A man’s home is his castle, but Gabrielle Cyr could rewrite the adage to read “a woman’s home is her hill,” in her case. Pine Bend in Hastings, Minn. She has directed operations there since her husband died in 1966 and the area’s growth is an obvious testimonial to her success. Few men could qualify her success with that subtle, “Not bad, for a woman.”
Pine Bend started literally in her back yard. She and her husband Oscar, who raced on the same circuit with Toni Matt and Walter Prager, built a house on a hill overlooking the Mississippi River. One day they decided to install a small rope tow, and soon their friends were skiing with them weekends. A few years and more friends later, the Cyrs realized they were in business. They bought a sign, purchased more acreage and in 1953 formed the Ski Pine Bend Co.
Running the area in its early days brought more than its share of headaches. Gabe still remembers fledgling rope tows and grooming devices built out of sheer determination. Their first Pomalift presented a slightly different problem. Of installing it themselves, Gabe says “Did you ever try to read blueprints in French?” still with a sense of amazement that the lift went up.
If Pine Bend had a motto, it was “do it yourself.” Gabe and Oscar ran the area, installing two Pomas and six rope tows; when an engine broke or a rope needed splicing, their patrons, who had paid 50 cents for a day’s skiing, pitched in. The help now is paid, but according to Gabe, the headaches still persist. “The ski business is a problem from the day you open to the day you close,” she says, with the knowing of one who has been in it for 17 years.
And there have been tough times in those years. Oscar’s death in 1966 left Gabe not only with a tremendous personal loss but with a difficult decision as well—to sell or to stay, when staying meant shouldering the responsibility and work alone. Gabe stayed.
The work and experience of the early days proved invaluable. Gabe knows the intricacies of her tows as other women know their children. “After all, we installed them ourselves,” she says. Pine Bend now boasts two Thiokol Sprytes, a Tucker Sno-Cat and drag chains for grooming. Breakdowns when they occur are a problem, but again Gabe is familiar enough with her equipment “to diagnose its troubles, even if I’m not strong enough to do the work myself.”
In the meantime, snowmaking has taken much of the guesswork out of the operation. The Larchmont guns are turned on in early December and keep the area open until mid-March. “With a capacity of only 1,000 people you have to get as much mileage as possible out of your hill,” says Gabe. As a result the area also runs a highly successful night skiing program, staying open until 10 p.m. “Being so close to the Twin Cities, it’s easy for skiers to come out for a few runs after work.”
Pine Bend’s location is a boon to Gabe in another way—she doesn’t need the publicity the more remote areas do to attract customers. Radio and newspaper spots, as well as participation in local ski shows, provide as much plugging as Gabe feels the area needs.
What is needed is money, to subsidize the expansion Gabe is planning. She hopes to put in a double chair, another Poma and a new Alpine-style base lodge where there will be “a separate section for adults” who, Gabe feels, are somewhat perturbed by the lunchtime mayhem perpetrated by the younger set. Although the area’s 250-foot vertical drop precludes lengthening trails, she hopes to widen and recontour them, giving skiers a good 1000-foot run. By combining the wiles of a woman and the business acumen of a man, she’ll most likely come up with the cash.
Expansion notwithstanding, Gabe still maintains that Pine Bend’s greatest asset is its family atmosphere. Her mainstay and assistant manager Henry Bruggerman has been with Pine Bend for six years, working a 70-hour week as willingly as Gabe, while her married daughter Gady Blake, a certified PSIA instructor, helps out in the ski school, headed by Larry Klick and Bob Boyd. When asked if she has difficulty giving orders to men, Gabe just says, “we’re all working together here.”
The family atmosphere does not exist in a vacuum, however — it’s strongly supported by Gabe’s diligence and experience in the industry. Her guidelines to the successful operation of a ski area indicate this in yet another way.
- The owners must be dedicated and want to work hard.
- An area must sell no more lift tickets than the hill can comfortably accommodate.
- Slopes must always be in nearly perfect skiing condition — excuses won’t work anymore.
- Every hill must pay its way. We analyze skier traffic and if one trail is not being used sufficiently, we change its configuration the following season.
- Traffic must also be controlled in the chalet or base lodge — the “Big Barn” concept is out.
- Thick, juicy hamburgers, a good menu and food specialties are necessities.
- A Ladies Day program is essential, with sensible rates, good instruction, a film program and a specially-prepared luncheon.
- Finally — happy employees. At Pine Bend there are weekly meetings where grievances and possible solutions are discussed.
In the end, however, it is Gabe’s personal dedication to and love for the area which prevail. “We try to be a friendly area,” she says. “It’s beautiful here— you can ski right down to the Mississippi Valley. We don’t want to go commercial.” After all, Pine Bend is her home.
