The former owner and president of Apex Mountain Resort confirmed ownership has changed hands.

Ted Garnett said the sale went through on Friday and that Mike Duggan would now be leading the charge. Garnett said he and a group of owners ran the mountain for 20 years and that it was time to hand it off to somebody else.

Apex Mountain Resorts Partnership Ltd. has purchased all the outstanding shares of the resort and taken over operations effectively immediately. Duggan, who formerly had senior positions at Silver Star Mountain and Sun Peaks Resort is part of that partnership. He has a backgrounding tourism as he chaired Tourism British Columbia as well as ski industry committees bringing people into the sport of skiing and into Canada to ski.

鈥淚 look forward to taking Apex Resort forward while working with First Nations groups at continuing to build a positive long-term relationship,鈥� said Duggan in a letter to an Apex cabin owner. 鈥淲e will also be meeting with the dedicated Apex Mountain user groups with the goal of developing the leading winter resort in the South Okanagan.鈥�

Brian Martin, from the former ownership group said they had quite a bit of interest in potential owners wanting to purchase the resort.

鈥溾�� but who the group was and their understanding of Apex and Penticton was more important than when a sale might occur for us. We feel confident in the new ownership group. They have a great background in resort operations and an outstanding long-term vision for the resort. We鈥檙e leaving the resort in good hands.鈥�

All the senior management team are being retained and staying on with the new resort company.