In 1974, a closed ski hill in Alberta developed a surprising number of connections to the Whistler area.
Snowridge Ski Resort opened in Kananaskis County in 1967 as a family ski area. A daylodge designed by Joseph K. English had been constructed that summer and included hotel rooms, a restaurant, and a cafeteria that could seat up to 300. Two T-bars and a chairlift had also been installed and Snowridge advertised “acres of exotic powder and undulating packed runs.” Located along the gravel and rarely-plowed Kananaskis-Coleman Forestry Road, it wasn’t the easiest to access, but it was close enough to Calgary to attract skiers, many of whom would come for the day.
Snowridge closed at the end of the 1970-71 ski season and didn’t reopen. In 1973, the bank foreclosed on its mortgages and Snowridge declared bankruptcy and was put up for judicial sale by the Federal Business Development Bank (FBDB; then called the Industrial Development Bank). That same year, construction began on Highway 40, which would have provided more consistent access to the ski hill. By 1974, Snowridge was still for sale.
Over in British Columbia, Hugh Smythe took the summer of 1974 off from Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. and took a trip to Alberta. On his trip, he stopped at Fairmont Hot Springs and visited with the owner, the Wilder family. The Wilders were interested in purchasing Snowridge, and Hugh decided to go take a look. According to an oral history interview with Hugh, he thought, “Maybe this is something that could be intriguing,” and he was still thinking about Snowridge when he returned to work at Whistler Mountain in August.
Dave Mathews was operations manager for Whistler Mountain at the time, and Hugh’s boss. Not wanting to take on “a derelict ski area” alone, Hugh talked to Dave about his interest in Snowridge, and they and Dave’s wife Lynn formed HUMAT Management and Consultants Ltd. They didn’t have the financing to purchase Snowridge, so Hugh and Dave approached the FBDB. Though they didn’t really expect their pitch would go anywhere, they were contracted to get the ski area up and running and turn it into a sellable prospect. That September, Hugh, Lynn and Dave left their jobs at the lift company and moved to Snowridge, along with the Mathews’ two small children.
According to Lynn, she and Dave had sold some properties in Whistler and had a bit of money saved, and so were open to taking on something new. Hugh was interested in learning more about the operation of a ski area. Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. is often described as being “in the uphill transportation business.” They ran the lifts on Whistler Mountain and looked after the grooming and patrolling while the food operations, ski school and ski shop were contracted out. At Snowridge, they had the opportunity to “do all of it,” from operating the lifts to running a hotel, restaurant, bar, ski school, and rental and retail shop. As Hugh recalled, “I felt that’s something that I really wanted to get involved with, was all of the aspects of running a resort.”
Upon arrival, Hugh and the Mathews were confronted with a chairlift whose cable had been blown off the towers and whose chairs were lying on the ground, and a hotel that was “just a total disaster.” It was already snowing in the first week of September and the area needed to be operational by December. Keep reading next week for tales of their efforts, featuring some more familiar faces from Whistler Mountain.
