What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire

Kimberley and their Mountain Resort Forged from Fire

By Jeff Pew

(An abridged version of the article appears in GO Cranberley, Winter 2022/23. In print soon!)
(A radio interview on how the town and ski hill embraced adversity can be heard on Kootenay Co-op Radio, Jeff Pew)

“Things get bad for all of us, almost continually, and what we do under the constant stress reveals who/what we are.”― Charles Bukowski
From “What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire”

On December 18th, 2021, Kevin Leslie arrived at the Kimberley Alpine Resort (KAR) for his 12:30 am graveyard groomer shift. He checked the fluids of his Prinoth 350 Snowcat, reviewed his task sheet, then headed up the hill. At the top of the NorthStar Express High-Speed Quad, he shaped and groomed the offramp’s snow, which had been subjected to the fresh edges of opening-day crowds. Once done, he drove to the backside, groomed Dean Left then made his way to the front shortly after 2 am. As he descended Vimy Ridge, he looked up toward the quad chair. “It was a raging inferno, burning like mad,” he recalls. Immediately, he radioed Assistant Mountain Manager, Ryan Watters, who was on the hill to deal with some mysterious power bumps—unknowingly, at the time, related to the fire. “The top quad shack is on fire,” Leslie yelled, then raced as fast as he could up Caper. When he arrived, he grabbed his fire extinguisher and ran as close to the hut as he could get. Within seconds, his fire extinguisher was empty. “All I could do was stand back and watch it burn,” he says. For the next three hours, Leslie and the other groomers spent the night shuttling KAR managers, RCMP, the K9 Unit, and the Kimberley Fire Department to the top of the hill. Within the first hour, the structure was declared a crime scene.

By first light, it was clear the fire had completely demolished the lift operations building, which housed specialized electronic equipment that runs the chairlift. Fortunately, the cable and bullwheel remained unscathed. The RCMP's initial investigation deemed the fire “suspicious” but on January 10, 2022, Sgt. Steve Woodcox, Kimberley Detachment Commander, declared: “Further investigation….has led investigators to believe this fire is arson and deliberately set.”

Kimberley was in shock. Two weeks earlier, the Kimberley Gymnastics Club facility had been destroyed by arson. Residents speculated on motives and whether the two incidents were connected. Murmurs circulated that the arsons were a violent protest against vaccination requirements at the Kimberley Gymnastics Club and KAR. On the heels of Covid-19, Kimberley felt sucker-punched. 

KAR’s General Manager, Ted Funston, recalls last year’s opening day joy. “It’s like a Broadway production and the curtain’s finally gone up. It’s always such a relief.” On the resort’s social media, KAR congratulated a group of seven fifteen-year-olds who slept in tents to earn the coveted first chair. Then, the unimaginable occurred. “We went home that night and around 3 am I received a phone call from Assistant Mountain Manager, Ryan Watters, who described what had happened,” Funston says. “My first thought was if anybody was hurt. Then, I just felt sad for the people of Kimberley, the young kids, the old guys and retirees, all the businesses and tourists, and finally, the people who holiday here.” 

Conner Mohnssen, one of the teens who earned the opening-day first chair, recalls the moment he heard about the fire.  “I was really pissed,” he says. “I suspected the chair would be out for the season and it was really coming down that night, so the next morning was a pow day wasted.”

After witnessing the crime scene and meeting with RCMP investigators, Funston was back in his office by 5:30 am. “We knew the lift wasn’t running but had no idea what that really meant,” he says. “I had to put out a notice that the resort was closed for the day.” Funston strategized with RCR's upper management and discussed the future. “Our energy was focused on what we could do, not what we couldn’t,” he says.  

Engineers and electricians from Leitner-Poma, the company that designed the NorthStar Express, were on-site immediately, to determine whether KAR could access the parts required to make the NorthStar operational. Soon, it became apparent that this wasn’t possible and the facility would require a rebuild. 

Although the obvious business decision would have been to close the hill for the season, Resort of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) —KAR’s parent company— decided they wouldn’t give in. By noon that day, RCR announced that KAR would remain open for the season and focused their efforts on getting skiers and riders access to the mountain. They decided to open the backside, operating the Easter and Tamarack chairs, where skiers and snowboarders could hike twenty minutes along Ridgeway to access the Tamarack chair. As well, they would run the Owl T-Bar and the Magic Carpet at the base area. With the future of the front side closure unknown, RCR recognized that skiers and snowboarders lost a considerable amount of terrain and offered pass holders free skiing at their other mountain properties until NorthStar was operational. 

The resort put the word out to the Canada West Ski Areas Association that KAR was in trouble. Immediately, Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, and Castle mountain resorts offered snowcats to help transport people with mobility issues. On December 23rd, the resort announced they would begin shuttling people with mobility issues up the front side with the three snowcats on loan. Neighbouring Cranbrook’s New Dawn Developments and Bridge Interiors offered tents and heaters to construct a backside village. Kimberley’s Rotary Club donated barbecues. Local businesses reached out asking what they could do to help. “We just kept saying, ‘Yes,’” Funston recalls. “The more positive people were about it, the harder we wanted to make it work.” 

Despite RCR’s efforts, fewer tourists were visiting the mountain, and Kimberley experienced an immediate drop in the tourism and service industry. Kieran Hickey, the owner of a Kimberley property management company, was doing renovations on a property when he first heard the sirens. “That morning, I learned there was a significant fire on the ski hill and worried that Kimberley’s winter economic lifeline was severed,” he says. “From a business perspective, we were finally coming out of the Covid fog and seeing the light that things were going to be manageable. Then, this happened.” 

Hickey marvels at the effort people undertake to ski in Kimberley. “Our market is largely Alberta,” he says.  “You drive by a half-dozen ski resorts to get here and yet, people still show up. They love Kimberley.” Hickey tried to mitigate his cancellations, yet the concept of new bookings was non-existent. “People book ski holidays months in advance,” he says. “Seventy percent of winter bookings are determined by December.”

A year later, Hickey doesn’t mince words when talking about the arsonist and their motivation. “I understand people have varying views on vaccine mandates, but RCR implemented an industry-standard vaccine mandate, and the arsonist went after them. Did they have any idea how they’d impact an entire community?”

Denai Bell, who owns Arrow and Axe General Store—in Kimberley’s Platzl—alongside her husband, Jarret, remembers that Saturday morning clearly. “Our kids were so excited. They had their skis and snow gear laid out on their bedroom floors. In the morning, I started receiving texts from friends and family: photos and posts full of anger and frustration expressed by the town. It took an hour for it to sink in. The kids were devastated. I don’t think we truly thought, as business owners, what that would mean until the next day when the realization sunk in.  We’d just managed to stay afloat during COVID and, with a store full of inventory, were excited about what we’d hoped would be a normal year. Following the fire, and immediate reduction in tourism, we just focused on breaking even again. We set our new expectations and dug in for a bumpy ride.”  

Funston never wants to see something like this happen again. “Kimberley is known as a welcoming, happy place. This seemed so aggressive and out of character for our town.” To help safeguard from this, RCR put a $100,000 reward on the table. “We’re serious about finding the person who did this,” he says. “We don’t ever want to feel the threat to the resort or our community again.” In addition to the reward, RCR has hired night security guards and installed cameras throughout the resort to help deter any possible vandalism.

Sgt. Woodcox reports the arson is still active and under investigation. “We do not have any suspects identified,” he says, “but we’re still utilizing investigative techniques to help us identify the person(s) responsible. Sometimes, the littlest things can help solve an investigation.” Woodcox states that the public helped solve the Kimberley Gymnastics Club fire, so he’s hopeful that a tip will be instrumental in solving this case.

Both Funston and Kimberley’s Mayor, Don McCormick, focus on the positive outcome of how Kimberley rallied together following the fire. “Rarely are the broader consequences of an act like this considered when choices are made,” McCormick says. “It put businesses, jobs and families in jeopardy. But Kimberley is such a resilient community. Everyone picked themselves up and looked for the positive. RCR created an amazing response under very challenging circumstances, keeping the ski hill operational which salvaged much of the winter season for so many people. We have so many reasons to feel proud and positive about our community.” 

There’s a reason for all the adages about how we deal with adversity: It’s where our true nature emerges and Kimberley was no exception. Following the fire, Kimberley experienced a number of historic windfalls: Kimberley won CBC’s Best Small Town contest; Kimberley’s Ben Cohen won BC Alpine Coach of the Year, and KAR won BC Alpine Resort of the Year; Kimberley Alpine Ski Team beat out 67 other Canadian ski communities to win the $50,000 McKenzie Top Peak Contest, which they will use to expand access to future ski programs and upgrade their club’s training equipment; and Heather Gemmell won CBC’s SearchLight Top Three Voter’s Choice for her song “NorthStar Burning” written to denounce the arsonist and muster the strength of her town.

Kimberley parent Jaymie Weir describes how he reserved the snowcat people mover so that his son, Leo, could ride the front side where he was more comfortable. “Once, while on the cat, I said to Leo, ‘Look at the view! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment. People pay thousands of dollars to do this!”

Even the walk along the Ridgeway to the Tamarack chair became a ritual of resilience for the 2021 ski season. People joked about it being the warm-up for the ski day, constantly racing to beat their best time. And, how often did we see the determined five-year-old taking big, tired strides as he plodded along, his skis bundled in his mom’s arms? When he collapsed and his mom said, “We’re almost there,” he grumbled, got up, and kept walking for what might have seemed like forever.

If anything positive resulted from this devastating event, it was the way Kimberley responded with such grace. For Kimberley Alpine Resort and RCR, public opinion—and how they reacted to the arson—has never been so strong. On April 11th, following their closing day, RCR’s social media pages were full of kudos and praise for the resort. People claimed it was a season they’ll never forget and applauded RCR for turning this unfortunate incident into such a positive experience. 

“We’ve got so much gratitude for the people of Kimberley who support local businesses that experience tough times,” Denai Bell says. “Many families who operate small businesses depend on the success of their business for their entire family income. Following the fire, our community was so supportive.”

In the second week of December 2022,  Funston believes the future season looks great. “Everything’s coming together,” he says. “Skiers have been using the uptrack and reporting that the Boundary snow conditions are fantastic.” As well, Funston reports that the engineers and electricians from Leitner-Poma have been working tirelessly to ensure the lift is operational by their scheduled third- week-of-December opening. 

Meanwhile, the KAR crew is getting the show ready for opening day. Kevin Peel “Peeler” is talking about the new groomer they bought and posting photos of sunlight corduroy he’s just laid down on the Main. Newly-hired staff are shovelling the parking lot stairs and an engineer from Leitner-Poma is slapping Electrical Manager Mike Byrnes on the back as they watch a NorthStar chair turn quietly in the terminal before it ascends the mountain. 

At the end of the day, Ted Funston leaves his KAR office and walks in the dark toward his truck. There’s a light dusting of snow. “We’re getting there,” he says. “It’s almost showtime.”  

POST-PUBLICATION UPDATE: The NorthStar Express is running smoothly as of the opening day
(December 18, 2022)!

Heather Gemmell:  “Winning Fan Choice Award for CBC Searchlight was a lemon-into-lemonade ending for my song,” Heather Gemmell says referring to “NorthStar Burning”, the song she wrote after learning that the NorthStar lift was destroyed by arson—instead of her initial suspicion of an innocent electrical fire. “These poor folks at the hill had to stay positive and keep people coming to the hill,” she says. “I tried writing a straightforward song that told it like it was. This sucks! Someone had to say it.” Gemmell—a roots & blues musician based in Kimberley and member of the illustrious local band, Alderbash—wrote and recorded the song in her basement while her husband looked after the kids. Once launched on social media, there was an overwhelming reaction from the public. The next week, she learned that CBC’s Searchlight Contest—the annual talent search for aspiring, undiscovered artists—was running. It was perfect timing. “I’ve got a song that’s touching a lot of people,” she says. “1600 people submitted songs, and I won the top three voters’ choice, which awarded a distribution package from MPE and a $1000 gift certificate from Long and McQuade, where I bought a new guitar and upgraded my pedal board. It was pretty cool.”

Gemmell is putting the finishing touches on her new song, “NorthStar Turning, A Bluebird Day” a happy-go-lucky song about skiing, sun pits, and where the only thing that’s burning is our thighs.