Hardwood Ski and Bike in Oro-Medonte has everything one needs to get started in classic cross-country skiing, skate skiing, snowshoeing and fat biking this winter.
And if you want to get married before skiing, Hardwood can accommodate that, too.
That's because the owners and staff at the resort love skiing so much, they don't let things like fire, COVID-19 or a lack of a winter get in their way.
Under new ownership in 2008, the venue was one of the first in the region to add mountain biking to extend the ski business to four seasons.
"If you have a bad winter, you can leverage the other three seasons, so you are not so dependent on one season,” said Gareth Houben, president and general manager.
Houben, who has been working at Hardwood since 2008, becoming president and general manager in 2016.
Despite having four-season recreation, the facility has weathered major challenges.
On Christmas Day in 2017, a fire started in the kitchen. The chalet and another building burned to the ground. Skiers coped without a proper building for two seasons.
A spacious, new, two-storey chalet with Douglas fir beams, lots of windows and a full basement opened in the fall of 2019.
"We made it through one winter before we were forced to shut down for COVID," said Houben.
The core staff of 10 met the challenge by further expanding Hardwood's offerings.
A commercial kitchen — housed in an adjacent building, joined by a deck with the main chalet — opened in 2023. Hardwood prepares all its food in house and now offers catering. The venue can be rented with full meals.
Hardwood hosted its first wedding this summer. Marketing for Hardwood as a wedding venue will begin in in the new year, said Houben.
For the winter, there are learn-to-ski programs for children and adults as well as a ski improvement group and private lessons. Hardwood also hosts school groups. Programs start in January, and registration is open. Trail passes are available for an afternoon, full-day or season passes. A dedicated building houses the rental equipment. Another building houses children's programs.
The main chalet has a large retail store carrying name-brand classic and skate skis, boots, poles, base layers, outer layers, gloves, hats and shoes. The back of the shop is the service area to tune and repair skis.
The facility has 202 hectares (500 acres), including leased properties from the County of Simcoe. At full operation, there are 40 kilometres of groomed ski trails and 16 kilometres of shared snowshoe and groomed fat-biking trails.
Just as Hardwood rebounded from COVID-19, last winter was characterized by above-zero temperatures. Hardwood was open 70 days, but some of those days offered poor conditions. A typical season is 110 days.
“It was a very bad winter for everybody in the snow industry,” said Houben.
Hardwood is doing all it can to adapt to warmer winters in light of the fact it doesn't have snow making.
"I think it's in our future, for sure," Houben said.
Hardwood purchased grooming equipment that allows operation in low-snow conditions. This year, it allowed the business to open at the beginning of December, for a good start to the season.
Staff are also active in snow harvesting.
"If we get a snowfall and we know we might need some for later, we can take snow from a parking lot and make a big pile of clean snow that we can move onto the trails," Houben said.
Another strategy is to close the trails to preserve the base for another day.
Hardwood also hosts special events during the winter such as the Moonlight Snowshoe Fondue running Jan. 11 and Feb. 8 and a Women's Winter Wonderland day on Jan. 31 with adventures and lunch.
In the summer, the children's week-long day camps are successful, said Houben. Hardwood also offers mountain biking and outdoor adventure camps.
And, throughout spring, summer and fall, it offers mountain biking for the general public, plus racing leagues. Racers include Olympic mountain bikers Gunnar and Isabella Holmgren, who train there almost daily.
“All of it combines to be important to our business model,” Houben said.
"There's been a lot of challenges, but I like a good challenge. There's always a new thing to do, a new problem to solve. Trying to find that next great idea and seeing it come to fruition — that's rewarding.
"Thinking back to the time we had the fire, we could never imagine we'd be where we are now."
More information is available at hardwoodskiandbike.ca, by calling 705 487 3775 or 1 800 387 3775, by emailing [email protected] or by visiting in person at 402 Old Barrie Rd. W., Oro-Medonte.
