New England 2022-2023 Northeast Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[dbostedo]

Holy cow, it's September already!!! Days are getting shorter, leaves are changing, and everyone's thoughts are turning to snow are about snow, like it's been all summer, but it's starting to seem less weird.

As always, the tag says New England, but the thread says "Northeast" to include eastern Canada...

There's already been talk of the New England Gathering here:

2023 New England Gathering PSA & Prologue

There was chatter last year about a Sugarloaf / Saddleback gathering. There is nothing in the books yet, partly because it's still full summer and many of the smarter bears are off at the beach or whatever, not reading the Internet. For those of you who might be interested, though, I'll share...

www.skitalk.com

And I'm once again hopeful to get some New England days in this year... I've got both Epic and Ikon passes, so I've got options!

Now we just need some cold weather.... bring it on!

 

[dbostedo]

New England Gathering dates poll is here:

2023 New England Sugarloaf / Saddleback Gathering Dates Poll

Over the summer we had a lovely prologue thread, but now it's time to do this thing and settle on dates. In keeping with tradition, the Gathering will be a three-day weekend, Friday - Sunday. It's possible that an unofficial extra-credit Thursday or Monday will develop. (@Marker points out that...

www.skitalk.com

 

[ilovepugs]

Overnight lows a few nights in the 40s in Mad River Valley and the NEK this past week. And coming up next week too. My husband made fun of me for being excited about the temps dropping and said that no matter what, they’re not going to start making snow in September — well, yeah, but it’s the start of fall and we are turning the corner towards winter. Bring on the crisp air and cozy sweaters!

 

[Tony S]

As always, the tag says New England, but the thread says "Northeast" to include eastern Canada...

and New York.

 

[dbostedo]

and New York.

And, as always, New York will technically be in the SkiTalk mid-Atlantic, but probably mostly get discussed here, and some in the Poconos thread, and sometimes we have a New York specific thread...

 

[TheArchitect]

Jay Peak Auction Set for Wednesday, Sept. 7 – At Least 3 Bidders Will Participate

“It's highly likely that ... we'll know a lot more about our future ownership structure after Wednesday of this week” - Jay Peak General Manager Steve Wright, in a memo to staff

www.stormskiing.com

 

[Truberski]

Jay Peak Auction Set for Wednesday, Sept. 7 – At Least 3 Bidders Will Participate

“It's highly likely that ... we'll know a lot more about our future ownership structure after Wednesday of this week” - Jay Peak General Manager Steve Wright, in a memo to staff

www.stormskiing.com

Such a bizarre situation given the value of the asset. It‘s one thing when a bank puts a house up for auction but even then it often doesn’t result in a sale (since bank reserves right to decline highest bid). How about turning this into a SkiTalk cooperative?

 

[dbostedo]

How about turning this into a SkiTalk cooperative?

Well, the current valuation given, and the starting bid from at least one bidder, is $58.5M.

Do you think we could beat that? I could probably chip in 5 bucks. Do you happen to have $58,499,995 more?

 

[Truberski]

Well, the current valuation given, and the starting bid from at least one bidder, is $58.5M.

Do you think we could beat that? I could probably chip in 5 bucks. Do you happen to have $58,499,995 more?

How about match the Mad River Glen approach of $2000 per share. Or, I could justify something in the $5k range if it included lifetime ski privileges. Would go higher if I lived closer to Jay!

The tough part would be how to manage the Canadian investors?!? The Non-US investors are how we got in this mess in the first place……

 

[sparty]

How about match the Mad River Glen approach of $2000 per share. Or, I could justify something in the $5k range if it included lifetime ski privileges. Would go higher if I lived closer to Jay!

The tough part would be how to manage the Canadian investors?!? The Non-US investors are how we got in this mess in the first place……

Lifetime ski privileges are only good so long as the entity you bought into owns the place. It would take about 6,666 2/3 investors at $9k apiece to meet the entry-level bid, plus you'd need more so you actually had some capital to work with. There are plenty of undercapitalized ski enthusiasts mentioned on NELSAP.

 

[ilovepugs]

Please don’t let it be a megaconglomerate that wins. We are too close to a duopoly in Vermont as it is.

 

[dbostedo]

We are too close to a duopoly in Vermont as it is.

I was curious, so wanted to see the data. Technically, there are more independent places in Vermont than those owned by Vail or Alterra. But Vail/Alterra own the biggest and most popular places (as you'd expect), and other non-duopoly places (Killington/Pico) have also chosen to participate in Ikon. So it definitely feels like it's heading toward duopoly.

Here's a really good page assuming it's all accurate:

Who Owns Vermont's Ski Resorts? Full List of VT Ski Resort Owners

Killington Update: A group of local investors has reached an agreement to purchase Killington and Pico.When the sale is finalized, the totals below will be adjusted. Powdr will not own any resorts in Vermont, and the total of independent resorts will go up to 19. The industry has seen some...

www.vermontlifttickets.com

Vail (3): Stowe, Okemo, Mount Snow
Alterra (2): Stratton, Sugarbush
Ikon participants, owned by Powdr (2): Killington, Pico
Independents (10): Bolton Valley, Bromley, Burke, Jay Peak, MRG, Magic, Middlebury, Ski Quechee, Smuggler's Notch, Saskadena Six

(There are also several other surface-lift-only places that are independent.)

 

[Brian Finch]

^so sad that the ‘Bush sold out.

 

[Crank]

^^
Not so sad to me.

I like having unlimited tix to Sugarbush and Stratton, plus 7-days at K, SR, SL Windham and, oh yeah those places out west I'm planning to ski this year like Alta and Snowbird and Solitude and Snowbasin and Banf areas.

 

[ilovepugs]

^so sad that the ‘Bush sold out.

Sorry…. I did that deal in my past life as an M&A lawyer. Crazy that we closed January 2020.

 

[ilovepugs]

Oh thank goodness. Pacific Group Resorts won the Jay Peak auction.

Pacific Group Resorts makes winning, $76 million bid for Jay Peak

A daylong auction among “multiple” bidders took place Wednesday.

vtdigger.org

 

[Truberski]

Oh thank goodness. Pacific Group Resorts won the Jay Peak auction.

Pacific Group Resorts makes winning, $76 million bid for Jay Peak

A daylong auction among “multiple” bidders took place Wednesday.

vtdigger.org

I had not previously heard of these guys but kind of odd they are based in Park City but don’t own any resorts in Utah. I lived in Park City so not debating it is a good place to call home but kind of makes me curious of their overall strategy/business model.

 

[ScottB]

They own Ragged Mtn in NH, so some New England roots. They seem to run a small collection of small ski resorts. Not sure how well funded they are, but no red flags are jumping out at me, although I know very little about them. I have been to Ragged a few times and its seems like a reasonable local operation. West of Lake Winnipesauke and half way between Rt 89 and Rt 93.

 

[Wilhelmson]

One of the previous owner groups of Ragged was a group of interesting guys from south of Boston. My buddy worked for them for a while.

 

[Tony S]

Bumping the New England Gathering Poll. It closes in ten days. Get on it, if you haven't already.