Schweitzer Seeking New Manager Stewart Bolts After Brief Tenure As Leader Of N. Idaho Ski Resort

Schweitzer Mountain Resort needs a new general manager. Again.

Curt Stewart, hired last September with great expectations after a long career of ski management in Aspen, Colo., is out.

“He is no longer with us,” said Tim Hinderman, vice president for planning and development. “It didn’t work out for a variety of reasons.”

Stewart was Aspen’s city administrator for four years before working at Aspen Ski Co. He spent 17 years in Aspen before coming to Schweitzer.

Hinderman said Stewart and his wife didn’t take to the Sandpoint area.

“You have to make sure this is where you want to be geographically, and he and his family were not terribly happy here.”

Schweitzer has no plans for an interim general manager, nor will the resort rush to fill the vacant spot before the ski season opens on Thanksgiving Day.

“We’ll be using a management team,” Hinderman said Tuesday. “The season will in no way be affected.”

The resort staff and owner Bobby Huguenin will take their time to find the right manager, he said.

Stewart replaced Stephen Cramer, who left the growing resort in 1994 after a short run as GM.

Schweitzer’s Green Gables Lodge also has seen a lot of turnover. Bob Hugo, who came on board from Fairbanks, Alaska, last September, was replaced soon after with Otto Clifton.

Management turnover is just one of the growing pains for Schweitzer as it tries to elevate itself to a world-class destination ski resort.

A fancy outdoor pool, long-delayed in construction and a source of frustration, was finally completed last month.

Skier visits fell short of expectations last ski season, curbed mostly by poor late-season snow conditions.

The summer has been a busy one for the resort, with construction of high-priced cabins and townhomes dotting the ski bowl.

“The bad news is that we’ve been through a couple of managers in a couple of years,” Hinderman said. “But the good news, though, is that we have a core of qualified managers here who have been here for a couple of years.”

A search will begin soon to fill the vacancy, he said.

“We want to learn from these last two experiences,” he said. “We want to make the third time a charm.”

, DataTimes