I, too, am troubled by the idea of one company taking over all of Colorado's front range.
Anyone here remember the American Ski Company debacle? What a mess
that was. Overextended and deeply in debt, they finally crashed and burned. And then there's Intrawest, which owns Steamboat, Winter Park, Tremblant, Stratton, Snowshoe, and Blue Mountain. They've had their problems, too, and seem (I think) a little too focused on real estate development.
I know that ski areas have a lot of expenses, and you need deep pockets to keep one going. But a ski company that pays more attention to the vagaries of Wall Street -- and make no mistake, meeting the bottom line of stockholders
has to be Vail's focus -- rather than the needs of skiers troubles me. I also worry about a sort of sameness that permeates ski areas held by the same company -- not just physical sameness, but a cultural and procedural sameness, as well. The temptation to standardize on all sorts of things has to be quite strong. It makes for a sort of soulless environment.
Maybe that's why I applaud the efforts of
Mountain Riders Alliance so much. Their mission is as follows:
To develop values-based, environmentally-friendly, rider-centric mountain playgrounds that encourage minimal carbon footprint business practices, while making a positive impact in the local community. I interviewed Jamie Schectman, one of MRA's founders, a while ago in my blog. You can find it
here.
Then again, perhaps I'm romanticizing something that shouldn't be romanticized. Obviously, ski areas need to make money to provide all the goodies we love so much -- grooming, lifts, lodges, etc. Big = money = more amenities. So there is that.
They have so much money that they basically refuse to work with any outside companies even if they offer a better product. They also don't offer any deals on Liftopia, which doesn't affect me personally but sends a crappy message.
