On April 10th the Denver Post broke the story that an alliance between Aspen Skiing Co. and KSL Capital Partners (the owners of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows) is buying Intrawest. Two days later they broke another story that the same alliance is buying Mammoth Mountain in Southern California. In an obvious attempt to compete with Vail’s Epic Pass these two transactions will give this alliance, along with their current holdings, control of 10 additional resorts in both the USA and Canada. They will now also own the world’s largest heliskiing operation, Canadian Mountain Holidays.
It is probably not realistic to expect a new multiple resort pass offering all 15 properties by the beginning of next season, but my guess is we will see one soon. Vail’s Epic Pass has caused a change in the ski industry business model away from focusing on real estate sales to expanding season pass revenue as the main financial engine. The Aspen-KSL alliance will have 15 resorts and in four states and Canada to compete with Vail’s 11 resorts.
In the April 12th Denver Post article Eric Resnick of KSL Capital partners said, “It’s really operations that drive the value and the business within ski resort companies. That’s one of the misperceptions out there: that you buy a resort company to muddle through operations and make your money on real estate. But that could not be be further from the truth,” he said. “We would love to see real estate developed in a responsible manner because it does add value and … vibrancy to the village. But developing that real estate is not our main driver.”
Squaw/Alpine has been behind the creation of a multi resort pass called The Mountain Collective™ that they have been offering for several years. On their website they say the pass “is an unprecedented collaboration between the world’s best independent resorts: Alta, Aspen Snowmass, Banff Sunshine, Coronet Peak/The Remarkables, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Lake Louise, Mammoth Mountain, Revelstoke, Snowbasin (NEW!), Snowbird, Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, Sugarbush (NEW!), Sun Valley, Taos, Telluride and Thredbo.” Here are the details.
The 2017-18 Mountain Collective™ Pass Details & Benefits
- Adult Pass: $429 (while supplies last) // Kid Pass: $99
- 2 days at The Collective destinations for a total of 32 days
- Plus a bonus third day at the destination of your choice
- NO BLACKOUT DATES
- Plus 50% off all additional days
- Special lodging deals
Additional Benefits
- 2 days each at Valle Nevado in Chile, Hakuba Valley in Japan and Chamonix in France
- Complimentary 1-year Protect Our Winters Membership
This, in and of itself, is a good deal. It will be interesting to see what they decide to offer in the future.
Click here to read the Denver Post article on the Intrawest acquisition.
Click here to read the Denver Post article on the Mammoth Mountain acquisition.
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