Aspen to buy Interwest

mattchuck2 wrote

raisingarizona wrote

If there isn't any plans for a rotating titty bar I don't give a damn about Innerwest or Fail!

I think your mistake is thinking that the attractiveness of the women in some of these ski towns is anywhere near the attractiveness of women in Arizona. There are some hotties in ski towns, sure, but in my experience going to strip clubs in the sticks, strip club gigs don't usually draw those girls.

 
Import. Import. Import! Yeah, AZ is awesome in that department.

We used to stop every now and then at this topless bar in Rock Springs Wyoming for a beverage or two. I'm so happy that it was a very, VERY dark bar inside.

raisingarizona wrote

Import. Import. Import! Yeah, AZ is awesome in that department.

AZ is the Florida of the West. It's where old people go to die.

mm

Arizona does have a large population of retirees no doubt but beyond that the similarities pretty much end.

You would think that Powdr would be less likely to sell to Vail given they got screwed on Park City by them.  Aspen burning Powdr and Snowbird with it makes more sense.

I've said and I hold to it that there would be 3 power players.  I didn't see Aspen coming but I hold to it  that Boyne will be one of the survivors.  I'd look for them to do some buying really soon.  

Coach Z wrote

I've said and I hold to it that there would be 3 power players.  I didn't see Aspen coming but I hold to it  that Boyne will be one of the survivors.  I'd look for them to do some buying really soon.

Have you seen that John Kircher has become the sole owner of Crystal Mountain in WA?  The other three mountains owned by Boyne are Big Sky, plus Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands in Michigan.  The other Boyne mountains are long term lease arrangements.

https://crystalmountainresort.com/blog-winter/john-kircher-acquires-crystal-mountain/

As I remember, Boyne wanted to buy Solitude but couldn't come up with the financing.  So Deer Valley got Solitude instead.

I saw that as freeing up cash to buy something
Boyne is doing a really good job with Sunday River. I thought it was really well run.

Coach Z wrote

I saw that as freeing up cash to buy something
Boyne is doing a really good job with Sunday River. I thought it was really well run.

Hmm, reading what John Kircher said in the blog entry and other articles it seemed that he is happy to change his focus to just one mountain.  He's been living there for 20 years.  It was a share swap.  Although haven't seen what's going to happen for the job of being charge of Boyne West operations.  Summer plans call for spending $5 million in capital improvements.

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-business/crystal-mountain-ski-resort-bought-by-longtime-manager/

* * * excerpt
Kircher, 59, for years oversaw the western operations of Boyne, which spanned Washington, Utah and British Columbia. It was he who led the purchase in 1997 of the Crystal Mountain ski area from a group of 850 shareholders.

But in late March he swapped out his shares in Boyne for complete ownership of the resort, where he has lived for two decades.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time,” Kircher said in an interview. “You can get 100 percent of all the fun of being in the ski business from one place rather than multiple resorts. So I’m kind of scaling back, concentrating on one place I really enjoy.”
* * *

A website about future development plans was rolled out last year for Big Sky called "Big Sky 2025."  Plans called for spending $150 million in the next decade.

http://bigsky2025.com

Agree that Boyne does a good job running the places they lease.  Have been to Sunday River and Brighton for a few days here and there.

http://unofficialnetworks.com/2017/06/07/lawsuit-challenges-legality-of-aspen-skiing-co-ksl-purchase-of-intrawest/

This could result in either Aspen paying more for Intrawest or even a bidding war between Aspen and Vail for it.  

Thinking about what will happen with pass offerings for 18-19.  Right now, all pre-merger Intrawest mountains are on the Max Pass, while everything else is on the Mountain Collective.  There are 4 scenarios as to what could happen for 18-19.

1.  No changes.  Pre-merger Intrawest resorts stay on the Max Pass and everything else on the Mountain Collective.  Current system works fine, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

2.  Move all non-Intrawest resorts to the Max Pass.  Since Intrawest was one of the founding members of the Max Pass, they have high degree of control over how that pass works, so they may want to be part of it for that reason, as well as it being the preference for Intrawest's management.  It also allows them to work with the other Max Pass resorts in the east where it has a strong presence to keep Vail from ever being competitive there.

3.  Move all pre-merger Intrawest resorts to the Mountain Collective.  Since there are currently more resorts under Aspen/Intrawest/KSL on the Mountain Collective, it might make sense to use that pass instead, and it would boost their presence in Colorado, having almost all non-Vail mountains on the same pass, with Crested Butte and Copper the notable exceptions on the same pass.  However, they'd lose the benefit of having the other Max Pass resorts that are close to population centers as feeder hills in the east.

4.  Introduce a new pass for unlimited access to all 13 resorts that is similar to the Epic Pass, while leaving both the Max Pass and Mountain Collective.  This would allow them to keep business within their own resorts, not relying on other Max Pass or Mountain Collective members, and would be highly beneficial to those who already ski at one.  However, it would likely alienate all business that their resorts were getting from the previous passes they were on.  For example, I won't be skiing Tremblant or Stratton anymore if they leave the Max Pass, since that is the only multi-resort pass that makes sense for me given that I get the add-on rate from my Whiteface pass.

Zero chance of 1 and 2

#3 Aspen was a founding member of the Mt Collective but I'm thinking now that they are not a stand alone resort they may bail.  I'd say it's a 33.3% odds

66.6% they form their own pass to compete directly with Epic and bail on both MC and Max greatly weakening both and leading to the battle of the titans btw Aspen and Vail which is clearly what this is all about.  

Mountain Collective has always been run by and sold through Liftopia, so while Aspen was one of the original mountains, they don't have any control over the pass.  The Max Pass started as an agreement between Intrawest, Powdr, and Boyne and it was based off the Intrawest Passport that they started a couple years prior.  The three founding members make the rules regarding the pass.

I agree that #4 is the most likely scenario, but I would be surprised if they aren't considering the negative effects of leaving both MC and Max.  Due to location, there's no way I will ever ski at any of their resorts enough to buy a combined pass, while I can get the Max Pass add on and ski Tremblant and Stratton.  I am planning on two overnights at Tremblant next year on the Max Pass, but I likely wouldn't go at all if it isn't on the pass.  Would be taking my business to Killington instead or maybe try something in NH or Maine.

IMO the Mountain Collective kind of sucks because you don't get enough days at each mountain to be able to ski off of it for a full season like is possible with the Max Pass.  They also have all four Aspen resorts and Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows considered one ski area, so you only get 2 days across all the Aspen resorts and 2 across Squaw and Alpine.  The Max Pass gives 5 days at every ski area no matter what.  There also isn't any kind of discount for passholders at the participating mountains, so there's no incentive to switch to the participating mountain over a competitor that isn't part of it.  For example, if one wants to have a season pass at a Catskill mountain, but do other longer trips to different ski areas occasionally, they have an incentive to go with Belleayre or Windham and get the Max Pass add on rather than going with Hunter and only being able to go to Mount Snow.  For the Mtn Collective, there's no incentive to get a Sugarbush pass if planning to ski at other Mtn Collective resorts.  You could get one at any mountain in the area and it wouldn't matter.

I agree the MC has never been very attractive IMO.  I had a Max last season but won't this season.  I have a trip booked to PowMo and with my son racing even more this season as a U16 I  won't have much time to ski outside NY.

Aspen wants to create its own season pass like the Epic.  Needs a catchy name for sure.

Last season my dad and I both had the Ski3 pass.  My dad switched to the Max Pass standalone because he figured out that he could do all the skiing he wanted to do with it.  Since it's cheaper than the Ski or Peak Pass (Hunter), there is money to do more overnights (likely at Killington and WF).  I got the add-on so I could go to Tremblant and Killington when I'm in Potsdam and so I could have a few more options when at home.  Want to go out west again next year, but not sure if it will work out.

If Max loses Tremblant and Stratton, it will certainly be less attractive, but it might still be worth it to get it for Killington and the options when I'm at home.  I could also see Jay Peak joining to attract the Montreal crowd if Tremblant leaves which would be great.  It's totally doable to day trip from Potsdam.  I'm not sure if my dad will switch back to the Ski3 or stick with Max after trying it this year.

Jay already tries to get/retain the Montreal crowd with lift tickets at par.

I think the MCP serves a purpose because the destinations are on a lot of people's bucket lists.  I went to Aspen for the first time a few years ago because it was on the MCP and I had another reason to be in Denver.  First considered the MCP because I meet up with friends at Alta in late season.  Once I started getting the MCP, it made it easier to decide to check out JH, Aspen, and Taos in recent years during mid-season trips.  50% off the days after the first two because of the MCP is about the only way to say a little on lift tickets at those resorts.  Have found a few friends to travel with who also get the MCP and plan for 2-3 trips out west per season going to MCP destinations.  Most of us live in the east.

Apparently Taos was hoping for 5000 MCP guests for the 2016-17 season.  When my friends and I were there in Feb, they already had seen 2000.  We liked Taos so much, we're going back next season.  Without the MCP, not sure when Taos would've hit the top of my travel list.

If Aspen drops off the MCP, would I go back?  Perhaps, but probably not as soon.

Isn't it Intrawest?

i don't hunk that was pointed out a couple months ago when the thread started but I don't think I can change it

Also my past 4000+ post would point out I couldn't give a crap about spelling and since they are ceasing to exist intra or inter west really doesn't matter any more does it?