Otten's Ski Industry Legacy

[thetrailboss]

OK...What do you think of him? Savior or Satan? He has since left ASC and has moved onto the Red Sox, but his legacy lives on at Sunday River and the other resorts that he built up.

He did rejuvinate New England skiing and led to many advancements, but they came with higher lift ticket rates and the financial instability of ASC and other resorts :-? .

 

[dmc]

Less Otten.... More Snowboarding!!!!

 

[thetrailboss]

Less Otten.... More Snowboarding!!!!

Wasn't the chant at the Mad River Valley when he bought Sugarbush, "Less Otten, More [Castle] Rock?"

 

[dmc]

Less Otten.... More Snowboarding!!!!

Wasn't the chant at the Mad River Valley when he bought Sugarbush, "Less Otten, More [Castle] Rock?"

Funny! I forgot where and when I first heard that...

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

It appears that the mountains he managed and the company he formed became overloaded with mega-debt, burdening the snow sport enthusiast and investor alike....

Then his friendly board of directors pushed him out the door with a pocket full of cash, pardoned loans and winding up with a share of the Red Sox.

Is he good or lucky?

 

[loafer89]

I also view him as a man who was financially iresponsible. As a previous owner of stock in SKI corp I came to first hear about him in the 1980's when Killington and Sunday River were in fierce competition over who could open first, close last and have the best conditions in between.

Les Otten actually was employed by SKI corp from when they owned Sunday River from 1972 to 1980. In 1980 they sold it to Otten who was by then the general manager of Sunday River. Selling the ski area to Otten was something that SKI came to regret when Otten made the place a success in the 80's and 90's. SKI Corp was eventually bought out by ASC in June of 1996 for a handsome $18 a share which made me happy (sucker)

The Boston Globe actually called Otten the "prince of snow" I have the article somewhere and I should use it to start my fireplace. Basically the big difference between SKI and ASC is that SKI basically owned just the ski areas and minimal real estate and was only interested in the skiing aspects, not the grand hotels and villages that ASC developed and got into trouble with.

I think that ASC tried to grow to fast and got bogged down with alot of debt partially because of some really poor snow years in the late 90's and also owning resorts like Sugarloaf that make NO profit. Now the company is mostly owned by banks that have very little interest in the skiing aspects of the company other than if those activities make money.

What hapened to Otten could have happened to anyone, but now we have some of the best resorts in the east owned by a financially unstable company that could collapse at any time. I really doubt that this winter is being kind to ASC so far, operating costs must be VERY high, especially with all the snowmaking required so far this year just to maintain skiing.

 

[beswift]

he was terribly iresponsible, fiscally speaking. How will any of those ski areas dig themselves out from under the debt? Every time we ski at an ASC place, I realize I am lining the pockets of some bank some where that is servicing the debt. I would much rather line the pockets of the ski areas. But value for value, we like ASC's mountains and find it hard to beat the Bronze pass.

Sorry, but the only way to improve ski areas the way they did would be to take on debts you can only pay off with skiing priviledges.IMHO This isn't a money-making industry. The lenders deserve all the debt service they get because they will never recover the Principle on their loans. If you are interested in ASK try the Raging Bull Board. I haven't been to the Canyons since they expanded it, but I'm sure they added some great skiing to a long neglected area. The new summit quad at Bromley was long over due, too.