Alpine skiing | The Massif du Sud invests 75 million with help from Quebec

(Lévis) Climate change is not dampening investments in Quebec’s ski mountains. It’s almost the opposite. The Massif du Sud becomes the most recent resort to inject millions into the development of its four-season offering.

The station’s owner, Pierre-Yves Charest, wants to invest $75 million over a four-year period. This is quite a turnaround for the Bellechasse mountain which, under the previous owner, had been threatened with a bankruptcy order by creditors.

The Massif du Sud will receive a boost of 9 million from Quebec: a subsidy of 5 million from the Ministry of Tourism and a loan with interest of 4 million from Investissement Québec (IQ).

“We want to double the station’s ridership over a five-year period,” said Pierre-Yves Charest on Tuesday, who acquired the station in part in 2022, and is today its sole shareholder.

The lion’s share of the 75 million envelope will go into a new chalet, with 120 condo-hotel type units (60 million), which will open in 2028. Around thirty chalets will also be built.

3 million have already been invested in the ski lift, with the addition of a boarding carpet to attract families and allow the transport of mountain bikes.

The resort also wants to develop 50 kilometers of mountain bike trails, which will be added to the twenty that make up the Massif-du-Sud regional park. This will make a network of 70 km (Mont Sainte-Anne has around 175 km of mountain bike trails, to give a scale of size).

“We know that with the current climatic conditions, other activities are needed, particularly indoor ones. It’s a major asset,” concedes Mr. Charest.

An indoor swimming pool and a small climbing center will also be set up at the bottom of the slopes, in addition to a brand new chalet at the summit from next summer.

“Developing the four seasons is essential,” he says. This is for all stations. The 74 member resorts of the Association of Quebec Ski Resorts are in the process of developing this. »

Significant challenges

A recent study by the Ouranos research group commissioned by the Association of Quebec Ski Resorts predicts a stormy future for the sport in the context of climate change.

Rising temperatures and falling snow cover will force resorts to spend millions, at a time when attendance is stagnating, the authors warn.

The Massif du Sud, located an hour’s drive from Lévis, benefits from a favorable “microclimate”, estimates its owner. “We are the mountain with the highest peak in Quebec, at 915 meters, we have a microclimate, we are far from the river, the snow is less humid. We think we will be able to do well.”

The mountain also wants to take advantage of these investments to extend its season. The mountain is currently open for approximately 80 days. Management would like to quickly add 15 days to reach 95 days. “We want to open 120 days of skiing from 2026,” says Pierre-Yves Charest, who is also the head of OïKOS construction, a very active entrepreneur in the Quebec region.

Mr. Charest took over the station in 2022. The former owner had had trouble with the municipality of Saint-Philémon, which demanded $850,000 in unpaid property taxes from him in 2017.

“Everything is settled. We no longer have a case in court with the station. It’s a new team,” says the mayor of Saint-Philémon, Daniel Pouliot.

Tuesday’s announcement delights him, even if the mayor believes that the development “puts pressure” on the small municipality of 700 inhabitants. It will also be necessary to find new sources of water next summer.

“There is a paradigm shift,” notes Gabriel Paquet, president of the Bellechasse microbrewery, about the new owner and his vision of development.

The Massif du Sud is the most recent ski resort to receive aid from Quebec. Investissement Québec recently transformed a 36 million loan to the Massif de Charlevoix into preferred shares. An agreement is also imminent, according to a government source, for significant government funding for Mont-Sainte-Anne.