Recent news that Rossland's hopes for the Canada Ski Hall of Fame and Museum have been dashed, are a disappointment for Rossland Mayor Greg Granstrom, as well as the city.
Granstrom was one of the champions for the bid, put forth as a potential replacement for the mine tour that had to be closed a few years ago, due to safety concerns.
Granstrom said he heard the news of Mont Tremblant's winning bid, yesterday, through media and had not been contacted by the Canada Ski Hall of Fame and Museum board.
He said the Rossland proposal was well thought out for this city.
"We had to be very sure that what we presented was sustainable to Rossland," he said, but added that hall of fame board had some conditions that were concerned the Rossland board. For instance the board would be under the supervision of the Ottawa board.
"So we put a proposal out there that we thought was sustainable and could work in Rossland," he said. "They went with Mont Tremblant, which is interesting, because we (Rossland) also talked to Tremblant about some kind of East-West partnership. That wasn't pursued by either side, but we did put that out there."
The mayor said that the museum in Rossland has many historic skis from the likes of Nancy Greene-Raine and Kerrin Lee Gartner, and so a partnership could have presented opportunities to share collections.
He also noted that it's interesting it didn't go to Revelstoke.
"Other than Rossland for history out west, that would be the place," he said.
"We weren't told their final criteria."
Another concern they had was the logistics for inductions into the hall of fame.
"That could have got really onerous for Rossland, because of the distances," he said. "Ottawa is more the place you would do those kind of inductions. It was really expensive, they pay for the inductees to come there, travel, food… That was a concern too, but like I said we put a proposal together that was sustainable. Our opinion on the task force was that you can't put in a pie in the sky proposal, we have to put in what's sustainable to Rossland."
Granstrom seemed to leave the possibility of the Hall of Fame Museum coming to Rossland if Mont Tremblant faltered.
"Museum's aren't the easiest things to run. Our board here has a lot of experience; I think we've had a museum here since 1964, I believe," he said. "So we have a very experienced board and they understand totally what it takes to make it work. Who knows what could happen."
As for what is next for the museum, Granstrom said the Gateway Project is moving forward, with a meeting later this month where they will put out a request for proposal and present their plan for the museum upgrades.