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Posted by: thepinetree on 08/09/2014 11:08 PM Updated by: thepinetree on 08/10/2014 12:15 AM
Expires: 01/01/2019 12:00 AM
:



The Skyline Era Begins At Bear Valley With Packed Morning Meeting (Full Meeting Video Below)

Bear Valley, CA... The Cathedral Lounge at the Bear Valley Lodge played host to another packed meeting on Bear Valley's Future. This morning's meeting started with a presentation led by BV Co-op's Steve Troyer who thanked the community and also recapped some of it's journey's Skyline's CEO Michael Sneyd said Skyline would not be here without the Co-op. Skyline's Chairman Gil Blutrich is acquainted with Dundee's CEO (In fact he is on Skyline's Board) and had heard about some of Dundee's challenges here. He reiterated that the energy and commitment of the Bear Valley Community turned some of their initial reservations into an excitement of the possibilities of Bear Valley. Bear Valley is a very special place that deserves a happy ending and hopefully Skyline and the Co-op will drive the community and business forward. A plan is gelling on how the BV Co-op can help BV move forward along with Skyline as well. Some quotes from Skyline CEO Michael Sneyd: “Bear Valley needs to be enhanced but not changed.” “Skyline is a hospitality company and a development company, we do both.” “That combination lets us look at opportunities that other people may shy away from.” “We are hospitality because we know how to put heads in beds, we know how to run restaurants, we know how to run ski resorts.” Mr. Sneyd also said that they have never seen as much caring and community involvement from a resort area as in Bear Valley....







The BV Coop's Mike Wallenfels handled the part of the presentation that delved into a working relationship between the Coop and Skyline. At the risk of over simplification the Coop's goal would be to help capital improvements above and beyond operational needs. Some of the projects mentioned and previously planned include a day lodge at Bear Top for example. This has been a much needed amenity to allow backside skiers to keep fueled and refreshed so they can keep the high speed quad, Polar Express busy without losing skiing time heading down to the day lodge for lunch on busy weekends.

There are also other smaller projects the BV Coop could participate in that would directly improve the mountain. As an example expanding snow making. A much needed expansion is on the backside to the bottom of the hill near the loading area for Polar Express. A partnership between Skyline and the Coop on improvements might be something like this....It would be up to Skyline to repair and maintain existing snowmaking equipment like say fixing a leak in an old line and repairing the guns. Running new line and expanding the coverage area might be something the Coop could participate in.

The Northern California ski industry duo of Chris Ryman and Betsy Cole will be in charge of hiring a GM and making sure Bear Valley is operating at it's best. Many of you may recall that when Chris and Betsy were with Booth Creek Holdings they created what is today's Northstar resort. Under their direction not only did Northstar expand to to what it is today but Northstar also invested in one of the largest snowmaking operations around. Basically Northstar can open 50% of their mountain with good skiable terrain regardless of what mother nature does or does not provide.

Think of snowmaking as business insurance. As an example Bear Valley's snowmaking allowed it to have a season while Dodge Ridge basically had to cancel their season. Bear Valley has the opportunity to ramp up their capabilities to consistently open more early season terrain and improve the skiable product all season long. Bear Valley will also have management in place that believes in snowmaking as a strategic differentiator that elevates a resort to a consistent industry performer.

I think their Northstar background could be vital for Bear Valley. Other Tahoe resorts may boast of more extreme terrain but as a destination for solid predictable family weekend ski trips that can be reliably booked in advance Northstar may be the preeminent choice. The Northstar balance of a predictable snow product with enough village amenities to keep even the non-skiers happy. Bear Valley as a Northstar small, could be a pretty good niche to try and fill.

There are some similarities between the resorts. Northstar by choice developed a resort where people don't need to leave to have a complete weekend. Bear Valley by it's very isolation is a logical weekend destination. The operational philosophies are actually quite similar to provide a complete happy experience. Bear Valley in many ways could have more upside with less development costs with it's shorter drive times to major metro areas.

This duo's fingerprints are all over some of the best resorts developed in the last 30 years. To say they should have a good eye for what it will take for Bear Valley to carve out a sizable niche in the Northern California resort industry is an understatement.

Christopher P. Ryman has been President, Chief Operating Officer and Assistant Secretary of Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. from May of 1998 to October of 2010 and served as President and Assistant Secretary of Booth Creek Ski Group, Inc., Holding Company of Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc.. Mr. Ryman served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Vail Associates, Inc. from 1995 to May 1998. Prior to that time, from 1992 to 1995, he was Senior Vice President of Mountain Operations at Vail Associates, Inc. Former Director of the Vail and Beaver Creek Ski and Snowboard Schools.

Chris a two-time member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America National Demonstration Team and helped develop and present the American Teaching Method at Inter-ski in Czechoslovakia. He was a former Pro Racer on the World Pro Skiing (WPS) created by Bob Beattie, former US Ski Team Head Coach. Chris was contemporary with Jean-Claude Killy, Spider Sabich, Billy Kidd, Hank Kashiwa, Ken Corrock, the Palmer and Thompson Bros.

About Betsy Cole
Betsy Cole (Elizabeth J. Cole) has over 30 years of experience in investment banking, strategic planning and finance. From 1998 until 2010, Ms. Cole was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. (BCSH), the owner and/or operator of multiple ski resorts including Northstar at Tahoe. She was a partner in BCRP, LLC., the owner of BCSH. Previous positions held by Ms. Cole include Vice President of Business Development for Vail Resorts, Inc., Chief Financial Officer of Petrowax PA Inc., Vice President of Aurora Capital Partners, and First Vice President, Financial Institutions/Corporate Finance of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc. Chris and Betsy successfully negotiated the sale of Northstar at Tahoe to Vail Resorts in 2010. They both sit on the Tahoe Forest Hospital Board.

We wrote a bit more on the local executives that will have a presence here but below are the folks from Skyline who will be really pulling the strings.

Gil Blutrich, Chairman and President

Since immigrating to Canada and establishing Skyline International Developments in 1998, Gil Blutrich has helmed the company’s rapid
emergence as an innovative real estate and hospitality firm specializing
in destination communities by identifying and acquiring underleveraged
assets.Gil established the Mishorim Group in 1989 and is still currently the Chairman of the company. In 2004, he was a recipient of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Michael Sneyd, CEO

Select Image to viewMichael Sneyd has 29 years of experience in resort, master-planned community, hotel and mixed-use projects with expertise in all aspects of
real estate asset management, development, and financing. Most recently, Michael was President and COO of US and Caribbean private equity funds
that developed four golf communities totaling over 6,300 acres and five
hotels and resorts with 1,300 rooms.


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Posted on: 2021-06-30 04:53:48   By: Anonymous
 
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