Tips for Marble Mountain on how to make a ski hill about more than just snow
Ski resorts across Canada focusing on summertime offerings
The summer months were once a time of well-earned rest for ski hill managers, but things are different now for Bill Anderson.
The general manager of New Brunswick's Poley Mountain doesn't stray too far from his cellphone in July, as he and his team book events to see them through their snowless months.
There are weddings. Fundraisers. Craft beer tastings. An annual fall festival.
"It takes time, and a lot of effort," said Anderson.
"Everybody's in the same situation. Everybody would like to do something year-round so you can keep your employees and help cover a few bills."
Catching up with the rest of Canada
Poley and other Atlantic Canadian ski hills lag behind those in the rest of the country for four-season attractions, Anderson said, but there is an increasing focus on bringing in money all year round. This summer, for example, Poley is installing a lookout atop its peak as part of an effort to attract more ATVs.
Now it looks like the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is thinking along the same lines.
On the eve of the Canada Day long weekend, the province quietly put Marble Mountain — the resort just outside Corner Brook — on the market, issuing a request for proposals that could include buying or leasing parts of the operation.
"Government probably are not the best managers of a ski hill," finance minister Tom Osborne said when he announced the government's decision.
Government probably are not the best managers of a ski hill.- Finance minister Tom Osborne at the RFP announcement for Marble Mountain
The publicly owned resort, the largest ski hill in Atlantic Canada, has long been a money-losing venture. With both skiable days and resort visits declining, it appears the province has had enough.
And while Anderson isn't interested in applying — "that probably would not happen," he says, sounding tired — any potential Marble developers might want to take his lead and pay attention to wider trends, as the ski resort industry across Canada positions itself as being about more than snowy slopes.
From to go karts to slip 'n' slides
"The diversification of experiences at ski areas is definitely something we're seeing across the industry," said Christopher Nicholson, president of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, an industry group with a cross-country membership that includes Marble Mountain.
Mountains both in and outside of North America have moved toward year-round operations, often accompanied by splashy branding.
Banff's Sunshine Village has Sunshine Meadows, offering summer trail hikes and sightseeing gondola rides. Sun Peaks Resort in B.C. runs a mountain cross cart course, which it bills as "a gravity-fuelled go-kart." Horseshoe Resort, an hour north of Toronto, recently installed what it calls "one of the world's longest slip 'n' slides," with 1,000 feet of water-soaked vinyl running down one of their easy ski runs.
"For more of a destination ski area with larger infrastructure, those ski areas are making more substantial investments into their summer product, whether this is zip lines, whether this is coasters," said Nicholson.
Some resorts leave the outdoors out of it altogether: the nation's largest resort, Whistler-Blackcomb, announced in 2016 a $345-million plan to build "weather-independent" year-round attractions. (Since being bought by American resort giant Vail, some of those plans have been shelved.)
In between booking weddings at Poley, Anderson has been paying attention.
"They've got more money to spend, and that helps. They're owned by bigger pockets and people who have money outside the skiing industry that can put money into that kind of stuff. Here in Atlantic Canada it's a bit different, but we do the best we can."
Unless Vail gets involved — the company did not respond to CBC's request for information — any potential entrepreneurs at Marble probably don't have similarly deep pockets. But Nicholson said even smaller hills are doing their part to diversify.
"Maybe it's mountain bike trails, maybe it's simply low-cost things like frisbee golf."
Nicholson said reusing ski infrastructure in summer is one budget-conscious way to diversify, whether its sightseeing from a gondola or using the chairlift to avail of new terrain, capitalize on the great views that come from great heights and harness humanity's affinity for enjoying gravity in different ways.
"It's difficult to say that one thing works, because geography and interest in the regional market varies so much," he said.
Consider Colorado
There are cases elsewhere in Canada where a government-run or non-profit model does work for a resort, Nicholson said, especially in rural areas, where facilities function as a social service of sorts in the way a local curling club or ice rink might.
Interest in the sport isn't flagging out west: according to the most recent statistics from Canada West, there were 9.2 million ski visits at resorts from Manitoba westward in the 2016-17 season, representing an increase from the previous year.
However, Atlantic Canada captures only two per cent of Canadian ski visits, and Marble's numbers have been on a downward trend for years. And the timeline on the government's request for proposals (RFP) for the resort is tight, with a proposal deadline of August 3.
"If you want to do financials, and go into the operations of the resort for the last number of years to see what you're dealing with, a month is not a lot of time," said Roger Jamieson, a man who knows a thing or two about Marble's finances as a past chair of the resort's development corporation from 2000-2007.
Who's going to run a ski hill that's lost a million dollars last year?- Roger Jamieson, former chair of Marble Mountain's development corporation
"Who's going to run a ski hill that's lost a million dollars last year?"
But even Jamieson sees promise at Marble Mountain, including condo or restaurant development.
"Your imagination could take you just about anywhere."
So ... does he want to buy it?
"I haven't been running to the bank running to buy Marble, no."
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With files from On The Go