sunday river or killington

[Tony Crocker]

Last season, Superstar held snow better than Canyon. Which probably means they blew the piss out of Superstar and not as much on Canyon.

Logically that would be the reason. If they they were trying to go for as long as possible, I still think Canyon would be better. But given logistics, restoring Superstar's operation into May is a more reasonable late season goal.

It gets really ugly when John Cumming comes in from Park City. With skier visits off by 1/3 since they showed up, the guy can't eat in a restaurant or buy a newspaper without the locals unloading on him.

They should keep that up. As the Bachelor experience showed, it's going to take a lot of noise to get POWDR Corp's attention.

 

[Geoff]

They should keep that up. As the Bachelor experience showed, it's going to take a lot of noise to get POWDR Corp's attention.

If there is one thing POWDR excels at, it's ignoring customer and local input. They came into Killington as the proverbial bull in a china shop. Fortunately, profit is the ultimate feedback loop and POWDR has unwound most of their bone-headed decisions. We'll see if they finally figure out that a 7 month season generates a lot more profit. Killington's midwinter product isn't very compelling. If they can't offer Halloween and Memorial Day skiing, people go elsewhere.

 

[EMSC]

POWDR Corp claims they let local managements earn their own $ and make operating decisions. Given the massive population base that used to support Killington's shoulder seasons, I think the "change of heart" has a higher probability of happening at Killington than Bachelor.

That's not what we hear. We hear that the operating decisions at Killington about season length come directly from the POWDR Utards. We also hear that a big chunk of the operating profit is getting dumped into Copper. It gets really ugly when John Cumming comes in from Park City. With skier visits off by 1/3 since they showed up, the guy can't eat in a restaurant or buy a newspaper without the locals unloading on him.

Interesting. I haven't tried to talk to any Copper folks yet this season, but last year the word was that when Powdr showed up and took over in late Dec they immediately cut Coppers operating budget by $3M for the remaining portion of the ski season. Copper is putting in some more snowmaking this summer (and more parking, yipee). Must be some snowmaking and parking upgrade to suck up all of the cash in the company though.

 

[Geoff]

Interesting. I haven't tried to talk to any Copper folks yet this season, but last year the word was that when Powdr showed up and took over in late Dec they immediately cut Coppers operating budget by $3M for the remaining portion of the ski season. Copper is putting in some more snowmaking this summer (and more parking, yipee). Must be some snowmaking and parking upgrade to suck up all of the cash in the company though.

At Killington, POWDR whacked most of the full timers and offered them seasonal jobs with no benefits. They've been running short-staffed ever since. The place is a mess whenever the resort gets stressed and the short-staffing is visible. Holiday periods and lift de-icing are where it really shows up.

I imagine that is a POWDR-wide way of doing things. They are private so nobody can see their finances. If they're buying ski resorts with borrowed money, they could very well end up in the ASC death spiral.