Vail, Jackson Hole and Tod Mt. change hands
Also sold was Jackson Hole (see item in “Ski Industry Focus,” page 65). The new owners, J.H. Management Company, formed from old Wyoming business interests, said they want to “create a unique western resort built around ranches and open space.” In this connection, Teton Village at the base of the area may be changed from its Tyrolean theme to a Western one.
“We can become one of the premiere ski areas in the world if we respect the environmental integrity of Jackson Hole,” said John Resor, 42, the company’s president. His family owns the Snake River Ranch which borders the Jackson resort on two sides. The money for the purchase came from Kemmerer Resources, headed by John L. Kemmerer, 45, who is also chairman of J.H. Management.
Resor emphasized that they were “in this for the long run, not a quick fix for marketing purposes,” and that expansion and improvements would come in time. He indicated that among these would probably be the installation of a detachable quad running from the base to the amphitheater between Rendezvous and Casper Bowls.
Resor also said that an experienced ski area executive would be appointed soon to run the ski operation. Other employees are staying, Resor said.
Tod Mountain, B.C. — The Tod Mountain Ski Resort, outside Kamloops, B.C., was sold to Nippon Cable, which among other business activities, is the Japanese licensee for Doppelmayr. It also operates five ski resorts in Japan.
Tod has a vertical of 3,100 feet, the fourth greatest in British Columbia. It is within a four-hour drive of downtown Vancouver, and is far enough east to be out of the coastal climate.
According to Paul Mathews of Ecosign, Nippon Cable plans to invest $50 million over the next decade in renovation and expansion.
Executive musical chairs
The summer months saw shifting of ski area talent that was extraordinary even for an industry noted for staff transience and wanderlust.
New Hampshire saw some of the most dramatic moves. First in prominence was the announcement that Bob Fries, VP and GM at Waterville Valley, had resigned to take those same titles at Breckenridge, Colo. Said Waterville owner, Tom Corcoran, “I am, of course, sorry to see Bob go, but at the same time very happy for him. He is moving into the top spot at the county’s second largest ski area in terms of skier visits. I know he’ll do a great job for them and we wish him the very best.”
Corcoran promoted Waterville’s CFO, Bob Ashton, who has been there for seven years, to fill Fries’s position. He also promoted Controller Pat Sweeney to take Ashton’s position as CFO.
Completing the Waterville picture, Greg Burke moved there from Smuggler’s Notch, Vt., as Director of Sales — a new position for Waterville Valley.
At Loon Mt. the changes were sharper edged. Let go were Marketing Director Earle Davis, who had been recruited from Boreal just a year earlier by previous GM, Phil Gravnik. Also getting pink slips were Paul Bousquet, Food/Beverage Manager, and veteran mountain manager, Austin McCauley.
| Dates | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 21-23 | Ski Areas of N.Y. Annual Seminar & Trade show | Grandview Holiday, Lake Placid, N.Y. |
| Sept. 24-27 | Canadian Ski Industry Symposium | Capri Hotel, Kelowna, B.C. |
| Sept. 28 & 29 | Computer Fair-East | Mt. Club, Loon, N.H. |
| Sept. 30 & Oct. 1 | Mountain Management Workshop | Mt. Club, Loon, N.H. |
| Oct. 8 & 9 | Computer Fair-West | The Lodge, Snowbird, Utah |
| Oct. 8-10 | Interalpin ’92 Trade show | Innsbruck, Austria |
| Oct. 10 & 11 | Mountain Management Workshop | The Lodge, Snowbird, Utah |
| Jan. 11-13 | USIA Western Regional Trade Show | Keystone, Colo. |
| Jan. 25-27 | USIA Eastern Regional Trade Show | Mt. Snow, Vt. |
Named to the marketing spot at Loon is Joel Bourassa, who handled the marketing duties for the state-owned Cannon Mountain and Mt. Sunapee areas.
For these two areas, in turn, the big news was the recruitment of a born and bred westerner, Bill Murphy, to direct them, with the title of Director of State Ski Operations. Murphy has spent the last four years running Colorado’s Monarch Ski Area with a mandate to “turn it around” in its bankrupt state — a task Murphy performed. Prior to that he had been Operations VP for Purgatory, Colo.
Other New Hampshire moves: John Cossaboom is new Marketing Director at Wildcat to replace Marta Ramsey who has gone to nearby Cranmore. At Attitash, Phil Gravink (who presided over Loon until last summer’s coup, after which he joined Sno-engineering only to be prevailed upon by the State of New Hampshire to take over from John Vorel — who had left to take over Gunstock — the running of their two areas for one year, after which he was spirited away to his present post running Attitash, replacing … but that’s far enough) … in any case, at Attitash, Phil Gravink appointed Tom Chasse as Ski School Director. He comes from Loon.
Moving over to Vermont, there were two executive moves involving top marketing talent that registered on the Richter earthquake scale: first, the move of Bob Gillen, Marketing VP for Crested Butte, Colo., to similar duties at Sugarbush, Vt. (See also Gillen’s article on page 60.)
Secondly, Irv Naylor spirited Mike Cobb away from Mt. Mansfield/Stowe, Vt. to handle marketing for his Ski Liberty and Ski Roundtop in Pennsylvania, a new position, where one of the main tasks will be to respond to the challenge from Whitetail.
Historic water pact signed in Colorado
Hailed as “one of the most significant water transactions in Colorado state history,” is a new plan that solves the water requirements of many public and private entities, including Winter Park, Breckenridge, Keystone and Copper Mountain ski resorts, by combining resources to create new yield without requiring new construction.
Peter Guteman, president of Breckenridge and treasurer of the Clinton Ditch and Reservoir Company (CDRC) said, “We’ve been working on this plan for over a year. It effectively solves a problem that’s been a major concern for Summit County ski areas for years — the need for a non-interruptible source of water for snowmaking. For Breckenridge,” he continued, “it seems we will have guaranteed wet water for our existing snowmaking operations, and will assure reliable water for future expansion. In fact, it will allow us to approximately double the size of our snowmaking system over time.”
The protracted negotiations were extremely complex and involved many entities, including the Denver Water Board, Grand and Summit Counties, seven towns (mostly ski-oriented), four ski areas, AMAX mining company and various associated water and sanitation districts.
Summit County Commissioner Rick Hum summed it all up: “This plan is a model for the future of water management in Colorado.”
The three Rs of Autumn: Ratin’, Rankin’ and ‘Rithmetic
The September issue of Snow Country and the October issue of Ski Magazine finally answered the question their editors, at least, hoped everyone had been asking: Would Vail remain Numero Uno in the rankings and ratings? The answer was “No, but …” and “Yes, but …” respectively.
Snow Country’s ranking, based on a combination of reader opinions and a measurement of the areas’ physical assets and facilities, found Whistler/Blackcomb had edged past Vail, but that Vail was still the leader in the U.S. and was also the run-away “favorite” of its readers. Ski’s ranking, based solely on the ratings of its random survey of subscribers, kept Vail in the top position, but it got there without winning a single one of the categories in which the subscribers judged them.
Other winners and losers: seven repeated in Snow Country’s top 10 (Vail, Whistler/Blackcomb, Steamboat, Heavenly Valley, Squaw Valley, Killington and Park City); three didn’t make it last year but did this year (Aspen, Mammoth and Beaver Creek); and three fell off the list (Breckenridge, Keystone and Bachelor).
Interpretations? Perhaps everyone would agree that Mammoth’s return had a lot to do with the arrival of snow, both natural and machine-made, where almost none had been the year before. Ski’s rankings confirmed this, with Mammoth going from 21st to 11th spot. That point was even more dramatic in Ski’s rankings of snowmaking at areas, where the impact of Sun Valley’s huge investment in automatic snowmaking pushed it from 45th position to 2nd in that category this year.
Other winners and losers in Ski’s rankings were Sunday River, which rose to eighth spot nationally and first in the East. (Interestingly, Sunday River was clobbered in Snow Country’s ratings.) Killington, on the other hand, dropped from 10th to 20th. Mt. Bachelor skidded from 8th to 27th. but Keystone rose from 18th to 7th and Copper from 15th to 9th.
One given in all this is that between the rankings of the two magazines there’s bound to be something for almost everyone to crow about in the autumnal crush of area press releases.
William Stevenson dies
A fixture for 30 years at Camelback, Penna., General Manager and Executive VP William H. Stevenson died suddenly July 21 of a heart attack. He was 57.
Stevenson began at Camelback as a construction supervisor in 1963 and five years later was appointed general manager. During his tenure the resort grew from its original 10 trails and three lifts to today’s 27 trails and 11 lifts, going from a winter ski area to an all-season resort in the process.
Daly named president of Vail Associates, Inc.
In the wake of the reorganization plan accepted by the bankruptcy court in Denver (see story, page 24), the make-up of Vail’s management team was announced.
Andy Daly moved from executive VP of Vail Associates, Inc. (VAI) and president of Beaver Creek to president of VAI. Kent Myers takes over the reins at Beaver Creek with title of chief operating officer, while continuing his VAI marketing chores as senior VP. Gerald Flynn, Chris Ryman and Paul Testwuide continue in their posts — respectively of finance, ski school and mountain operations — but with enhanced corporate titles and responsibilities.
People
David A. Perry has been appointed director of marketing for Whistler Mountain; he was at Blackcomb form 1985 to 1990 … Allen “Skip” Yahn, assumes position of chairman at Holiday Valley, N.Y. in addition to president; general manager Dennis Eshbaugh becomes VP of operations in addition to his post as general manager … Aspen Highlands has named Chris Tucker its new director of sales … At Whitetail in Pennsylvania, Julie Fader will head their city sales efforts … Kent Hoopingarner, Snowbird’s executive VP, has been named president of the Utah Ski Association … Elected national chairman of the National Ski Patrol is Jack Mason, patrol director at Winter Park. It is the first time a professional ski patroller has served in this position. Curtis Kammerer named G.M. of Camelback, Penna.
Supplier miscellany
Delta Engineering has the contract to design and install a snowmaking installation at Argentina’s luxury resort, Valle de Las Lenas. Phase I of the project is valued at $2 million. Another Canadian company, Ecosign, is responsible for the master development plan of the resort.
Allied Specialty Insurance is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its entry into the leisure insurance business. T.H.E. Insurance, Allied’s carrier, recently got an A.M. Best rating of B+ (“very good”).
Ericksen Associates is providing preliminary layout and engineering service for the Rain Forest Aerial Tram and research facility to be located in Costa Rica.
This will be the first commercial scale operation that provides access to the extraordinary world of the rain forest canopy, which begins at about 30 feet above the forest floor and reaches, tier-by-tier, upwards to 120 feet. It is estimated that two-thirds of the jungle plants and animals live above the 30-ft. height.
