After months of Federal scrutiny, a year of waiting and five years as a partner, Arapahoe Basin officially belongs to the owner of the Ikon Pass, Alterra Mountain Company.
The two made the announcement Tuesday morning. For months this sale has been under review by the Feds.
“Only two (ski area) sales in history in Summit have been reviewed by the DOJ (Department of Justice),” said Al Henceroth, A-Basin’s veteran COO, at this year’s Ski Area COO Summit in Copper. “I don’t know what it is about us.”
Early last ski season A-Basin announced it was on the market. Soon after that Alterra said it was purchasing Summit’s oldest ski hill.
A-Basin confirms there are no changes to Ikon or local pass access for 2024-2025. The biggest change this season is mandatory parking reservations on weekends and some holidays, which Henceroth says was already in motion before the Alterra sale.
But A-Basin has changed a ton in the past decade, beginning with the Beavers and Steep Gullies expansion, and most recently with two new restaurants, plus summer biking and hiking trails.
“For so much of the last year I’ve really felt like we were really treading water as we worked through this process,” Henceroth tells Krystal 93 news director Phil Lindeman. I’m excited we can focus on all the things we always do — taking care of our guests; building, creating, designing the things they like; taking care of our employees; and making the Basin the special place it always has been.”
Since 2019 A-Basin has been a partner on the Ikon Pass with limited ski days. Since 1997 it is has been owned by Dream Unlimited, formerly Dundee Realty, of Canada.
Before then it was owned by Ralston Purina, of Purnia dog food fame. In 1997 he tried selling to what would become Vail Resorts in a sweeping deal with Breckenridge and Keystone.
It was the first time the Feds scrutinized A-Basin – and the only time they said it could not be sold. They were worried about a Vail monopoly in Summit.
Alterra’s Ikon family now includes 19 wholly owned resorts, like Steamboat and Winter Park, and more than 50 partners, like Copper Mountain, still owned by Powdr Corp.