\nThe United States resorts owned by Powdr Corporation prior to the Killington\/Pico sale. Come the end of 2024, Powdr aims to sell off Mount Bachelor and Eldora as well. The company also plans to offload Canada’s Silver Star, which is not depicted in the above graphic.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Our Take<\/h2>\n Killington has long held the title of the largest ski resort on the East Coast, and its size, resiliency measures, and competitive infrastructure have helped make it our top-ranked ski resort in the region. While Pico may be too small to rank among the top East Coast resorts, it’s a great option for avoiding crowds on busy days.<\/p>\n
Although we don\u2019t know exactly what this sale means for the overall experiences at Killington and Pico over the coming years, it\u2019s almost refreshing to see a major ski resort like Killington return to independent ownership after so many have been bought up by conglomerates over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n
One notable positive about this announcement is that the new owners plan to make some significant capital investments over the next decade. According to these owners, the investments will include \u201ceverything that needs to be upgraded or replaced\u201d, along with a base village that\u2019s currently in the planning stages at Bear Mountain. Several key lifts, including both gondolas and the Snowshed, Ramshead, and Superstar Express quads, are now close to or over three decades old and could use significant upgrades. Perhaps we\u2019ll see some or all of those replaced with more modern lifts in the coming years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \nLifts such as Killington\u2019s Skyeship Gondola, pictured above, could potentially use upgrades due to their age.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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However, Powdr\u2019s relinquishment of Killington and Pico could bring a few downsides. Most notably, Powdr will retain the Woodward terrain park brand, and it\u2019s unclear if Killington\u2019s world class freestyle setup, which has made the resort\u2019s terrain parks into what we believe are the best\u2014if not close to the best\u2014in the east, will continue under the new ownership.<\/p>\n
Another big question is whether Killington and Pico will remain Ikon Pass partners in the medium and long term. The resorts have committed to staying on Ikon for the 2024\u201325 season (they probably wouldn\u2019t have had an option of leaving this winter anyway given the contract terms), but past then, the new owners may have the freedom to restructure access. Given that these investors are new to operating ski resorts, they may not yet know which direction they want to take in this regard.<\/p>\n
On that note\u2014since this is the first time that these new owners have ever managed a ski resort, it remains to be seen if they are able to practically operate Killington and Pico. The information in today\u2019s announcement about the new owners and their plans does seem quite promising; however, there\u2019s always the chance that the new owners decide it\u2019s too hard and put it up for sale again, potentially leading to another purchase by a major corporation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \nAt this point, it is unclear whether Mount Bachelor (pictured), Silver Star, and Eldora will be sold to locals or larger ski resort mega corporations.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/p>\n
Finally, we\u2019re also keeping a close eye on what Powdr does with Mount Bachelor, Silver Star, and Eldora. It remains to be seen whether these resorts get sold to private investors as well\u2014or whether they will even be sold at all this year. There\u2019s also the possibility that mega-corporations like Vail and Alterra could bid on one or more of these mountains. Acquiring Mount Bachelor or Silver Star could offer strategic geographic advantages that would address geographical deficiencies in their existing portfolios.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re excited to see how this development shapes the future of Killington and Pico, as well as the broader Northeast ski industry. We\u2019ll be keeping a hawkish eye on how things go at the two resorts over the next few years to see what it\u2019s like to operate as an independent ski resort in today\u2019s increasingly corporate winter sports world.<\/p>\n
Considering a trip to Vermont next season? Check out our comprehensive Killington<\/a> and Pico<\/a> mountain reviews. Additionally, check out our full Vermont<\/a> and East Coast<\/a> rankings, as well as our Vermont rankings in video form below.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vermont’s Killington ski resort, pictured from the summit, and Pico ski area, visible in the distance at the far left, have returned to independent ownership for the first time since the 20th century. Vermont\u2019s Killington and Pico ski resorts are set to return to independent ownership for the first time in decades. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mountain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":959,"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions\/959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elite-escort.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}