable business, he said.
His Chinese business partners have committed to spending $3.4 million over the next several years, including “one million dollars” in 190 days” leading up to the scheduled opening day on December 1, said O’Brien.
Many local people he’s talked to question whether the tentative opening date is attainable, but O’Brien made it very clear that date is not negotiable.
“We will be ready to go on Dec. 1,” he said.
In order for a small resort like Mount Baldy to generate enough capital to be economically feasible, the only option is to become a year-round destination, he said.
Mount Baldy offers almost 10,000 acres of existing mountain recreation area and 750 acres of lift-served runs and its current vertical of 1,300 will be built out to over 2,300 feet, which is higher than Silver Star in Vernon, which is one of the most popular ski destinations in the province, he said.
The original approved master plan designed in 2005 “is not appropriate for today’s modern demands … it is car centric, real estate driven, non experiential focused and designed for a different era,” he said. “We have given ourselves two years to redesign the master plan and have it approved.”
Plans for a massive real estate development and new golf course have been scrapped and won’t proceed, he said.
The short term plan is to build capacity on the mountain, fill it with guests and get permission to build bed units, he said.
Regular skiers traditionally would ski more than 12 days per ski season, but that has now dropped to six days, so the goal must be to attract more skiers overall, he said.
Mount Baldy’s strategy heading towards 2018 is to sell 5,000 season passes in the next year or two and see that increase to 10,000 within three years, he said.
The facility needs a minimum of 8,000 skiers and snowboarders to at least try using the ski facility once a year and converting 30 per cent of them into regulars, he said.
“The target is 20,000 core customers within three years to support 100,000 guests per winter season,” he said.
Offering season passes at some of the lowest prices in Western Canada will go a long way towards achieving those targets, he said.
A tool called Net Promoter Score (NPS) clearly indicates B.C. has the highest rating of customer satisfaction amongst skiers and snowboarders anywhere in Canada, he said.
By opening in early December, the new management team can offer an excellent skiing and snowboarding experience for 130 days, which is 40 more than Baldy’s historical traffic dating back to its prime in 2004 and 2005, he said.
The latest statistics indicate more than 1.5 million skier days for major resorts in the Okanagan, including 285,000 at Sun Peak, 480,000 at Silver Star, 650,000 at Big White and 110,000 at Apex, so attaining the goal of 42,000 skier visits for this coming year, 56,000 for 2017 and 106,000 in 2018 is reasonable, he said.
Real estate development will not be the core focus of the business as it has been in the past, but there are plans to develop 31 single family homes and three multi-unit dwellings in the next couple of years, he said.
Renovations to the ski lifts and day lodge are underway and the old staff house has also been upgraded, he said.
There is a “long list” of plans for summer operations, but those won’t be finalized until the master plan is completed, he said.
With the thousands of tourists that pour into Osoyoos, O’Brien said he is supremely confident many of them will want to make the short trip to Mount Baldy to access summer programs and outdoor adventure offerings in the future.
Mayor Sue McKortoff thanked O’Brien for his passion about turning around the fortunes of Mount Baldy.
“We certainly appreciate your energy … and we certainly wish you the best,” she said.
O’Brien pulled the Ski Martock in Nova Scotia from the edge of bankruptcy and turned it around, just as he later managed to turn around Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis, Alberta.
An adult pass is $199, a youth pass is $99, a pass for children aged six and under is just $25 and seniors 65 and over can ski for $19 a season.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
