Crested Butte and Stevens pass get Epic (as in bought by Vail)

[wolfelot]

Interesting. I had not heard any rustling that this might happen.

[Core Shot]

Jay Peak next!

Smuggs

As much as I hate vail, once they bought Stowe, I knew the real plan was to cross the ridge line and make an epic mega resort in new england

[Foggy_Goggles]

Smuggs

As much as I hate vail, once they bought Stowe, I knew the real plan was to cross the ridge line and make an epic mega resort in new england

With or without opening the Notch Road for the winter?

side note: are there any North American ski areas that have base areas that are substantial driving distances apart or large base areas that are not vehicle accessible?

[Sirshredalot]

With or without opening the Notch Road for the winter?

side note: are there any North American ski areas that have base areas that are substantial driving distances apart or large base areas that are not vehicle accessible?

It's a drive of several miles between the main Big Sky base and Moonlight, Canyons and PCMR, and some of the assorted base areas at Mammoth.

[The AD]

I can't read the tea leaves well enough to know whether this is a positive or a negative for Stevens Pass. The positive side is the Epic Pass and the capital improvements that Vail typically brings to an area. The negative could be increased crowds and higher prices. Yes, the Epic Pass is going to bring some additional skiers to the mountain, but it could very well be more than offset by in-state skiers taking more trips out of the state. Realistically there aren't going to be a lot of people who are going to make a destination trip to ski at Stevens.

[Talisman]

May help resurrect the legendary Lebanon, NH though.

Lebanon or Claremont, Cowhampshire? Claremont is the crumbling mill town nearer Sunapee.

[GoldMember]

Realistically there aren't going to be a lot of people who are going to make a destination trip to ski at Stevens.

No but it could become a good one-day stopover on the way to Whistler, if they're coming from other places in the U.S. I think the big driver is in enticing Seattle area skiers with passes to Stevens to make the trek to W/B. Overall, I think they're looking to populated areas with good incomes and a higher than average per capita skier base. I worry a bit about Schweitzer becoming a VR target but, we don't have the population base to be very attractive to them.

[skysos]

After Vail bought Kirkwood, we waited and waited for upgrades and got nothing but an earlier closing date. It beats the place going under like it was going to, but I don't see this as anything but a grab for more market share.

CB feeds on tourists coming into Gunnison from various airport hubs like DFW and ATL. The primary competition is actually Breck and Telluride with similar downtowns and a genuine mountain vibe. I suspect that is their play here. They can attract some of the same people that would do Breck and Telluride to stay under the Vail pass umbrella pretty much forever.

BTW, I'm pretty sure Snodgrass was approved as part of the master plan with the forest service back in the 90's but they never built so that expired. They would have to go through the whole process again most likely.

[angler99]

After Vail bought Kirkwood, we waited and waited for upgrades and got nothing but an earlier closing date. It beats the place going under like it was going to, but I don't see this as anything but a grab for more market share.

CB feeds on tourists coming into Gunnison from various airport hubs like DFW and ATL. The primary competition is actually Breck and Telluride with similar downtowns and a genuine mountain vibe. I suspect that is their play here. They can attract some of the same people that would do Breck and Telluride to stay under the Vail pass umbrella pretty much forever.

BTW, I'm pretty sure Snodgrass was approved as part of the master plan with the forest service back in the 90's but they never built so that expired. They would have to go through the whole process again most likely.

Just out of curiosity, other than the earlier closing date, have you noticed any other atrocities happen at Kirkwood since Vail purchased it?

[PNWbrit]

No but it could become a good one-day stopover on the way to Whistler, if they're coming from other places in the U.S. I think the big driver is in enticing Seattle area skiers with passes to Stevens to make the trek to W/B. Overall, I think they're looking to populated areas with good incomes and a higher than average per capita skier base. I worry a bit about Schweitzer becoming a VR target but, we don't have the population base to be very attractive to them.

Even if the epic pass is extended to Stevens I can't imagine a stop over at Steven's Pass would really attract enough visitors to Whistler to be alone worth the purchase. Or the number of Steven's Pass holders that would go to Whistler now that didn't before...

A willing non-industry seller - that'd had already sold off Snoqualmie as part of their ongoing management deal with Boyne, Little to no chance of buying Crystal from Boyne or now JK, the last of the three ski areas close to boom town Seattle with reasonable chance to expand, improve, charge more, make a profit.

[Foggy_Goggles]

genuine mountain vibe

Can we get a whole subfourm on this?

What is it?

Is it good?

Is it bad?

Where has the most of it? How do you get more?

Is it for sale? Can we do a group buy?

Should I get my wife one for Christmas?

Did you TM that yet? I forsee, at minimum a trucker hat and bumpsticker. Perhaps, a whole clothing line.

[funkendrenchman]

Can we get a whole subfourm on this?

I think you need a time machine.

[Buster Highmen]

Can we get a whole subfourm on this?.

Why the need for a subforum when the whole of the chatbored already is?

[carlh]

We can hate on the big ski company but this increases the odds of me buying a epic pass or edge card. Epic local for the same price as a stevens only pass with free days at other resorts seems like an upgrade to me. Might force the other areas to offer more benefits on their passes or lower prices. Highway 2 through sultan is still the major deterrent to stevens.

[TAFKALVS]

A glass-half-full opinion from someone who generally avoids the US-2 corridor anyway:

Perhaps big money momentum will be applied to the necessary expansion of the Stevens lift-served acreage with this exchange... with the likely-futile hope that some pressure can be temporarily taken off the other ski hills near Pugetopolis.

I really hope that is the case. Steven's MDP has been approved for a while with more lifts. Fingers crossed.

So what's going to change at Stevens Pass?

Exactly. I don't see how Vail will be anymore corporate and soulless than Harbor Properties or CNL... of course the social media chatter would make you think Stevens Pass was some sort of mom and pop and got hostile take over'd by a corporation... which we both know is not the case. I wonder if the Windy hill will go Epic with the sweet condo development they are working on?

I can't read the tea leaves well enough to know whether this is a positive or a negative for Stevens Pass. The positive side is the Epic Pass and the capital improvements that Vail typically brings to an area. .

Vail said they are going to spend 35 million on resort improvements, hopefully that includes a couple new lifts for Stevens Pass.

[slatham]

Can we get a whole subfourm on this?

What is it?

Is it good?

Is it bad?

Where has the most of it? How do you get more?

Is it for sale? Can we do a group buy?

Should I get my wife one for Christmas?

Did you TM that yet? I forsee, at minimum a trucker hat and bumpsticker. Perhaps, a whole clothing line.

I say a genuine mountain town/ski town is where the emphasis of the locals is on the mountain and skiing, not on the house/car/cloths/Botox. Sure, if you have a good enough mountain to get a hard core crew of locals your bound to get the wealthy and the beautiful. But where is the emphasis, how doesn't it balance out? Does Aspen qualify? No. Does Revelstoke or Kicking Horse, probably.

[LegoSkier]

Granted, I don't ski there anymore but when Vail bought Kirkwood, the place did seem to run more smoothly (other than the earlier closing date). And of course there is the whole actually connecting the place to grid power and not having the generator blow up all the time.

Will be interesting to see what happens with Stevens. As an Alpy skier with and Edge card, all I know is I just got two Stevens tickets out of the deal if I don't use all 5 at Whistler.

I don't think Ikon would buy Summit/Alpy to match Vail. The lower elevation factor will be a big deal in the decades ahead and there is nowhere to expand up there and there aren't any other Ikon resorts close by like Whistler is for Epic. Shit, this has me re-thinking the Epic pass in the future if I can go to Stevens, Whistler a couple of long weekends, and Tahoe (where my sis has a house in South Lake) for one trip a year. Non-starter though until they fix the shitty parking situation. I just don't need that stress.

[PNWbrit]

I don't think Ikon would buy Summit/Alpy to match Vail.

Now it's owned by a ski corp rather than an as a portfolio item I doubt it'd be for sale?

[skaredshtles]

You guys are hilarious. Crusty Butt lost it's "funky ski-town" cred back in the mid-90's...

[blazes_boylan]

Vail can change many things, for better and worse, but they can't change terrain.

They can certainly close it, or remove rock and such to make entrances more "family friendly." I wouldn't put it past them to use some dynamite to grade out the entrances into the North Face stuff to make it more "accessible." Right now it's a great gaper filter.

Good Point! We've seen this happen recently with Alterra making some of the expert tree skiing at Winter Park more "family friendly" by doing major logging to open it up. Would not be a surprise for Vail to do the same thing to get more people into that terrain that they consider "underutilized."

[hatchgreenchile]

Good Point! We've seen this happen recently with Alterra making some of the expert tree skiing at Winter Park more "family friendly" by doing major logging to open it up. Would not be a surprise for Vail to do the same thing to get more people into that terrain that they consider "underutilized."

Vail can do whatever they want to the Butte, but it will never be Keystone.
It will always be steep and technical, complete with free stone grinds!
I'll be concerned when they try to summer groom the headwall.

[fastfred]

CB has always been a place of refuge for us; escape the crowds at the right time of year and enjoy a charming town. I'm sure Vail will bring more $$$ into their economy, but it will suck to see the authenticity fade away.

please dude that is the funniest thing I've read

there is nothing authentic about CB, a bunch of trustifarians running around in carharts beards and puffies acting like they are down to earth?
I might belive all that charming down to earth shit if you were talking about gunninson

CB just like every other mountain resort town is selling an image and that image is some down home small town where every one is a great guy and your family here
I remember sitting at the bar once with a coworker and the local town drunk was all touchie feelie with my bro, he was about ready to punch the guys teeth out but I got the bartender to intervene in the nick of time, he seperates them, apolgizes, and calls the guys wife to come pick him up, yeah that's charming authentic for sure

[XavierD]

I look forward to the Vail v USFS over parking lot improvements and the Vail v WSDOT over US2 improvements.

I’m also looking forward to owning an epic pass this year.

[SkiBall]

I just want it to snow. I'll sort out the rest.

[fastfred]

A. The primary competition is actually Breck and Telluride with similar downtowns and a genuine mountain vibe. I suspect that is their play here. They can attract some of the same people that would do Breck and Telluride to stay under the Vail pass umbrella pretty much forever.

BTW, I'm pretty sure Snodgrass was approved as part of the master plan with the forest service back in the 90's but they never built so that expired. They would have to go through the whole process again most likely.

I think snodgrass was never approved by the usfs because all it was, was real estate lifts

genuine mtn vide and breck? nope not even close, breck is disney land and nothing else, it's one big t shirt shop shit hole of town that caters only to tourists and retirees, they provide lip service to the locals and that is about it, a constant churn of early twenty somethings to fill shit paying jobs, their not the vibe, just pretenda locals

summer tourist season started early this year and it's nothing but fatsos with hot fudge in one hand, a t shirt in the other, head up their ass, and their jaw dropped to the floor when they stop outside a real estate office and see the cost of a studio condo in a shit hole 40 year old building
on the other hand, I"m glad we can give them something different in their lives and maybe a glimmer of excitement and hope outside of the mall and suburbia
signed another jaded local