Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20140211/NEWS02/140219854
Just saw the headline, didn't even read it yet.

I am thinking eb-5

Smellytele said:

I am thinking eb-5

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Otten isn't rich enough to do it himself? Semi-joking... yeah, this has EB-5 written all over it.

I can see Otten releasing a press release similar to something like this:
"In ten years, we will have tripled the size of BW. We will add 59,693 new lifts, 99% will not run during the week. We will classic NE trails into 200-foot wide slopes that are scraped off and windblown by 10am. We are planning an interconnect with Sunday River, which we hope to complete before the end of the century. But to do that, we need to abandon ta 1/4 of the main mountain. We have 14 Grand Summit hotels in the works, (and yes, instead of slopeside, we'll build them ON the slope between the two base lodges!). We will transform Balsams Wilderness from a nice family mountain to "the new Sunday River" or "the new Killington", but we want more. So we're making the trails wider, adding a 12-pack chairlift, and performing even less maintenance! Enjoy "The New Balsams".

NO $HIT? Les Otten returns?!

Much better than other recent news I've read about the hotel & mountain.

He knows what he is doing. He is of the opinion that Wall Street was what ruined ASC. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I can understand it to a certain extent. If he just focuses on this one project and does it right then I think it will be good for the Balsams.

I never foresaw this ever happening.

thetrailboss said:

He is of the opinion that Wall Street was what ruined ASC. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I can understand it to a certain extent.

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Wait, what? LOL Did he actually say that? That would be the peak of hypocrisy.

BenedictGomez said:

Wait, what? LOL Did he actually say that? That would be the peak of hypocrisy.

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Yes. That is the jist of what he said in the Second Edition of Lorentz's "Killington" book.

At least I got a bunch of free passes outside the exchange when ASC listed.

I for one am cautiously optimistic about this. The Balsams are on my to-do list both skiing and the hotel/resort. Also, if it does come to fruition and it does reopen, this will be a huge shot in the arm for the Dixville Notch, Colebrook and in general Coos County. Let's hopefully see it happen!

Planning on 4x the size of the ski area.

http://www.berlindailysun.com/index...g-of-ski-area&catid=103:local-news&Itemid=442

Anybody find any more details about the plans?

This is a fake article, right? :lol:

Quadrupling the size?! That's ambitious to say the least. Otten may have made Sunday River the mega-mountain it is now, but could a project like that get done today? With all the economic and environmental concerns? Not likely.

I'd be surprised if he even get's the existing area back open.

I think for the ski product to be successful, they probably would need to expand considerably. It's so far away from the Boston metro area that they'll need more than 100 acres of terrain on 1000 vert to entice people to travel up there.

Unlikely to happen, but I think the thought process is sound.

Just posting to say I spent a six month period up there in summer hiking the surrounding area almost daily. There is potential for bigger Vertical and plenty of quality terrain. That and snow, lots and lots of snow. We'll see how this pans out....Canada is their market more than Boston IMO

snoseek said:

Just posting to say I spent a six month period up there in summer hiking the surrounding area almost daily. There is potential for bigger Vertical and plenty of quality terrain. That and snow, lots and lots of snow. We'll see how this pans out....Canada is their market more than Boston IMO

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Exactly! Their main winter target would be North of the border. I'd bet that for summer ops, they'd still do quite well with the countless families, mine included, who used to go there regularly for family gathering/reunion type events. By my families 3rd reunion trip up there you'd end up recognizing some familiar looking faces of other families up there doing the same type of thing.

Quadruple the size ehh? Well no matter what they do, they won't be able to get 2000' of vert out of the mountains there, even if they employ a disjointed vertical method (see Sunday River). The max disjointed vert they can squeeze out is 1640’ from just below the summit of Dixville Peak at ~3410’ (500’ setback from the wind towers at the summit) down to the current base of the ski area at 1770’.

Here is a quick workup of what things COULD look like. There are MANY layout options given the terrain and depending on how much they are willing to spend. I have 10 new lifts here not including a new lift at the existing ski area.



The area below marked “A” is an extension of terrain along the ridge between the current ski area and a cross over lift coming from the Resort hotel (e.g. Overeasy at Stowe). The configuration in here could vary between several trails and lifts to none if the cross over lift goes all the way over to the elbow of the “Connecticut” trail.

The bowl marked “B” would likely be where the vast majority of the expansion would occur. But it does hinge on the 500’ setback from the wind towers being approved. The current 1500’ setback shaves the top 475’ of vertical off the bowl vs just 75’ with a 500’ setback. This area could have a myriad of lift trail configurations. As I have it drawn here, the full vert of the bowl would be from ~3410’ to 1925’ for a 1485’ vert. There is potential to move a bit farther downhill at the bottom of the bowl to squeeze out a 1500’ vert.

The pod marked “C” is a ridge with about 700-740’ of vert. Some of it could be VERY steep. This could really by an expert pod even though the runs would be pretty short.

You beat me to it....Les is back at it!

http://www.wcax.com/story/24872426/expanded-ski-area-explored-for-nhs-balsams-resort

And love FTN's diagrams. I think he has a future in the ski biz

ss20 said:

This is a fake article, right? :lol:

Quadrupling the size?! That's ambitious to say the least. Otten may have made Sunday River the mega-mountain it is now, but could a project like that get done today? With all the economic and environmental concerns? Not likely.

I'd be surprised if he even get's the existing area back open.

Click to expand...

Quadrupling 87 acres probably wouldn't be hard. Expand the ski area boundary and call everything glades. Sugarloaf added 650 acres without even adding a lift.

I just hope they get the existing area open again. I've enjoyed myself the several times I've skied there.