STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
PHOTOS BY TED ANGLE and others
Kyle Oldemeyer’s introduction to Galena Lodge came in August 2013 when he dropped in for a week to visit a friend he’d known since second grade who was teaching youth how to mountain bike.
Oldemeyer pitched in to help his friend. Then, as the 2013 Beaver Creek Fire advanced north from the Warm Springs area, he jumped in to help lodge employees as they hastily catered one last wedding and evacuated the historic lodge.
The fire never made it to the lodge, as it was corralled near Baker Lake. But Oldemeyer returned to the lodge the following year to work. And now he and his fiancé Chelan Pauly, both 30, are looking forward to a long-term relationship with the lodge and its patrons after having been named Galena Lodge’s new concessionaires.
Blaine County Recreation District’s Board of Directors this week selected Pauly and Oldemeyer to replace Erin Zell and Don Shepler. Zell and Shepler plan to move on to new pursuits in the spring of 2023 after 15 years of operating the rustic ski and mountain bike lodge 24 miles north of Sun Valley.
Pauly and Oldemeyer are currently managers of the lodge.
“I woke up this morning thinking yesterday feels like a dream. Did that happen? Did we become the concessionaires?” said Oldemeyer Tuesday morning as he readied the lodge for the day’s skiers and lunch bunch.
Both Oldemeyer and Pauly have a passion for the outdoors and a desire to pass that passion on to others, particularly youngsters.
Oldemeyer grew up in an outdoorsy family in Boise that spent every weekend camping or in other outdoor pursuits. Camping trips were an opportunity for flyfishing, hiking, searching for wildlife, archery competitions and Dad’s French toast, bacon and sausage cooked over the fire.
“One time all the designated camping sites were filled up—the best we could find was an unattractive gravel pit. And Mom was about to drive back home. I had a tantrum. I said, ‘I don’t care where we camp. I just want to go camping,’ ” Oldemeyer recalled.
Oldemeyer got a bachelor’s degree in sports, recreation and tourism at the University of Idaho, following that up with an internship at Galena Lodge.
He was working at the lodge in 2015 when a peppy young Whitman College student who was named for Lake Chelan in her native Washington State came to visit her sister Skye, who was working as a ski instructor. Oldemeyer was smitten, and the two got to renew their acquaintance when Pauly returned in 2016 to work as a ski instructor and in the retail shop.
“I immediately fell in love with the mountains here, the community here,” said Pauly. “I love how everybody congregates around this public Forest Service land and that so many in the community were part of saving this lodge years ago.”
Pauly worked for two seasons at Galena Lodge. Then she traded the dry, cool air of central Idaho and its skiing and mountain biking for muggy Mississippi where she learned to canoe and bike on flat trails, while getting a graduate degree in teaching and teaching high school science and math.
“I thought she was crazy trading this for Mississippi, but I followed. And I ended up getting a master’s degree in Sports and Recreation Administration,” said Oldemeyer.
The two returned to Galena Lodge last year to work as managers, jumping in wherever needed whether it be directing the Youth Adventure Camp to teaching ski lessons or working in the kitchen.
“We’ve found secret spots in the woods we like to visit but can’t divulge. And there are definitely rumors of ghosts at the lodge, although it might be pine martens,” quipped Oldemeyer.
The two spent weeks putting together a business plan when they applied to be concessionaires. They also have brainstormed several ideas they’d like to implement.
Oldemeyer, for instance, would like to start a Teen Adventure Camp to augment the one for 6- to 12-year-olds. As he envisions it, it would be a multi-night camp with the teens creating their own adventure.
Pauly, who spent a year in Peru, envisions occasional bilingual days to reach more Hispanics in the Wood River Valley. And the couple would also like to partner with various organizations around the area, in part to introduce the outdoors to those who have never had much opportunity to take part in outdoor activities.
“We had a group of 18 Afghan refugees from the refugee program in Twin Falls come up here a couple weeks ago and we provided free ski and snowshoe rentals and treated them to lunch. I’d love to do more things like that to be a little more inclusive,” said Oldemeyer.
The biggest challenge, Oldemeyer said, will be taking over the apron strings that Don Shepler leaves behind.
“He has a culinary background, which I do not. But I’ve been working alongside him in the kitchen, and I was involved with the summer barbecues, 200-member wedding parties and full moon dinners. We’ll probably utilize the older menus initially, then try experimenting with some new dishes. I just hope people will be patient while we work out any kinks,” he said.
In the meantime, Oldemeyer and Pauly are planning a wedding of their own on June 25. And, yes, it will be at Galena Lodge.
“We couldn’t have it any place else because we love this place,” said Oldemeyer. “We’ll make it as easy as possible for staff so they can be guests, as well as workers.”
Of course, the honeymoon will have to wait, what with Galena Lodge kicking into full swing for the summer of 2022 about that time.
When they do get an opportunity to honeymoon next fall, they hope to head to Bulgaria to do some paragliding.
“Then it’ll be back to Galena,” said Oldemeyer.