Posted: 03/07/07

Mountains on the market
American Skiing Company sells four major ski resorts

Brielle Domings | contributing writer
bdomings@smcvt.edu

American Skiing Company, located in Park City, Utah, announced the sales of four of their Northeast ski areas in mid-February, says David Hirasawa, the company’s manager of investor relations. Of the four, Killington, Pico, and Mount Snow are located in Vermont, while Attitash is located in New Hampshire. After these sales, American Skiing Company will own just three resorts.

The Transaction

The four resorts were bought by three different companies. POWDR Corporation and SP Land Company bought Killington and Pico for $83.5 million and $5 million of debts and other liabilities, while Peak Resorts bought Attitash and Mount Snow for $73.5 million and $2 million of debts and other liabilities, Hirasawa says.

Killington and Pico had 795,400 skiers and riders at their resort last year. (photo courtesy of Killington)

“The board [of American Skiing Company] ultimately chose to sell them because the prices offered were very compelling,” he says.

Additionally, with the sale of the four resorts, American Skiing Company was able to get out of debt, Hirasawa says, but despite the sales, the resorts shouldn’t expect many employment changes.

“It’s a bittersweet parting and we’ll miss the interaction with these mountains and the employees,” Hirasawa says.

The sales of the four resorts will close in April, Hirasawa says.

Killington: The change

POWDR Corporation partnered with the SP Land Company and purchased Killington and Pico from American Skiing Company. The SP Land Company has owned land at the base of Killington for many years, POWDR spokesman Mark Fischer says.

However, SP Land Company is primarily a land developing company. Instead of owning only part of the land, it made sense for the company to buy the whole thing, Fischer says. POWDR Corporation decided to partner with SP Land in order to handle the operations aspect of Killington, he says.

“If it has to do with getting skiers up and down the mountain, that’s POWDR’s job,” Fischer says.

This is POWDR’s first acquisition in the East.

Killington has received 150 inches of snow this season, according to Killington communications manager Tom Horrocks. (Brielle Domings, photo)

Last year, 795,400 skiers and snowboarders visited Killington and Pico, Hirasawa says.

With the completion of this sale, many different groups will benefit, Fischer says. The change will be good for the town and the ski resort, he says. American Skiing Company will also probably be stronger because the transactions made them debt free, he says.

Additionally, all passes and previously issued gift cards will be valid until the end of the ski season, Horrocks says.

Will the sale alter Killington's atmosphere?

St. Michael’s College junior Alex Smith has been skiing at Killington since she was three years old. When she was a freshman in high school, her parents built a house near the mountain. The sale of the mountain will not affect their house because it is on a private road, Smith says.

In high school, Smith skied at Killington every weekend, she says. Since she’s been to college, she skis whenever she can, she says.

With the change in management, Smith would like the prices to be cheaper, she says. A season pass for a student can be as expensive as $649 for the Ski America Pass, according to the Killington Web site. For a non-student adult, the price is $1,700. The Ski America season pass allows the skier or rider to go to any American Skiing Company resorts, according to the Killington Web site.

Smith did not buy a season pass this year but in the past she has bought the All East season pass, she says. The All East pass allows skiers and riders to go to any of the resorts owned by American Skiing Company that are in the East, Smith says. This included Killington, Pico, Mount Snow, Attitash, Sugarloaf and Sunday River. The All East season pass costs $375 for students.

Despite the prices, Killington is really fun, Smith says.

“There’s a lot of different terrain to ski,” she says.

Mount Snow and Attitash

Peak Resorts, located in Missouri, purchased Mount Snow and Attitash. The company also owns Boston Mills, Brandywine, Snow Creek, Hidden Valley, Paoli Peaks, Mad River Mountain, and Crotched Mountain, according to the Peak Resorts Web site. All of these resorts are in the Midwest with the exception of Crotched Mountain, which is located in southern New Hampshire.

Junior Chris Vaughn works at Mount Snow. (Brielle Domings, photo)

St. Michael’s junior Chris Vaughn works at Mount Snow as a snowboard instructor. He teaches adult groups in the Perfect Turn program, he says.

This is Vaughn’s first year working at Mount Snow. Previously, he worked at Blue Hills Ski Area in Canton, Mass., for four seasons. However, the lack of snow made him look for work in a different area where he could work more often, he says.

With the sale, a change in the season pass would be nice, Vaughn says. With the American Skiing Company, the season pass has blackout dates, he says. A blackout date is a typically busy day usually over a weekend or holiday or school vacation week during which season pass privileges don’t apply, Vaughn says.

“They had blackout days over college break and my buddies couldn’t come up and use their passes,” Vaughn says.