Judge Negates Competing RCR Bid
In August, an Alberta justice said a competing plan to purchase the beleaguered Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) from owner Charlie Locke had “insufficient economic reality” behind it and paved the way for Locke’s plan, using funds promised by Canadian financier Murray Edwards, to keep the company’s eight ski resorts solvent and intact. Creditors were expected to approve the Locke-Edwards plan August 17.
Judge Barbara Romaine said the competing bid, put together by Bob Suderman, owner of Camp Fortune ski area in the Ottawa region, and that was to have the backing of Canadian telecommunications magnate Charles Sirois, had not been properly lined up. Published reports said the Suderman-Sirois deal would have paid CDN$110 million for the resort company, which Sirois then would have broken up, selling off assets. RCR’s assets have been valued at more than CDN$200 million.
Locke’s plan is reportedly worth at least CDN$75 million and would create a new company, Resorts 2001, with Edwards the majority partner and Locke the minority partner. Edwards paid CDN$8 million to float RCR through the summer. After the plan is reviewed by a court-appointed accounting firm, it is expected that Bank of Montreal and FleetBoston Financial Corp. would be paid the full CDN$55.6 million they are owed.
ASC Restructures
American Skiing Company announced details of a financial restructuring package, which includes a significant increase ($30 million) in the already major financial involvement of Oak Hill Capital Partners. The new commitments will bring Oak Hill from 52 percent ownership up to 58 percent. The new financing somewhat dilutes the existing stock, according to CFO Mark Miller.
CEO BJ Fair reported that there has been strong interest shown in the purchase of Steamboat and he anticipates a sale will be completed, as planned, by the end of the calendar year. Proceeds from this will go to reducing corporate debt.
Aspen Gets X Games
ESPN and Aspen Skiing Company announced that Buttermilk Mountain will host the Winter X Games in January and again in 2003. The games were held at Mount Snow, Vt., the past two years, at Crested Butte, Colo., in 1999 and 1998 and at Snow Summit in 1997.
Grand Targhee Land Swap Blocked
A federal judge blocked the transfer of 120 acres of national forest land to Grand Targhee Ski and Summer Resort, Wyo., in exchange for 400 acres of private land to the U.S. Forest Service, supporting an environmental group’s claim that the Forest Service did not fully consider a no-action alternative to the swap. The ski area wanted the land for real estate development. In enjoining the transfer, however, the judge left open the possibility of allowing it to go forward once the alternative is studied in more detail.
A-Basin Makes Pact With Enviro Groups
It’s been a long time coming, but it now looks like the plan to install snowmaking at Arapaho Basin, Colo., might just get the green light before the season begins. Two environmental groups, Trout Unlimited and Colorado Wild, have been fighting A-Basin’s effort because they feel any withdrawal of water from the North Fork would hurt fish habitat and cut its ability to dilute an already-polluted Snake River.
But A-Basin now has an agreement with the two groups that would allow the plan to go forward without any more delays orchestrated by the environmentalists. According to Greg Finch, senior VP of Dundee Realty, which owns A-Basin, management has agreed to monitor the fish habitat of the North Fork (and take remediation steps if necessary after five years) and divert a stream upriver of the Snake away from toxic mines in Cinnamon Gulch. As of presstime the ski area was working on details of the plan with state and county agencies. Once complete, says Finch, “we’ll go to the courthouse together (with the environmental groups) and the lawsuit will be dismissed.”
Aspen Partners With Intrawest
Aspen Skiing Company and Intrawest Corporation signed a letter of intent to become partners in designing and building a base village at Snowmass Ski Area. The village, which will be built on about 12 acres of a 20-acre site, will likely be a pedestrian village with commercial and residential areas. Eldon Beck has reportedly been signed on to design the village.
Hall of Famers Named
This year’s inductees to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame have been chosen and will be honored during a ceremony on September 29. The inductees are:
James M. Curran, who designed the first chairlift in the U.S. for Sun Valley’s opening in 1936; another engineer, H. William Kirschner, who formed the K2 ski company in 1961 at Sun Valley; Dodie Post Gann, a successful ski racer and captain of the women’s 1948 Olympic team and the 1950 World Championships team; Josef “Pepi” Stiegler, an Austrian ski racer who won a silver in GS during the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley and took a bronze in GS and a gold in slalom at Innsbruck in 1964; Charlie Gibson, who has been credited with establishing the basis for a professionally run United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA); and Michael Strauss, a member of The New York Times sports staff for 54 years and its ski editor for 25. He was also a co-founder of the Eastern Ski Writers’ Association.
Sustainable Slopes Report
The first annual “Sustainable Slopes Annual Report,” a 110-page document released by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), shows that a strong majority of resorts are following the suggested practices laid out in the Environmental Charter adopted in June 2000. Of the 170 resorts that have endorsed the charter, 90 resorts from 28 states completed the assessment this past spring. In all, 200 questions were asked to assess resort compliance with the voluntary best practices in 21 areas including water conservation, habitat protection, energy conservation and waste reduction.
The questionnaire was analyzed by an environmental consulting firm that singled out four areas in which resorts scored high marks (protecting scenic values, properly managing forests and vegetation, designing and building facilities in environmentally sensitive manners and properly handling potentially hazardous waste) and four in which resorts need to improve (energy use for vehicle fleets, energy use for lifts, reusing products to reduce waste and environmental education and outreach).
Corrections
A sentence in an article entitled “Five Easy Ways to Go Green” in the July 2001 issue should have read: “a retrofit at Aspen’s Little Nell Hotel using fluorescent light bulbs will actually prevent the annual emission of 300,000 pounds of pollutants that result from generating electricity,” instead of “300,000 pounds of electricity-producing pollutants.”
The title of the Boston expo in the July 2001 Ski Show Schedule should have been listed as “The Boston Globe SnowSports Expo.”
Doppelmayr and Garaventa Merge
Doppelmayr North America and Garaventa CTEC formed a single company last month. In the U.S. and Canada the merged company is being called Doppelmayr CTEC. The holding companies in Europe had not decided on a new name as of presstime. Combined revenues for the two companies in 1999-2000 equalled more than $330 million worldwide.
According to the new U.S. operation’s president, Jan Leonard, the company will continue to offer separate product lines for at least the next six months. Mark Bee, president of Doppelmayr North America, will become the U.S. operation’s vice president. In Canada, Doppelmayr CTEC, Ltd., will operate out of the St. Jerome location, which will absorb the American Tramways subsidiary of Doppelmayr located in Watertown, N.Y., and will be headed by André Lamoureux as president. The closing of the Watertown location, originally the Hall Ski-Lift Co. factory, will cost some people their jobs, but Bee noted those reductions as well as some administrative positions would be the only job losses expected in the near future. Warren Sparks will become the company’s VP and general manager of the Canada West office in Kelowna, B.C.
Obits
Skeeter (Werner) Walker, a former Olympic skier and Steamboat Resort’s first ski instructor, died in July of cancer. She was 67.
Whipple “Whip” Van Ness Jones, who built the Aspen Highlands ski area on terrain surrounding a sheep ranch, died at the age of 91. The Harvard graduate opened Aspen Highlands during the winter of 1958.
Christl Haas, the Austrian woman who won Olympic gold in the downhill at Innsbruck in 1964, drowned at a Turkish seaside resort. She was 57.
Peak Resorts Grows
North Peaks Inc., which owns Mad River Mountain, Ohio, has formally merged with Peak Resorts Inc., headed by President Tim Boyd. The new holding company, going under the heading of Peak Resorts, now owns Snow Creek Ski Area and Hidden Valley Ski Area in Missouri, Paoli Peaks Ski Area, Ind., and Mad River. Joining the current management team of David Grenier, Felix Kagi and Kent Graham will be Richard Deutsch, who will head up the pursuit of new acquisitions, Steve Mueller, who will become CFO, and Chip Perfect, who will take charge of operations of new acquisitions. Peak Resorts will continue to focus on acquiring new properties.
People
Intrawest Corp. has promoted Mark Hulme to vice president of retail/rental operations. He takes over the position left vacant when Sandy Black left to set up his own retail and rental partnership, The Affinity Group, in Whistler, B.C.
Hoodoo Ski Area, Ore., hired Matthew McFarland as mountain manager. . . Mt. Bachelor promoted Carly Hogan to director of marketing.
Genevieve Paquet-Gunnarson has left Snow Summit to become director of marketing for Big Bear Mountain. . . Sierra-at-Tahoe, Calif., hired Todd Majoris as the new marketing director. . . Paul Bauer left his position as VP of operations at Snow Valley to become Mountain High’s director of environmental and long-range planning. Mountain High also promoted Brad Wilson to assistant GM, Steve Beck to director of resort services, John McColly to director of marketing, Kevin Merrill to night manager, Dave Franzen to terrain park manager, Kyle Smith to patrol manager and Kevin Finnen to rental manager. . . Squaw Valley USA appointed Eric Brandt to director of marketing. . . Northstar-at-Tahoe hired Adam Wilson as director of sales and Toby Baird as PR manager.
Bogus Basin, Idaho, hired Alan Moore as vice president of finance.
Big Mountain, Mont., hired Bill Reed as central reservations manager.
American Skiing Company promoted Jenny Ochtera to VP of sales and marketing/real estate at The Canyons, Utah . . . Mike Moran announced he will resign as spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee after the 2002 games.
In Colorado, Charlie Mayfield is the new general manager for SolVista and Berthoud Pass. . . Hans Hohl has been named mountain manager at Buttermilk Mountain. . . Dee Byrne has become director of the Ski and Snowboard School at Vail, while Jim Kercher will replace her as director of the Beaver Creek Ski and Snowboard School. . . Aspen Skiing Company appointed Susan Darch to become director of communications. . . Rob Linde was hired by McCarthy Advertising. . . Arapahoe Basin named Tim Finnegan its new ski patrol director.
Snowshoe, W.V., promoted Michael “Tex” Ritter to director of mountain operations.
Eric Webster will serve as snowboard director for both Blue Hills Ski Area, Mass., and Ragged Mountain, N.H.
Sugarbush Resort, Vt., named Tim Newhart VP of sales and marketing. Both VP of Mountain Operations Ed Read and acting Marketing Director Scott Peterson have left the company.
Supplier News
Powder and Snowboarder magazines, along with more than 60 other magazines, will have a new owner in Primedia, which announced it was purchasing the Emap USA group of magazines for a reported $515 million.
Aquatrols Corporation has introduced Drift, a new snowmaking additive.
LeitnerSnow is a new division of the Leitner Group (the others being Leitner Lifts and Poma) that encompasses three companies: Prinoth (grooming vehicles), Snowstar (snowmaking systems) and Gespi (uniforms and protective racing equipment). LeitnerSnow’s introduction to the U.S. will be in 2002. The company is currently working on the structure.
Aggreko, Inc. and MWH Energy Solutions created a partnership to provide a wider range of support to customers.
The western office of Nordic Group International has changed addresses. The new contact information is 195 Jed Smith Rd., Ward, CO 80481; (303) 459-0493; [email protected].
Mountain Sports Media, publishers of STN, Skiing, Freeze, TransWorld Snowboarding Business and Ski, will produce a combined trade show directory and buyers guide for the 2002 Vegas Show for SnowSports Industries America. The nearly 500-page book will list suppliers and exhibitors, and will contain ski and snowboard product previews.
Apple Consulting introduced its SkiJewel software program to administer the scheduling of resort host programs.
Bert LaMar, who sold LaMar Snowboards in 1998 after founding the company in 1989, has launched a new snowboard company, Elevation.
Marker USA has moved most of its warehouse operations into a new building in Lebanon, N.H., where bindings will share space with the new Elan, Dolomite and Nitro operations. Part of the operation will share office space with Volkl/Tecnica. Marker USA’s executive office is in Park City, Utah.
East/West Resorts has added Moonlight Lodge to its list of properties at Big Sky, Mont.
Supplier Personnel
SE Group has hired Timothy Nelson to become a senior associate in planning at the Frisco, Colo., office.
Peter Kiggen, formerly with Eurotherm Drives, became vice president and general manager of Saftronics.
