“Assuming it snows,” Bill Killebrew once said, “anyone would have to be a terrible bungler to not make money at Heavenly.” He said that a year ago. In the meantime it snowed a lot in the Sierra. Accordingly, Heavenly Valley, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, and with one of the most beautiful vistas on earth, had its best year in history. More skiers and more money visited Heavenly Valley during 1977-78 than in any season previously.
Killebrew, the 24-year-old son of the late Hugh Killebrew, was thrust into the presidency of the Heavenly Valley Ski Resort by the death of his father in August 1977. Hugh and three Heavenly Valley employees were killed in a mid-air plane collision. Bill, a magna cum laude economics graduate of the University of California in Berkeley, had plans for graduate school, law school and an entirely different career than managing a ski area. Hugh’s death changed that. Bill met the challenge and took charge.
But his management rein may be temporary. In a couple of years, when Heavenly Valley is on an even keel and running smoothly, he says, he intends to return to graduate school, law school and his original course. Now he isn’t talking much about that course except to say it’s there.
In the meantime, his first year at the helm of Heavenly appears to have been an unqualified success. In addition to volume and profit (the bottom line) being the best ever, Killebrew has improved community relations by starting the season with two free days of skiing and re-introducing the seven-day season lift pass for locals at the “reasonable” rate of $350.00, as well as establishing a five-day rate of $275.00. He is aware that Heavenly Valley and the wintertime economy of the south shore of Lake Tahoe are inextricably intertwined, and that the enmity of the local citizenry and business community is not only unpleasant, difficult and unnecessary—it is bad business.
A lifelong Tahoe resident as well as a lifelong skier who became skilled enough to be a Class A racer with World Cup aspirations, Killebrew is the youngest person to manage a ski area the size of Heavenly Valley. He is also one of the few people whose personal knowledge of skiing matches his responsibility to it.
When Bill took over last year, several problems had to be dealt with. First, the previous two seasons had been barren snow years in the Sierra, and economic disaster lurked behind another snowless year. Second, Bill Killebrew was, after all, only 23, and his groomed, athletic, handsome appearance could pass for several years younger. He had always been known as ‘Billy’ to Heavenly Valley employees, many of them twice his age with several years employment. Killebrew insisted that employees call him Mister Killebrew. That’s a hard transition, but most employees made it, though one old friend and employee just a few years older told him, “Screw you, Billy, you’re Billy to me and always will be.” Killebrew appears to have passed the initial barriers of apprehension of the Heavenly Valley staff whose hesitation about immediately embracing his qualifications were understandable.
One reason Killebrew has received support from the community and employees is that some of his basic ideas are hard not to support. “People negligently responsible for ski lifts that go down and hurt or kill other people are criminals and should be put in jail,” he once said. “We’ve never had an injury here due to a lift failure, and I intend to keep it that way. After all, it’s my ass on the line if anything goes wrong; and I don’t have any desire to wind up in jail.” His intention has so far been maintained.
He is not a proponent of mindless expansion at South Shore. Past power brokers of South Shore growth have set the scene for the imminent destruction of one of the most beautiful spots on earth, and locals and non-locals alike welcome economic leaders like Killebrew who speak of ecological standards as well as profit margins.
Killebrew doesn’t smoke, drink, use drugs or gamble. He does hike, ski, water ski, play tennis and watches his physical being. In South Shore, where the life styles extend from the neon tan of casino culture to the health cult varieties of the Tahoe experience, Killebrew’s personal ethic is widely admired.
Not that Killebrew’s problems are over. Heavenly Valley’s battles with the AFL-CIO have often been reported in detail, and they are far from finished. With nearly 30 lifts scattered over 20 square miles on a 4,000 foot vertical drop, Killebrew has an enormous administrative and economic empire to watch over. He realizes its operation is going to change, and he is anticipating the mechanics and the realities of those changes, no matter what the AFL-CIO does. For instance, he sees a time coming when visitors to the Tahoe region will have to park their cars outside the basin and use public transportation. Such a situation will create unique problems for a ski resort the size and nature of Heavenly Valley; and, while several years off, Killebrew is already thinking about the potential problems.
Because Heavenly Valley is one of the key economic powers of wintertime Lake Tahoe, and because Lake Tahoe’s future is likely to be the focus of one of the great ecological/conservation battles of the next decade, Killebrew’s sensitivity to the possibility of change seems likely to put him a step ahead of those changes. Killebrew has said his ultimate goals extend far beyond the world of skiing.
It is this reporter’s personal opinion as well as his professional observation—based on talks with many people of different perspectives on Bill Killebrew—that should killebrew carry out his career cource and move on to other fields, his ambitions will be skiing’s loss. Bright young people with a lifelong background in skiing do not, unfortunately, often wind up in positions of power in the skiing industry. Killebrew, despite his youth, bridges the sometimes fathomless gap between economic acumen and personal appreciation for the experience of skiing. After only one year, Bill Killebrew has made his mark; and, more important, made a lot of friends. He has, of course, at 24 much to learn; but he also has much to offer, and he is a bright spot on the horizon of skiing that the industry will do well to watch.
