New Nordic Boss looks Forward to Future

Marc Lyster is the new Nordic boss at Mount Washington Alpine Resort. Lyster takes over from Mark Paganelli, who ran the program for the past four years.

However, Lyster is no stranger to Nordic operations at Raven Lodge. He was Paganelli’s lead hand for three years, and spent last year grooming the 55 kilometres of track set and skating trails that loop into and out of Paradise Meadows. Now, he’s in charge.

”I look after the operational side of Nordic including the rental shop, making sure the retail’s running well. I look after grooming and the other stuff that goes on outside; lessons, programs, etc.,” he said. It’s basically the same tasks he looked after as lead hand, except now he is also in charge of the budgets and paperwork.

Lyster was born and raised in the Comox Valley, in Black Creek. He did not learn to ski until he was 12, then didn’t really start skiing until he was 20, he says. “My Dad was really big into snowmobiling so I learned to ride a snowmobile when I was seven or eight,” he says.

“That was before the (resort) was even there.” He has spent the past nine years working at Mount Washington, eight of them living on the mountain - and the past three year-round, as he worked on the trail crew and doing first aid in the summers. This will be his first year since the big snow of 1996 living off the mountain, he says. He even spent three summers working at Mt. Buffalo, a small family ski resort in Victoria, Australia, on an exchange Mount Washington has with the resort Down Under. He was an instructor, but also ran the rental shop, did grooming and snowmaking as well as other odd jobs at the 20-employee ski hill. “I cooked breakfast; I looked after kids,” he says.
In his spare time Lyster likes to ride his mountain bike; in the winter it's skate-skiing, which he likes for the endurance.”I spend most of my time mountain biking and skiing,” he says.

In his spare time Lyster likes to ride his mountain bike; in the winter it's skate-skiing, which he likes for the endurance. "I spend most of my time mountain biking and skiing," he says.