Marble Mountain was able to get in 55 ski days before it was shutdown March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now with another ski season approaching, there are many out there wondering if and when the Steady Brook downhill ski facility will reopen.
Alex Lockyer is a regular skier at Marble and on Sept. 11 he posted a message to Premier Andrew Furey on his Facebook page.
Lockyer said there has been no update on the status of Marble Mountain since March, that all the managers but one have left their jobs and by now an announcement would be expected on operations.
“There are many people in Corner Brook, Steady Brook, Massey Drive, Stephenville, Little Rapids, Pasadena, Deer Lake and St. John's, and so many other communities who so love the ski and snowboard lifestyle, and we do not want to see it disappear,” said Lockyer in the post.
“The million dollars a year that is spent on Marble Mountain is a small investment for all the jobs, economic spinoffs and quality of life that this little ski resort has offered for decades.
“Marble Mountain is as much a part of our heritage as anything else, and on behalf of all users I politely ask for your honest effort to continue its operation.”
Lockyer declined to do an interview, saying: “I think I said my bit in that little post. I didn’t think it was going to be anything more to it than that, that’s just what I wanted to say.”
Marble Mountain comes under the control of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation, whose minister, Bernard Davis, said the fact there are questions out there about Marble is not lost on him.
“It’s a gem out there,” he said adding the intention is to get the hill open this coming season.
However, when, how and what things will look like will depend on the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that people will look at skiing as a very safe outdoor activity, and it is from a COVID perspective,” Davis said.
But, he said there are pressure points where people would come in contact with each other that would have to be addressed, including ski rentals, food and beverage service, the lifts, the chalet, washrooms and accommodations.
Davis said his department and Marble staff are working closely with public health and the chief medical officer of health to address the issues.
“We’re going to work as hard as we can to solve those pressure point issues from an operational standpoint to ensure the safety of not only the patrons that ski, but also the staff that work at the hill. But that all hinges upon COVID,” Davis said.
The pandemic is not the only issue facing Marble. Tony Abbott, the ski resort’s chief operations officer, has retired.
Davis said he’ll be hard to replace, but will play a role in getting anyone up to speed who gets involved in the operation of the resort.
The province is also in the middle of a request for proposals (RFP) process that started in June 2018 to look for private-sector operators interested in developing, managing or owning the resort.
“There’s so many things that government is doing wrong with the whole process.”
That process was slowed by the pandemic, but Davis said it’s picked up now and he’s hoping something will come to fruition. He wouldn’t get into details, but said tpeople have expressed interest in the facility.
The board of the Marble Mountain Development Corp. has also been a contentious issue with all members being civil servants based in St. John’s.
“I can’t speak to if the board is going to stay intact as it is right now, what I can say is that board was put in place during the RFP process and when that RFP process is finished then obviously decisions would be made on what happens with the board of directors that would be there. Whether it would be a new board of directors put in place or whether there would be no board of directors based on it being transferred to someone else,” Davis said.
Keith Cormier is a long-time skier at Marble. He’s spoken publicly about Marble Mountain in the past and made some comments on Lockyer’s Facebook post.
“There’s so many things that government is doing wrong with the whole process,” he said when contacted Friday.
Cormier said the board is made up of bureaucrats who report to the minister of Tourism and that government didn’t support efforts by a previous board when it came to base development at the resort.
As for getting the hill open this season, he said it’s being done in other places, like White Hills in Clarenville and at resorts in Ontario, where there are large numbers of people with the coronavirus.
He said if White Hills can open, then it has to have a process through the chief medical officer of health to do it. And the hills in Ontario also have to have a plan in place.
“There’s processes already in place elsewhere to get this done, so we don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” Cormier said.
To his knowledge, nothing has happened at Marble since it was shut down six months ago and there is a lot of work that could have already been done.
Some numbers from Marble Mountain’s 2020 ski season:
Number of days open: 55
Number of skier visits: 44,782
Revenue: Just over $1.7 million, down 14 per cent from the previous year
Refunds: Officials have been working on a formula to credit and/or rebate season pass holders for the 2020-2021 season
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