CMFC Hall of Fame Honorees
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Lawrence
E "Larry" Hard
His Steady Hand Supported the Corporation, the Stockholders, and the Sale
Larry grew up in small town near Detroit right after WWII and had many long cold winters with lots of snow. Per Larry: Early experiences included taking my older brother's Flexible Flyer and careening down the elementary school hill behind our house. I had no interest in learning how to ski because it was too much fun running in my rubber boots at the top of the hill, flopping on the sled and swerving down hill,
looking for girls to swish past and blast with snow. Also, there were no ski slopes in sight. Just before college, I learned to ski at a place we called "Mt. Trashmore" near Pontiac, Michigan. It was originally a dump site located next to a natural ravine. Eventually the trash mound got tall enough, and the snow was deep enough, that we could go a good five hundred to a thousand feet before hitting bottom.
After law school in the Midwest, and newly married, I went to work for a judge
in Seattle, a place that recently hosted a World's Fair and had the "bluest skies you've ever seen". My bride and I thought Seattle would be a great place to visit, maybe for a year or two before getting a real job back home or maybe on the East Coast. Once here there was no turning back. We fell in love with the real mountains and the outdoor life. I was fortunate to be introduced to a lawyer named Fran LeSourd, who hired me in January, 1970 to be an associate lawyer in his firm.
It was not long before I was working with Fran, and his son Peter, on various Crystal Mountain matters. While buried in the law library, I learned about Crystal's unique status as a publicly held corporation, registered with the SEC and subject to the same securities laws as much larger companies. It had a truly unique equity and debt structure, involving two classes of stock, and dividends in the form of ski lift privileges. The owners were skiers, not investors. Crystal was
located on public land, with two long-term leases with the U.S. Forest Service. It's President and General Manager, Ed Link, was a retired former commander of the Army's Firing Range in Yakima.
And the learning never stopped: Dealing with changes in the board leadership, particularly the years under Wally Staatz and Tom Matson; working with Ed Link, Norm McKinnon, Ed Carney and Tom Leonard. Shareholder meetings with Dave Gossard always in attendance; years with snow droughts and
occasional man-made and natural disasters; legal tussles with the irrepressible Ward Meeks and his dreams for Eagle's Lair; a stock offering in the Fall of 1987, during the worst Wall Street drop since the Depression; proxy battles with unhappy shareholders and former company officers; and finally, a series of negotiations in the early 90's with prospective parties interested in acquiring Crystal, the preeminent ski resort in the state. In the end, it was clear that the
only way to save Crystal for its owners and the skiing public was the sale to Boyne USA and the creation of the Crystal Mountain Founders Club. We worked hard and struck a very good deal for all concerned.
I have served as General Counsel, Secretary, and member of the Board of Directors of Crystal Mountain, Inc., for the period spanning my entire legal career. It has been a unique and unforgettable privilege.
Crystal Mountain Founders' Club
P.O. Box 1131
Bellevue WA
98009-1131
