Photos Courtesy Winter Park Resort

Sale closes on deal to combine Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, KSL, Intrawest, and Mammoth Resorts as one company

A new joint venture of KSL Capital Partners and Henry Crown and Company announced Monday, July 31st  that the purchase of Intrawest Resort Holdings, the parent company of Winter Park Resort, Steamboat Ski Area, and of Mammoth Resorts is complete.

WPR_Village

The Village at Winter Park Resort

The sale combines Intrawest, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, KSL, and Mammoth Resorts as one company. This new entity boasts 12 four-season mountain resorts with approximately six million skier visits, 20,000 skiable acres and significant land available for real estate development, as well as Canadian Mountain Holidays, the world’s leading heli-ski operator, plus comprehensive aviation and real estate businesses.

Its mountain resorts are geographically diversified across most of North America’s major ski regions: The entity’s resorts include Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, Snow Summit, Bear Mountain and June Mountain in California; Winter Park Resort and Steamboat Ski Area in Colorado; Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Ontario; Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec; Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont; and Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia.

The companies also announced leadership changes effective upon the close of the transaction. Thomas Marano, Intrawest chief executive officer, resigned his position, and KSL’s Bryan Traficanti was named interim chief executive officer, while a comprehensive search for a new chief executive officer is completed.  “This transaction marks a significant milestone for our company, our guests and our communities, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead as a result of combining Intrawest, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings and Mammoth Resorts,” Traficanti said in a statement.

WPR_Sunset
The new company expects to launch a new name and brand prior to the beginning of the 2017-18 season. For the upcoming season, the new company will continue to honor the existing pass products that are currently on sale, including the Rocker Mountain Super Pass +, the M.A.X. Pass and the Mountain Collective.

The deal to combine the companies was announced in April but was completed Monday and creates a new challenger to Vail Resorts Inc., the publicly owned company that operates 10 resorts and three urban ski areas in the U.S. and Australia.