The ski season may be over, but that doesn’t mean the board and staff of Misty Ridge Ski Hill are sitting idle.
Taking a short break after closing for the season, Kerry McElroy, Misty Ridge Board Chair, said the board of the ski hill is busy making plans for next year.
“In many ways this season was a really good year for us,” he said, adding that over the past year the board has made many improvements to the facility.
In the fall the ski hill purchased a new snowcat, new for Misty Ridge at least.
“The snowcat along with a new grooming machine really opened up some really exciting opportunities to open new runs and just make our whole operation much more efficient,” McElroy said.
The addition of the new grooming equipment has allowed the ski hill to reassign their existing equipment to create new cross-country and snowshoeing trails.
The ski hill’s chalet also received an update with the installation of new carpeting and ceiling.
However, McElroy said everything didn’t go as predicted.
“We were a little disappointed with our attendance numbers,” he said, adding that although he didn’t have exact figures, the number of people visiting Misty Ridge was down from previous years.
“I really use our bottom line as a gauge for how many people visited the hill,” McElroy said. “This year I think we broke even, but we were hoping to be able to make a bit of a profit so that we could make even more improvements.”
The Misty Ridge board attributes the disappointing attendance numbers to a couple of factors. The first being the weather and the other being the number of ski instructors.
“The weather was disappointing,” he said. “We didn’t get as much snow as we would have liked and there were a couple of warm spells that affected our ability to make snow and forced us to close early, before spring break.”
The other issue McElroy believes was a factor was the lack of ski instructors.
“For some reason, for the last few years, for whatever reason, we have had trouble finding ski instructors,” he said, adding the lack of instructors really hurt the ski hill’s ability to attract new families. “We had a lot of requests for ski lessons for six to nine-year-olds. If we don’t have teaching programs for the kids, it can be hard to attract families.”
McElroy said Misty Ridge usually starts looking for staff and volunteers in October, but this year the recruitment drive may begin in September.
“Hopefully, by starting a month earlier we might be able to attract some more people, especially ski instructors,” he said, adding that if they didn’t get any they may have to hire instructors from the city.
In addition to looking for ski instructors, during the off-season, the Misty Ridge board will be looking into other equipment upgrades.
“Both the rope and gear box are 35 or 40 years old and need to be either upgraded or replaced. That will be our major push for the off-season,” McElroy said, adding the board doesn’t know how much the upgrades will cost yet. “It depends on how we have to tackle it. It could be a minor fix, requiring a relatively minor amount or we may have to replace the system, which will cost a lot more.”
McElroy said the board is confident they will be able to come up with the funding.
“The community and especially the businesses have been really great at supporting us over the years,” he said. “We have more than 30 individual companies that contribute to the maintenance of the hill. Our local businesses want to keep the ski hill alive and they are all doing it in their own individual ways.”
McElroy emphasized how much the Misty Ridge board appreciates the support of the community, adding that whenever possible the hill supports local businesses.
“The donations come from members of our community and that is where it should go back to,” he said.
As for how the community can help, McElroy said besides making a donation, Misty Ridge is always looking for volunteers, including people to serve on the board, adding that the board will start looking for volunteers in October.
