A Baldywood story – Fred Johnston (in red), president of Mount Baldy Capital Corporation, cuts the ribbon with Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie during the re-opening of the ski resort last Friday. Looking on are other local dignitaries, including regional district chair Mark Pendergraft (far let) and Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes. Read the whole story on page 12. Richard McGuire photo
Calgary investor, dignitaries cut ribbon to reopen resort
When Fred Johnston was first approached about getting the Mount Baldy ski resort back on its feet, the idea wasn’t on his radar.
“It’s not so much that I was skeptical as that I wasn’t looking for it,” said Johnston, the president of Baldy Capital Corporation and the man who has made a big bet on the ski mountain’s future.
On Friday morning, surrounded by local dignitaries, Johnston cut the ceremonial ribbon to open officially the ski resort that has been closed since early 2013.
Soon afterwards, skiers began riding the Sugarlump quad chair up the hill for a day of skiing. Despite the thick clouds at lower elevations, the hills of Mount Baldy were lit up with sunlight under a clear blue sky.
Some of the skiers, like James Graham, had already been back on the hill the previous Sunday when it was opened to residents of the village only.
Graham has been coming to Baldy since its first season in 1968. The former Osoyoos resident, who now lives in Midway, owns a condominium chalet in the village.
When the hill was closed during the 2013-14 season after its American owners ran into financial difficulties, Graham continued skiing. But with no lifts running, he had to hike up the mountain.
The closure was a big disappointment, he said.
“We were all really quite devastated and worried,” said Graham. “Thanks to Matt [Koenig, the mountain manager] and all the people that were involved, here we are. The dream continues.”
For Johnston, who has run numerous other business ventures in software, diagnostic imaging and real estate, running a ski resort is something new. What background does he have?
“None whatsoever,” he replied. “Except having skied a few mountains.”
Despite his lack of experience with running a ski resort, Johnston spent considerable time doing his homework and analyzing the figures that were available.
One shocking statistic told the story of Mount Baldy. In 1977, when the hill had just one T-bar, 45,000 skier visits were recorded.
“To my surprise and puzzlement, by 2003, the skier-ship was down to about 25,000 and it continued to decline from there as the capacity increased,” Johnston said.
The addition of a double chair and a quad chair only saw numbers continue to decline until 2012 when only about 7,500 skier visits were recorded in its last year of operation.
Although Johnston believes the first year back in business could see a loss of around $300,000, he became convinced after hearing from people in the community that it was necessary to open this year.
Johnston believes the previous owners put too much focus on the expectations of profits from real estate without paying attention to the operation of the ski hill.
Calling Mount Baldy “a diamond in the rough,” he said the focus now must be on improving the quality of the skier experience.
“We decided back in October or November that if we were going to try to take this on and recover, we would have to focus on the operation of the ski hill,” he said. “Without the ski hill, the real estate has no value.”
This year the resort is offering sharply discounted day and seasons passes in a bid to win back local skiers and encourage people to try Baldy out.
Dave Howard, the vice president of communications and Johnston’s partner, believes that many other resorts have made skiing unaffordable.
“We put a ticket price there that is attainable,” Howard said. “So that people can maybe come out and rediscover skiing again.”
Aside from price, Mount Baldy offers other advantages of the larger neighbouring resorts of Apex and Big White, Howard said.
“You have more sun during the day than at the other two,” he said.
Also, with Mount Baldy only open from Friday to Sunday, there’s a chance for snow to accumulate leading to better skiing, he said.
Many of the staff members from before are back, including Koenig as mountain manager.
“There is absolutely no doubt that Matt Koenig was instrumental in the decision to go forward,” said Johnston. “Matt is superhuman. He can do everything. He’s a one-man band here and without him this hill would not have opened.”
Koenig admits he was on pins and needles about the ski resort’s future until close to the final hour. Nonetheless, he kept the faith and hung in.
“In spite of friends and peers saying ‘Matt this is crazy,’” he said. “I believe in the place and I want it to be open so I hung in there.”
Now he plans to focus on getting the inside facilities operating, including obtaining food and beverage licenses.
The Eagle chair remains closed, but work will be done on it as time permits.
Local dignitaries who showed up for the ribbon cutting believe the reopening of Mount Baldy will provide an important economic boost for the area.
Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes pointed to the long historic connection between Oliver and Mount Baldy as local families grew up skiing on the hill.
“I think it’s great news,” said Hovanes. “It’s such a huge asset, especially for the people that live up here as well. Everybody that comes up here to ski knows that some of the best powder snow anywhere in the province is found here, it’s a quiet little hill and there are no lineups.”
South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce President Myers Bennett sees the reopening of Mount Baldy as a further boost to the area along with such other developments as the new correctional centre in Oliver and the return of horse racing in Osoyoos.
Chalet owner Susan Webster, from Oliver, has been coming since Mount Baldy opened in 1968. She missed the Sunday preview for village residents, but was back on skis on Friday to try the hill again.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s an injection in the economy and everybody’s been looking forward to it.”
For more information, call Mount Baldy at 250-498-4086.
Richard McGuire
Special to the Chronicle
Skiers couldn’t wait to check out the runs last weekend as Mount Baldy reopened for business after a long hibernation.
Richard McGuire photo
