- Mountain Capital Partners may enter the Midwest with a deal to operate Spirit Mountain, Minnesota. Under the proposal, MCP would lease the mountain for a minimum of 20 years beginning in October.
- Vail raises Epic Pass prices approximately 3.5 percent, offers a discount to young adults 30 and under.
- Alterra raises Ikon prices roughly 5 percent, adds Tamarack, Idaho and Devil’s Head, Wisconsin to its bonus mountain tier while removing SilverStar, BC.
- Granite Peak, Wisconsin; Lutsen Mountains, Minnesota and Snowriver, Wisconsin switch from Indy Pass to Ikon Pass.
- Snowmass returns and Arapahoe Basin will go unlimited on the Ikon Base Pass.
- The Wall Street Journal visits Telluride owner Chuck Horning, who says he’s “never selling.”
- The BBC profiles lift operations at Whistler Blackcomb.
- The LA Times visits independent Mt. Baldy, surrounded by Alterra in Southern California.
- SAM digs into how a small Wisconsin ski area went from closed to buying two brand new Skytrac lifts.
- Sunday River sues an insurance company over denial of a $10 million claim for damages sustained in a 2023 flood.
- Snowbird will replace Chickadee this spring.
- Pomerelle, Idaho’s General Manager buys the mountain with his wife.
- Shanty Creek, Michigan also sells to new owners.
- The cost of used gondola installation at Eaglecrest balloons from under $9 million to as much as $37 million. A report finds the gondola would make the ski area profitble on an operating basis and canceling the project would cost taxpayers $10.9 million.
- In Iowa, a government-owned ski area fundraises for a brand new chairlift.
- Revelstoke’s Stoke chair to be out of service at least three days for gearbox repair.
- Stagecoach Mountain Ranch inches toward approval near Steamboat.
- The top operator house on Chair 1 at Titus Mountain, New York burns down, rendering the lift inoperable.
Lift Blog 
If Mr. Chuck Horning has decided he is never going to sell Telluride, then let’s hope he becomes a better communicator and leader so that he doesn’t end up running everything into the ground completely. It’s a great mountain but to maintain a great mountain you’ve gotta know how to play ball with the locals. Does he?
LikeLike
Alterra has struggled this winter, much more than Vail on a relative basis, and they believe the Midwest is the best opportunity to geographically diversify and protect themself from poor seasons out west. I would argue they should also bolster the East Coast, particularly the mid-Atlantic region, but they are still a little hesitant to expand the Ikon brand to smaller mountains.
LikeLike
With SilverStar gone from the bonus tier of Ikon Pass, this leaves us for BC resorts on Multi Resort Products
Ikon and Mountain Collective: Sun Peaks, Panorama, Revelstoke
Ikon Only: Red Mountain, Cypress
Epic: Whistler Blackcomb
Epic Partner: 7 Days each at the 3 RCR Resorts in BC (Kicking Horse, Fernie, Kimberley)
Indy: Big White, Apex, Baldy, Manning Park, Sasquatch, Phoenix, Mt Washington, Murray Ridge, Hudsons Bay, Shames
Other: Silver Star and Mt Washington
LikeLike
Ugh. I just don’t understand why Eaglecrest doesn’t just build a brand-new Skytrac (hell, Doppelmayr!) pulse gondola for that price.
LikeLike