Ski industry » Cumming family purchases majority interest; Dick Bass to remain chairman.

By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune

At age 84, Texas oilman and mountaineer Dick Bass found his body could no longer tolerate the thin, 8,500-foot air at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, which he helped found in December 1971.

So Bass announced Monday he had sold majority interest in the Little Cottonwood Canyon resort to Ian Cumming, a businessman intimately familiar with Utah’s ski industry since his family owns Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR).

The price and terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The sum is likely to be substantial, if recent resort sales are indicative. When Vail Resorts went on a recent buying spree, it paid $60 million for Northstar by Lake Tahoein 2010 and, two years later, $18.2 million for Kirkwood in California and $20 million for two small Midwestern resorts. Vail’s purchase prices were disclosed because it is publicly held, whereas Snowbird and Cumming are private.

Bass, who will remain chairman of Snowbird’s board, said in a news release he was pleased that his family and Cumming’s could join together to direct the resort’s future development, including the long-discussed and highly controversial plan to build a restaurant around the Tram terminal atop Hidden Peak.

"This partnership will enable Snowbird to achieve more rapid growth and even greater benefits for our guests," Bass said, and will continue to promote "our founding philosophy of providing a year-round destination mountain resort for the enhancement of body, mind and spirit — with our ever-present emphasis on environmental protection and sensitivity." Snowbird’s ownership change is the second seismic shock in a year to hit Utah’s previously stable ski industry.

Read more