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John Kircher Acquires Crystal Mountain

Tricia

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In a ski resort climate where major resorts are taking ownership of more resorts, John Kircher is taking sole ownership of Crystal Mountain, which has been a part of his families company, Boyne Resorts since 1997.
Kircher has been the CEO of Crystal since his family took ownership. During his time as CEO at Crystal Mountain, he has also spearheaded the purchase of several other resorts including Brighton in Utah, Cypress Mountain in B.C., and has overseen the general operations of these resorts including the work for events at Cypress during the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

It is interesting to me that this is happening on the heels of Vail Resorts, Aspen Ski Co, and KSL gobbling up resorts.

I'll be interested to see how this works for Kircher and Crystal Mountain.
See press release on Crystal Mountain's website.
14589580_10153961862005233_4946046712037901750_o.jpg
 

Tom K.

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This looks great. The snippet I read seems to indicate that by making the purchase using only his Boyne shares, he plans to invest ~$5 million dollars in the place.

If so, godspeed!
 

markojp

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First up is snowmaking on the lower slopes that have a hard time making the Thanksgiving schedule.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Makes me want Ro work for him
 

markojp

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Ro? Scooby 'to'?
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Ru roh
 

markojp

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I only ask because I thought 'ro' might be an acronym for something.
 

David Chaus

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Really Obvious? :huh:

I hope John K's sole owenership will result in spring skiing (after late April) once again. I miss being able to into June, without having to drive longer than a couple hours to get there.
 

Bad Bob

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There will be changes at Crystal.

He had some really major health issues a few years ago, anybody know the status of that? We don't want the King to be incapacitated too soon.
 
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Tricia

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John O

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I hope John K's sole owenership will result in spring skiing (after late April) once again. I miss being able to into June, without having to drive longer than a couple hours to get there.

I really hope so too, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. We'll see what happens.

:crossfingers:
 

markojp

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There will be changes at Crystal.

He had some really major health issues a few years ago, anybody know the status of that? We don't want the King to be incapacitated too soon.

John's health is fine. The area closes for the season tomorrow... a done deal decided a while ago.
 

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I'm glad to see this one, for a number of reasons. I'm guessing that it closed at the time of the CNL portfolio sale to O-Z, perhaps a simultaneous sale. Part of the overall deal has to be Boyne Resorts tearing up the operating lease, as well. So best of luck to John and GS team!

I think we'll start to see O-Z sell of more ofvthat CNL group. The operating leases will complicate things, but I would bet on some of the operators wanting to buy back the hard assets that they sold to CNL. In most cases they should be at a discount. I doubt if Boyne will want all of theirs.

Should be interesting. I'm presuming that other than having some ownership stake, John is out of Boyne Resorts? His brother Steve is the CEO, and I think their sister has a pretty big role. They're good people.

Nice to see this, and to hear some optimism.
 

John O

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The area closes for the season tomorrow... a done deal decided a while ago.

Would have been nice if they'd let people know, or perhaps we have a different definition of "a while ago." Only a month ago they stated on facebook that a decision hadn't been made yet regarding spring skiing this year. Oh well, I've made my peace with the fact that post-April lift served skiing is probably a thing of the past. I'm disappointed, but it is what it is.
 

markojp

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Blackcomb will be open through May. Mission Ridge and Mt. Hood Meadows are open next weekend as well. Timberline will go all summer. Yes, it's too bad CM won't extend the season a bit especially since there's really been very little true sunny spring this spring.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I'm glad to see this one, for a number of reasons. I'm guessing that it closed at the time of the CNL portfolio sale to O-Z, perhaps a simultaneous sale. Part of the overall deal has to be Boyne Resorts tearing up the operating lease, as well. So best of luck to John and GS team!

I think we'll start to see O-Z sell of more ofvthat CNL group. The operating leases will complicate things, but I would bet on some of the operators wanting to buy back the hard assets that they sold to CNL. In most cases they should be at a discount. I doubt if Boyne will want all of theirs.

Should be interesting. I'm presuming that other than having some ownership stake, John is out of Boyne Resorts? His brother Steve is the CEO, and I think their sister has a pretty big role. They're good people.

Nice to see this, and to hear some optimism.
I don't know the details, but I'm encouraged to see the up side of things like this. John and Kim seem to be quite the couple with good vibes surrounding them.
 

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