Waterville Valley, NH up for sale again....

[drjeff]

Well, Vail did just buy two small ski areas in the mid-West......

And those two resorts are relatively speaking big time players in that fairly large skier/rider market. Different situation with waterville for sure. Since I'm guessing that if you asked your average New England skier to name the 1st resort or 2 that comes to mind when you think of New Hampshire, that Waterville doesn't get mentioned on very many people's list

 

[SkiRaceParent]

Any benefit to Stenger buying it and putting it on the Burke-Jay combo pass? Drive up 93/91 and ski three different mountains in three days, at least would help him daisy chain up more effectively from the Boston market. Also, if he did this, wouldn't put it past him to add something in Quebec to daisy chain down from Montreal as well....imagine having 5-6 mountains all on/near major interstates between Montreal and Boston, pretty damn cool, where else in north america could you do that between two major international cities? Perhaps a pipe dream and he's just got his hands too full with the NEK EB5 projects...

 

[ss20]

Any benefit to Stenger buying it and putting it on the Burke-Jay combo pass? Drive up 93/91 and ski three different mountains in three days, at least would help him daisy chain up more effectively from the Boston market. Also, if he did this, wouldn't put it past him to add something in Quebec to daisy chain down from Montreal as well....imagine having 5-6 mountains all on/near major interstates between Montreal and Boston, pretty damn cool, where else in north america could you do that between two major international cities? Perhaps a pipe dream and he's just got his hands too full with the NEK EB5 projects...

I think Jay would love to buy Waterville. Unfortunately, like you said, they've got their expansion to worry about. They also just purchased Burke, do they really have enough funds to buy WV, which I' sure is a lot more expensive than Burke.

 

[ScottySkis]

If owner of Mt snow bought WV I think it would pay off with more multiple season pass for the North East resorts. If I made more.money then I currently do I would buy that pass.

 

[bigbob]

Unable to confirm this. I'd love to hear a source.

Edd, your 5 miles closer than me. Chris and Amy Sununu live on Hemlock Ct in Newfields, go knock on his door and ask him! Then let us know what he said.

 

[meff]

As an Epic Local pass holder I really want Vail to enter the New England market. If they buy Waterville it isn't about size its like the mid-west resorts - driving visits to their western resorts.

 

[thetrailboss]

Let the eruption of conversation and debating begin....

I'd say not likely at all. Too small of a mountain for a big corporation like Vail. There are the expansion permits, but only one of those is in place. The other two are 5-10 years away. Too much risk if they don't go through. For Vail to construct those in a new, unfamiliar market is pretty unlikey too. Like becoming a quarterback for the NFL after playing Pop Warner. I can only see Vail purchasing WV to be its test resort for a larger northeast resort kingdom in future years.

As for Triple Peaks, I've heard rumors they aren't doing to well financially. And I don't get this "cannibalization". Let's say Peak buys Waterville. Does it matter if WV steals some of the customer base from Wildcat, because Peak would still be getting those profits from WV skiers.

Yeah I don't think that Vail plays in the JV. And FWIW they just leased Canyons. I would not be surprised if they at least considered WV since they are in expansion mode.

 

[Edd]

Edd, your 5 miles closer than me. Chris and Amy Sununu live on Hemlock Ct in Newfields, go knock on his door and ask him! Then let us know what he said.

I had no idea. Some very big houses around there.

 

[xlr8r]

I think Jay would love to buy Waterville. Unfortunately, like you said, they've got their expansion to worry about. They also just purchased Burke, do they really have enough funds to buy WV, which I' sure is a lot more expensive than Burke.

Stenger can't buy Waterville as it is not EB-5 eligible. They only bought Burke to gain access to more money through the EB-5 program, Burke was eligible because it is also in the Northeast Kingdom. Ragged on the other hand might be desirable to them as Ragged does have rights to use the EB-5 program.

 

[Edd]

Still seeing nothing online about this. Anyone have new info?

 

[Nick]

Yeah haven't seen anything official yet either. curious on sources?

 

[xwhaler]

There were rumors of Chris Sununu potentially running for Governor in 2014 but he squashed those a couple wks ago saying he wasn't running this time around. Perhaps the rumor got started as if he sold WV he could help fund his campaign?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/chris-sununu-governor_n_3617739.html