Page A12 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 26, 1990

from front

Shame

‘Manager hired.

Lifts which constructed the lift
equipment) and his crew did
very well, They had to be very
organized,” said Grabowski.

Using a helicopter may seem
expensive but it is fast and effi-
cient compared to how lift
towers were installed in the past
and to how some developments
are being constructed in other
places in-the world, he added.

“In Asia they are still using
hand labour, perhaps 300 to 400
people — horses, cats and
cranes,*’ Grabowski said,

Crews are now waiting for the
other elements of the lifts —
chairs and cables — to arrive so
they can be assembled and in-
stalled.

Grabowski said load testing
on the lifts should take place by
the early part of November.

The mountain, located off
Hwyl6 about 30km from Ter-
race toward Prince Rupert, is

scheduled to open mid-
December.
Grabowski and Shames

Mountain Ski Corporation
president Gerry Martin called
the installation of the lift towers
a psychological boost,

“Certainly it’s very positive.
There was never any doubt on
our part the development would
go ahead but this is very nice to
see,’’ said Martin.

And while work on the moun-
tain continues, Martin said
directors of the corporation
keep on their efforts to raise

money by selling shares and

developing marketing plans.

He said the first installment
of a $503,000. low interest
federal-provincial tourism
development loan is expected
very soon,

“We're waiting for a call. All
the paperwork has been done, It
should: be here very quickly,’
Martin added.

kkk

The man who will manage the
ski development arrived in the
city last week.

Scott Siemens, most recently
employed at the Edmonton Ski
Club’s Connors Hill develop-
ment, will be responsible for all
aspects of Shames Mountain,

He’s the first full time perma-
ment employee to be hired by
the ski corporation and is now
preparing budgets and plans for
the 50 to 60 people it will take to
run the operation.

“It’s a real challenge,’* said
Siemens in describing the job of
opening anew mountain,

Prior to working in Edmon-
ton, Siernens was involved in a
four year-$4 million develop-
ment of a ski facility in New
Brunswick.

That facility is similar to
Shames Mountain because it
meant developing skier interest
and demand and regional
marketing plans, he said.

“I learned a lot (in New
Brunswick) and will be able to
take that experience and apply it
here,’” said Siemens,

He added that customer

Ski share idea denied

s lift, road work
just moving right along

HEAT
Shayne get a close up look at
one of the ski lift towers before it
and others were airlifted into
place on Shames Mountain last
week. Those metal wheels will
guide the pull cable past the
tower.

satisfaction is the most impor-
tant aspect of developing a new
ski facility.

kkekekke

The road to the mountain
should be ready for gravelling
alter Thanksgiving, says the
highways ministry official in
charge of the project.

The first 9km of a Skeena
Cellulose logging road in the
Shames Valley has already been
improved and crews are now
blasting the final 4.5km spur
connection up to the mountain,

Scott Siemens |

Debt extension pondered

TERRACE — Regional district
directors will probably consider
extending the payment period
for a $313,650 debt owed it by
the Shames Mountain Ski Cor-
poration, says district chairman
Jack Talstra,

Talstra, also Terrace mayor,
said extending the payment
period is one option il can pur-
sue since the provincial govern-
ment has denied a pian to con-
vert the debt into shares in the
corporation,

More on
swap deal

TERRACE — The denial by
the provincial government of a
plan to convert a debi owed by
the Shames Mountain Ski Cor-
poration to the Kitimat-Stikine
regional district into shares is
based on several factors.

Proposed by Shames Moun-
tain this year to the regional
district and passed on to the
province, approval would have
resulted in the regional district
owing $313,650 worth of shares
and have $94,000 in unpaid in-
terest forgiven.

The proposal was one of six
options given by the regional
district to the province. In ail
but one, a provincial municipal
affairs ministry official said ap-
proval could not be given.

The options ranged from
whole or partial forgiveness of

the debt principal and interest:

to converting all debt and in-
terest inta shares.

In a letter to the regional
district, deputy municipal af-
fairs minister Ken Macleod
said sections of the Municipal
Act prohibit a board from
directly assisting a commercial
undertaking, -

“Converting the debenture,
principal and all interest, into
preferred or common shares
would, in my opinion, put the
regional district back in the ski
hill business, an event which the
voters clearly rejected in the
referendum of June, 1986,’
wrote MacLeod.

He said investing by way of.

shares in private corporations is
not favoured because of poten-
tial conflict of interest and the
question of control. .

The one option open. to the

regional. district that doesn't

need provincial approval is call-.°. .
ing in the debt, something the’ -
regional district has said it is not.
considering... 2 20020 ek

ih Adah Gibbet ttl a ie ae eed nackanadient

Although there is a sugges-
tion the province might consider
a debt for shares swap if a
referendum gave approval,
Talstra said he doubted direc-
tors will contemplate a vote.

**There’s the time frame and
the uncertainty,” said Talstra.

The debt for shares proposal
was made by the Shames Moun-
tain Ski Corporation this spr-
ing. It also asked that $94,000 in
accumlated an unpaid interest
owing on the debt be forgiven.

The corporation owes the
debt dating back to the 1986
purchase of the district’s lift
and other equipment from its
now-closed Kitsumkalum
operation. ;

It failed to make payments on
the debt and the original pay-
ment schedule has been pushed

JUST BECAUSE IT'S

PRIDE!

SEPTEMBER DOESN'T MEAN THERE AREN'T
ANY MORE VISITORS TO OUR CITYITHERE AREN'T ANY GATES THAT
CLOSE ON SEPTEMBER SECOND] WHETHER FOR BUSINESS OR
RELAXATION, VISITORS CONTINUE TO COME TO TERRACE AND THE
WARM WELCOME THEY RECEIVE WILL MEAN THEY'LL COME BACK!
VIRGINIA HAUGHIAN HAS LIVED IN TERRACE FOR FIVE YEARS.
WORKING AT MACDONALDS MEANS THAT VIRGINIA MEETS
VISITORS FROM NEAR AND FAR, AND FRIENDLY PEOPLE MAKE THE

DIFFERENCE FOR ALL OF THEM. COME ON TERRACE ~— SHOW YOUR ~

back three times.

The equipment is being used
on the corporation’s Shames
Mountain devélopment,
scheduled to ‘open this
December. a

Thornhill regional district
director Les Watmough said he
favoured extending the debt
repayments in some fashion:

“"T was never in favour of the
share option — it's like a stock
market deal,” he said,’

“T’ve always favoured
lengthening the contract, the
debenture contract — not for 40

years but for some period,’’

Watmough continued.

He added that'the last repay-
ment scheduled negotiation call-
ed for first payments this year
and that although the corpora-
tion has yet to make payments,

there is no worry on the part of
the regional district,

“'There’s no panic. We'll be
negotiating like gentlemey};”’ the
director said.

Watmough also felt that
voters would reject any referen-
dum seeking approval of a debt
for shares swap. ‘

**From what I’ve heard on
the streets, it (the vote} would
have failed dismally. That’s the
reading I got," he said.

Shames Mountain Ski Cor-
poration president Gerry Mar-
tin said the corporation
couldn't comment until its
board members received copies
of correspondence by the pro-
vincial government and have
had a chance to study the infor-
mation,

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