Mt. Bachelor is for sale.

The Bend-area resort’s parent company, Powdr Corp., announced the sale Thursday as part of a plan to break up a multinational conglomerate and divest four resorts under its control.

Bachelor was the second largest private employer in Bend since last year and the city’s fourth-largest employer overall. Powdr acquired the resort from its local founders in 2001.

The company, which owns and operates ten ski resorts in the United States and Canada, also intends to sell Killington and Pico ski resorts in Vermont, Eldora Mountain in Colorado and SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia.

While one of those sales is already in the works, details on the fate of Mt. Bachelor were scarce as of Thursday. Powdr representatives declined an interview with OPB and provided written statements saying they are committed to a “smooth transition” for all four resorts.

“In the coming weeks, we will be putting three of our ski resorts – Eldora, Mt. Bachelor and SilverStar – up for sale, with JP Morgan Chase leading the process,” Powdr representative Stacey Hutchinson wrote in an email.

Visitors to Central Oregon can expect “business as usual” in the coming winter season, according to a separate press release from resort officials. They announced that the slopes will reopen on November 29.

Powdr has announced that a small group of local investors will purchase the Killington and Pico ski resorts in Vermont.

“Because we are a private company, we will not disclose financial details,” Hutchinson said of the sale.

Vermont ski resorts will reportedly continue to be available on the Ikon Pass, a multi-ski resort ticket that also brings many visitors to Bachelor.

“We are pleased to remain a shareholder in the mountain and remain focused on maintaining the high standards of service and experience our guests expect,” Hutchinson said of the Vermont deal.

In Oregon, Mt. Bachelor Rental agreements 8,122 acres of public land in the Deschutes National Forest owned by the U.S. Forest Service, about half of which is ski area, making it the largest ski area in the Pacific Northwest.

Currently, an adult season pass to Mount Bachelor costs a total of $1,978 on the company’s website – a new high price that has long been the subject of complaints from mountain visitors about equality in access to the lifts.

In 2021, Democratic U.S. Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon publicly impaled the resort for “excluding families through pricing” after announcing that people paying extra could move to the front of long queues at the lifts.

Longtime mountaineer and former Mt. Bachelor ski instructor Chris Porter said he was not surprised to hear of Powdr’s exit plans.

“The private equity model incentivizes companies to make the most profit possible and then get out of here,” said Porter, who describes himself as a “recovering accountant” and teaches business and entrepreneurship at La Pine High School near the resort.

“I would love to see a grassroots initiative like on the East Coast, where there could be more local ownership and local involvement to really keep it as part of the community. It’s a gem in our backyard,” Porter said.

Under the Forest Service’s fee structure, the more money a ski resort takes in, the more fees it pays the state each year. But despite this close relationship with a public agency, the financial reality behind Powdr’s plan to sell four ski resorts remains opaque.

Regionwide, Forest Service revenue from Pacific Northwest ski areas looked rosy from 2017 to 2022, according to public records obtained by OPB last year. Those records show that during those years, about 20 ski areas paid more in total back into the public coffers than ever before, an indication that revenues in the mountains have been rising.

When asked to review the numbers, accounting expert and Portland State University professor emeritus Ray Johnson said inflation does not appear to be the primary reason. He said resort revenues likely increased due to increased skier numbers and higher resort prices, but without more details he could not identify a primary cause.

But these details are secret. The Forest Service does not disclose how much Powdr or any other ski resort operator pays to lease public land. The agency denied OPB requests for public records last year on the grounds that disclosure would reveal confidential financial information about a private company.

Powdr officials said the company plans to retain Copper Mountain in Colorado and Snowbird ski resort in Utah, as well as its Woodward Camps and Mountain Centers in Utah and two concession agreements with national parks.

Copyright 2024, Oregon Public Broadcasting.