‘Why mess with a good thing?’

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This article was published 22/05/2024 (497 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New owners have taken the plunge on a Minnedosa-area ski resort.

For more than three years, Don Horner sought a buyer for Ski Valley. He figured it would take a while — “It’s not like a hotel or a chunk of farmland,” he noted.

Horner declared last winter his final run as owner, and in the concluding days, a deal was made: a local farmer and part-time ski instructor would take over the nine-hill site.

In August, after 45 years, Horner intends to pass on the keys.

“I’m looking forward to the next phase, (with) this young couple running the place,” Horner said Wednesday. “It’s going to be exciting.”

He’s carved out four acres at the top of the valley for his family. It’s still his home — and he plans to keep working, should the new owners agree.

It seems Jay Klym and wife Elin already have. They don’t plan on changing much, Klym said Wednesday.

“Why mess with a good thing?” he said. “No one wanted to see it go.”

Certainly not Klym, who’s been a part-time ski instructor for the past two years and a casual customer for more than 20.

The ski resort is the biggest recreational boon in the Rural Municipality of Minto-Odanah. It clocks thousands of skiers every winter — the COVID-19 pandemic provided a boost — and attendees are coming for a good time.

Ski Valley is located roughly 55 kilometres north of Brandon.

“It’s such a great work environment. It’s hardly even work,” Klym, 39, reflected. “I’m excited to get going.”

He’s a grain farmer in the warmer months. Cattle farming used to take his winters; when he sold his herd two years ago, he turned to ski instructing.

Continuing the hill’s operations seemed “like a good fit.”

“Everyone, I think, was hoping somebody was going to step forward and take it over,” Klym said.

The site’s future was uncertain. Horner, 68, was eyeing retirement; he’d made peace with selling the place in sections if a buyer didn’t soon appear.

A family-run operation — similar to how Horner and his partner Nancy conducted work — was preferred. It’s been family-run since 1978.

In the 1970s, a group of businessmen figured they’d start Ski Valley because it would be “good for the area,” Horner said.

However, the dream was short-lived; the ski hill was soon property of the federal business development bank.

Horner and his father farmed grain roughly 16 km from the ski slopes; they made the resort purchase around 1979.

“I had no idea about anything about a ski hill,” Horner said. “I came into it blind.”

There was the chalet, which still stands. Four slopes for skiing, no chair lift, no snow-making machines.

The then-23-year-old Horner and his father got to work growing the business. It was a learn-as-you-go operation, he described.

In the second year of business, when hardly enough snow fell for skiing a SMI PoleCat snow maker was purchased from Michigan.

“Making snow is a bit of an art,” Horner said. “I like to have people not know if it’s natural or man-made that they’re skiing on. That tells me I did the job right.”

He learned how humidity and wind direction affected snow making. The business carved out a road at the bottom of the valley and erected a chairlift in 2005.

Both he and his father quit farming after a decade of running Ski Valley. (His dad retired from the ski site about 10 years in, too.)

Ski Valley grew from four slopes to nine under the family’s watch. The initial staff of 10-12 has become a regular 15, not including roughly 15 ski instructors.

The old chalet — about 2,000 square feet on the bottom, another 1,000 sq. ft. on top — is now too small, Horner said.

He had expected someone to eventually buy the site. After all, building a new ski hill would be “unbelievable, the cost.”

Ski Valley was marketed at $1.3 million in 2022. Horner wouldn’t divulge the final sale price, but said he was happy.

In the summers, he keeps the hills mowed and site maintained. The Little Saskatchewan River flows through the property; kayakers frequent the area.

“I’m hoping he sticks around as long as he’s willing to,” Klym said, adding few people in Manitoba have Horner’s knowledge.

Meantime, Horner envisions a “retirement” operating the chairlift or something of a similar fashion.

“I’m just happy it sold to local people and that it’s gonna stay open,” said Minto-Odanah Reeve Doug Dowsett.

The municipality of roughly 1,189 residents doesn’t have many restaurants or gas stations — the ski hill pays a “fairly large amount” of tax dollars. It’s also a recreational hub, Dowsett noted. The reeve bought his grandchild a Ski Valley pass for Christmas.

Longtime employee Jayme Rae was unsure how she’d take to new bosses at Ski Valley.

“I had been sad that I would no longer have the bosses I have had for so long,” she wrote in a Facebook message. “But the hill has stayed in the ski fam.”

She called the staff her “chosen family” and said she’s happy for the Klyms.

Klym said he hopes the usual employees will continue on this winter. Despite keeping most operations the same, he has some new ideas, Klym hinted.

Ski Valley is ready for change and “the next level,” Horner said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com