Ownership Shuffle Continues At Inland Northwest Ski Hills

The year of ownership turmoil continues at Inland Northwest ski resorts.

Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort in Sandpoint is next in line for new ownership. Spokane’s Goodale & Barbieri Cos. and Seattle’s Harbor Properties Inc. are willing to pay perhaps $30 million for the resort.

Telluride Ski & Golf Co., once another bidder for the resort, backed out on Monday after reconsidering its plans to buy other resorts. Sources close to the transaction said Telluride investors separate from the company may still be interested.

A fourth party, namely an East Coast skiing giant, could also enter the bidding.

Sandpoint’s Brown family developed the resort, but developed cash flow problems. They now owe nearly $27 million to U.S. Bank and other creditors.

The new owners of Silver Mountain Ski & Summer Resort in Kellogg enjoyed this year’s bountiful snow. Eagle Crest Partners of Redmond, Ore., bought the resort last May for $3 million. Silver Mountain’s original backer, Swiss manufacturer Von Roll AG, took a $16 million loss on the project and sold out.

Complicating Silver Mountain’s ownership situation is Mission Mountain Interests, which owns the land under much of the ski resort.

The group has challenged the agreement between Eagle Crest and the City of Kellogg. Mission Mountain wasn’t part of the negotiation and wants the agreement canceled. The suit continues to work its way through district court in Wallace.

Rumors persist that Eagle Crest may cannibalize Silver Mountain for its gondola and move it to another ski resort it’s developing in Oregon. But such rumors are strongly refuted by the resort’s management and Eagle Crest. Upcoming expensive maintenance of the gondola will bear out the company’s commitment to the resort.

Near Chewelah, 49 Degrees North’s new owner, John Eminger, has enjoyed the 15 feet of snow on his mountain. Eminger, with Spokane roots, wants to continue the resort’s family atmosphere and consider adding lifts to the hill.

Mount Spokane has always been owned by Washington state, but who will run it? The legal battle between the Mt. Spokane Skiing Corp., which has run the area since the 1970s, and the Mount Spokane 2000 Study Group, which has legal rights to the next 20-year concession, has no end in sight.

The only comparatively stable ski resort in the Inland Northwest? Lookout Pass Ski Area has plenty of snow - but only one double chair lift.

, DataTimes