{"id":2450460,"date":"2019-10-28T23:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=315185"},"modified":"2019-10-28T23:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T05:20:00","slug":"new-book-dissects-sweeping-changes-in-ski-industry-and-aspens-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/new-book-dissects-sweeping-changes-in-ski-industry-and-aspens-role\/","title":{"rendered":"New book dissects sweeping changes in ski industry and Aspen\u2019s role"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Chris Diamond<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Aspen Skiing Co. likely stayed independent of its sister resort operator, Alterra Mountain Co., because placing a monetary value on the iconic Aspen company was so difficult, according to a new book on the ski industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cSki Inc. 2020\u201d by Chris Diamond with Andy Bigford takes a deep dive into changes that have swept the ski industry since April 2017, when Alterra emerged to challenge Vail Resorts\u2019 industry domination.<\/p>\n

Alterra was formed by the Crown family, 100% owners of Skico, and KSL Capital Partners LLC. They went on a buying binge and created a multi-resort Ikon Pass to rival Vail\u2019s Epic Pass.<\/p>\n

The resulting competition has been a \u201cNorth American Renaissance\u201d for the ski industry, wrote Diamond, a 44-year veteran of the ski industry who spent 17 years as president and chief operating officer of Steamboat Ski Resort Corp. He is now a resort consultant and author.<\/p>\n

He collaborated on the book with Bigford, who was the editor of the Aspen Daily News from 1986 to 1989 and a former editor in chief of SKI Magazine.<\/p>\n

While the book takes a big-picture view of the changes in the ski industry over the past 30 months, Skico plays a prominent role in the story.<\/p>\n

Two events set the stage for the creation of Alterra, the book suggested. First, Skico officials created the Mountain Collective Pass to help independent resort operators compete with Vail\u2019s Epic Pass. That pass was created in 2012.<\/p>\n

Second, the Crowns slowly and steadily forged a business relationship with KSL Capital. The two companies were on the prowl for acquisitions and realized they could accomplish more together.<\/p>\n

The Crowns and KSL teamed in 2016 to buy the land and restart development of Snowmass Base Village.<\/p>\n

\u201cSki Inc. 2020\u201d said Skico also became a minority investor that year in Squaw Valley\/Alpine Meadows, which was owned by KSL. Aspen and Squaw were partners in the Mountain Collective Pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo KSL and Aspen folks were talking on multiple levels,\u201d the book said. Jim Crown, managing partner of Skico, and KSL\u2019s Eric Resnick came to the conclusion it would work best to work together.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth shared the view that Vail Resorts was dominating the industry and that their resorts would be marginalized if they didn\u2019t respond \u2014 and do so in a big way,\u201d Diamond wrote.<\/p>\n

They teamed to create the company that would later become Alterra and purchase Intrawest in April 2017 and, two days later, Mammoth Mountain\/Big Bear.<\/p>\n

Both Vail and Alterra have continued their buying binge. The competition with Vail Resorts was on, but why did Skico\u2019s four resorts \u2014 Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk \u2014 remain independent?<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the stranger twists in Alterra\u2019s evolution was the participation (or not) of the Crown ski assets in the new company,\u201d Diamond wrote. \u201cAnnouncements from the start were vague on this issue. At the time, there were those in the industry who concluded that once the Mammoth deal was done, the Crowns insisted on a higher valuation for their Aspen Skiing Co. mountains, and the numbers simply didn\u2019t work for the new company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diamond wrote that he asked David Perry, Skico\u2019s former second in command and now Alterra\u2019s president and chief operating officer, in January about why it look so long to get clarity on Aspen\u2019s position with Alterra.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018How do you value Aspen?\u2019 David answered,\u201d Diamond wrote. Complicating factors included Aspen\u2019s iconic position in the industry, Snowmass\u2019 ongoing rebirth and the Crowns\u2019 unique position among industry owners, according to Diamond.<\/p>\n

Skico opens its slopes for seven days to buyers of the Ikon Pass.<\/p>\n

The book focuses on how Alterra\u2019s emergence has reshaped the industry landscape. The ski resorts owned by Vail Resorts and Alterra or affiliated through their season passes account for 50% of all skier days when passes and lift ticket sales are factored in, Diamond wrote.<\/p>\n

He contends that skiers and snowboarders are benefiting from the situation. In an interview Monday, Diamond said consumers often lose when so much control is concentrated in the hands of only two major operators. In this case, he said, the competition between Alterra and Vail will continue to pay dividends in the form of cheap season ski passes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have two companies that are competing about as intensely as they can, whether it\u2019s on the acquisitions side or on the product side,\u201d Diamond said. \u201cYou could never merge the two. That would be an anti-trust issue, so you\u2019re going to have at least two major competitors out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two big companies benefit from what he labeled the \u201cmega-passes\u201d because it entices people to ski more often and visit places that were once just \u201caspirational\u201d destinations for them, such as Aspen.<\/p>\n

Diamond said he doesn\u2019t foresee earth-shattering changes in the ski industry in the next three years as what occurred in the prior three years, but it\u2019s impossible to predict.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been surprised before. I didn\u2019t see this coming,\u201d he said of Alterra\u2019s emergence.<\/p>\n

But in \u201cSki Inc. 2020\u201d he lays out two interesting possible scenarios for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe general consensus among industry insiders is that Alterra will strengthen its holdings over the next five years, perhaps adding more resorts, improve operating margins, and then do an IPO to reward its investors,\u201d Diamond wrote. \u201cAnother view has the Crowns, committed buy-and-hold investors, taking control of Alterra and then merging it with their Aspen properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSki Inc. 2020\u201d is available online and in select bookstores for $29.95.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris DiamondCourtesy photo Aspen Skiing Co. likely stayed independent of its sister resort operator, Alterra Mountain Co., because placing a monetary value on the iconic Aspen company was so difficult, according to a new book on the ski industry. \u201cSki Inc. 2020\u201d by Chris Diamond with Andy Bigford takes a deep dive into changes that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 11:11:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}