Powdr Corporation

Powdr Corporation

Type	Private
Founded	1994
Headquarters	Park City, Utah
Key people	John Cumming, chief executive
Website	http://www.powdr.com/

Powdr Corporation is one of the largest ski resort operators in North America, along with Boyne Resorts, Intrawest, and Vail Resorts. Unlike its competitors, Powdr focuses on ski area operations rather than real estate development. It is owned by the Cumming family and headquartered in Park City, Utah.^[1] John Cumming, who co-founded the clothing company Mountain Hardwear, is the current CEO of Powdr Corp.

History

Powdr was founded in 1994 by Ian Cumming with the purchase of Park City Mountain Resort.^[2] Later that year, the company expanded into California with the purchase of Alpine Meadows near Lake Tahoe.^[3] In August 1995, the company continued its expansion in California with the purchase of the Boreal and Soda Springs ski areas.^[4] In April 2001, Powdr acquired Mount Bachelor ski area from a group of shareholders.^[5] The company bought Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort in November 2003.^[6] Killington and Pico were sold to Powdr by American Skiing Company in May 2007.^[7]

In July 2007, Powdr sold Alpine Meadows to JMA Ventures.^[8]

Powdr acquired Copper Mountain, Colorado in December 2009 from Intrawest.^[9] Powdr acquired "World of Adventure Sports Presented by GoPro", an Emmy Award winning TV series on December 3, 2013.^[10]

Lawsuits

Non-honoring of certain Killington season passes

Powdr was criticized for its refusal to honor lifetime season passes upon its purchase of Killington Resort and increasing pass prices at Mt. Bachelor. In July 2010, "A federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit against Killington Resort over so-called 'lifetime' ski passes. Judge Christina Reiss found that the resort owner was under no legal obligation to honor the investor season passes when it purchased Killington Resort in 2007. She also noted that in its purchase agreement with American Skiing Co., SP Land agreed to honor 37 'lifetime' passes, which did not include the names of the plaintiffs or the names of any class members. (A number of those lifetime passes were issued over the years to former employees). She said the investor pass certificates stated very clearly that the passes were valid 'so long as the Sherburne Corp., and that became Killington Ltd., continued to operate the lifts there' and that neither corporation exists today.^[11]

Loss of Park City lease

When Powdr's property Park City Mountain Resort mistakenly failed to renew a "sweetheart lease" with a Vail Resorts subsidiary on certain parcels of its Park City-area resort holdings in 2011, the company was eventually evicted from the property and after a protracted legal fight, "reluctantly" sold its remaining area assets to Vail Resorts for approximately 180 million dollars in late 2014, ending its corporate presence in the Wasatch Range and giving Vail full control of Park City.^[12]

Properties

• Boreal Mountain Resort, California
• Copper Mountain, Colorado
• Killington Ski Resort, Vermont
• Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort, Nevada
• Mount Bachelor, Oregon
• Pico Mountain, Vermont
• Soda Springs, California
• Eldora Mountain Resort, Colorado

Former Properties

• Alpine Meadows, California
• Park City Mountain Resort, Utah (Sale to Vail Resorts Announced, September 11, 2014.^[13][14] )

References