THUNDER BAY -- Jason Gerry has hung around ski hills all his life.
Now he owns one.
Gerry and partner Grant Brodeur crunched the numbers a year ago when they heard Loch Lomond Ski Area might be on the market, previous owner Ward Bond looking to get out of the business and start his retirement.
The pair took over the reins earlier this summer, determined to make it a year-round destination. The duo plan not only to make improvements to the ski hill, but are well under way in the creation of new mountain biking trails with an eye on a series of downhill races starting as early as next summer.
It’s a dream come true, Gerry said.
“Both Grant and I are lifelong skiers. I have strong ties to the community as well as the ski hill. I had family going back here from the beginning. My great grandfather and great uncle helped build the north T-bar,” Gerry said.
“From there forward I was a young skiing here and grew up through the race program and then the opportunity came up so Grant and I, who have children who are friends and other business interests, decided it was something we were really interested in pursuing.”
Brodeur jokes he’s just along for the ride – literally.
“I’m just here to be the ski-groom operator,” he says, laughing at his partner.
Like Gerry, the 51-year-old Brodeur has been involved in skiing since his youth, moving to Thunder Bay two decades ago.
He’s been organizing downhill races for the better part of 15 years and can’t wait to continue and enhance that tradition at Loch Lomond.
“We’ve already been working with some of the ski-racing guys to develop the programs here.”
Brodeur said there’s plenty to take care of, with just two months to go before snow is expected to fall.
“Ward’s been around for so long and the Irwins had it before that. There might be some things that we’re going to keep the same. But I think after 65 years of some things being in place a little bit of change will be good. The community is certainly looking forward to that as we do some of the developments,” Brodeur said.
The mountain bike and hiking trail addition seems to be drawing the most attention from the public, with social media buzz already showing plenty of interest in the plan.
“I think there’s a great demand,” Gerry said. “The response has been phenomenal. We’ve been doing a little bit of Facebook marketing, just trying to get the word out to the communities that are involved in the mountain biking and we’ve had a great response.
“We’ve had volunteers coming out to help build the trails. The other night we had 15 people up on the hill volunteering to help build the downhill bike terrain. And it’s been super exciting for me and a lot of the people who are coming out. It’s a dream come true from my perspective as well as theirs.”
