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AUTUMN
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EARLY WINTER
2015
7
JohnHethringtonremembers...
In1948at age12, I receivedmy firstmembership
badge for theTorontoSkiClub. In1949 theClub
bought1pairof jumpingskisandsentDavePalma-
teerandme to thePetePettersonski jumpingschool
atMidland.During thewintersof1950–54, Iraced
forTSCatBlueMountainwith theWeiderkids(Helen
&George).Variousadults likeDr.DougFirthandBob
Goochprovided transportation fromTorontoand I slept
onany flooravailableatBlue.
In thoseyears therewereonly40 to50 junior racers inSouthernOntario.
EllisHazen, ahigh school teacher inSudbury,wouldbringabus loadof
junior racers fromhisNickleteenSki Clubdown to theOntarioChampi-
onshipsat Blueand regularlycleanour clocks, particularly in theNordic
events. In thosedays,we racedall4eventseachweekend;downhilland
slalomonSaturday—crosscountryand jumpingonSunday.Put that inyour
pipeandsmoke ityouspoiledkidsof today.For racesatBlue, Jozomade
dinnerplatespaintedwithaski racer, thewinner'snameand theeventand
date. I still have2 (my lastname isspelled incorrectly).
Jozo financed the firstPomaLift in1955bysellingbooksof3-partRed tick-
ets for$100abook. I tookmysummer'searnings that yearandbought3
books. How keen Is that? The irony is that the sons of thebankerswho
wouldnot lend Jozo themoney fora lift at Bluehad foundedOslerBluffs
SkiClubbecauseof the long linesatBlueMountain.
Pre-Bombardiersnowpackers, Jozoofferedsomeofus free lift tickets ifwe
packed thehillswithsnowshoes—weonlydid itacoupleof times—
toomuchwork.
I remember the two rope tows at theNorthEnd. You leapt off one, two-
thirdsof thewayup thehill andgrabbedonto the secondmoving tow. In
thespring,when theropewassowetourmittswouldslide,5ofusata time
wouldhangon,andwhen theystartedup the tow,wewouldbeshowered
withwaterandslush ifwe let itslip. Ican just imaginewhat thesafetypeople
wouldsay today.
Iwasamember of theUniversityof Toronto1955/56 ski team—that, for
theoneandonly time,won theCanadianUniversitySkiChampionships.
The teamhadacabinup thehill from theBarnwithnoelectricityorwater.
Whenwe’darriveatBlueFridaynightswehad tohaulallour stuff, includ-
ingseveralcasesofbeer,up thehill.OneFridaywe foundJozo's first,brand
new, fiberglassSkiPatrol tobogganandused it tohaulour stuffup thehill.
Afterdinner (and thebeer),we rode the toboggandown thehilland took
outa fencepostby theBarn—nodamage tousaswe rolledoff,but the to-
bogganwassplit in two.
The sameyear Iwas coaching (takingcareof) theTSC junior racersand
theyneededaplace tostayatBlue, sowedisassembledagarageonmy
father's farmnearKleinburg,moved it toBlueMountainandbuilta Junior
Cabinup thehill from thebarn.Eventually theTSCgave thatcabin toRoss
Larway, thepast Presidentof theTSC.
In1961,when IwasatWestern, Jozowasmywintertime father—when I
graduatedwithanMBA that spring,he tried toconvinceme tobuya lotat
thebottomof theAppleBowl for $500. “I can't,” I said. I hadawife, a
daughterandanew jobwithanadagency inMontreal.
Whenwecameback toToronto in thespringof1972,6monthsafter Jozo
died,GeorgeWeideraskedme to join theBlueMountainboard.
I had just left one family company—Bombardier,
where IwasVPMarketingduring theheydayof the
Ski-Doo—to join theboardof another family com-
pany in transition.
Thereareaseriesof"roll thediceandwin"decisions
of thosedayson theboard I could tell youabout as
theresidentoutsider, theSlideRide, takingoverrentals
and theshop fromErnieMcCullochandmanymore.
Wewon themall.
Back inToronto, Ihada full time jobasVPMarketingofBenson&
HedgesTobaccobutdid themarketing forBlueMountainon theside.We
developed the logo,still inuse todayandcreated the"GetMoving"notice
boards to tellpeople the lengthof the lift linesateach tow to tryandspread
out thecrowds.At the time therewasnot enoughmoney tobuyanew lift
andwehad toaddress themajor complaint at Blue—lift lines—whichwas
revealed throughmymarket research surveys. At B&H I brought thePro
SkiClassic toBlueMountain in1972withSpiderSabichandJeanClaude
Killyafterhis3Olympicmedals.Thenafter leavingB&H, Imoved theevent
tobecome theLabatt ProSkiClassic. Therearesomestories there.
AsGordCanning tookover the roleof President andGeorgemovedup
tobeChairman, I retired from theboard. Later Iwasaskedbackasacon-
sultantwhenBluewasdecidingwhat todoabout theircontinuing inability
tomakeGeorgianPeaksa financial success.Bluepurchased thePeaks in
1980andsold it in1987 for thesamepricewepaid for it.There’sagreat
MarketResearchstory there.
IwaswithGordandKathyCanningonourway toMont Tremblant fora
CanadianSkiAssociationmeeting,whenwecameupwith theconceptof
the5x7 ski pass at $79. They sold10,000 the first year (2001).Over
700peopledidn’tevenshowup toget thepasses theyhadpaid for.Gord
offered tohonour theirpasses thenextyearandbuiltallkindsofgoodwill,
aconcept thatcarriedonJozo’s traditionofputting thecustomer first,a tra-
ditionwhichcontinues to thisday.
*
JohnHethrington and
ski legend, Spider Sabich
Photo source: JohnHethrington
75 years of blue
