Unless you were a connaisseur of German food or a devoted bunny hill skier, few people in the Sault paid much attention to Buttermilk Ski Hill.
For decades, it was a schitzel haus and semi-successful ski school run by the Tempesta family, who also operated a popular German restaurant and resort on nearby Batchewana Bay on Lake Superior.
But the place had lost its lustre among ski enthusiasts, overshadowed by the Searchmont Resort or the pull of big ski venues in Michigan.
Enter businessman Nick Kaiser with a bold vision and a fresh infusion of money and ideas.
Buying the ski hill, 30 km north of the Sault, never factored into the retirement plans of the Tampa, Fla. native, who saw its potential and acquired the hill, three-story chalet and 200-acre property in October, 2007.
“It was a sleepy, run-down place in dire need of work.”
Kaiser has roots in the area. His grandparents had a cottage on Goulais Bay.
Grandfather ‘Chic’ Williams ran a store at the old Windsor Hotel in the Sault.
The family reacquainted themselves with the area when they built a new home in 1993 across the bay from the old summer place.
To Kaiser, Buttermilk was always a “little hidden gem” sequestered among other little-known natural attractions along Lake Superior’s eastern shore.
He intends to change that.
This year, old ski runs have been brushed out and new moguls, snowboarding rails and jumps erected as part of a $2-million-plus investment on the 375-foot vertical hill. A new kitchen is being installed on the chalet’s ground floor for weekend fish fries with a full service restaurant open four-days-a-week.
“We’ve done a ton of work cleaning up the venue, fixing mechanical parts of the building and cleaning up aesthetically.”
He’s set about building his current and future client base with a ski and snowboarding school, a calendar of pro-boarding events, promotional giveaways, corporate sponsorships and a school strategy designed to build up weekday traffic to the hill.
“I didn’t base any of my financial forecasting on weekends or skiing in December. It’s all based on getting kids here Monday through Friday.”
The ski school business was very good last winter, bussing up as many as 140 elementary school kids a day for two months. Kaiser is fostering a tight relationship with area school boards in collaborating with them on their phys-ed programs.
Since Buttermilk has no snowmaking equipment, and relies on the fickle nature of Lake Superior to provide a natural snow base, Kaiser needs to keep the place busy all year long.
“Our focus is not a three-month venue, it’s a year-round destination.”
Last year, they began excavating a snowboarding super pipe, which Kaiser claims is the biggest in Canada, measuring 485 feet in length, 85 feet wide and 27 feet deep with two 20-foot pedestals.
He’s introducing dirt surfing to the area, an inline board sport popularized in Australia, and wants people to keep riding the hill once the snow melts.
“The mountain is ideal. There’s not a lot of rocks or boulders, it’s mostly grass.”
Kaiser has spoken with Shaun Parent, a local ice and rock climbing expert, about using the 100-foot cliffs on the property to stage activities.
With Lake Superior only minutes away and Stokely Creek Lodge up the road, Kaiser says a new and improved Buttermilk is a good complementary business to kayaking, hiking and climbing opportunities.
Kaiser says Buttermilk will never be ski and snowboarding meccas like Vail, Whistler or Mont Tremblant, but it’s an ideal place to learn these recreational activities and has the potential to be a year-round training facility for alpine sports.
“Our whole focus is on families for skiing and a great dinner.”
The German cuisine isn’t entirely off the menu, but it will be more international in flavour with sea bass, buffalo tenderloin, along with fresh whitefish and lake trout.
He’s kept some continuity on staff with chef Gabby Fasco, who has run the kitchen for 19 year, and Mitch Jackson, the maintenance man and landscaper for 20 years. They are two of 20 full- and part-time employees which balloons to 120 with high school placements.
Kaiser is also keen to promote the venue as a meeting place with enough space for 150 people. The chalet with a landscaped pond has already booked nine weddings for next year. Plans for overnight lodgings are in the works, but it is a three- to five-year plan.
