One of the best things about Calgary is its proximity to the Rocky Mountains. In just over an hour’s drive, the awesome majesty of the ancient peaks can be witnessed; a breathtaking view that never gets old.
Beyond just looking at the Rockies, many like to experience them too. As hikers, campers, skiers, cyclists, sledders – there are a number of ways to get close to nature in the Rockies.
For generations of Calgarians and visitors alike, Banff Sunshine Village is both the gateway and setting for mountain adventures. And for the past 44 years, Ralph Douglas Scurfield, CEO and president of Sunshine, has been happily facilitating these experiences – one new chairlift, run and attraction at a time.
Scurfield was just 28 years old when he took over as CEO Sunshine in 1985. A young lawyer, he landed in the role after the tragic and unexpected passing of his father and well-respected Calgary businessman, Ralph Thomas Scurfield (Sr.), in a heli-skiing accident. Scurfield Sr. was 57 and in his prime.
The family purchased Sunshine Village in 1981 for $23.5 million, including $16 million of debt. It was an exciting new venture in Scurfield Sr.’s portfolio of companies which included Nu-West Homes and the Calgary Flames. At that time, Sunshine was a storied yet tired ski resort with three t-bars, five double chairs and a creaky gondola.
Not a ski-insider and with a lot to learn about running a tourism business in a national park, Scurfield learned on the job and through continuing education. He invested in people, customer services and the best lifts and equipment – more than one hundred million dollars has been reinvested to date.
Today, Sunshine is one of Canada’s premier ski destinations, “a jewel of a resort in the crown of the Canadian Rockies,” and Scurfield’s life’s work.
“Sunshine is very, very special,” he says from Sunshine’s office in Calgary’s Beltline. “It is special because it has Canada’s best snow. We get this dry, light powder because we’re the highest peaks in the Rockies. We always get snow, that’s why it was discovered.”
Located 7,200 feet high on the Continental Divide, in both Alberta and British Columbia, Sunshine – named for the fact that the resort, being so high up, is out of the shadows – today includes three mountains with more than 3,300 acres of skiable terrain.
Originally a hunting camp nicknamed ‘Teepee Town’ (now the name of one of two heated chairlifts), the CP Rail built a cabin in the area in 1928. The Brewster family was hired to check on the cabin in the winter months and – lo and behold – saw how much snow accumulated there versus down in the valley.
“The Brewsters leased it and had their first paying customers for what was basically cross-country and ski touring in 1934,” Scurfield explains. A rope-tow was eventually installed before the Brewsters sold it in 1942. The business changed hands a few more times before the Scurfield family bought it.
“Our whole family were skiers,” Scurfield, the eldest of seven kids to Ralph T. and his wife Sonia, explains of his youth. “We grew up in Northwest Calgary and you could see the snow-capped mountains from our house. Winter was really exciting.”
Scurfield remembers his parents with pride. “Dad very much always believed in – and he instilled in us – the importance of the place you live,” he says. “Dad was a community builder. He loved Calgary and Alberta.”
In addition to bringing the Calgary Flames to the city, Scurfield Sr. helped to establish the Faculty of Management at the University of Calgary, where Scurfield Hall is named in his honour.
“Dad believed we need great institutions to attract great people and then keep them here,” Scurfield explains. “That great business schools helped build great cities. Although pictured at the sod-turning, he never saw it open. When mom got her name on the Stanley Cup in 1989, that too was a little bittersweet.”
During Scurfield’s early years as CEO, Sunshine held back-to-back Women’s World Cup’s in 1985 and 1986. “It was really exciting right out of the gate,” he recalls. “We had a lot of things happening. We’d opened up the beginning steps of Goat’s Eye, we put in what’s now Wolverine Express Quad.”
The 1980s and early ‘90s taught Scurfield to be debt averse and never sign personal guarantees: “I was willing to pledge all the business assets to the bank, but not the small equity that we had in our family home. We grew slowly and cautiously.” A shortage of “dry powder” sometimes held things back. “I also learned governments can and frequently do change rules,” he continues. “So windows of opportunity sometimes close quickly.”
By 1991, Sunshine was struggling. “We needed to invest to compete with shiny new resorts like Nakiska and expanding resorts in B.C., but the bank that had financed the acquisition was taking everything with lock box cash controls,” he reminisces. “We listed the resort for sale but there were no realistic offers. I believed in the dream and business. Eventually I bought out some of my siblings. It was a huge stretch for me. That was when Barb [Scurfield’s wife] said if it didn’t work out, we still had our professions.”
Eventually Scurfield found a bank that believed in him. With the help of BMO, the long-awaited Goat’s Eye Mountain finally came to be.
Being in Banff National Park has posed challenges over the years – including in 2019 when Scurfield was forced to agree to new Site Guidelines or have his business sold out from under him. Scurfield remains stoic in his outlook: “They can be tough to deal with, but on the other hand we’ve got probably the most beautiful scenery in the world, and it’s protected. That’s a huge advantage. It’s not wall-to-wall condos here.”
Sunshine operates on a 42-year lease from Parks Canada. “It’s always a balance between preserving and protecting versus using and enjoying the land,” Ralph opines. “If we don’t protect it today, it won’t be there tomorrow to enjoy. But if we absolutely protect it then nobody ever gets to enjoy it. A lot of my life has been managing that balance, especially because different governments have different feelings on the importance of tourism.”
Sunshine today has roughly 800 employees, many long-term, including Scurfield’s daughter Kendra Scurfield, who is vice president of Marketing. “People like working for us because they’re part of something bigger and long term here,” she says. “Sunshine is a place and a business. That creates a special feeling among the people that work here. We’re a proud Western Canadian family.”
Of the five million visitors to Banff National Park each year, Sunshine receives over 600,000 in just the winter season alone. “On a busy day we can see over 6,000 people, but skiers spread out and there’s hardly a lift line,” Scurfield remarks.
Customers can be recreational, tourism or both. “Season pass holders are entirely recreation,” Scurfield explains. “They are mostly families who start coming in November and we see them through to spring.” He notes that unlike big recreation centres within the city, which receive government grants and subsidies, Sunshine is 100 per cent family owned and operated.
“Then we have destination tourists, mainly from Europe, the U.S. and Central Canada and rubber-tire visitors from the Prairies,” he notes. “They come at Christmas, mid-February through Easter, and they fill up the hotel rooms in Banff. Destination visitors buy more gifts and take more lessons. We cater to all our visitors.”
“Sunshine is as a bridge between urban life and the wild,” Scurfield continues. “We try to teach people a bit about nature and the great outdoors. Beginners can have excitement in a relatively safe environment. Fun and memories are really the only thing we have to sell.”
The mountain caters to every skill level, a sort of ‘Goldilocks’ of ski hills; from Strawberry Hill for young families learning to ski, to Goat’s Eye and Delirium Dive for extreme sports enthusiasts.
To be a first-class resort, Scurfield and his team have invested in what customers want most: a modern lift system which eliminates lift lines. Last year, it opened Super Angel, a state-of-the-art Leitner-Poma six-passenger with direct drive, heated seats and bubbles. “Super Angel had to be built over two seasons,” Scurfield recounts. “A Blackhawk helicopter flew in large pieces, and other large components were moved over snow. We maintain a very, very light footprint on the land.”
“Though we operate on a lease from the federal government, we’re making these long-term investments,” Scurfield notes. “Super Angel will have a life of 35+ years. So we got the best of the best. People will look at it in 10 years and think it’s still new.”
This is the second heated chairlift at Sunshine – Teepee Town LX opened in 2015 – and along with the other high speed lifts allows Scurfield to boast ‘Canada’s most modern lift system’.
While the main business consists of uphill transportation and skiing/snowboarding safely, Sunshine operates several other micro businesses, much like a small municipality. “We have a hotel, ski schools, ski rentals, retail, food and beverage, daycare, staff accommodation, utilities including sewage treatment, water supply, propane distribution and a bus company,” he notes.
“The Sunshine Mountain Lodge is a beautiful little boutique hotel with 84 rooms. It’s the only ski-in-ski-out in the Canadian Rockies,” he continues. “It’s very special in the summertime too. All year round, the dark skies at Sunshine are a spectacular place to see the Aurora Borealis and constellations.”
While Sunshine’s summer business is a fraction of that in winter, Scurfield is nonetheless enthusiastic about what they offer: “Summer is beautiful here and we’re glad more Calgarians are coming to know about it.”
A commitment to environmental stewardship is paramount and ensured by following best practices at all times. For example: every white bark pine on the mountain is geolocated and the sewage treatment plant discharges water so clean it could fill a fish tank.
“The standards are extremely high and that’s ‘table stakes’ to operate in a national park,” Scurfield allows. “When it comes to the environment, we follow and sometimes set international best practices.”
At a time when many competitors are foreign owned, with profits leaving this province, Scurfield continues his father’s legacy of re-investing in the business and investing in the community. Sunshine is a big supporter of Big Brother and Big Sisters, the Mineral Springs Hospital, the Dave Irwin Brain Injury Foundation, the Waterkeepers Canada Foundation and Rocky Mountain Adaptive, a charitable organization that creates and provides accessible adventures for individuals living with physical and/or neurodivergent challenges.
Scurfield’s commitment is sincere: “Talk about resilience! Skiing can be fun for everybody. We love working with the Rocky Mountain Adaptive group because of the positivity.”
Sunshine also supports local home-grown athletes, including four skiers and riders headed to the Winter Olympics in Italy next year who grew up at Sunshine. “We’re very proud of all of them, especially those from the Sunshine Ski Club,” Scurfield beams. “We’re also sponsoring a Paralympian.”
Reflecting on the past 40 years, Scurfield is glad he believed in himself, even when few others did: “Doug Mitchell hired me as a 23-year-old student-at-law at Howard Mackie, which later became BLG. I last saw him alive at Mary Kwong’s funeral. At that time, he gave me a great compliment about Sunshine saying: ‘A lot of people didn’t think you could do it, but you’ve done it in spades!’”
“It’s been a great ride with lots of ups and downs,” he concludes with a chuckle. “The most fun is building new attractions, meeting new people, and seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter on guests’ faces at the end of a ski day.” Ralph invites everyone to experience this magical place in the mountains.