Boyne Resorts is probably probably the most distinguished instance; it’s a privately held, family-owned firm led by the Kircher household. As of late 2025, they function 12 resort properties, together with Massive Sky, Brighton, Sunday River, Sugarloaf, and Boyne Mountain itself.
The same state of affairs exists at POWDR Corp., which is privately held and managed by the Cumming household. Technically, the Cumming household owns Snowbird, however in apply, it’s now managed as a resort throughout the broader POWDR portfolio.
Aspen Snowmass is operated by Aspen Snowboarding Firm, which is privately owned by the Crown household through Henry Crown & Co.
Solar Valley and Snowbasin are owned by the Holding household by their Grand America Accommodations / Sinclair Oil company construction.
And eventually, there are a handful of destination-grade ski resorts in North America which are nonetheless actually family-owned, even when they’ve all partnered with the Ikon Move to supplant their income. After their buyback in 2008, the Locke household by no means let go of their possession of Lake Louise. Whereas Lake Louise has employed a CEO (in 2022) to run day-to-day enterprise capabilities, that is widespread company apply in family-owned firms and doesn’t change the underlying possession or strategic management of the Locke household. The subsequent family-owned vacation spot ski resort is none aside from Lake Louise’s neighbor, Banff Sunshine Village, which is majority owned and operated by the Scurfield household and has been beneath their management for greater than 40 years. Sunshine did undergo a interval of hardship through the early 90s, however by being conservative and debt-averse of their investments, the household was capable of retain possession, even when present CEO Ralph Scurfield purchased out a few of his siblings within the course of. And Alta Ski Space, positioned in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon, continues to be partially owned and operated by the Quinney household that based all of it the best way again in 1938. Alta has taken some outdoors financing from different events, most notably the Laughlin household that’s now the bulk proprietor, however it’s nonetheless 87% owned by simply three households, and this possession construction has been sustainable, each financially and from a aggressive standpoint, for many years.
The Unbiased Pushback: The Pendulum Swings Again
Right here is the place the narrative will get attention-grabbing in 2024 and 2025. After twenty years of centralization, we’re seeing the primary real cracks within the consolidation mannequin. The “development in any respect prices” technique is hitting a wall, and locals are beginning to purchase again the farm.
As these of you taking note of the business know, we will’t speak concerning the unbiased pushback with out overlaying POWDR Corp. This massive ski resort holder, lengthy known as the “third participant” within the business behind Vail Resorts and Alterra, raised eyebrows in late 2024 by successfully liquidating most of its portfolio to deal with Nationwide Park concessions and “Woodward” services. This put Killington, Pico, Eldora, Mount Bachelor, and Silver Star available on the market.
What occurred subsequent was telling. Killington and Pico weren’t purchased by Vail or Alterra—and we’re not even certain if POWDR allowed them to put bids. They have been bought by a bunch of native traders led by Phill Gross and Michael Ferri, and the group is broadly referred to as passionate, long-time Killington owners who perceive the distinctive tradition.
Megacorps didn’t get a chunk at POWDR’s subsequent sale both. In 2025, the city of Nederland, Colorado, moved to buy Eldora Mountain Resort from the corporate. A municipal authorities shopping for a ski resort to put it aside from company limbo is unprecedented within the fashionable period, and it retains Eldora in native arms for the years to come back.
One other attention-grabbing instance is Burke Mountain. Lengthy trapped within the receivership nightmare of the Jay Peak EB-5 fraud scandal, it was lastly offered in 2025 to Bear Den Companions, a bunch with deep native ties. Whereas not as huge or traveled as Killington or Eldora, it beat out bigger, extra generic bidders as a result of the receiver and the state acknowledged {that a} “native” proprietor was the one strategy to heal the group’s belief.
