Person

Borgal, Lorne

fl. June 1980 - May 4, 2019

Lorne Borgal was formerly a president of Whistler Mountain ski resort. He arrived in Whistler in June 1980, fresh off an MBA from Stanford University, driving up from California within days of graduating. He had been hired by Hugh Smythe to help manage Blackcomb Mountain. As he recalled, “from accounting, marketing, sales, to any of the operating entities, ski patrol, lift operations or anything to be ready for opening day, on the operating side fell to me.” He completed a wide range of tasks, from wiring the telephone lines himself when BC-Tel was on strike to having to play traffic cop to help skiers get home to Vancouver after a busy day on the slopes. After three seasons, Lorne felt ready to move on, but while on vacation in Europe, he received a phone call from Whistler Mountain marketing executive Mike Hurst informing Lorne that Franz Wilhelmsen was retiring, and Lorne was being considered as his replacement as Whistler Mountain president. Lorne happily accepted the new job, and for the next six years (1983-1989) he oversaw Whistler Mountain during a period of intense competition with the upstart Blackcomb. He was at the helm of major projects such as the construction of Pika’s Restaurant (Whistler’s first proper on-mountain eatery), the visionary installations of the original Peak Chair in 1986 and the Village Gondola, leading international trade missions to expand the resort’s global reach, and updating Whistler Mountain’s management and customer service to keep up with a rapidly changing world. After leaving Whistler Mountain, Lorne served as an executive for a global software company, president of two other resorts, and consulted globally for upstart ski resorts around the world. His contributions to Whistler are most notably recognized in the Whistler alpine, where Bagel Bowl refers to a nickname of his, “the Lone Bagel.” Since retiring from working in ski resorts, Borgal started a new aerial mapping company, Precision Vectors Aerial Inc.. He and his wife of 38 years, Nancy Treiber, had children and grandchildren. They were the first couple to get married on Blackcomb peak, in 1981. He moved to Smithers in 2005. On May 4, 2019, Lorne and three others (working for Precicion Vectors Aerial and contracted by the BC Wildfire Service) were in a Cessna-182 plane crash near Smithers, with Lorne and three others being killed and one other surviving. The plane flew out from Lakes District Air in Burns Lake and crashed about 200 metres from the Babine River, in a canyon. The cause of the crash and the identity of the individual airlifted to hospital are still unknown.

California
Whistler

Businessman
Former COO of Whistler Mountain

1) https://www.whistlerquestion.com/opinion/columnists/museum-musings-lorne-borgal-s-contributions-to-the-mountains-1.2137904
2) https://www.bigpictureconferences.ca/PreviousConferences/WCHRIC/2012/www.resortinvest.ca/indexe23a.html?pagePath=Lorne_Borgal&id=44944
3) https://ca.linkedin.com/in/lorneborgal
4) https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/the-many-contributions-of-lorne-borgal/Content?oid=13822688
5) https://www.interior-news.com/news/lorne-borgal-among-dead-in-plane-crash/
6) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/small-plane-crash-crew-contracted-bc-wildfire-service-1.5124724

RAD, July 2008 version. Canadian Council of Archives.

Revised May 2, 2020.