Holiday Mountain all set to reopen

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This article was published 22/12/2022 (992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Westman skiers will be singing “Let it Snow!” this holiday season — not only because it’s Christmas, but because a nearby ski resort is making a comeback after having to cancel a season.

Holiday Mountain Resort at La Rivière owes its revival to Renée and Paul Warkentin, who bought the resort from its previous Lake Louise owner on Dec. 1 for an undisclosed sum.

The couple has a strong connection to their new resort, as both grew up in the area and have a cottage there.

“We both skied here on these slopes when we were kids, so it just has a special place for us,” Renée Warkentin said in a recent interview. “There is no one that we encounter that doesn’t have a fond memory of Holiday Mountain.”

Holiday Mountain has operated since 1960, but last year it had to cancel its skiing season due to a drought that lowered the water level in the Pembina River and hampered its ability to make snow. The resort depends on snow making to operate.

“When the slopes were not going to open again this year, we just couldn’t have that,” Warkentin said, adding many skiers from Brandon would travel to Holiday Mountain. “We just decided that we were going to buy it and get it open this year, that families needed this.

“They’ve been through so much with closures and restrictions, and we just wanted to give this gift to the community of having this iconic ski hill reopen.”

This year, rain restored the river’s water level and the resort was set to make snow as soon as the temperature dropped, targeting Boxing Day for its reopening. Bolstered by additional snow-making machines, its goal is to have all 11 slopes running this season as soon as it can, weather permitting.

The resort also includes two lodges — one suitable for big groups and schools that includes a restaurant; and another with a lounge, alcohol service, TVs and a restaurant with a more intimate setting. There are also 10 chalets on site that can be rented.

This year, the updates will be cosmetic painting and redecorating, said the resort’s general manager, Abe Sawatzky. The lodges have been painted and redecorated.

Warkentin added that the chair lifts have been rewired and inspected. The goal this season, she said, is to create a “family-friendly” environment. Extensive renovations are planned for the spring, summer and fall of the upcoming year in time for the 2023-24 skiing season.

One thing that won’t change is the name.

“We just wanted to make sure that it felt like it wasn’t changing in that regard, that it was still the same fun place that people remembered, but we want to make some changes as far as some updates, if you will,” Sawatzky said.

Warkentin said she hopes new visitors will create fond memories of the resort as she did when she was a child.

“Generations to come now can tell these same stories about Holiday Mountain because it lives on.”

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com