Owl's Head celebrates 50th anniversary despite mild weather

The last time Fred Korman saw a December this mild was the year he opened the Owl's Head ski resort.

That was in 1965.

At the time, he was an electrician from the nearby village of Potton. Without much enthusiasm, he bought a parcel of land at the bottom of the hill when a neighbour offered it to him for a very reasonable price.

"He bugged me, so I really wasn't that interested," said Korman.

He saw the success of other nearby ski hills, including Mont Sutton and Bromont, and decided to get into the ski business himself.

At first, it seemed like a rocky investment – especially because there was no snow until after Christmas in 1965.

But the family business survived the first year, and then the next. Now they're celebrating their half-century anniversary this Dec. 18 weekend.

Bittersweet anniversary

Fifty years after it opened, the ski hill is still run by Korman, his wife Lillian and their daughter, Carroll.

It's a happy milestone, and one that Korman is proud of, but they have no immediate plans to celebrate.

"What are we going to celebrate?" he asked.

"To celebrate, we'd like to have people, but we can't have people if there's no snow. So let's face it. [We'll] probably.... cry," he said, laughing.

The hill is still green. It's been raining all week in the Eastern Townships, melting the small piles of snow that staff at the mountain made in late November.

It's nowhere near ready to open, and worse, weather for Christmas week is supposed to be even warmer.

"I've never seen it so warm for the month of December," said Korman.

Eastern Townships success story

Over time, Owl's Head expanded from a hobby business to a four-season resort that offers both skiing and golf. It's one of the largest employers in the area, with 70 full-time employees and a snow maker purchased in the 1980s.

Owl Head's sales and marketing director, known professionally as Luc Skypowder, said there will be a celebration of the milestone once the hill is open.

He said there will be an après-ski celebration at the resort.

"The Kormans should be proud," Skypowder said.

"In the industry, at least in Canada and in Quebec, the same owners for 50 years, still in place with absolutely no bankruptcy, no help from external financing… We're proud of that, we're proud of them."