So Who is Behind Powder Mountain?

[Edd]

Every building I walked into seemed on its last legs. If it’s functional for the traffic, fine.

If the Cottonwood areas and Park City keep getting ever more crowded I assume more people will start making the drive, which is really not far from SLC. PowMow and Snowbasin are a pretty nice combo.

 

[thetrailboss]

Kind of a summary of the SL Trib article:

Netflix co-founder becomes majority owner of Utah ski resort

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is now the majority owner of a Utah ski resort as he invested $100 million into the facility.

www.fox13now.com

 

[thetrailboss]

Update. Reed Hastings has pulled available property off the market. The first article is more substantive but may be behind a paywall.

Reed Hastings removed all Powder Mountain lots from market. Here’s why.

Former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has halted sales of Powder Mountain lots until the ski resort rebrands in summer 2024.

www.sltrib.com

Netflix Billionaire Pauses Real Estate Sales At Utah Ski Resort

Reed Hastings, who's the co-founder of Netflix, became majority owner of the Utah ski resort last month. His latest change has paused real estate sales at

unofficialnetworks.com

 

[Edd]

From the first article:

Hastings has entered into a 10-year partnership with high-end development firm Meriwether to craft and carry out his vision for Powder Mountain. Speaking at the Silicon Slopes tech summit on Wednesday, he said he envisions the resort being a “premium place in the world for being and doing.”

Oy, that phrasing.

 

[jimmywilson69]

This is the kind of shit that you come up with when you've made F You money

 

[crank]

Ugh. And I thought a billionaire who wanted to preserve the Pow Mow experience was a good thing. Yeesh.

Dude it ain't no Deer Valley!

 

[BenedictGomez]

Oy, that phrasing.

Douchebag's gonna' douchebag.

 

[bigbob]

Opened my e mail this morning and had one from the NH Lottery. It said I had won. I read the fine print and I am now $4 richer. I guess I won't be buying a ski area soon...

 

[thetrailboss]

 

[raisingarizona]

I liked that. These guys are very smart and that was a fun dialogue between competitors. The down side, my take? It’s about to become very expensive. His competitor? I think is actually his homie and is in on the development. This is totally a sales pitch imho.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

putting a high speed lift on paradise and a new lift to the top of lightning ridge. solves two of the big problems there (best terrain is on a super shitty slow lift, and lack of vert generally).

closing some of the most boring terrain to make it fully private for homeowners. to 'fund' the lift improvements.

i am still in no hurry to return

Powder Mountain’s Commitment to Independence | Powder Mountain | Powder Mountain

Discover Powder Mountain’s plans for staying independent, offering uncrowded experiences at one of the best Utah ski resorts.

powdermountain.com

 

[thetrailboss]

putting a high speed lift on paradise and a new lift to the top of lightning ridge. solves two of the big problems there (best terrain is on a super shitty slow lift, and lack of vert generally).

closing some of the most boring terrain to make it fully private for homeowners. to 'fund' the lift improvements.

i am still in no hurry to return

Powder Mountain’s Commitment to Independence | Powder Mountain | Powder Mountain

Discover Powder Mountain’s plans for staying independent, offering uncrowded experiences at one of the best Utah ski resorts.

powdermountain.com

You beat me to it........

Powder Mountain Plans Four New Lifts in 2024

Netflix founder and Powder Mountain CEO Reed Hastings will invest $20 million next summer, replacing two lifts and building two new ones servicing parts of the mountain currently accessed by snowca…

liftblog.com

 

[jaytrem]

Here is a pic of the soon to be closed to the public area. Snow was nice, but if you think the rest of the mountain doesn't have much pitch...

 

[BenedictGomez]

Am I the only one who thinks this sounds super-douchey? I'm not sure how this is going to go over with the general public up there whom they'll need to support the mountain. I think going fully private is probably better than having a home-owner exclusive pod or two, but I guess time will tell.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Am I the only one who thinks this sounds super-douchey? I'm not sure how this is going to go over with the general public up there whom they'll need to support the mountain. I think going fully private is probably better than having a home-owner exclusive pod or two, but I guess time will tell.

I think if you familiarized yourself with the topography and layout of the effected areas, you'd likely moderate your view. They are all off on the eastern and southern edges of the property with a preponderance of terrain that would excite no one on this board, and which will anyway not be lacking in the remaining 3000 acre public ski area. If that's the price of funding a high-speed replacement for the most important lift on the mountain and an expansion that increases lift-served vertical and serves some of the more interesting terrain the resort has, sign me up.

 

[BenedictGomez]

If that's the price of funding a high-speed replacement for the most important lift on the mountain and an expansion that increases lift-served vertical and serves some of the more interesting terrain the resort has, sign me up.

Why does the exclusivity need to eventually "fund" it given Reed Hastings is worth over $5 Billion? Seems odd. That lift would be roughly the equivalent of someone on this board buying a higher-end TV at Costco in terms of financial impact to his net worth. Just spend the cash and do it now.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Why does the exclusivity need to eventually "fund" it given Reed Hastings is worth over $5 Billion? Seems odd. That lift would be roughly the equivalent of someone on this board buying a higher-end TV at Costco in terms of financial impact to his net worth. Just spend the cash and do it now.

Yeah I guess I don't have really strong opinions on how other people spend their money. No one buys a business for charity, no matter how wealthy they are. It's a reasonable expectation that PowMow should at least break-even, and based on the historical succession of owners, it's pretty clear it's never done that. Does that model need to be retained to mollify some keyboard warrior? I doubt it.

 

[Edd]

PowMow is a weird duck. Is there another example of lift serviced terrain for property owners that guests have hike-only access to? I can’t think of one.

 

[thetrailboss]

The articles I have read (SL Trib and Fox 13) interviewed some local passholders. There was some disappointment, but not much. As said, two of the three areas are no big deal and have bad exposure. One skier said they liked one of the areas because nobody skied there.

If I were a regular, the lift in Rain Tree/Cobabe Canyon would give me more heartburn. That seems weird to have a lift in an open public area that is restricted to homeowners. I think the intent is to get those homeowners back to their property, but the lift allows them to lap that terrain while others cannot as easily.

I think that Hastings is WAY less douchey than the previous regime.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

PowMow is a weird duck. Is there another example of lift serviced terrain for property owners that guests have hike-only access to? I can’t think of one.

Big Sky has numerous homeowner-only lifts plus the Spanish Peaks area that sort of fit this description, but it's not a great comp b/c those are mostly access lifts that don't serve meaningful terrain.