- New York lost ski area Big Tupper to be auctioned this fall.
- Partially lost Ski Chantecler, Quebec gains new, local ownership.
- Big Sky constructs a striking glass enclosure over the Lone Peak Tram‘s bottom terminal.
- Red Lodge sells former Alta Sunnyside chairs.
- Bluewood seeks Forest Service approval for a base to summit detachable.
- Unspecified improvements are coming to recently reopened Sandia Peak Ski Area.
- Fatzer acquires Rigging Specialties of Canada.
- The first Leitner-Poma bubble chairs in Canada land at Sunshine Village.
- Hear the inside story of how the Yellowstone Club supports a $100+ million annual operating budget and 20 lifts with only 70,000 skier visits.
- Swiss media report Vail Resorts may be in talks to buy Laax.
Lift Blog 
interesting about VR seeking to buy Flims Laax. That place is huge but makes me wonder about how strategic a fit it would be. It’s very close to their existing Swiss property n Andermatt so they’d be competing against themselves for the eastern Swiss market. Also, their stock price is depressed and the USD isn’t that strong in Switzerland right now so they would likely be overpaying. An acquisition in France or Austria would make more sense if they’re looking for market share in Europe but most resorts in the alps have very complicated ownership structures so they’re difficult to buy. Flims Laax is the rare exception. A smarter move would be to clean up their operations in North America but that requires actual work.
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….or buy something in Japan like Niseko. The USD buys a lot of yen right now and market growth rates are positive for skiing in that part of the world
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Lots of Aussies ski in Japan instead of coming to North America. Its way closer and in the same time zone so a week away actually works. You might sell a lot more passes to Australians if you have a ski Aussie winter option and ski Japan in the summer on the same pass.
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that’s what I’m thinking. Plus you can sign up a lot of Japanese skiers on epic and entice them to North America resorts. I don’t know what the ownership structure of Niseko is like so maybe it’s impossible. But there are several smaller resorts in Japan that can be acquired.
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I think I would actually cry if Vail acquired any of the Niseko resorts, or any resort in Japan, for that matter.
The place is unreal and gets enough international influence from the Aussies. The thought of Vail turning it into an American-style skiing destination is almost too depressing to countenance.
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Europe is not that big so I don’t think proximity is a big issue there. I think it’s mainly due to the fact that there aren’t all that many areas with all the assets on hill owned by a single entity. Seems to me following the appointment of a European director, VR ‘s strategy is to drive revenue through Epic pass sales there and recreate the model they have in North America. Even if there is not much trans Atlantic use of the pass, I think you could entice a lot of Europeans if one pass gets you into a couple of dozen ski areas. I think they feel they have maxed out North America. They will get more bang for their buck expanding in Europe, rather than invest capital in NA. They will continue to slowly fix the things that need fixing. I don’t foresee massive capital investment unless playing catchup/marketing becomes necessary.
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The way the Forest Service process works, folders always start empty. Files with specifics should be added soon.
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why is red lodge selling Sunnyside chairs? Like what r they gonna use for this season?
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They didn’t need all the sunny side chairs for the new alignment at RD, they are selling the spares.
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Don’t they want the spare parts for maintenance ?
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