Vail Mountain Resorts buys Stevens Pass

Uh-oh: Vail Mountain Resorts buys Stevens Pass....can it get any worse??? From what I hear, locals at Whistler the sentiment is mostly very negative. Your thoughts? I can bet season pass prices will go up, crowds will get worse (as if it weren't bad enough already). Disclaimer: I own MTN stock, got it in exchange for Whistler Holding stock when they acquired Whistler, and the stock has performed well... but, this is my local ski hill and it's gotten worse every year in terms of crowding.

..."but, this is my local ski hill and it's gotten worse every year in terms of crowding."

Crowding pays the bills...

... touring is the most common remedy.

Never had one previously, but based on unlimited Whistler-Blackcomb and seven days at Telluride I just bought an Epic Pass for next year not too long ago.  No complaints here.

Sorry your resort has been getting more crowded. In my case, I intend to use my pass at the two aforementioned places for backcountry access as much as riding actual lifts!

epic purchase

We will be assimilated. The Epic pass does become tempting, given my relative proximity to  Stevens which I've  underused, and  my freedom to get up there  on weekdays. If you will get to one or more other  Vail resorts during a season it is  probably a great deal for you.  Otherwise possibly not so much. What did Stevens seasons passes cost this past  season?

They'll pump money into the  area. Hopefully some will go to parking and lift capacity and added terrain  options. Which might eat some into  sidecountry - I don't know what their permit boundaries are, and haven't read the existing Stevens expansion plan which I assume will be the  Vail starting  point here.

On a hike near Escalante about a year and a half ago, I ran into one of  their senior leadership team (the guy who runs ski schools across all their resorts, and reports to  the  CEO) who  said they'd be buying one of our local hills as a "feeder resort" now that they had Whistler. He told me we'd learn  to love them - I told him  I'd be reserving judgment . I asked him if they'd want to develop condos and other  lodging by the base of whatever area they bought - he said yes of course that's a key part of their business model. So my understanding is that Stevens has had a hard time even  getting  the FS to agree to somewhat larger parking  lots; I thus wonder what their options are for such a buildout.  Maybe they have some land down by Yodelin to work with? Perhaps they might also eyeball that land on  the slopes of  Arrowhead that I saw was on sale in a thread here a while back? Other  thoughts  on this from folks who know the  land ownerships up in that area? I would think they'd ideally want real estate development to happen right adjacent to  the  slopes, but maybe they'd be OK creating a village not far from the base?

Perhaps they'll have the  political clout and $$ to kick in to finally get a roundabout or two in Sultan to help fix the HUGE traffuck backups created by that  light by the gas station on the west side  of town. If they do that I might just learn to love Vail Resorts...