Powder Mountain to launch new business model: Private slopes and lifts

The Mary's quad lift at Powder Mountain Ski Resort is one of two lifts that will go private — reserved for the exclusive use of resort property owners — under a new business model announced by majority owner Reed Hastings. Photo courtesy of Visit Ogden.

Powder Mountain Ski Resort, located between Weber and Cache counties near Eden in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains and the largest ski resort in the United States by total acreage, has announced plans to go semi-private. The announcement was made by resort CEO Reed Hastings in a letter to skiers and media.

Hastings, who bought controlling interest in Powder Mountain earlier this year, said he wants to keep Powder Mountain “uncrowded and unspoiled” by mixing private skiing options into the public resort, which will change where visitors can ski beginning next winter.

Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix who pledged to add $100 million in new investment into the Northern Utah resort after becoming its majority stakeholder, explained that the resort will focus more on real estate sales moving forward to help “fund lifts and lodges for everyone.”

As a result, the resort’s Village and Mary’s lifts will switch from public to private access next year for people buying into the community. The resort will also add a new lift called Raintree for private skiing as well, he wrote in his letter posted online recently. The rest of Powder Mountain’s lifts will remain public access to pass holders and day ticket skiers.

The new operating method, which involves a mix of public and private lifts exclusive to on-mountain homeowners, goes into effect in about a year, in time for the 2024-25 ski season.

This coming summer, Powder Mountain will spend $20 million to update its public lift offerings, upgrading two of its lifts to quads (Timberline and Paradise) and adding a new lift that runs from the base of Timberline to the top of Lightning Ridge. The resort plans to move its in-bounds cat skiing operation away from the path of this new lift.

Including homeowners-only private skiing in the resort’s portfolio is part of a plan to sell more real estate. Hastings explained the resort “has been struggling financially.” By including private lift access as part of the deal, Powder Mountain hopes to increase on-mountain real estate sales, thus improving its finances without selling to a conglomerate or joining a mega-pass program — two moves that Hastings said could increase crowding.

The public/private hybrid operating system isn’t new in the ski industry. There are currently at least two other ski areas — California’s Homewood and Windham Mountain in New York’s Catskills Mountains — considering or implementing a semi-private model, for the same reason — they can’t sustain their operations on the sale of lift tickets alone. There are also fully private ski resorts, such as Montana’s Yellowstone Club and Colorado’s Cimarron Mountain Club. Construction on a planned private ski and golf community in Morgan County — Wasatch Peaks Ranch — has been halted by a judge over zoning and permitting issues.

Hastings’ letter reads in part: “We believe this blend of public and private skiing secures us decades of exceptional uncrowded skiing for all, funded partially by real estate. To stay independent and uncrowded, we needed to change, and we didn’t want to join the successful but crowded multi-resort pass model (ie, Snowbasin) or sell to a conglomerate (ie, Vail).

“We are dedicated to running a sustainable business, supporting our wonderful team, and contributing to this incredible community. Thank you for your support in Powder’s next chapter, which kicks off with the three new lifts!”

He added in the conclusion of his letter that the resort has “reduced the price of night skiing from $39 to $19 to make it more accessible for our community.”