I still think to this day, Powdr losing Park City was a blessing to the ski industry. Probably not for Powdr itself, but for everyone else, yes. I remember their original business tactic was to funnel all the income from every resort they owned into Park City, and neglect every other property of theirs. Management would be awful, lifts would be breaking down all the time, no improvements would be made, etc. There was a time Mt. Bachelor even had less visitation than Mt. Hood ski resorts for a couple years, like 2006-2009 which were heavy snow years too, not like Bachelor was lacking in snow compared to Mt. Hood or anything along those lines. Bachelor had been run so poorly year after year since the Powdr acquisition in 2000. The bigger irony is that Bachelor was also slightly bigger than Park City prior to the Canyons merger, but was always put on the back burner.
But now that Powdr can’t just funnel their income into Park City, I’ve seen them turn around and greatly improve how they manage their areas and even investing in improvements a lot more heavily. Such as these Instagram posts above. And yes Bachelor has been treated a lot better in recent years… I will be a regular skier there now.
I think losing Park City was the best thing that ever happened to Powdr. It opened up their eyes to see the potential in the other resorts like Copper, Bachelor, Killington, etc instead of just focusing on Park City. Killington suffered from years of neglect under ASC, and then when Powdr came in they built one lift and then nothing else significant for another decade. Now they’re investing at a quicker rate than anyone else in the northeast.
It’s telling that the only new lift of any kind that was added to Mount Bachelor during the 2000s was the Pine Marten Express, and even then that was more a rebuild of an existing high speed quad than anything (they replaced the terminals and grips, while keeping everything else).
Compared to the 2010s, where they’ve added the Cloudchaser expansion and the new Early Riser FGQ.
There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that guests don’t think about. Mt. Bachelor has invested heavily in summer operations over the last decade, along with lodge improvements/remodels and additions. A ski area shouldn’t be doing constant upgrades or terrain expansions because that’s how you go bankrupt, just like ASC.
Yeah, and that rebuild of the Pine Marten Express once again points to Powdr’s shenanigans. The original Pine Marten Express was 20 years old when it locked up and kicked the bucket, yes. But Doppelmayr lifts don’t just seize up like that, I mean there are an assortment of other Doppelmayr detachable quads from the eighties still running. Heck, Outback Express is also just a year newer and is the same model. Powdr being so cheap has bitten them back numerous times. Skyline Express from ’89 also had its engine replaced when it died out too under Powdr management.
The difference of skiing at Mt. Bachelor before and after the loss of Park City is astounding.
Ian Cumming passed away in 2018 with a net worth reportedly over $1 billion which might have something to do with what we are seeing across Powdr. Mr. Cumming was a longtime ski industry pioneer and it’s great to see so many resorts benefiting from his legacy, if that’s indeed where some of the money is coming from. Just a guess.
Any theories about why Bachelor isn’t included on the Ikon pass like Powdr’s other large resorts (Copper, Killington)? I assume Alterra would be interested in getting a foot into the Oregon market…
From what I was told on why Mt. Bachelor and Boreal are not on the IKON pass is because each mountain manager has the option to participate it. In addition, most of Mt. Bachelor skier visits come from the local markets and its parking lots fill up on the weekends, so it doesn’t make sense to participate in it.
Lift Blog 
I still think to this day, Powdr losing Park City was a blessing to the ski industry. Probably not for Powdr itself, but for everyone else, yes. I remember their original business tactic was to funnel all the income from every resort they owned into Park City, and neglect every other property of theirs. Management would be awful, lifts would be breaking down all the time, no improvements would be made, etc. There was a time Mt. Bachelor even had less visitation than Mt. Hood ski resorts for a couple years, like 2006-2009 which were heavy snow years too, not like Bachelor was lacking in snow compared to Mt. Hood or anything along those lines. Bachelor had been run so poorly year after year since the Powdr acquisition in 2000. The bigger irony is that Bachelor was also slightly bigger than Park City prior to the Canyons merger, but was always put on the back burner.
But now that Powdr can’t just funnel their income into Park City, I’ve seen them turn around and greatly improve how they manage their areas and even investing in improvements a lot more heavily. Such as these Instagram posts above. And yes Bachelor has been treated a lot better in recent years… I will be a regular skier there now.
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I think losing Park City was the best thing that ever happened to Powdr. It opened up their eyes to see the potential in the other resorts like Copper, Bachelor, Killington, etc instead of just focusing on Park City. Killington suffered from years of neglect under ASC, and then when Powdr came in they built one lift and then nothing else significant for another decade. Now they’re investing at a quicker rate than anyone else in the northeast.
LikeLike
It’s telling that the only new lift of any kind that was added to Mount Bachelor during the 2000s was the Pine Marten Express, and even then that was more a rebuild of an existing high speed quad than anything (they replaced the terminals and grips, while keeping everything else).
Compared to the 2010s, where they’ve added the Cloudchaser expansion and the new Early Riser FGQ.
LikeLike
There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that guests don’t think about. Mt. Bachelor has invested heavily in summer operations over the last decade, along with lodge improvements/remodels and additions. A ski area shouldn’t be doing constant upgrades or terrain expansions because that’s how you go bankrupt, just like ASC.
LikeLike
Yeah, and that rebuild of the Pine Marten Express once again points to Powdr’s shenanigans. The original Pine Marten Express was 20 years old when it locked up and kicked the bucket, yes. But Doppelmayr lifts don’t just seize up like that, I mean there are an assortment of other Doppelmayr detachable quads from the eighties still running. Heck, Outback Express is also just a year newer and is the same model. Powdr being so cheap has bitten them back numerous times. Skyline Express from ’89 also had its engine replaced when it died out too under Powdr management.
The difference of skiing at Mt. Bachelor before and after the loss of Park City is astounding.
LikeLike
Ian Cumming passed away in 2018 with a net worth reportedly over $1 billion which might have something to do with what we are seeing across Powdr. Mr. Cumming was a longtime ski industry pioneer and it’s great to see so many resorts benefiting from his legacy, if that’s indeed where some of the money is coming from. Just a guess.
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Any theories about why Bachelor isn’t included on the Ikon pass like Powdr’s other large resorts (Copper, Killington)? I assume Alterra would be interested in getting a foot into the Oregon market…
LikeLike
From what I was told on why Mt. Bachelor and Boreal are not on the IKON pass is because each mountain manager has the option to participate it. In addition, most of Mt. Bachelor skier visits come from the local markets and its parking lots fill up on the weekends, so it doesn’t make sense to participate in it.
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Just to add, Bachelor was on MAX pass. Perhaps their experience with that pushed them away from Ikon.
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