Mount St Louis Opens New Josl Huter Express
This new Leitner Poma High Speed 6-seater chairlift honours the legacy of patriarch and Mount St. Louis Moonstone Ski Resort founder Josl Huter.
The Josl Huter Express solidifies the heritage of Josl Huter as a pioneer in the Canadian Ski industry and honours his passionate dream for the ski resort.
“Dad would be excited about how this project came together. He would be proud of the Operations team for their hard work and dedication to get this chair spinning and he’d be the first skier lined up to ride it” says MSLM General Manager and son of Josl Huter, Robert Huter. “On behalf of my brother Andre, my mother Elfriede, my wife Sarah and our 4 children, we look forward to the memories our customers will make skiing and riding this chairlift.”
In 1956 Huter, a skier who had formerly competed in the Austrian National Alpine Championships, emigrated to Toronto from Austria to start a career in the automotive industry. He returned to the ski industry again the next year almost by accident, after meeting a friend who worked at the Limberlost Resort outside of Huntsville, Ontario who asked Huter to fill in for a sick instructor. Huter was diagnosed with a small brain tumour which was removed in January 1958, but returned to the industry the following year. During the summer he returned to Austria and married, working in a small inn there during the summer, and as a ski instructor in Canada in the winter, now at Muskoka Sands Resort.
In the spring of 1963 he was offered a manager position at Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort just north of Barrie, but when this position did not pan out a friend mentioned that there was another potential resort location nearby. They sold their Austrian inn and purchased the land in the fall of 1963, starting work cutting the trails that December. Bulldozers were used to clear out additional brush and rocks in May 1964, and two 1,600-foot-long T-bars (490 m) were added late that fall.
In the spring of 1963 he was offered a manager position at Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort just north of Barrie, but when this position did not pan out a friend mentioned that there was another potential resort location nearby. They sold their Austrian inn and purchased the land in the fall of 1963, starting work cutting the trails that December. Bulldozers were used to clear out additional brush and rocks in May 1964, and two 1,600-foot-long T-bars (490 m) were added late that fall.
The resort is just over one hour driving time from Toronto and is located just off Highway 400, which makes it a prime destination for Toronto-area skiers. Although the hill itself is fairly small, it has been extensively built out, with three high-speed six-pack lifts headlining a total of 13 lifts.
