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Big White dreams

Backed by Australian family, Okanagan ski areas ready to take on the world "My intention is to make the Okanagan as famous as Colorado was for skiing. I think it’s better snow and the access to the area is better.

Backed by Australian family, Okanagan ski areas ready to take on the world

"My intention is to make the Okanagan as famous as Colorado was for skiing. I think it’s better snow and the access to the area is better." — Peter Schumann.

By Robyn Cubie

Whistler-Blackcomb is not about to be knocked off it perch as the number one ski resort in Canada or even North America, yet smaller resorts in the province are starting to spread their wings. And investors are listening.

Last month the Schumann family, who own Big White Ski Resort in the southern Monashees near Kelowna, finalized their purchase of the majority assets of neighbouring Silver Star Mountain Resort. This was followed by the announcement of a $75 million upgrade planned for Silver Star this coming summer – making it the largest single season expansion ever undertaken at a ski resort in the B.C. Interior. The bulk of that investment will be coming from a developer, Concert Properties, which has agreed in principle to construct $50 million worth of residential real estate totaling 220 units.

Other upgrades include a new Comet six passenger express lift and a new quad express, as well as 600 acres of additional ski area to the existing 2,725 acres, and a terrain park. And all in time for the 2002/2003 ski season.

Jeff Putnam, Silver Star manager marketing & resort services, says property values there are already showing upward movement.

"Local real estate values are up 20 per cent since the Schumann family bought the resort last year and the phones have been ringing off the hook since the latest announcement," he says. "People want to invest and prices will slowly just continue to go up."

If Putnam’s prediction comes true, Silver Star will be yet another success story in the Schumann clan portfolio. The family appear to have the Midas touch of turning struggling ski resorts into major resorts, whether in their homeland of Australia or in their adopted home, Canada.

Peter Schumann says his father, Desmond, purchased Mount Hotham resort near Melbourne in the early 1970s, transforming it into one of Australia’s premier ski destinations.

"My father went up skiing for a weekend and didn’t like the way things were running. They only had one rope tow, and one building. So he brought the shares and set about fixing things up," he explains. "I went there when I was 17 and it wasn’t much of a mountain then but it certainly is now."

The Schumann’s sold their Mount Hotham lift operations six years ago for $22 million (Australian). This freed them up to concentrate on Big White, which Desmond Schumann brought in a receivership sale in 1985 for $4.5 million Cdn.

To some locals the Schumann family may have seemed a wildcard for the future of skiing in the area. After all, they originally came from Adelaide in south Australia, which is famous for its hot and dry weather, not for champagne powder snow. But the family has proven themselves more than equal to their Canadian counterparts at running a successful ski resort.

Big White ski hosts Donna and Wayne Lyseng recall everyone breathing a sigh of relief when the Schumanns first took over. Originally from Alberta, the Lysengs have been skiing on Big White’s slopes since they purchased a condo there 22 years ago.

"When the mountain went into receivership even our rent money was spent and not put into trusts, so we were very pleased when Mr. Schumann came and took it out of the red," explains Donna Lyseng.

Both she and her husband have been volunteer ski hosts on the mountain since retiring nine years ago. Their enthusiasm for the job is obvious; they often spend their whole day with guests, rather than just the advertised short tours offered twice daily. As they ski around Big White, they recall the history of the area and point out areas of interest.

"When the Schumann family purchased the mountain in early ’80s they re-arranged the chair configurations to make better skiing and nothing but good as come of it," says Wayne Lyseng.

In particular, Lyseng is impressed with how children and family facilities have been made a priority at Big White, such as the "No Parents Zone" childcare centre in the village. The one-way glass allows parents to check on their kids without disturbing them, while inside kids can play a huge variety of games and activities. The design of the centre has a decidedly Alice in Wonderland feel to it, with a giant-size TV on legs and funky kid-size furniture.

Ask the guests out skiing with the Lysengs what they like and other factors come into play.

"Just the quality of the snow, the champagne powder, and the ski host tour," says Bruce Kerr from Brisbane. "It costs you nothing to be shown around the mountain and you are not left floundering, wasting two days, trying to find out where you are," he laughs.

"I kind of doubt we’ll be satisfied with (Mount) Perisher anymore, we might have to keep coming to Canada."

Whatever Big White’s secret, it appears to be working. As Peter Schumann points out, after 30 years in the ski business, his family has picked up a few clues about how resorts should be run. Currently ranked number two in the province for skier visits, behind Whistler-Blackcomb, Big White is a far cry from the bankrupt small local ski hill it was back in the early 1980s. Thirteen lifts have opened up more than 2,665 acres for skiing, including glade runs. Other options for visitors include ice-skating, snow tube riding, dog sledding, horse sleighing, snowmobiling, and cross country skiing.

A stampede of construction since 1997 has boosted on-mountain accommodation capacities to around 10,500 people. Marketing brochures promote Big White as "Canada’s largest totally ski-in ski-out resort village," with private condos available for rent through the resort’s central reservations and management system. The village itself is confettied with "For Sale" and "Sold Out" signs on the sides of shiny new wood-and-stone condos and chalets.

Peter Schumann says real estate has boomed as a direct result of the on-mountain development.

"The average condo has gone up 50 per cent in value in the past five years," he says. However he stresses that most buyers are not "the investor types."

"People that buy (property) had no intention of buying before they got here," he says. "It’s an emotional purchase because they fall in love with the mountain and the champagne powder."

Emotional or not, it also comes down to dollars and cents. Buying a two- or three-bedroom condo at Big White or Silver Star is within financial reach of far more people than are Whistler condos, with prices starting at around $79,000. And all homes are ski-in, ski-out.

Whistler-based company Brent Harley & Associates has been the master planner for both the Okanagan resorts. Brent Harley says the deliberate ski-in ski-out design feature offers a big physical advantage over other mountains.

"If you have to load your car, drive and park before you go skiing, like most people have to do in Whistler, it is a completely different experience than just putting on your ski gear and walking out the door."

Harley says Big White has undergone an aggressive expansion phase over the past four years and real estate has been a strong part of the development success.

By comparison, Silver Star has lagged behind, held back by unexpected lift equipment costs and an overall lack of economic resources. However Harley says Silver Star has great terrain expansion potential and under the new ownership, real estate prices are starting to take off.

Apart from the Okanagan’s natural assets, Peter Schumann attributes much of the resort’s success to "my family’s philosophy and how we stick to the core values."

Since his father Desmond officially retired from duties, Peter Schumann has taken the helm as president of the company, while his sister Jane is a director, running the retail side of the business. Despite being the official front man for the company, Peter Schumann is a quiet, behind-the-scenes type of character, who rarely gives interviews or public meetings. He credits the resort’s good public relations and operations to his senior management team, all of whom have been with the company since the Hotham days. Even consultants such as Brent Harley first worked with the Schumann’s in Australia.

"We’ve got a very hard working team who work seven days and seven nights until the job’s done," he explains. "I would not like to be in any other resort competing against that team. They’ve probably got 150 years experience between them, and are very capable and very tireless."

Take Michael J. Ballingall, the Canadian vice president of Big White. He first started working for the Schumanns as a ski instructor at Mount Hotham, before rising through the ranks to become the marketing manager there.

"I learned quickly it was better to be inside than out because they get a lot of rain there," he jokes. Upon his return to Canada in 1990, Ballingall transferred to Big White, working on putting the Schumann dream into action. And that dream is ambitious.

Peter Schumann believes Big White and Silver Star have the potential to equal the ski industry heavyweights of North America.

"My intention is to make the Okanagan as famous as Colorado was for skiing. I think it has better snow, the access to the area is better," he says. "We’re a lot of different people from every state in the U.S. at the moment. They really love it here."

Schumann claims the main difference between the mega resorts and his family’s ones will always be price margins.

"One of our key policies is to keep the prices down, and I think we’ve got the cheapest pass in the world. I know we’ve got the best value in terms of price, area, snow quality and terrain."

Schumann believes the Colorado resorts and Whistler have become too expensive for visitors and investors, and he wants to avoid that problem in the Okanagan.

Investors are listening to the Schumann dream and are coming from all walks of life. Australians have been major buyers in Big White’s real estate boom, alongside Canadians and Americans, and it’s likely the trend will continue at Silver Star. Marketing & resort services manager Jeff Putnam is planning a promotional push to extend Silver Star’s appeal beyond its main market of families. He says Big White has successfully placed itself in the spotlight and now it’s Silver Star’s turn.

"Two thirds of the terrain on the mountain is black or double black runs," he explains. "The challenge is to convince high-end groups seeking steeper stuff that we have that terrain they want."

Putnam says the new helicopter shuttle service initiated this winter will further cement the links between the two resorts, allowing guests to make one their home base while visiting the other. This service will be backed by up to 16 airport and inter-resort ground shuttles a day, he adds. Regional and international airlines are reportedly planning to introduce larger aircraft and increase capacity into Kelowna International Airport. The central reservations offices of the two resorts have also been combined to increase packaging opportunities. However Putnam says each will continue to be run as a separate entity by separate management teams.

Maintaining the different character of each resort is a stated priority. While Big White has the look of a modern and fashionable alpine village, the theme at Silver Star is a turn of last century mining town. The wooden buildings are painted at least three colours, just like in the old days when paint supplies were scarce and people used whatever was available to coat their homes. The look is fun and refreshing.

Silver Star ski resort host and former Vernon school teacher David Todd says the ostentatious appearance of the village is a big part of the resort’s appeal, along with its varied terrain. He admits there is concern among some locals that the mountain may change under the new ownership but says he doesn’t think it will.

"There will be more hotels and accommodation, and there is colossal expansion potential on the backside but most runs are cut into the mountain so the layout will stay the same." The new dual mountain pass is also an attraction, he adds.

Brent Harley says maintaining the small town feel of the two resorts is crucial.

"Both Silver Star and Big White have a sense of community and feeling of belonging that doesn’t happen in Whistler anymore," he says. "Increasingly people seeking that will be willing to drive extra hours from Vancouver to get that family atmosphere and save money in the process."

Harley says comparing the resorts is impossible in some ways because the Okanagan is a totally different product. He says Whistler will always rank number one in B.C due to its massive ski terrain and proximity to a major centre. In addition there is the factor of the vast potential of surrounding backcountry mountains that the Okanagan doesn’t have.

Harley believes Whistler’s biggest challenge will be maintaining a resident population in the face of rising real estate prices that could force many workers to live in satellite communities, as has happened in Vail and Aspen ski resorts.

At this stage, skiing in the Okanagan is still a whisper, at least when compared to the province’s loudest child, Whistler-Blackcomb. However if the Midas touch of the Schumanns continues, Big White and Silver Star could together place themselves prominently on the map of the world’s top destination resorts.

Peter Schumann certainly isn’t ruling anything out. Plans are underway to make Big White a year-round resort with the development of golf facilities and new biking trails. Silver Star already hosts a substantial number of summer activities, such as mountain biking events and local festivals, and is ripe for expansion. Even an event as big as the Olympics isn’t being ruled out – especially as the Aussies did so well at the 2002 Salt Lake games.

"We are certainly not ready for staging an Olympics in terms of the huge infrastructure required," Schumann says. "But the natural terrain is here, we have homologated courses for GS, slalom and super G, and national racing squads already train here, so sure, why not."

In the meantime, Schumann has his fingers crossed for Whistler getting the 2010 Winter Games.

"Whistler will do a really good job of looking after the Olympics," he says. "They’re big enough, have got the airport and the accommodation and really are the number one ski resort in the world. I’m looking forward to going to Whistler and watching some of that."



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