A Jozi-based businessman, Lew Campbell, has just landed himself a great deal. Today he bought the Tiffindell Ski Resort at an absolute auction, and he hopes to have it running again by 2013.

2oceansVibe reported recently that Tiffindell Ski Resort would finally be sold at an absolute auction, where there is no minimum price.

Today, a local skier and businessman, Lew Campbell jumped in the air and did fist-pumps as the auctioneer’s hammer came down for the final time.

Campbell said of his success:

I used to go to Tiffindell all the time, and I’m part of this special community of skiers in South Africa. [And while the resort will take] quite a bit of renovation before it can open [he wants this to happen as soon as possible].

He now owns South Africa’s only ski resort, and the highest pub in the country.

Campbell continued that the aim is to open by next winter, but realistically he wants people flying down the slopes by 2014 at the latest.

The Mail and Guardian had more:

Given the support it has always enjoyed, and the extended interest after all the seasons it has been closed, he knows it will do well. Ivan Van Eck, part of the family that founded the resort in 1993, has high hopes for an owner that is interested in working with the local community. The auction also represents the end of an awful journey for his family.

“It’s been a nightmare to now. We built it up over 15 years and watched it get destroyed,” he said.

Now he hopes to get involved in the resort again, after being evicted when his family sold Tiffindell in 2007. “I want to help make it work again,” he said. With the resort in good nick, he said it could be working by the next season if the owner spends an extra R3-million.

“It’s all there, waiting for someone to start it up again,” he said.

This brings to a close a five-year long battle over South Africa’s only ski resort.

Debt piled up in 2007 after two businessmen, David Taylor and Andre le Roux, bought the resort’s holding company for a rumoured R22 million. They tried to sell it, but were unsuccessful and debtors kept hounding them.

Campbell was stoked that he got it at such a low price.

[Source: M&G]