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Tenney Mountain

thetrailboss

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It’s strange. He then says in the comments that it’s not over yet and that he is on a “split mission”.
Yeah I did not get that either.

I recall a couple years ago there was a news piece on the area that featured an interview of "the owner" and it was a 30's-something guy that was not Mike.
 

thetrailboss

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UN is reporting that Mike resigned as the GM.

 

eatskisleep

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UN is reporting that Mike resigned as the GM.

Thanks for the link. I wonder if the DH bike trails are still maintained by any locals? They had a great race course that I rode in the mid 2000s
 

IceEidolon

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I wish someone with Perfect North money could step in. Or "I won the lottery and I need to lose a crapload of money" money.
 

Mum skier

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Yet the Ski industry is supposedly seeing demand out pace supply. Vail sold 2x as many passes and their ski areas can’t cope. So it seems small (low price) skis areas could fill the niche. Ragged supposedly does well. Magic mountain has a cult following. Yet Tenney and other small areas go under. It seems they should be able to make a go of it.

Oh and based on our second home in Plymouth we would really like them to make a go of it.....
 

thetrailboss

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Yet the Ski industry is supposedly seeing demand out pace supply. Vail sold 2x as many passes and their ski areas can’t cope. So it seems small (low price) skis areas could fill the niche. Ragged supposedly does well. Magic mountain has a cult following. Yet Tenney and other small areas go under. It seems they should be able to make a go of it.

Oh and based on our second home in Plymouth we would really like them to make a go of it.....
As with previous regimes, it seems that financial and legal issues have prevented this version of Tenney from succeeding. From that "Chronicle" story we learned that the owner was not Mike but a 30-something who has no experience with the skiing industry. Hopefully it reopens, but it seems that his interest is in owning the property.
 

Newpylong

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Yet the Ski industry is supposedly seeing demand out pace supply. Vail sold 2x as many passes and their ski areas can’t cope. So it seems small (low price) skis areas could fill the niche. Ragged supposedly does well. Magic mountain has a cult following. Yet Tenney and other small areas go under. It seems they should be able to make a go of it.

Oh and based on our second home in Plymouth we would really like them to make a go of it.....

The capital outlay required to modernize many of these small ski areas so that they can operate safely, and more efficiently (reducing cost and provide a stable product) is the largest barrier to entry.

While some (Suicide Six, Cochrans, King Pine etc) are well capitalized and have been able to succeed, there are others (Whaleback, Granite Gorge, etc) who will forever struggle to exist until this obstacle can be crossed, if it can be. Competent ownership goes a long way too...
 

icecoast1

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Yet the Ski industry is supposedly seeing demand out pace supply. Vail sold 2x as many passes and their ski areas can’t cope. So it seems small (low price) skis areas could fill the niche. Ragged supposedly does well. Magic mountain has a cult following. Yet Tenney and other small areas go under. It seems they should be able to make a go of it.

Oh and based on our second home in Plymouth we would really like them to make a go of it.....
Vail is doing that by buying turnkey already operating, high cash flow operations, they aren't buying lost ski areas. There is certainly a niche for indy ski areas, unfortunately the cost and permitting process to actually bring one back from the grave, make it impossible for most.
 

2planks2coasts

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Glad to hear that. I live 15 minutes from Tenney. The possibility of them opening this year is making me hesitate regarding my 22-23 pass purchase.
 

crystalmountainskier

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Do we know this has anything to do with skiing? That company appears to be heavily in the cell tower business. There are multiple towers at the top of Tenney. And wind turbines.
 

skimagic

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Do we know this has anything to do with skiing? That company appears to be heavily in the cell tower business. There are multiple towers at the top of Tenney. And wind turbines.
There may be a cell tower at the top of the ski area but it looks like most of the parcel is just the northeast side of the mountain and some frontage on the main road. The initial plan in 2019 was to build a lot of homes and a hotel. That lines up with the capabilities of the new ownership. The wind turbine project is on
a separate parcel and it was a 120 million dollar investment.
 

2planks2coasts

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Do we know this has anything to do with skiing? That company appears to be heavily in the cell tower business. There are multiple towers at the top of Tenney. And wind turbines.
Don't toy with my emotions that way!!! 😁

You could be right though. Plenty of NELSAP areas have been bought but not for skiing. If that's the case, I guess I'll just keep skiing Cannon, Loon, WV, etc, etc... Oh The Humanity!!!!!
 

thetrailboss

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There may be a cell tower at the top of the ski area but it looks like most of the parcel is just the northeast side of the mountain and some frontage on the main road. The initial plan in 2019 was to build a lot of homes and a hotel. That lines up with the capabilities of the new ownership. The wind turbine project is on
a separate parcel and it was a 120 million dollar investment.
Wait…$120 mill for a wind turbine? How many are up there?
 

djd66

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I can’t believe you could have bought the place for $1.25mm in 2014 - seems like a bargain. Am I missing something? Obviously it was a great investment seeing they sold it for $6.125mm
 

thetrailboss

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I can’t believe you could have bought the place for $1.25mm in 2014 - seems like a bargain. Am I missing something? Obviously it was a great investment seeing they sold it for $6.125mm
The last owner put quit a bit into it to get it going again. I take it that the restaurant closed a while back? That looked like a decent steady business.
 
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