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Show M A-14 The Park Record Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, March 24-27, 2018 OUNTAIN TOWN NEWS A Roundup of News from Other Western Ski Resort Communities ALLEN BEST Mountain Town News Deep pockets for Alterra’s ski area upgrades in next 5 years WINTER PARK, Colo. – The new Alterra Mountain Co. clearly intends to scrap hard with Vail Resorts for market share. The company was founded last year by the Crown family, owners of the Aspen Skiing Co., and KSL Capital Partners, a company led by former executives of Vail. They now have 12 mountain destinations, near parity with Vail Resorts, and with a similarly impressive diversity from California to New England and Canada. The company’s Ikon Pass looks to be an attractive option to Vail’s Epic Pass, both in prices and in offerings. And now the owners have pulled out their wallet for upgrades, $555 million during the next five years. The improvements begin with $130 million in spending this coming year. Leading the list of upgrades will be a new gondola at Winter Park, the resort located about 70 minutes west of Denver. It will also get snowmaking, replacing a system that has not been substantially upgraded since the 1970s. Winter Park’s $28.2 million will be the largest single-year investment in the history of the resort. Other investments will be at Mammoth. The ski area located six hours from the population giant of Los Angeles will get attractions that might lure more visitors during summer. Until purchased by Alterra last year, Mammoth had been led by Rusty Gregory, who rose from lift op through the ranks under Mammoth founder Dave McCoy to take the reins. Now, he’s in Denver, home to Alterra and just 20 minutes from Vail Resorts headquarters. KSL Capital Partners is also headquartered in Denver. “This is a very well-capitalized company with private investors,” Gregory told The Denver Post. “We are an operating compa- Post your best shots on Instagram with the hashtag: #ParkCityPics and we’ll put the best ones in The Park Record! DENNIS HANLON Your Tuhaye and Talisker Club Connection ny, so it’s really recurring earnings we are looking for. Those recurring earnings eventually at some level go back to shareholders, but if you look at the Crown family’s history, they buy and hold assets for a long, long time.” Lester Crown, the patriarch of the family, bought Aspen Skiing Co. in 1985. The family also has ownership stake in General Dynamics, Sara Lee, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The latter, says the Post, is leading the consortium of banks handling Alterra’s roughly $1.2 billion in debt. Gregory singled out expansion of a restaurant at the Steamboat base area, where Alterra will direct a “significant amount of money” in coming years “to fix the mess that it’s become.” A quirky winter in San Juans of just-in-time snowstorms SOUTH FORK, Colo. – It was snowing this past week at Wolf Creek, the ski area that can get some of Colorado’s snowiest winters. This season has not been among them. “This year it has been just quirky,” said chief executive and general manager Davey Pitcher last Friday, as snow fell lightly. “It snows a little, then it dries up again.” The Pitcher family has owned the ski area since 1976-77, enough time to see both good and bad. That first year was among the worst. It got bitterly cold, but there was no snow at all until Jan. 22. That year, he says, produced the realization among Colorado ski areas that it was time to stop making fun of eastern ski areas and their snowmaking equipment and invest in snow guns themselves. The 1980-81 winter was a sharp reminder. Wolf Creek staffers. One was called the Just-in-Time Storm, another the Thank-Goodness Storm, and then the OK Storm just before the Martin Luther King weekend. Wolf Creek didn’t invest in snowmaking until the late 1990s, and even now only five C M T N acres at the base can be covered. Before Christmas, crews resorted to 35-gallon trash cans, scooping up 7,000 loads of snow to dump onto the ski runs. a Also notable about this wind ter’s weather has been the b warmth. The first snows art rived heavy with water, providc ing a base across the ski area a much like manufactured snow. g Then the temperature warmed. “There’s an awful lot of evaps oration and sublimation,” he o says. e Looking to a hillside across u the highway from his ski area, T Pitcher observed that it was c bare. Most years it’s a favorite h backcountry ski slope. m t If only the crowds came in h April and not November R TELLURIDE, Colo. – Tellut ride plans to open at Thanksgivs ing again next winter after all. t The Daily Planet reports that the r ski company had announced an opening on Dec. 1. h Given how often there’s just w not very good snow for Thanksp giving, a later date makes sense. t But Matthew Windt, spokesman T for the ski area, tells the Planet r that Telluride Lodging AssociaZ tion was particularly persuasive in advocating for the early opent ing. The earlier opening adds v nine days of operations. t The flip side of opening earM ly and not having snow is then fi having to delay opening. That P happened this winter. o Regardless of when Telluride R opens, the lifts will close the s first Sunday in April, says Bill N Jensen, the chief executive of t Telluride Ski & Golf. It’s almost w never for lack of snow. Instead, m destination skiers become rare then, and Telluride’s isolation j from major cities precludes the a diehards such as those that keep T places like Arapahoe Basin opN erating into T-shirt season. o 1 Will California Zephyr end its d journey through ski country? o TRUCKEE, Calif. – People w don’t travel by train so much T fi Please see Mountain Town, A-15 t n S h m t b from Park City B t l a t CROWN JEWEL OF TUHAYE S 3 BD | 4 BA | 6,345 SF | $3,390,000 L Talisker Club Membership Included p COME HOME TO TUHAYE A Spectacular Golf Course Community Just Minutes 435.640.5851 dennis.hanlon@sothebysrealty.com i o B p a s s Sales in Tuhaye are very strong. Call me to find out why and for information on properties that may not be officially listed. u a o w B h w w 3060 E Primrose Trail LD BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN CONTEMPORARY 5 BD | 7 BA | 5,780 SF | List Price: $2,245,000 Talisker Club Membership Included SO SO LD 3595 Ridgeway Drive ENJOY THE TALISKER CLUB LIFESTYLE 3 BD | 5 BA | 3,323 SF | List Price: $1,395,000 Talisker Club Membership Included 3006 Painted Bear Trail This material is based upon information that we consider reliable, but because it has been supplied by third parties, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete, including price, or withdrawal without notice; square footage is an estimate only. ©MMXVIII Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a licensed trademark to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc. An Equal Opportunity Company. Each office is independently owned and operated. |