In just a few short days, Mt. Bachelor will have its earliest opening since 1998. The ski resort’s public relations team announced the weeks-ahead-of-schedule opening on Monday to much fanfare, inviting passholders to the mountain this weekend, Nov. 15 through the 17, for fresh lines.
It’s the treat locals have been asking for since snow from early season storms started piling up, and a sure way for the resort’s management to garner their goodwill. It’s a type of goodwill that’s been hard to come by for POWDR Corp., a privately held company that bought the mountain in 2001, ending a proud history of local ownership — a tradition that a group of locals are working to revive now that POWDR is selling Mt. Bachelor LLC.
Raising the capital to purchase the resort in just a few months is an endeavor worthy of mountain-sized analogies. Mt. Bachelor is the seventh-largest ski resort in North America, boasting over 4,300 acres of lift-accessible land. It’s the biggest of Oregon’s 11 ski areas. In Bend, it is the second largest private employer, with over 1,117 employees in 2024. And, according to expert estimates, it averages over $70 million in annual economic output.
This past summer, after POWDR announced it wanted to shed Mt. Bachelor from its holdings, locals Chris Porter and Dan Cochrane got together to strategize about buying the resort. Both men are longtime residents and Bachelor enthusiasts. Word spread through town and supporters came out en masse with offers to help.
“Had Bill Healy decided to pursue the expansion of on slope-side amenities, slope-side lodging and things of that nature, then he would have been putting the mountain in direct competition with Bend and Sunriver.” -Glenn Voelz
“The response was really overwhelming,” Porter told the Source Weekly, reflecting back on the number of people who reached out to join the effort after the pair did an interview for local news. “I really feel like we captured lightning in a bottle.”
The ad-hoc group quickly took shape, becoming Mt. Bachelor Community Inc. Within a few weeks they launched a website, announced a kickoff fundraising event and developed guiding ideologies. They aim to raise the money through local investors and companies to buy Bachelor, thus returning it to local control, and would run it as a certified B corporation, focused on environmental stewardship and inclusivity. It is a daunting undertaking – securing funding for what some estimate will be a $200 million sale – and yet, it echoes the resort’s beginnings when Bill Healy in the 1950s gathered community support and money for his grand idea: A mountain resort to bring in tourists and save a mountain town.
But Bend of the mid-1900s is not the Bend of today. In the last three-quarters of a century, Bend, and its surrounding cities, have grown into a destination in their own right. Most of the visitors to Mt. Bachelor today are locals, not tourists. Despite its significant draw, an increasing portion of the region’s wintertime tourists are not finding their way to Bachelor’s powder-cloaked slopes. Only an estimated 31% of visitors in winter 2021-2022 went downhill skiing, down from 49% in the previous two years, according to travel site Visit Bend’s data. Dining out, shopping, scenic drives and brewery visits – in that order — were the bigger draw for guests. It would seem that the fate of Bend and Bachelor are now distinct.
From Bachelor Butte to Mt. Bachelor
Before there was Mt. Bachelor there was Bachelor Butte — a name that played off the landscape; Bachelor because of the peak’s separation from the Three Sisters to the north and Butte because of its distinct shape. The volcano’s name was changed in 1958 as a public relations move for the nascent ski resort.
In the decades before Mt. Bachelor opened for downhill skiing, the logging industry was the main driver of the economy. It brought in immigrants from far-flung countries, many from Scandinavia, according to historian Glenn Voelz’s book, “Mt. Bachelor: A History.”
These newcomers to Central Oregon brought with them a love of winter sports and were the region’s early ski pioneers, Voelz wrote. As timber production slowed, so did economic growth in the region, and leaders knew a transition was needed if the area was to survive.
While other resorts diversified their income streams with après ski options, shopping and lodging, for Bachelor the only way to turn a profit remained through ticket sales. At the turn of the century that meant trouble for Mt. Bachelor Inc.
“The economic transformation of Bend was so tied to this transition from logging into a recreation and leisure and tourism-based economy,” Voelz said in an interview with the Source Weekly. “And Mt. Bachelor really drove that process in the 1950s and 1960s. And of course, it becomes more diversified over time, but what really started the process was the creation of Mt. Bachelor in 1958. I really think the prospects for communities like Sunriver and Bend were very much tied to the success of Mt. Bachelor during that era.”
A critical decision for the health of nearby communities, according to Voelz’s research, was the leadership’s choice not to pursue slope-side lodging and amenities on the mountain, after a short-lived attempt in the late 1960s revealed numerous management challenges.
“There were a lot of reasons why that decision was made to close the slopes’ overnight lodging,” Voelz said. “But part of it was the desire to have the resort lift up the surrounding areas and bring Bend and Sunriver along. Had Bill Healy decided to pursue the expansion of on slope-side amenities, slope-side lodging and things of that nature, then he would have been putting the mountain in direct competition with Bend and Sunriver.”
For decades, under the watchful eye of Mt. Bachelor Inc.’s board of directors, the mountain’s profile and by extension Bend and its surrounding communities’ profiles, grew. Each added lift and summit extension drew thousands more visitors from out of town to ski its slopes. Growth was steady despite hurdles from nature and the larger economy over the years. With Healy’s guidance the resort also grew toward year-round operations but continued to forego pushing for the development of overnight accommodations.
“When skiers think of Mount Bachelor, they think of downtown Bend,” Peggy Lucas wrote, quoting Healy in her seminal book, “Mt. Bachelor, Bill Healy’s Dream: History and Development of Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort.”
The choice to promote Bend and Sunriver as the mountain’s lodging and entertainment area meant that over time, Bachelor fell behind Healy’s dream of a world-class destination. While other resorts diversified their income streams with après ski options, shopping and lodging, for Bachelor the only way to turn a profit remained through ticket sales. At the turn of the century that meant trouble for Mt. Bachelor Inc.
POWDR Corp. Takes Over
In 2000, Mt. Bachelor Inc. was struggling. It posted a net income loss of over $200,000, according to its 1999-2000 annual report, and was saddled with a $5 million loan for capital projects.
“We opened the 99/00 season during Thanksgiving under limited operations, as mountain snowfall was unfortunately late in coming,” Randall Papé, president of Mt. Bachelor Inc. wrote to shareholders in the report. “Combine this with less than normal snowfall during Christmas holidays and the trepidation surrounding Y2Ktravel, and you have the makings for lower skier visits of 480,010 or a reduction of 14.9% from the 1998/99 ski season.”
By May of 2001, after a months-long grapple with Papé Group of Eugene for control, POWDR Corp. purchased nearly 70% of shares of Mt. Bachelor Inc. for around $28 million, effectively taking over the resort. John Cumming, the young president and chief executive officer of POWDR at the time, said that he planned to invest in more snow-making equipment to fill in for the sometimes-sporadic snowfall, work toward developing night-time skiing operations and offer more discount packages to lure visitors, according to an article in The Bulletin that June.
Under the new ownership, skier visits remained relatively stable for the first five years. Thanks in part to a more expensive season pass, cutting programs like free skiing for local sixth graders and shortening the spring skiing season, the company reported a, “significant increase in adjusted gross revenue,” according to Voelz.
By 2008, any honeymoon phase that existed between locals and the new owners was long over. In a Source Weekly article from that time, staff wrote about management shakeups at the resort and a 7% decrease in visitors during what should have been a celebratory year as the mountain marked its 50-year anniversary.
“… last season the bitching went from nit-picking static to fever pitched shouting as winter began with hiked lift ticket prices and ended with reports of potentially dangerous chair lift maintenance practices and an earlier than usual closing date,” the Source Weekly reported in October 2008. “With broad-based efforts to clean up everything from its industry-wide reputation to its bathrooms, Bachelor seems overtly concerned with rebuilding its place in the community during its 50th season in operation,” the article read.
Four years later, a local contingent, fed up with what they saw as mismanagement of the mountain, launched a “Community Buy-Out of Mt. Bachelor” Facebook group that grew to over 1,500 members. Their pitch was to buy the mountain and make it a nonprofit. In response, POWDR held an open forum to listen to locals’ concerns but insisted that the mountain was not for sale.
In 2021, the corporation and local shredders hit another bump in their relationship, with the introduction of a fast-pass ticket system where for $49+ visitors could “upgrade” their experience and bypass lines at specified chairlifts. An online petition in opposition to the pass garnered over 10,000 signatures. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore) even weighed in on the move, arguing that the system would exacerbate equity issues felt by those in the community who already struggle to afford pricey lift tickets on top of renting or purchasing ski gear and clothing.
For its part, the company maintained that the pass, Fast Tracks, was available in limited quantities and would not affect general access to the resort. As an add-on product, Fast Tracks serves as another way for Mt. Bachelor to capitalize on its main revenue source: snow.
In its over 20 years of ownership, there were wins as well. A letter Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler sent to Gov. Tina Kotek in October asking for Kotek’s support of the local movement to buy Mt. Bachelor enumerated what she characterized as “innovation and responsiveness” by the company to the community’s needs. The list included the construction of a wood energy biomass facility to replace propane use, year-round expanded child care programs with reduced rates for resort employees and the partnership with Campfire Hotel in Bend as housing for seasonal employees.
A Murky Future
Over the years, the idea of a ski village has been floated but definitive plans never emerged. The logistics of building a ski village are many – chief among them is the fact that the mountain belongs to the U.S. Forest Service and any development or changes in operation must go through a rigorous review and approval process. Arguably, it is possible, considering that of the 480 ski areas operating in the U.S., 40% are in national forests, according to the USDA. However, and perhaps equally as important, the will to build out isn’t there. In fact, Mt. Bachelor touts its lack of development as a reason it’s set apart from other ski areas. On this point, locals and Mt. Bachelor are aligned.
“Mt. Bachelor is a true destination despite the fact that – uniquely among America’s major ski areas – it has no slopeside lodging, no fancy base villages, no condo developments or any other sign of the high-priced foofaraw so common at major ski areas nowadays. We don’t have it, we probably never will, and we’re actually pretty darned proud of that – because we’ve got something much better,” the mountain’s community section of the website reads. “It starts with an amazing mountain that’s surrounded by some of the most spectacular National Forest in the country. Mt. Bachelor skiers enjoy a feeling of wilderness and solitude that just isn’t found anywhere else.”
“I think the local skiing communities are ready to have a solution to regain control of their own backyard, their own ski hills.” —Chris Porter
Like Central Oregon, generally, the access to nature is fiercely protected. And with a vibrant community just a short drive down from its powdery vertical, Mt. Bachelor’s lack of development may not be a problem. But, more and more visitors are coming to Bend and skipping the skiing. That trend can’t be good for profits on the mountain.
Being a privately held company, POWDR Corp. keeps its financials close. However, in August it announced that it was selling Mt. Bachelor and three other ski resorts it owns.
It’s a strategic move to manage the company portfolio, according to Stacey Hutchinson, vice president of communications and government affairs at POWDR.
On Oct. 12, less than two months after POWDR’s announcement, hundreds of people gathered at Drake Park in Bend for Mount Bachelor Community Inc.’s kickoff event. A GoFundMe launched a few weeks prior hit its $40K fundraising goal to support legal and logistical services within two weeks. Food trucks lined the event space, music beat through the crowd and event goers gathered in groups, chatting and reminiscing about days spent on the mountain.
At one of a handful of booths along the perimeter, Charlie Rowles and his wife Kathy Ingraham Rowles displayed memorabilia garnered from decades spent visiting Mt. Bachelor. Charlie said he has been skiing at Bachelor since 1961. Kathy worked as a “Bachelor Girl,” assisting with operations. With the mountain’s outline just visible in the distance, Chris Porter and other leaders of MBCI gave interviews to TV news crews and networked with guests. Bend’s mayor, Kebler, gave a speech in support of the movement and a few days later sent the letter on behalf of the city to Kotek asking for her support.
“Growing up here, I learned to ski through Mt. Bachelor’s Mighty Mites program, enjoyed snow sports with my family, and now take my daughter up the mountain to experience our amazing outdoor spaces,” Kebler wrote. “Similar experiences are common for residents of Bend, and for many, connection to the mountain – whether it be hiking, biking, snow sports or zipline rides – is integral to Central Oregon living. Mt. Bachelor is critical to the past, current, and future success and vibrancy of our city.”
The reverence for Bachelor that Kebler expressed in her letter was palpable among those gathered at Drake Park. Visits to Mt. Bachelor are mostly from local powder chasers, with about 65% of season pass holders being Central Oregonians, according to estimates from Porter. Those numbers are corroborated by Visit Bend and Visit Central Oregon data. That local support is what Porter is counting on to see MBCI’s effort to buy the mountain and turn the resort into a certified B Corp over the finish line. The team, he said, is working at “breakneck speed” in a layered approach to securing financing – starting first with credited investors and then opening it up for community investors.
“The incentive to become an owner is to have more accessibility, and that includes having a dividend to apply after investing,” Porter said. “We hear over and over again to make it more accessible,” he added, saying access is a driving force of the movement. “I think the local skiing communities are ready to have a solution to regain control of their own backyard, their own ski hills.”
Whether that will mean slope-side development and amenities in the future is still undecided and would be driven by local support, Porter said. There is the possibility from a Forest Service perspective to develop more, he said, and doing so could alleviate the pressure on the price of lift tickets and season passes. But the first step is actually purchasing the mountain.
On Friday, Porter, along with other Bachelor pass holders, will be on the lifts for the resort’s earliest opening in 26 years. From there he’ll head to meetings with Summit Bank to talk financing.
“We are quickly gaining momentum and should be having our letter or interest in with proof of funds to JP Morgan as soon as possible,” he said, “and hopefully submitting a bid by the end of the year. If Vail or Alterra were going to buy this, it already would have been announced.”
Of the resorts POWDR listed for sale, Bachelor stands out in size and scale. Owning a nationally ranked, top-10 resort in size with an enviably long snow season is a “a potentially portfolio-defining chest-thumper” according to industry-news site the Storm Skiing Journal, which first broke news of the sale. It makes sense one of the handful of corporations that dominates the industry, perhaps Alterra Mountain Company, which partners with Mt. Bachelor to offer Ikon pass holders access to the mountain would go for it. Or, maybe MBCI will raise the necessary funds on a tight-timeline to pay the estimated $200 million asking price.
Also unknown is how those eventual new owners will tackle the tension of development, profitability and access at Mt. Bachelor to preserve the resort that helped build Bend.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the number of employees at Mt. Bachelor. It is 1,117, not 4,700 as previously reported. We regret the mistake.
—This story is powered by the Lay It Out Foundation, the nonprofit with a mission of promoting deep reporting and investigative journalism in Central Oregon. Learn more and be part of this important work by visiting layitoutfoundation.org.
This article appears in Source Weekly November 14, 2024.
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There is substantial local Bend community interest and involvement in the purchase of Mt. Bachelor by a potential B Corp entity composed of Venture Capital investors contracting with Pwdr to buy Mt. Bachelor. The accessibility of acquisition contracts to the public depends on several factors, including the nature of the entities involved, the specifics of the transaction, and applicable laws and regulations.
When Private Equity Venture Capital Investors form a B Corporation (a for-profit entity with a social mission) to acquire another for-profit business, the transaction typically remains private.
Unless there is a compelling reasonsuch as regulatory requirements, involvement of public funds, or performance of a public functionthe acquisition contracts are generally not open to public access. However, specific circumstances and local laws can influence this general rule. It’s advisable to consult legal counsel to understand the disclosure obligations pertinent to a particular transaction.
I suggest there is compelling reason for City of Bend and its residents have public access to any Private Equity Investors contract with Pwdr. To be fully informed of Purchase Contract Terms and Conditions including any and all provisions for Private Equity investors to offer public investment shares or other benefits to anyone. Terms and Conditions related to Return on Investment distribution to the Private Venture Equity investors should be known as public by City of Bend, and its citizens as well as beneficiaries outside of Bend.
If compelling reason for public disclosure of the Purchase Contract does not exist at the time of purchase then it should be established in advance by City of Bend on behalf of its citizens.