- Indy Pass adds Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont; Mt. Pisgah, New York; Winter4Kids, New Jersey; Spring Mountain, Pennsylvania; Veterans Memorial, New Hampshire and Ski Saint-Bruno, Quebec plus new international partners.
- Ikon Pass adds Caberfae Peaks, Michigan and Snowy Range, Wyoming as two day bonus mountains alongside new Asia partners.
- Manning Park. BC’s new master plan includes replacements for Blue and the T-Bar as well as a new terrain pod.
- 5,800 acres surrounding closed Big Tupper, New York to go up for auction.
- A pivotal vote regarding the proposed Rock City, Georgia gondola to take place September 21st.
- Canada imposes new tariffs on certain US goods including chairlifts, surface lifts and funiculars.
- Developers break ground on Aspen’s new Lift One base area with completion expected in 2030.
- A hotel project causes a gondola tower to shift in Romania.
- New carrier auctions: gondola cabins in Telluride, chairs from Seven Springs.
- Alterra outlines $350 million in CapEx this year.
- Wisp replaces two towers on Lift 4.
- A gondola could link Québec City and Lévis over the St. Lawrence River.
- An activist investor nominates a slate of candidates for the Vail Resorts board.
- A criminal investigation is opened following a chairlift death at Vorlage, Quebec last winter, though no charges have been filed.
I’m not sure 15% is enough to cause it, but wonder if this could lead to European Leitner terminals and other components in Canada. There are 4 large LPA projects in Western Canada in 27 and 28.
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In general the retaliatory tariffs are to protect Canadian industry where alternatives exist. In this case I think it might be Canadian steel (towers, chairs and such) which should then be Canadian made. One of the manufacturers builds in Kelowna I think? In the end, it might mean EU designs but with much built in Canada I hope.
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Doppelmayr have a production facility in St. Jerome, Quebec that produces most parts for a lift. They also produce parts in Salt Lake City, Utah. For a Canadian lift, they could source tariff free from Austria, instead of SLC if needed.
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Lots of news here.
First, Alterra’s claim of again spending $350 million across its owned-and-operated resorts feels like marketing hype, and I’d love to see the full breakdown in a table or spreadsheet. In the release, they’re calling out a number of multi-year investments and items like employee housing that never would have even reached a press release years ago. (Employee housing isn’t an investment in the same way because the employees are still paying rent, even if it’s a bit cheaper than it would be on the open market.)
Also! I’m happy to see an activist going after MTN. The cracks are really starting to show in the owned-and-operated model, in large part because even with the economies of scale and hedging provided by having a larger network, there’s no way to invest enough money in the lifts and other improvements to be able to stay competitive. This is a capital-intensive industry! When you spend a bunch of money going into debt to acquire resorts (Alterra and Vail) or build out massive app or web infrastructure (Vail) or “reimagine the rental experience” (Vail), you end up without enough cash to invest in the lift- and base area-related infrastructure you need just to stay running, let alone grow or expand.
Witness all the new lifts and investments (all over the world!) at Ikon Pass 5-/7-day partner resorts compared to the Alterra-owned and Vail-owned resorts. That’s where the real cash in the industry seems to be.
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Yeah, and they fail to mention things that have been slowed down to save money. Like the new base lodge at Deer Valley East Village. That was supposed to open this season with the one at the top of the gondola next season, but it sounds like the new base lodge was delayed until the 27/28 season earlier this summer.
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The “activist” recommended Bob Chapek who has a long history at Disney for not understanding the destination/travel industry side of their business and squeezing every last dime out of it so he could dump huge amounts of money in a failing streaming platform. That alone tells me this “activist” is probably looking to get more money out of Vail, not a better guest experience.
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interesting. I believe the Activist firm is wanting to look into selling off some mountains, and if the right people buy them, they can create their own guest experience that could be much better, or worse. for the PCMR example Prince truly cares about the mountain, and I strongly believe he will invest all the profits into upgrades and employees’ salaries.
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Frankly, Vail’s real issue is that it has failed to capture the premium market in an ever wealthier America. That has resulted in their stock lagging and now being undervalued. Oasis knows this. Their strategy would be to consolidate around premium-heavy mountains by shedding loss-leaders (feeder ski areas) and creating a tiered experience (line-cutting passes, members-only clubs, etc.) at their remaining resorts. PCMR only gets mentioned as a potential sale as well because Prince may pay multiple times above the market value of what it is worth, so a finance-first approach would say to sell.
Alterra did substantially worse than Vail this past year, so I would not use them as a model. Their strategy is more aggressive than Vail’s, so they have higher peaks in strong years but higher losses in poor years (like this past one).
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