I have just come back from the Club and a subsequent Board meeting and want to provide you with an update after last night's tornado.

First of all, I want to say that we all need to be very thankful that in spite of the extensive damage to the Alpine Centre, the Maintenance Shop and some of the neighbouring condos and chalets, there are no reports of injuries. In fact, we had three employees standing outside of the Alpine Centre who were able to reach safety in the snowmaking plant before "what sounded like a freight train" roared though. 

The F2 funnel cloud touched down on Champlain, crossed the top of Bay Street (taking with it the hut at the top of the Bay Street lift) and then across the flat on Rogers, down Slalom and Peggy's and over the top of the Alpine Centre and Riot and exited past the condos and chalets on Wensley Drive.

We have lost the top hut on Bay Street,  bottom and top huts on Riot, and the first aid hut at the bottom of Minute. As well, the race timing hut at the bottom of Orchard is toppled over. The roof, garage doors and a lot of the wall cladding on the Maintenance Shop has been stripped off. The lower level of the Alpine Centre (Outside Operations offices, staff lunchroom, Patrol Room and instructors room) is safe and dry (thanks to the Coreslab layer between the basement and top floor). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Alpine office, and the main room upstairs. Much of the roof is gone.

Now for the good news! Our Snowmaking Plant was untouched and is fully operational. Crews have been on site all day starting the clean up. Structural engineers have been on site and will be back tomorrow. Early indications are positive. We are fully insured (subject to a minor deductible) so financially we are covered. Overall, at this moment, we do not believe that the damage of past 24 hours will impact our ability to open as normal.

I want to thank all our staff who have been on site since last evening getting all the wheels in motion. When I arrived this afternoon, Rick was in discussion with Kevin Nichol, who represents Gougeon Insurance and his insurance adjuster. Raymond Van Groll had done a preliminary structural review and was waiting for the arrival of Gougeon structural engineers. David Eaton and a crew were working on the roofs of the condos to get them watertight before the next rain. Darrell and his team were working with the emergency services restoration company on the clean up. Tomaz and Maggie were carrying equipment and files and other important property out of Alpine upstairs to ensure that there is no further damage in the next rains.  I have probably missed mentioning someone for which I apologize but do want to say to all, how impressed I am with their efforts and how the clean-up is going. It is beyond my expectation.