The owners of the Bar W Guest Ranch, Bill and Barbara Wetzel, recently purchased two local family-owned businesses, Whitefish Outfitters and Tours and Great Northern Powder Guides. 

They’ve essentially formed a one-stop shop for outdoor activities.  

Bill said they sell fun experiences and make smiles at the ranch. Now, they will have many other ways to facilitate those smiles, with hiking and biking tours, and backcountry powder skiing trips.  

Kurt and Amada Schram founded Whitefish Outfitters and Tours seven years ago. Recently, they’d been looking for the right entity to purchase the company. Kurt said he wanted someone who would take care of the employees and be able to take the business to the next level. 

“Kurt reached out to me,” said Bill. "When we started talking about it, we were like, you know, that's a real good fit. 

“We have activities. They have some other activities. We shuttle people from the airport to here,” he added. “They shuttle people into town.” 

Kurt said he contacted the Wetzels because he’d heard of their success in the valley and saw parallels between their businesses, one offering equestrian tours and the other, sightseeing, hiking and cycling tours.  

"I am absolutely ecstatic about the future of Whitefish Outfitters and Tours joining with the Bar W Guest Ranch and Great Northern Powder Guides,” Kurt said. “I've seen how Bill and Barbara have grown Bar W Guest Ranch and how they do a great job with their clients as well as their employees and I don't think our tour company could be in better hands moving forward.”  

Now, visitors who rent a bike one day can go for a horse ride or try skeet shooting at the ranch the next. Barbara said many of the ranch’s guests are interested in spending a day in Glacier National Park, so the tour business will allow for that. 

Jay Sandelin, his wife Ky and their family built and ran Great Northern Powder Guides for 16 years. The Sandelins are appreciative of Will MacDonald, Jay’s partner when forming the business, who is now with PureWest Christies, for completing the sale quickly and efficiently.  

An important aspect of the sale for the Sandelins was that the Wetzels already had an association with the Stillwater State Forest, the land they have leased for the cat skiing operation. 

"We are absolutely thrilled about this purchase. We feel that they'll be a wonderful fit,” Ky said of the Wetzels. “Jay’s done about nine businesses here in 35, 40 years, and we loved that business. That place was our heart and soul." 

While Great Northern Powder Guides provided skiers with a backcountry, 30-foot roundhouse, the Wetzels realized they could house the guests, furnish other amenities and take them skiing. 

"We’ve got the lodging,” Bill said. “We’ve got the ability to cook for them and entertain them at night and pick them up at the airport.”  

They said aside from sleigh rides, not much happens at the ranch in the winter, so when the cat skiing operation became available, it seemed like a good way to bolster the ranch’s winter activities. 

"The other important thing for us was it would allow us year-round positions for more of our staff,” Bill said. “So, if we're open in the winter and we're hosting guests, more of our summer staff can stay through the winter.” 

Barbara said the transaction is a “win-win for everybody,” and added that many of the staff at the ranch are skiers and are excited about the new cat skiing aspect of the business. 

There was one more reason for the purchase of the cat skiing operation -- the custom snowcats. 

"Mostly, he wanted to drive the big cats,” Barbara joshed, referring to Bill’s interest in heavy machinery. “That's pretty much it.” 

To ensure a smooth transaction, the owners of both businesses are helping the Wetzels learn the ins and outs of their respective businesses. All current employees will also keep their jobs, and the names of the businesses will remain the same. 

“Kurt and Jay and Ky are staying on this year to help train us,” Barbara said. “What can we centralize, what can we share, and how can we market? There's a big learning curve for us on their businesses.” 

THE WETZELS purchased the Bar W Guest Ranch in 2021 from the original owners, Dave and Janet Leishman, and have added cabins, wagons, a couple barns and other outbuildings to the property. At the same time, the two moved from Minnesota to live in Whitefish full time.  

“Five of our six kids still live in Minnesota, and our seven grandkids live in Minnesota,” Barbara said. “So, we're back there a lot.” 

The Wetzels also incorporated Chicago-based United Business Mail, a company that offers efficient mail processing for businesses, about 40 years ago.  

“The most important thing about us and about our companies is that we really live by the core values that we set as a company, and we hire and fire based on those core values,” Barbara said. “Our core focus is connecting people, and that's what we do here at the ranch every week. We provide all these activities as a way for them to get to know other people, spend more time with their family that they came with, connect to themselves, connect to nature.” 

Guests tend to put down phones and the rooms at the ranch do not have televisions. The break from the buzz of electronics allows visitors to take in the beauty surrounding them and slow down. 

The ranch staff spends time talking with the guests and the Wetzels carefully curate the experience to foster connections. The decision to have long dining tables, rather than four tops or six tops, was made consciously to encourage conversation and interaction. 

“You see it every week. The group of people come on Sundays, they don't know each other, and by Friday night, they're friends, they're exchanging numbers, they're crying, they're hugging, they want to take a horse home,” Barbara said. “That's the joy of running this business.” 

“Create a positive environment. Do what we say, connect people.” Bill said, adding that all three businesses will share those core values. 

While Bill acknowledges the two new businesses are different from the ranch, he plans on applying the same concepts. When cat skiing, he said he’d find a way to have the three cats meet up at lunchtime so skiers can meet one another. The outfitter business poses more challenges, but they are already finding ways to promote connections. 

“It might just be a ride from the airport, but you can connect with somebody; you can share a moment,” Barbara said.

  

 A few of the Bar W Guest Ranch residents take a break last Friday afternoon. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)

    Whitefish Outfitters & Tours on Spokane Avenue offers guided tours and rents equipment. (Photo provided)
  

    Great Northern Powder Guides provides backcountry skiing trips in the Stillwater State Forest using large snowcats to transport skiers and snowboarders. (Photo courtesy GNPG)