Steamboat Ownership Dispute Continues
The saga of the failed sale two years ago of Steamboat Ski Resort to Triple Peaks LLC, an investor group headed by Okemo owners Tim and Diane Mueller, is getting longer. On January 23, the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered the issue back to trial, a ruling that Steamboat owner American Skiing Co. (ASC) plans to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.
The sale was originally scheduled to close in March 2002. ASC backed out at the last second, and instead sold Heavenly ski resort to Vail Resorts. Triple Peaks sued for breach of contract. A Routt County judge ruled in favor of ASC, and ordered ASC to pay $500,000 to Triple Peaks, as the contract specified if the sale was nixed. However, Triple Peaks rejected that solution and appealed the decision.
In the most recent ruling, a three-judge panel ruled that Triple Peaks had been wronged and was entitled to “specific performance” of the original sale contract or monetary damages.
“We haven’t decided what we will do,” Tim Mueller says.
In the meantime, the Muellers have acquired another Colorado resort—Crested Butte. The price is reported to be around $50 million.
Snow Monsters Hit the Airwaves
Jack Turner’s Snow Monsters have teamed up with Sports Illustrated for Kids and NBC for the Next X Games, a made-for-television freestyle competition for future Winter X Games participants—9- to 13-year-olds. Next X will hold qualifiers at 100 resorts around the country before the finals at Keystone, Colo., from April 2-4. NBC will air the highlights of the final on April 11.
Vail and Intrawest Split on Keystone
Vail Resorts and Intrawest have reached an “amicable agreement” to divide the remaining developable assets, liquidate remaining partnership inventory, and ultimately to dissolve their Keystone development partnership. The partnership stems from Vail Resorts’ purchase of Keystone in the mid-1990s, at which time it replaced former Keystone owner Ralston Purina in a partnership Ralston and Intrawest had formed in 1993 to develop River Run and other neighborhoods.
As a part of this agreement, Vail Resorts has dropped its lawsuit against Intrawest over developing real estate at Winter Park Ski Resort.
Three Resorts on the Block?
The owners of Peek’nPeak ski and golf resort in western New York are considering selling. The area, which belongs to the Cross family, sold 200,000 lift tickets during the 2002-2003 season.
Sugar Loaf Resort, Mich., will hit the auction block on March 22. The auction is being held by the county Sheriff’s office as part of a lien imposed against the bankrupt owner in August 2000 for non-payment of water and sewer service. With interest, that outstanding bill is over $1 million and whoever bids at least that amount could end up owning the area. However, the winning bid comes with a one-year redemption period wherein the previous owners, Pacific XIX, are given one last chance to clear up the debt.
Finally, Marshall Mountain, Mont., did not open this year for the first time in 65 years. Owner Bruce Doering could not financially operate the area this season, but says he may have a buyer this spring. Marshall is made up of 480 acres, 23 runs and has a rope tow, a t-bar and a triple.
Helmet Bill for Mass?
Thanks to the efforts of the Massachusetts ski areas and the NSAA, the language in a proposed bill requiring kids under the age of 12 to wear a helmet at ski resorts in the state, was changed to requiring ski areas to provide education on helmet use. The bill passed the Senate on a vote of 36 to 1 in favor and was referred to the House. Massachusetts ski areas and the NSAA will still try and stop the passage of the bill, preferring no helmet legislation be on the books.
The NSAA Capital Watch reports that helmet proposals are also under consideration in New Jersey and New York.
Who Owns the Top of Lone Peak?
The ownership of the summit of the 11,166-foot Lone Peak, which is home to Big Sky, the Yellowstone Mountain Club and the new Moonlight Basin, is the subject of what is to become a court battle.
Tim Blixseth, owner of the Yellowstone Club, has filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service claiming that it had erroneously deeded a 20-acre parcel—the peak of the mountain—to Moonlight Basin. It is no secret that Blixseth has been trying for several years to purchase Big Sky Ski Resort from Boyne USA Resorts. At the same time, he also has his eye on constructing a lift to the top of the peak for the Yellowstone Club, thus being able to advertise 4,000 feet of vertical, which would add about $200,000 to the value of each of the remaining 725 lots for sale at the private ski club—a $140 million jump.
The land in question was deeded to Moonlight Basin by the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, but Blixseth claims the land was promised to him as part of a land swap he executed in 1998, giving the Forest Service Big Sky Lumber land in exchange for the parcel at the top. To further complicate matters, there is no precise survey and there are boundary issues with a neighboring forest and wilderness area.
Moonlight Basin says the land is integral to its future plans, as well.
Keystone Expands
The U.S. Forest Service approved a 577-acre terrain expansion for Keystone Resort, making the above-treeline Erickson Bowl and Little Bowl available for snowcat skiing operations. The resort’s Keystone Adventure Tours (KAT) began operation in early March. KAT will operate two snowcats offering guided half-day ski tours ($65) in the new terrain along with a variety of daily, weather-dependent tours.
Obituaries
Stevek Kenney, popular ski instructor at Stratton Mountain, died on November 26, 2003 after being struck by a car in Manhattan.
Marvin W. Kottke, after whom the Kottke End of Season Report is named, died December 26, 2003 at the age of 80. Kottke prepared the report for 14 years before his retirement in 1994.
Whitey Ryer, father of splicer Richard Ryer, died this past Fall. Whitey spliced his first ski lift cable in 1949 and continued splicing until the late 1970s when he turned the business over to Richard.
Hans Thorner, one of the original ski instructors in the U.S., died on December 27, 2003 at the age of 95. Thorner ran a ski school at Cannon Mountain, filmed ski movies and eventually started Magic Mountain, Vt., in 1960.
People
Congratulations to NSAA’s Tim White and Bogus Basin’s Jan Becker on their marriage this past November.
The oldest original ski lodge, located at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Vt., will be renamed Hubbard Cabin in honor of Richard C. Hubbard, the College’s first ski coach.
Pats Peak, N.H., hired Deb Flanders as program director/head coach of the Pats Peak Ski Team.
Sugarbush, Vt., made Glenn Cromwell the new chief administrative officer. . .Mount Snow’s Elia Hamilton has been promoted to director of freestyle terrain for American Skiing Company’s eastern resorts.
In Colorado, Copper Mountain appointed Jamie Wilson to the position of communications manager. Wilson replaces Ben Friedland who was promoted to director of marketing and she will also take on public relations duties from Beth Jahnigen who is the new youth marketing and events manager. Also working in PR is Katelin Hill, Copper’s new PR coordinator. . .Vail Resorts named Ian Arthur VP of marketing for Vail and Beaver Creek. Arthur replaces Chris Jarnot who is now head of marketing and sales for Vail Resorts.
Further south in New Mexico, Bill Wilcoxson was named director of human resources at Angel Fire Resort.
Powdr Corp. named Vern Greco senior VP/COO of the company.
At American Skiing Company, Jim Snyder takes on the position of VP of food and beverage operations for all seven resorts.
In Montana, Big Mountain has a new president and CEO, Frederic Jones. Jones will start his new role on April 1, 2004. . . At Bridger Bowl, Randy Elliott was promoted to general manager, replacing Terry Abelin who retires this June.
The Reno/Tahoe area is eyeing 2014 for an Olympic bid and has hired Brad Larsen as director of fundraising for the Reno/Tahoe Winter Games Coalition.
In Canada, Ed Pitoniak left Intrawest to become president and CEO of Canadian Hotel Income Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.
Supplier People
Willis Group Holdings Limited announced the appointment of Robert (Barney) Boynton as loss control specialist for the company’s program business. Boynton will be based in the New Hampshire office.
Rapidtron Inc. hired Chris Perkins as vice president of sales.
Resort Technology Partners promoted Peter Hoskins to COO. Hoskins will oversee RTP’s market strategy and day-to-day operations of professional services, sales, marketing, business development and product management.
Dynastar named Lisa P. Curran the business unit manager for apparel and accessories. Murray/Cannon became Dynastar’s western sales agency.
Supplier News
Intrawest Corporation announced that is has selected Burton Snowboards as the official supplier of snowboard rental equipment for its 10 mountain resorts.
Customers First, a for-profit entity and division of SIA was sold to the Leisure Trends Group. Bruce McCloy will continue as president and the company will maintain operations in Maine and Vermont.
Livewire International, Inc., signed an agreement with TicketsWest to sell ski lift tickets in King Soopers supermarkets. Also, Livewire announced that is has deployed a network of self-service kiosks in the New England area to sell discounted lift tickets.
Rossignol announced that it will introduce a comprehensive helmet program for next season. Also at Rossignol, SIA and the U.S. Ski Team has awarded the company the first annual Doc Des Roches Award for integrating team athletes into marketing campaigns.
Snow Hunter Ltd. has published a 70-page document listing all of the snowdomes in the world. For more information on the report, contact [email protected].
Snow Monsters introduces the X-Wolf, a purple wolf dedicated to Nordic sports. The X-Wolf joined the Snow Monsters team this winter.
SportHill, Inc. has announced that Northeast Trading Group will represent the apparel brand in the New England territory.
