Oregon locals aim to buy hometown ski area from out-of-town owner

When that drunk plan you made with your friends actually pays off🥳. A Bend, Oregon, local community group spawned by a joke Facebook post is aiming to purchase Mt. Bachelor, a ski area located in the city, from Powdr, its Utah-based owner.

Mt. Bachelor, North America’s seventh-largest ski area, was purchased by Powdr in 2001. In August, the company announced it was for sale.

It’s not cheap. While no asking price has been revealed, the magic number appears to be ~$200 million.

This appears to be in reach for the group, who’s expected to submit a formal bid “any day now,” per the NY Times. The locals, working under the umbrella of Mt. Bachelor Community, Inc. (MCBI), have so far secured the support of Oregon’s two senators, as well as multiple high-dollar investors with ties to the area and tens of millions of dollars to spend, who hope to sell smaller shares to community members.

Powdr to the people: Should they win the bid, MCBI plans to use profits to improve the ski area, often referred to as “Mt. Brokenchair” for its old lifts that frequently malfunction. Locals accuse Powdr, an outdoor conglomerate, of siphoning Mt. Bachelor’s profits to its other businesses.

🚠 Zoom out: Ski-area operators like Powdr, Vail, and Alterra have been gobbling up competitors for years, raising the prices of single-day lift tickets to push powder-lovers towards season passes. Many claim this consolidation isn’t chill, and leads to worse experiences for both local workers and powder-lovers.