More Balsams, Les Otten

Skepticism about the prospects of Les Otten’s $310 million plan to transform the historic Balsams resort in New Hampshire’s Dixville Notch into a sprawling destination—featuring, among many other things, the largest ski area in New England—is not unfounded. The project was announced in 2015 but has yet to break ground. Still, most agree the potential is there.

Needless to say, it’s an open question whether the Balsams reaches its enormous potential, or if the whole thing just fizzles down the home stretch. It could become the former Red Sox minority owner’s greatest achievement since playing a role in Beantown’s first World Series win since 1918 in 2004, or devolve into just another “has been” in an industry already too full of shuttered and forgotten ski hills, their former glories all but lost to changing times and leisure habits.