Former Cardrona Ski Resort and Treble Cone general manager Bridget Legnavsky has announced she is moving to California (USA) to take up a chief executive role at Sugar Bowl Resort.

Bridget has lived in Wānaka for 30 years and is a former chair of Ignite Wānaka, the deputy chair of Mount Aspiring College board, chair of Queenstown District Council’s climate reference group, and is involved in industry transformation planning in the tourism sector.

Bridget will move to California with her husband Peter and their children Gustav and Zora.

“We all feel really sad about leaving,” Bridget said. 

“This is how we’ve lived our lives. I’ve been here 30 years, Pete’s been here 20 and the kids only know this place.”

The opportunity to experience working in an international setting and stepping up to a CEO role was too much for Bridget to pass up.

“It’s a massive step up for me,” she said.

“There is a lot of development planned for the resort and leading that in another country will be a real challenge.”

Sugar Bowl is the closest resort to San Francisco.

Connection to Wānaka will not be lost and Bridget says it will always be home.

“We are keeping our home here and Pete will be back to run the training programme at Cardrona in the winter,” she said.

Sugar Bowl is an independently owned ski resort in Tahoe, Northern California, and was home to the state’s first chairlift.

Sugar Bowl board chair David Tunnell said it was clear Bridget is a born leader and will bring a new perspective to the resort.

The Legnavskys leave Wānaka on Thursday October 13.

PHOTO: Supplied