 |
|
|
| 10/15/2003 12:16:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article
Comment on this article |  |
|
| The T-bar lift at Ferguson Ridge Ski is ready to go for the 2003-04 ski season but is in dire need of volunteer lift operators. The Eagle Cap Ski Club is planning a meeting on Sunday, Oct. 26 to recruit new volunteers, elect officers and set season pass prices. Chieftain file photo |
|
Lions take over management of Ferguson Ridge Ski Area
By Rick Swart
of the Chieftain
Following a disastrous ski season last year, members of the Eagle Cap Ski Club were less than optimistic about the future of Ferguson Ridge Ski Area.
Nailed by a $5,000 insurance bill, a $4,000 lift gear box repair, and no snow until late in the season, which killed revenues, some members of the club doubted whether the homegrown ski area that has served Wallowa County for the past 20 years would be able to open this winter.
“The insurance was getting overwhelming,” said Charlie Kissinger.
The $5,000 price tag on the policy was half the normal minimum charged by the ski area’s carrier, and was scheduled to increase to $11,000 this year.
Ferguson Ridge, which grosses less than $15,000 in a good year, was in no position to absorb a rate hike.
Members of the ski club found out that other community-owned ski areas in the region -- one at Grangeville, Idaho and another one at Cottonwood, Idaho -- had encountered similar insurance related problems and solved them by enlisting the help of Lions International, one of the largest service organizations in the world. The Lions clubs in those communities took over management of the ski areas, which covered them under the organization’s umbrella policy.
“They asked us if we could do that here,” said Delbert Pratt, a longtime member of the Enterprise-Joseph Lions Club. “We said, ‘Sure, we didn’t know why not,’”
So on Oct. 1 six members of the ski club joined the Lions club and entered into an agreement for management of Ferguson Ridge. Under the agreement, the ski area will pay the Lions $600 in management fees.
“They couldn’t have even afforded to open up at that rate,” Delbert Pratt, a longtime member of the Lions club said of the $11,000 premium.
“We are getting some new, young members ... so it is working out for the benefit of everybody.”
This is not the first time that the local Lions club has salvaged a sporting activity in the county. In 1993, the Lions took over management of a local scholarship boxing ‘smoker’ that had been shut down because of high liability insurance costs. The Lions also built the Enterprise swimming pool in 1933-34 and are working on securing grants for the renovation of that facility, which was shut down two years ago.
Kissinger said the ski club is going to make the most of this reprieve and will be hosting a potluck and business meeting at the ski area’s lodge at Ferguson Ridge beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26. The purpose of the meeting, he said, will be to recruit new members, elect three new board members, schedule races and other events, and vote on prices for season passes.
“We need help,” said Kissinger. “What it has come down to is just a few of us are doing all the work. What we would like to see is more help from the community.”
Now that the gear box on the T-bar ski lift has been repaired, the ski area is in reasonably good condition, he said. Club members also hope to clean up the lodge and reopen the food booth this year.
“We would really like to see a lot of people turn out for the potluck,” he added.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
