How an oil tycoon plans to transform the iconic mountain town of Banff

financialpost.com:

It’s 7 a.m. and the fresh cup of coffee in Adam Waterous’ hands isn’t providing him fuel to pump Strathcona Resources Ltd., which he built from scratch to become Canada’s fifth-largest oil producer prior to taking it public five months ago.

Instead, the former investment banker is sitting with his wife Jan and eager to talk about a project that seems diametrically opposed to the interests of the Calgary-based oil company he’s executive chair of, and the oilpatch in general. But before wading into that story, Waterous had a revealing coming-of-age tale to share.

He and a high school buddy took the subway to what were then Toronto’s northern extremes, stuck out their thumbs and promptly caught a lift from a kind, elderly couple in a Cadillac who dropped the boys about an hour north of the city. The plan was to hitchhike to Banff, Alta. It was 1979.

“I thought, “This is going to be easy,” he said.

That burst of early optimism died by the side of the highway in Sudbury, Ont., where the friends were marooned for three days waiting for a ride. Eventually, they reached the iconic Canadian mountain town with the breathtaking scenery and abundance of outdoorsy stuff to do. Waterous was hooked.

So much so that after spending the summer in Banff, he spent the next two decades trying to figure out how to get back and make it his home. Jan, a Torontonian, likewise enjoyed a youthful brush with the town, and was keen to do the same. Today, the couple are the proud owners of the Mt. Norquay ski resort and, despite their Calgary digs, consider Banff as their permanent address.

But skiing is not what Waterous is known for in business. The 62-year-old made a mint doing deals in the oilpatch as an investment banker with Bank of Nova Scotia