I hate
to say I told you so, but I did. I tweeted, on July 26, 2013 - "@FamilySkiTrips26 Jul The Yellowstone Club
to buy The Club at Spanish Peaks with Big Sky Resort! Good ski news! What's
next? Maybe they buy @MoonlightBasin too #BiggestSkiinginAmerica #Boom http://fb.me/QLf1vITJ
"
Prediction come true: on August 15, 2013 Yellowstone
Club owner CrossHarbor Capital, in partnership with Boyne Resorts, who
owns and operates Big Sky Resort, announced that they are acquiring Moonlight Basin from Lehman Brothers Holdings.
Big Sky will manage Moonlight Basin,
they already share a lift - the Iron
Horse quad, share flanks of Lone Peak's awesome
terrain, and offer an interconnected lift ticket. For the past three seasons, Big Sky & Moonlight Basin have marketed
the Biggest Skiing in America.... a combined area of 5,700 ski-able acres, 4,350
vertical feet and 23 chairlifts. These stats eclipse Vail's 5,200 and rivals that of
Whistler/Blackcomb.
Well, that big Montana ski experience just got bigger if you consider Moonlight Basin abuts Big Sky
which neighbors Yellowstone Club and Spanish Peaks - another private ski
community with lifts and lodges including the Pinnacle atop the Ram Charger
lift at Big Sky. I don't see Yellowstone Club dropping their secure boundaries
and letting the riff raff in anytime soon, but the modest terrain at Spanish Peaks will likely
become fair game.
I am a huge fan of Big Sky
- one of my favorite ski resorts anywhere. Moonlight Basin also makes my list -
it has been a sleeping giant, no big crowds and pretty amazing terrain -
comparable to neighboring Big Sky. Moonlight
has its own community of stunning slope side homes and a gorgeous mid-mountain
Lodge but struggled through foreclosure with Lehman Brothers. I believe the Moonlight
giant is about to be awakened. Boyne (who owns Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Loon,
Boyne, Boyne Highlands, and Brighton) is big on quality lifts, grooming and
snowmaking, Yellowstone is all about posh lodging and exclusivity. An
interesting Montana match made for skiers.
Stay tuned.. and be sure
to follow family ski trips on twitter - for breaking news in the ski biz!
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