 Poster: A snowHead
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One of the the least Vail-like resorts in the world sucked up, bad winters obviously leave resorts vulnerable:
Vail Resorts To Acquire Kirkwood Mountain Resort in Lake Tahoe, Calif., Creating an Unparalleled Offering for Skiers and Riders in the Tahoe Region with the Combination of Heavenly and Northstar
• Heavenly and Northstar pass holders get immediate access to Kirkwood and Kirkwood pass holders get immediate access to Heavenly and Northstar
BROOMFIELD, Colo.—Feb. 22, 2012—Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Kirkwood Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe, Calif., recognized by skiers and snowboarders as offering some of the best high alpine advanced terrain in North America. Vail Resorts is purchasing the ski resort as well as the undeveloped sites at the center of the base area which are zoned for residential and commercial development for a purchase price of approximately $18.0 million. The seller will retain a participation interest in the base area parcels and will continue to own the remainder of the real estate development sites. Following the acquisition, Vail Resorts will now operate three world-class mountain resorts in the Lake Tahoe region which between them offer the entire breadth of the skiing and riding experience, including Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Lake Tahoe, Northstar California on the north shore and Kirkwood Mountain Resort.
Vail Resorts also announced that, effective immediately, Heavenly and Northstar pass holders will have access to Kirkwood and Kirkwood pass holders will be able to ski and ride Heavenly and Northstar.
“We are thrilled to welcome Kirkwood into our family as our seventh world-class mountain resort. Kirkwood offers some of the most extraordinary ski terrain found anywhere in North America with high alpine trails and the most annual average snowfall in Lake Tahoe. Kirkwood represents skiing and riding at its purest, something we intend to retain and protect long into the future,” said Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer of Vail Resorts. “When combined with Heavenly and Northstar, we will be able to offer our guests and pass holders unparalleled value with the very best that Lake Tahoe has to offer. We are excited to be able to offer Kirkwood to our pass holders right away – it’s like opening day to a whole new season.” As of today, Epic Pass and Epic Local Pass holders will have unrestricted access to ski and ride Kirkwood. Tahoe Value Pass holders can ski and ride there every day except on Saturdays. Kirkwood pass holders with the following passes will have access to Heavenly and Northstar: Premium Pass holders and 7 Wood Pass holders will have unlimited, unrestricted access to Heavenly and Northstar, while 6 Wood Pass holders will have access to Heavenly and Northstar six days a week, Sunday-Friday, with no holiday restrictions. 5 Wood Pass holders will have access to Heavenly and Northstar five days a week, Monday-Friday. The Company also announced that it intends to retain a Kirkwood-only season pass and Kirkwood-only daily lift tickets, priced comparably to what’s offered today. For more information on how to use your pass at Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood, visit www.bestoftahoe.com.
Located about 35 miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe, Kirkwood Mountain Resort offers pure high alpine skiing and riding at its best. The ski resort’s unique location, completely surrounded by National Forest atop the Sierra Crest combined with elevations ranging 7,800 to 9,800 feet, create a geographical predisposition to receive the lightest, driest and most plentiful snow in the Tahoe region with an average of 472 inches annually. Kirkwood offers 2,000 feet of vertical drop and more than 2,300 acres of terrain from groomed beginner runs to hair-raising cornices, cliffs and the most high-angle grooming around. The resort offers four terrain parks, from beginner to advanced, as well as a Boarder X course.
Vail Resorts expects to close on the acquisition of Kirkwood Mountain Resort within the next month. Further terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Closing is subject to certain conditions, including transfer of the U.S. Forest Service Permit.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Bah. A wee bit of what made Kirkwood Kirkwood died yesterday. I certainly had to do a double, then triple take - Vail buys Kirkwood ?? Did hell also freeze over yesterday. This is a bit like Intrawest or Vail buying Glencoe - that far out!!
However, you only need to look a few miles down the road to Iron Mountain to see what the alternative might have looked like. 
Vail's spending more on a new lift at Vail than it bought Kirkwood Mountain Resort for, the $18m price tag tell us things aren't good, though I guess in part the price reflects the astronomical cost of getting grid power to the Kirkwood valley which is going to be absolutely essential to go forward. The very temporary facilities at Timber Creek have already done 6 seasons - a corporate buyout has probably been inevitable after the Thunder Mountain development crashed and burned in the credit crunch. Back in 2005/06 Kirkwood Mountain Resort split into 2 companies, the mountain ops company and Kirkwood Mountain Reality that was intended to maximise real estate assets to fund the mountain master development plan. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, it could not have been timed any worse if they tried.
I hope we don't see Val style triple digit rack rates from next season and also that they'll keep the $199 6 day non holiday season passes. Ditto food prices! Would be worried the General Store might get axed to 'force' people into more expensive catering outlets. That would be a disaster for staff that live on site !
Indeed staffing is another running problem at Kirkwood in recent years. G W Bush's ill thought out changes to the rules on the H2B visa cap hit remote businesses like Kirkwood particularly hard - with so many ski areas around the Lake they've always struggled to hire enough staff locally and had a lot of very good people who came back to Kirkwood year after year from all over the world and suddenly they were all gone. It certainly didn't help.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Winterhighland, Yeh, having fallen off my chair reflected a bit in the fact that it might not be all bad. Kweed is probably my favourite US ski area partly because it's so dysfunctional. At $18m including real estate develop rights on certain plots it's chump change but they'll need to sink in probably double that to even get power on the grid and complete abandoned real estate build projects to make it at leats look like a Vail Resort. Either that or they keep it bare bones as a perk for aspirational bay area passholders that claim Heavenly and Northstar don't satisfy their extremo needs and want to defect to Squalpine.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Just back from Tahoe and spent most of our days there. The snow is meant to be the worst in living memory yet we had some great skiing including one of the best powder days I've ever had. It's one of my favourite hills on the planet, the things we were bitching about at the time were the slow old chairs especially the one going up the wall but actually that's part of the appeal. As soon as they start sticking high speed six packs in there it will get tracked out in 28 seconds and we'll all be pining for the good old days.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Guernseyfreerider I was there the day the powerhouse went up in flames. Fortunately not on a lift but with an old lag who, after we'd noticed the chairs do an emergency stop, looked down across the meadow, saw the smoke plumes and said "better hit the road". At least 5 engines from 2 counties passed us on the road down.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The Master Development Plan had an upgrade of Chair 11 The Reut in the pipeline. The intention was not to upgrade Chair 10, but after the Chair 11 upgrade, shorten 10 somewhat - such that there isn't such a long run out, nor such a long ride up. I saw some jokes on TGR about how much downloads will increase on Chair 10 after the buyout - downloading on that lift is way more scary than the Wall - I've done it clinging to some gear for patrol and I was bricking it almost the whole way down!! I've seen members of the public who've downloaded come of it looking like  and scurrying into Monte's for a stiff drink!
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Winterhighland, What's so bad about it?
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clarky999, when your approaching the top station the mountain is pretty much in your face, going the other direction you really do fell like your free falling off the edge of the world!!
Also it's not far off twice as long as Chair 11 that runs parallel to the lower part of Chair 10, but only has 1 additional tower for the upper section - to absorb the inevitable bounce in the line when the lift stops from such long spans, the down line has a further long unsupported span, it means you get really big oscillations in the down line if the lift is stopped or slowed - it's an experience, that's for sure, esp when your so high off the ground - facing out into space on a lift with no safety bars. In reality your as secure on the carrier as going up, it just doesn't feel that way.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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No bar,old, creaky, big bounce, severe wind lashing and potentially a high angle huge mogul field or icy windslab to ski at the top unless you decide to take the cliffs option. Not your typical Vail tourist lift.
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FAQ
