Lift Blog

Credit Suisse and Replay Resorts are out at Idaho’s Tamarack Resort.  Today the Tamarack Municipal Association (TMA) announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase and operate the troubled resort that debuted in 2004 and filed for bankruptcy four years later.  TMA becomes the fifth operator of Tamarack in 12 years and the first unified owner-operator since 2008.  News of the sale and tax payment comes just four days before Tamarack’s two high speed quads were scheduled to be auctioned by Valley County.  A TMA subsidiary called Tamarack Homeowners Acquisition Company paid $269,075 in back taxes this week for land and assets needed for the ski operation.

The association of property owners previously operated Tamarack from 2012 to 2015 while it was owned by New Tamarack Acquisition Corporation, an entity led by Credit Suisse.  The Zurich-based bank loaned $250 million to the founders of Tamarack and gained control of the resort out of bankruptcy along with other creditors.  Eight years later, the homeowners likely paid pennies on the dollar for what was once worth hundreds of millions.

TMA already owned the Buttercup quad chair since purchasing it from Bank of America in 2012.  Tamarack at one point operated six lifts but lost its Wildwood Express chair in 2012 after years of failing to make payments to BofA.  That lift was sold at auction (reportedly back to Doppelmayr) and ended up at Brian Head in Utah.  Ironically, Wildwood now appears as a “Future Lift” on Tamarack’s trail map.

“Today marks the start of a new chapter for Tamarack where homeowners have secured the future ownership and operations of the resort,” TMA said in a release. “This ensures the long-term future of this incredible destination for guests, employees and homeowners as well as the wider community in Valley County and the State of Idaho.”  Tamarack plans to open for the season on December 9th and snowmaking is already underway.