Laurel first chairlift was installed at Laurel Mountain in 1968. Pittsburgh’s newest lift served ski area, Boyce Park (all 180 vertical feet of it), only 15 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, drew 1600 skiers. The early December opening day 1966 count went to Seven Springs at 3,800 to Laurel’s less than 2,000. Hidden Valley, Bear Rocks, and Plateau De Mount were new and like Seven Springs, all had easier access from the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Although the sport saw unprecedented growth in skier attendance and Laurel could still beat Seven Springs attendance 3,300 to 1,200 on a boom Sunday as late as 1965, overall attendance at Laurel declined. In reality, the decade began the decline of Laurel Mountain. The ski area’s own website documents its long decline: This place is a miracle, neglected and mismanaged for decades. Combine that with four Vail Ohio ski areas to the west and five Pennsylvania ski areas to the east, and Epic just became the default megapass for every skier from D.C. The high base elevation helps.Īnd, like all of these resorts – which sit within 12 miles of one another as the crow flies – it is close enough to big cities to make a viable weekend trip: an hour from Pittsburgh, three hours and change from Cleveland, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. The snowmaking system is outstanding: it was the second ski area to open in Pennsylvania this year (the first was Vail’s Jack Frost), and it will be one of the last to close. But it is the sort of property Vail covets: busy, built-out, established, and stable. It’s not one of the East’s top 20 ski resorts. Everyone loves the place – it consistently finishes in the top 20 on Ski’s annual reader poll of Eastern ski resorts. It’s the rare Pennsylvania ski area with marked glades on the trailmap. The lift fleet is insane: a pair of high-speed six-packs, four quads, four triples. If you’re sorting the best ski areas between New England and Colorado, this makes the list. Here’s a bit more about what this means for Vail, the Epic Pass, and the ski industry as a whole: What Vail bought Vail has pledged to retain “the vast majority” of each resort’s employees. Skiers will not be able to access Seven Springs, Laurel, or Hidden Valley on their Epic Passes until the 2022-23 ski season, and all current reciprocal partnerships will remain in place this winter. ski companies since the March 2020 Covid shutdowns (the other was Boyne Resorts’ purchase of Shawnee Peak, Maine in October). It is also only the second pickup by one of the big four U.S. This is Vail’s first acquisition since purchasing the 17-mountain Peak Resorts portfolio in July 2019, and the first since new CEO Kirsten Lynch took over for longtime CEO Rob Katz last month. These great ski areas in Pennsylvania are a perfect complement to our existing resorts, creating a much stronger connection and compelling offering to our current and future guests in Pittsburgh as well as those in other critical markets such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Cleveland.” “As a company, we have been focused on acquiring resorts near major metropolitan areas as we know many skiers and riders build their passion for the sport close to home. “We are incredibly excited to have the opportunity to add Seven Springs to our family of resorts along with Hidden Valley and Laurel Mountain,” said Kirsten Lynch, chief executive officer of Vail Resorts. The three mountains give Vail a powerful story to tell in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, dropping destination-caliber terrain within easy driving distance of its existing Ohio and Pennsylvania ski areas and half a dozen large cities. Seven Springs is widely considered one of the top ski resorts in the state and region, and the flagship of the three-mountain portfolio. The three western Pennsylvania ski areas are jointly owned and managed by Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Inc., part of the business empire of Pittsburgh Pirates owner Robert Nutting. The $125 million deal would give the Colorado-based company control of eight of the state’s 22 public ski areas and a total portfolio of 40 ski areas in North America and Australia. Vail Resorts on Wednesday announced its intention to purchase Seven Springs and Hidden Valley ski areas in Pennsylvania, and to assume operations of state-owned Laurel Mountain.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |