POWDR, owner of Mt. Bachelor, decides not to sell iconic local resort
(Update: adding video, comment from Host of The Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Eight months after putting Mt. Bachelor up for sale, POWDR Corp. announced Friday that it has decided to retain the Central Oregon ski and snowboard resort “indefinitely” and will make more improvements.
In a Friday morning statement from POWDR Corp. to KTVZ News, the winter recreation company said, "There are numerous factors involved in evaluating a sale. After considering all facts and circumstances, POWDR has decided to retain ownership of Mt Bachelor, indefinitely. We’re excited to continue our stewardship of the resort and serve the Central Oregon community with truly one-of-a-kind skiing."
"To that end, we are working on the following improvements to Mt Bachelor: updating the power capability to the resort, finalizing the Advance Wood Energy facility, and offering a new program ‘Kids Ski Free’ for any dependent child 12 and under that can be added onto any adult unlimited or adult Outplay regular winter season pass," the statement concluded.
POWDR had announced last August that it was putting Mt. Bachelor and two other resorts up for sale and had sold two Vermont resorts to a group of local investors in a bid to “focus and diversify” its business.
The move also prompted a group of Central Oregon residents to launch a campaign to bid for and acquire the resort, but they acknowledged last month they were unable to submit a bid.
Mt. Bachelor President and General Manager John Merriman shared this message with the KTVZ News: "This is positive news for Mt. Bachelor, and we’re looking forward to our continued journey with POWDR at the helm. I want to extend a thank you to the amazing team at Mt. Bachelor for their patience, positive attitude, and commitment to making this one of the best seasons yet."
Stuart Winchester, Editor & Host of The Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast, has been following the Mt. Bachelor developments and told KTVZ News on Friday he was surprised by POWDR's decision. Still, he said he believes they made the right call.
"I really think that what kept them was likely not getting a price that they thought would be more than what they would make from continuing to operate and updating what is a very good and special unique ski area," Winchester said.
Winchester also shared with us his thoughts about the overall direction of the ski industry.
"If anyone thought that Powdr selling Killington was the start of a reversal of consolidation, that is not going to happen. Yes, there will be occasional one-off sales, but the trend has been for decades and will continue to be toward consolidation and ski areas existing in groups." Winchester added.
