Coming Tuesday February 10 - Ski Cape Smokey

This week, we’re headed to Cape Smokey in Ingonish, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia—a ski area where you can make steep powder turns while looking out over the Atlantic Ocean, and maybe even see snowmaking whales, and a real whale

Cape Smokey breaks just about every rule. It sits nearly at sea level, far from any major population base, in a region better known for music and lobster than lift lines. The mountain had already failed—more than once. Most people had written it off for good.

Then Martin Kejval showed up.

Raised in the Czech Republic on ski racing and ski films, Martin arrived with a plan that sounded only slightly unhinged: revive a dead ski hill, build Atlantic Canada’s first gondola, and turn a forgotten mountain into a four-season adventure destination.

And somehow, it worked.

Cape Smokey went from abandoned to internationally recognized, landing on National Geographic’s list of top winter adventure destinations, ahead of places like Whistler and Lake Louise. Skier visits jumped, summer tourism took off, and the mountain became something rare in this industry: fun.

In this episode, we unpack how he did it, why four-season thinking matters, how transparency and storytelling built trust, and why you don’t need perfect conditions or a nearby city to build something people will travel for.

Welcome to Cape Smokey, where the snow meets the sea, and the rules are flexible at best.