Two Thunder Bay ski enthusiasts have made their wildest dreams come true.
Business partners Jason Gerry and Grant Brodeur are the new owners of Loch Lomond Ski Area.
The pair has ambitious plans to brush out more runs on the 290-acre property and transform the hill into a year-round destination.
Gerry, the hill’s full-time general manager, and Brodeur, owner of Secure Store in Thunder Bay, finalized the asset sale in early September with long-time owner Ward Bond.
Located 10 minutes outside the city, the hill, with its 750-foot vertical, includes a 30,000-square-foot main chalet, 14 runs and three chair lifts.
Gerry and Brodeur are kindred spirits as lifelong skiers and avid downhill racers. When they heard rumours that Bond was considering selling the hill, they jumped at the opportunity.
“Grant and I were talking about it one day. I was keen to do it and didn’t have any inkling that he was until he said, ‘I would love to own the ski hill,’ and it kind of just went from there.”
After spending the past few months hiking and flagging the property, Gerry said most of their development work this fall has been spent enhancing existing runs and carving out three new ones.
“They’re not your standard mow-down-the-grass runs, we’ve done some glade runs; clear out all the underbrush on skiable terrain that hadn’t been open in the past.”
Gerry said there are some “amazing runs” that were never maintained, including the 750-foot high Jolly Giant, a steep double black diamond run that was only consistently skiable in big snow years.
“This year we’ve put a snowmaking pipe on it and we’re doing the final hookups now and we’ll be blowing snow on it this winter as well as grooming it.”
Twenty kilometres of trails will be opened this winter for fat tire cyclists and mountain bikers during the summer.
“We have two downhill runs done and we’re creating a BMX dirt jump track in the spring,” said Gerry. “Our intention is to run the chair lift on weekends through July and August for downhill mountain bike access.” They will continue to develop cross-country, mountain bike terrain as well.
The larger vision is to run a year-round operation within the next ski season or two with on-site accommodations.
“We’re looking at making this into a much bigger destination-style resort to develop housing and lodging with condos or a subdivision, and ski-in/ski-out style chalet rentals beside the runs.”
The hill has historically been a profitable venture and consistently draws skiers from across the northwest, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The operation, which employs five permanent and 70 to 75 seasonal workers, was built in the late 1950s by Bill Irwin, father of legendary national ski team downhiller Dave Irwin.
After working in the forestry industry in his youth, Gerry said clearing brush with Brodeur, the former owner of a reforestration company, has been a welcome departure from the past 15 years of desk jobs in accounting and finance.
“The joke now between the two of us is we’re back to where we began on brush saws, chain saws, skidders and excavators. It’s hilarious.”
As temperatures started to plunge in early November, the new owners kicked off the snowmaking program, aiming for a mid-month opening.
Gerry is eyeing another “peak” as a potential area for development with another lift and more runs. “I have two more phases in mind which could double the skiable terrain on the hill.”
