Al Raine, a
former ski racer, coach and resort hotel entrepreneur, has been Mayor of Sun
Peaks Resort, near
Kamloops, British Columbia since 2010. And yet back in his gung-ho
ski racing youth his parents were anxious that he might never find a ‘real
job’.
His introduction
to skiing was in his preteen years at Mt
Seymour in North
Vancouver and he went on to ski at Mt Baker where his childhood mentors were Al
Menzies and Franz Gabl. During the 1960s, Al lived and ski raced in Badgastein,
Austria where he learned
German. A trilingual coach, Al rose rapidly through the ranks from club level,
to division and, ultimately, to the national team. He was Head Coach and
Program Director for the Canadian ski team from 1968-73.
In 1974 he
turned to the ski industry, working first as BC’s Provincial Ski Coordinator
where he authored BC’s successful Commercial Ski Alpine Policy and served as
the provincially appointed councilor on Whistler’s Municipal Council between 1975-80. He
went on to become the Executive Director for the Whistler Resort Association
from 1980-82. Winter wanderlust sent him on sabbatical to Switzerland with his
family from 1983-85. And, on his return to Canada, he brought progressive
European inspirations to hotel projects he developed and managed, first in
Whistler and then in Sun Peaks between 1985 and 2010. In 1988 Raine was
inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.
During his
phenomenal fifty-year career he has noticed major changes in the focus and
infrastructure of the ski industry. “From 1950 to the 1960s skiing was a small
family of people, smaller ski areas and everyone knew everybody who skied,”
Raine recounts. By the 1970s Canadian skiing had become “chic”, he says, with
more expensive, bigger and more commodious resorts: “By the 80s and 90s,
resorts were full service and skiers were no longer hard core ‘mountain people’
except for the minority.” This is when resorts started to focus on a wider
range of facilities and amenities to make skiing a comfortable winter vacation
for everyone. Raine says resorts began to improve access, lifts, grooming, and
ski equipment to reflect this softer trend.
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The roads were made wide enough for
sleigh rides right through town
(Photo by Adam Stein/Courtesy of Sun Peaks Resort) |
Nowadays,
as Mayor of Sun Peaks, Raine is committed to providing a positive experience
for everyone in town. “As their council, we do what is necessary to improve the
resort for those who live, work, and visit Sun Peaks,” he explains.
Ironically,
the resort he moved from is Sun Peaks’ main rival in attracting destination
skiers. “The major competition for Sun Peaks is Whistler in the long haul
markets and Okanagan ski areas in the regional
market. But we focus mainly on improving our product and service and not
on what the other resorts are doing,” says Raine.
His
format for a great ski vacation follows the 6, 8 and 10 rule: “Winter sports
today cater to the masses and it is much more than just the sport, we are in
the entertainment business and there are only six hours of skiing, eight hours
of sleeping and rest and 10 hours - or the biggest part of the day - is spent
eating, socializing, relaxing, enjoying friends etc. These 10 hours of fun with
friends and family are a very important part of our business today.”
And
Sun Peaks has certainly cornered the market on après ski entertainments. As
well as having lovely, alpine architecture and décor throughout the easily
walkable resort, it has a full menu of activities including bungee trampoline,
cat trax groomer rides, dog sled tours, horse drawn sleigh rides, fondue dinner
with torchlight descent, snow limo, snowmobile tours, snowshoeing, tube park,
pro-photographer shoots, first tracks breakfast, resort transit, a wide array
of accommodation and eateries and spas, as well as the more traditional ice
skating and ice hockey. “In the old days, skiing and ice skating were about the
only activities happening in winter,” says Raine. “Today there is a ton of
competition for the entertainment activities, indoor tennis, fitness halls,
basketball, volleyball, professional sports watching, badminton, squash etc.,
mostly easy and relatively inexpensive to access.”
These
kinds of facilities also facilitate four-seasons’ functionality which Raine
considers vital for the future success of Sun Peaks, and ski resorts in
general. “Resorts must diversify during the winter months and for the off
season,” says Raine. “The best resorts in the future will be those that have
strong winter and summer seasons, better value for money and better staff and
services. The economics of resort operations change when you have year
round revenues and stable committed year round staff.”
His love of
skiing is reflected by his career path but, when asked what the perks of his
job are, he says “I met my partner for life.” This is Nancy Greene Raine who as
Nancy Greene is known to
millions of ski fans for her illustrious career in ski racing. She was top
racer for Canada throughout the 1960s, winning Olympic gold and silver in 1968
and notching up 13 World Cup victories (still a Canadian record), and 17 Canadian
Championship titles. She then went on to become the mother of team ski racing
for children all over Canada when the Nancy
Greene Ski League spread
across the country on the tailcoats of her 1968 successes. Interestingly, Al
Raine, then the Southern Ontario Coach, proposed the League and asked Nancy to
endorse it the year prior to her Olympic medals. Greene is still Honourary
Chairman of the League and in 1999 she was named Canada’s female athlete of the
century.
Nowadays, her
roles include Director of Skiing at Sun Peaks, Chancellor Emerita of Thompson
Rivers University and also, since Jan 2009, Senator for British Columbia in the
Government of Canada. And she still finds time to guide people around the
mountain, working for the Sun
Peaks Resort Corporation
as well as Tourism Sun Peaks. "My situation is
pretty unique, and I am very much part of a team,” she says. "I've never
considered what I do as a 'job' - certainly I don't have a job description. I
just use my initiative to promote Sun Peaks as best I can, and to be out on the
slopes connecting with our guests every chance I get.”
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An amazing skier, Nancy Greene Raine
still guides and hosts on the slopes
of Sun Peaks
(Photo by Paul Morrison/
Courtesy of Sun Peaks Resort) |
As well as her value
in celebrity endorsement, her interaction with tourists helps garner valuable
feedback to resort management. And being able to ski with Nancy Greene is an added
“wow factor” for visiting media and travel industry personnel as well as resort guests, as Nancy skis with
them daily when she is at home.
For many years she
partnered with Raine in the building and running of Nancy Greene’s Cahilty Lodge at Sun Peaks. “We have sold the hotel management company to
former staff, but still assist with hosting,” she says. “Everything I have been
able to do in ski tourism has been alongside Al." The two were married a
year after Greene retired from ski racing at the age of 24.
