If the infrastructures of some mountains truly show their age, the cleanliness of the installations of Mont Rigaud can mislead you in thinking that the history of the ski area is much younger. Who would have thought that Mont Rigaud, with its very young look, would have such a long history? In fact, the story began in 1962 when a group of local businessmen from Rigaud laid the foundations for the ski resort with the installation of a first “Poma Lift”.

They operated the ski area up until the down times of the ski industry, namely in 1978. They then closed down the ski hill and 8 years would go by before the operations were relaunched.

A non-profit organization was created, once again by local business people, who took over the reins for two seasons. The relaunch being assured, the assets were sold to a local businessman in 1988.

In 2001, two families from Rigaud bought into shares of the company and invested more than one million dollars to improve on the quality of the installations and the operations as well as to develop summer activities.

On December 12th 2009, Luc Elie, General Manager and spokesperson of the new shareholders, was pleased to officially announce the acquisition of the Mont Rigaud Ski Center and of Parc Acrobranche. 

Wishing to keep a family atmosphere about the business, Luc Elie decided to take on the challenge, in partnership with his spouse, Karine Labbé and his brother, Stéphane Elie. We can say that Luc Elie was on true familiar grounds since he had been involved with the company for fourteen years and had accumulated just as many years in the ski industry. Luc will continue to keep the general management of the business while delegating the ski school management to Catherine Bélanger. As for Stéphane Elie, an agricultural mechanic, equally involved in the business for the last 14 years, will oversee the management of mountain operations. Karine Labbé, with a wealth of more than 12 years of experience in the tourism industry, will act as the Administrative Manager.

Their common passion for alpine skiing, combined with their respective fields of expertise, will undeniably insure a successful transition favourable to the profitability and the growth of the business.

The acquisition project was made possible thanks to the involvement of Mr. Jacques Elie, Mrs. Christianne Elie, Mr. Luke De Stephano, Mrs. Cécile D’Amour, Mr. Germain D’Amour, Mrs. Suzanne Bergeron, the Business Development Bank of Canada and Investissement Québec.

The Mont Rigaud Ski Center is one of the prides of the regional tourism industry. It includes an alpine ski center, a ski school which is well renown in the industry and a first-class aerial hebertism park.

During high season, Mont Rigaud employs close to 200 employees.