Mount St. Louis Moonstone

Mount St. Louis Moonstone is a southern Ontario ski resort located north of Barrie. The resort is just over one hour driving time from Toronto and is located just off Highway 400, which makes it a prime destination for Toronto-area skiers. Although the hill itself is fairly small, it has been extensively built out, with three high-speed six-pack lifts headlining a total of 13 lifts.HistoryIn 1956 Josl Huter, a skier who had formerly competed in the Austrian National Alpine Championships, emigrated to Toronto from Austria to start a career in the automotive industry. He returned to the ski industry again the next year almost by accident, after meeting a friend who worked at the Limberlost Resort outside of Huntsville, Ontario who asked Huter to fill in for a sick instructor. Huter was diagnosed with a small brain tumour which was removed in January 1958, but returned to the industry the following year. During the summer he returned to Austria and married, working in a small inn there during the summer, and as a ski instructor in Canada in the winter, now at Muskoka Sands Resort.In the spring of 1963 he was offered a manager position at Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort just north of Barrie, but when this position did not pan out a friend mentioned that there was another potential resort location nearby. They sold their Austrian inn and purchased the land in the fall of 1963, starting work cutting the trails that December. Bulldozers were used to clear out additional brush and rocks in May 1964, and two 1,600ft were added late that fall.