Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 48: Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2019

20 • NEWS BRIEFS
The Mountain Times • Nov. 27 - Dec. 3, 2019
New Sugarbush owners promise few immediate changes
By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger
WARREN — Rusty ment is just one of many
Gregory, the CEO of recently as large resorts
Sugarbush Resort’s new are purchased by large
parent company, knew companies.
his audience was worried Smith said in a letter to
that corporate ownership the community that the
would change the nature recent acquisition of Peak
of the ski area that drives Resorts by Vail Resorts
their local economy. this year was “the tipping
So Gregory gave out his point” in his decision to
mobile phone number sell.
from the stage, first to dozens
In the East, only three
of employees who at-
major resorts remain
tended a meeting to hear independent, Smith said:
from Alterra Mountain Co. Sugarbush, Jay Peak and
executives, and then to Waterville Valley. He defined
more than 200 community
“major” as more than
members who gathered 250,000 annual skier visits.
later Wednesday night for “Looking out at the
a similar presentation. horizon, it became very
Gregory said he hoped apparent to us that remaining
stakeholders would call
totally indepen-
him to let him know what dent without being owned
Alterra was getting right as or partnering would make
it assumed ownership of it increasingly difficult to
the resort, and what it was be viable in the long run,”
getting wrong.
he said.
“This is a place heading
Sugarbush, founded
in a great direction in 1958, is a key feature in
already,” said Gregory, the Mad River Valley with
flanked by other executives
trails on Mount Ellen and
at a meeting room Lincoln Peak, joined by a
at the Warren resort. two-mile long quad lift,
He promised that the billed as the longest and
Sugarbush faithful would fastest in the world. The
see barely any changes, ski area reports 111 trails
especially in the first year. and 4,000 acres of skiable
“Our first goal is to not do terrain.
any damage to that.”
When the Sugarbush
Win Smith, Sugarbush’s sale is complete, Alterra
owner for the last 18
will own 15 resorts,
years, announced Nov. 13 including Steamboat in
that the Colorado-based Colorado, Squaw Valley
Alterra will purchase the and Mammoth in California,
year-round resort effective
Stratton in Vermont,
at the start of the new Tremblant in Quebec,
year. That announce-
and CMH, a heli-skiing
YOUR DONATION IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE
By Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Current Sugarbush owner Win Smith discusses the resort’s recent acquisition by Alterra during a community meeting
in Warren on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
company in the Canadian
resort town of Banff. The
privately held company
has 25,000 employees,
Gregory said.
Gregory and Smith said
the move will help Sugarbush
with economies of
scale in areas like IT, staff
health insurance, and
equipment purchases.
“Not everyone likes
me saying this but it’s the
truth: Doing business in
Vermont is expensive,”
said Smith, citing taxes,
regulations and a lowerthan-average
unemployment
rate of around 2%.
“With Alterra, there are
ways of offsetting other
costs. If we buy a groomer,
we have very little negotiating
power; if Alterra buys
12 or 13, it is different.”
Perhaps the largest
example of that scale is the
Ikon pass — an offering
from Alterra, Aspen and
several other companies.
The pass provides entry
to more than 40 ski areas
and other destinations
worldwide — including
Zermatt in Switzerland —
for one set price and offers
five days at partner areas
including Killington. Vail’s
version of the popular
multi-resort pass, created
before the Ikon, is the Epic
pass. Sugarbush partnered
with Alterra last winter to
admit Ikon passholders,
and all of the executives at
the meeting Wednesday,
including Smith, cited the
pass as a major asset.
“The Ikon pass gives
stability in what can be
a very volatile business,”
said CFO Tim Donahue.
Smith and other investors
purchased Sugarbush
in 2001 from American
Skiing Co. That large company,
which later broke
up, came under heavy
criticism from locals in the
years after its purchase for
the way it managed the ski
area.
Since 2001 Sugarbush
has invested $74 million in
mountain improvements
including seven new lifts,
significant upgrades to its
snowmaking system, and
the revitalization of the
Lincoln Peak Base area,
complete with the Clay
Brook Hotel and Residences
and the Gate House
Lodge, two skier services
buildings, the Farmhouse
and Schoolhouse, and new
slopeside residences.
This time around,
Gregory said, the large parent
company will put Sugarbush’s
existing culture
first. He and Smith said all
165 year-round employees
– a workforce that swells
to 1,000 in winter — will
be retained; Smith, 70, will
continue to be in charge
locally.
Gregory said Alterra
will focus on working with
guests, employees and
financial stakeholders.
“To us, the company
is a lot of people beyond
just the ownership and
the bank that lends us
money,” he told community
members. “It’s about
learning, about understanding
how you think,
and not thinking we know
anything more than we
did when we first talked to
Win about partnering.”
Matt Lillard, the general
manager of the neighboring
Mad River Glen
cooperative ski area, said
Wednesday he wasn’t
surprised when he heard
Sugarbush would be sold.
“It makes sense, based
on where the industry is
going,” Lillard said. “I’m
glad it’s Alterra. From
watching other consolidations
and buyouts around
the state, I think Alterra
has a very good plan of letting
each area have their
own distinct character.”
The Alterra executives
didn’t have easy answers
for the many who asked
about sustainability initiatives.
Ski areas are among
the largest energy users in
Vermont.
Gregory said environmental
responsibility
is one of Alterra’s core
values.
“It’s a very complex
thing but it’s very important,
and in a lot of our
resorts we’re not very far
along,” he said. “Not as
far along as you are here
in Vermont. There’s a real
sense of urgency.”