SME articles

SUCCESSION.

Excerpts from Backcountry Magazine

"Taking over the family trade at B.C. backcountry lodges lacks the dysfunction of TV but is no less dramatic. When the business is also home, passing on the passion gets more complicated.

A top centrale peak, Florina Beglinger can see almost her entire backyard: Broken glaciers, sprawling icefields, snowy summits, precarious couloirs, steep, treed valleys and so many amazing runs. It’s a ski touring paradise that might one day all belong to her."

Right now, she’s too cold to admire her kingdom. The calendar says April, but the north wind whipping across the Selkirk Mountains north of Revelstoke feels like winter. Following Florina’s lead, our small group quickly transitions to ski. She heads onto a run called Snow Maiden, plunging down the 40-degree slope, fresh flakes blowing over her shoulders. I follow, arcing a hard carve to force snow into my face and then embracing the blind freefall before emerging and repeating.

We follow Florina like ducklings: into a bowl, around a corner, through a natural halfpipe, over lips and rolls, down a ramp, along a shoulder and, as the powder turns to snot, onto a perch overhanging a deep valley. It’s one of the most fun, varied backcountry runs I’ve ever enjoyed. Florina says it’s one of her favorites, which means something.

Her parents built Selkirk Mountain Experience (SME) from raw land into a thriving commercial backcountry skiing operation. They raised Florina and her sister, Charlotte, in the middle of it, at Durrand Glacier Chalet. Now Florina is training to become a fully certified mountain guide, like her dad, hoping to take over the family business. Most days, that goal is fraught with emotion, expectation, obligation and pride. “It’s definitely overwhelming,” Florina says. “But I love this place so much. It’s my home. I can’t really imagine being anywhere else.”

... After talking with the Beglingers, it’s obvious the transition plan exists in concept, not detail. Ruedi is 68. He takes more time off from the lodge than he used to, but he wants to work full time for another two years, making it a round 50 years of guiding, and then part time until he’s 90. And, if anything, Florina’s return has reinvigorated Nicoline. After the girls went to university, she started to feel like a cleaning lady. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep doing it,” she says. “When Florina came back it gave me so much more energy to keep going. I’m committed to helping Florina for as long as she needs me.”

None of the Beglingers know how long that will be or how the transition will unfold. In that sense they’re a lot like the Roy family of HBO’s Succession. But that’s where the similarities end. The Roys squabble, manipulate and deceive. Florina is pleasantly surprised how well the three Beglingers work together. When it comes to power and prestige, a backcountry lodge is obviously a different beast than the Roys’ multibillion-dollar Waystar RoyCo, but Florina is still happy to let her dad remain the face of the operation for as long as he wants. And Ruedi and Nicoline just want what’s best for their kids.

Backcountry Magazine » By Ryan Stuart, Backcountry Magazine 153 | The core issue

SUCCESSION IN THE SELKIRKS.

Excerpts from Ski Canada Magazine

Nearing the summit of Mount Fang, the view goes from amazing to awe-inspiring. The peaks, glaciers, icefalls and cliffs of the Durrand Glacier come into focus in B.C.’s northern Selkirks. Looking around I spot our tracks here and there, disappearing in valleys and climbing back up to cols and peaks, crossing huge glaciers and plunging down steep mountain faces. It’s visual proof of an epic week of ski touring with Selkirk Mountain Experience (SME). One day, all of this will belong to Florina Beglinger, the woman breaking trail to the summit.

Florina’s parents, Ruedi and Nicoline Beglinger, built Selkirk Mountain Experience (SME) from wilderness into the thriving commercial backcountry skiing operation it is today. And they raised Florina and her sister Charlotte right in the middle of it, at Durrand Glacier Chalet. Now Florina is training to become a full mountain guide, like her dad, with the goal of taking over the family business.

“It’s definitely overwhelming,” Florina says. But I love this place so much. It’s my home. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

Now 28 years old, Florina is an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides full ski guide and is working on the ice and rock portions of her full guide accreditation. As a leader, she comes across as comfortable and confident, like this is where she belongs.

It’s also obvious she’s not the boss yet. Ruedi runs a regimented operation. We start skinning at 8 a.m., have a break at 10:15 and are home by 3. Friday’s snack is chocolate croissants and dinner is fondu. Furniture in the huts stays where Ruedi placed it 20 years ago. Florina rolls her eyes at the strict Swiss ways. “People always ask me what I’ll change when I take over,” she says. “I used to think I’d change a lot, but I’ve realized if we want to ski extreme stuff it has to be this way. The rules and policies are there for good reasons.”

There is no formal succession plan. Ruedi is 68. He tells me he wants to guide full time until he’s 70 and part time until he’s 90.

Ski Canada Magazine » By Ryan Stuart | December – January 2024