Powdr, stylized as POWDR, is an American
privately held company
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...
that owns and operates ski resorts in the United States and Canada. It is headquartered in
Park City, Utah
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. Most of the city is within Summit County, Utah, Summit County, with some portions extending into Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is sou ...
, and was founded in 1994 by John Cumming, an early investor in the clothing company
Mountain Hardwear with his father Ian.
History
Powdr was founded by John Cumming in 1994 with the purchase of the
Park City Mountain Resort in
Park City, Utah
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. Most of the city is within Summit County, Utah, Summit County, with some portions extending into Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is sou ...
, about 30 miles outside of
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
. Later that year, the company bought the
Alpine Meadows ski resort near
Lake Tahoe, California. In August 1995, the company bought the
Boreal Mountain Resort near Lake Tahoe and the Soda Springs ski area near the
Donner Summit
Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake and Donner Memorial State Park about west of Truckee, California. Like the Sierra Nevada themselves, the pass has a steep approach from the east and a gradual a ...
by
Soda Springs, Nevada County, California. In April 2001, Powdr bought the
Mount Bachelor ski area in
Central Oregon. The company bought
Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort in November 2003. Powdr bought the
Killington and the
Pico Mountain ski resorts near
Killington, Vermont, from
American Skiing Company in May 2007, and in December 2019 Powdr purchased
Silver Star Mountain Resort, its first mountain resort in Canada.
In July 2007, Powdr sold Alpine Meadows to
JMA Ventures.
In 2008, Powdr bought the
Outside TV media venture, which it later sold in 2021 to
Pocket Outdoor Media, which simultaneously renamed itself to Outside.
Powdr bought Copper Mountain in Colorado in December 2009 from
Intrawest. Powdr bought "World of Adventure Sports Presented by GoPro", an Emmy Award-winning TV series on December 3, 2013.
In July 2011, Powdr bought a majority share of
Camp Woodward, an operator of youth summer camps established in 1970. As of 2022, Camp Woodward destinations include Woodward Mt. Bachelor, Woodward Tahoe, Woodward West, Woodward Park City, Woodward Copper, Woodward Eldora, Woodward Pennsylvania and Woodward Killington. Woodward Sydney was planned to open in 2024 but had not yet opened as of mid-2025.
In June 2016, Powdr bought the 55-year-old
Eldora Mountain Resort near
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
.
In December 2019, Powdr opened Woodward Park City youth sports complex.
In 2023, Powdr was awarded the contract for Stovepipe Wells Village near the entrance of Death Valley National Park.
In August 2024, Powdr announced it would sell
Killington and
Pico Mountain ski resorts in Vermont, Eldora in Colorado, Mt. Bachelor in Oregon and SilverStar in British Columbia.
Lawsuits
Non-honoring of certain passes issued by prior Killington owner
In July 2010, a federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit against Killington Resort over so-called 'lifetime' ski passes. Judge Christina Reiss found that the resort's current owner (Powdr) was under no legal obligation to honor previously issued investor season passes when it purchased Killington Resort in 2007.
Loss of Park City lease
When Park City Mountain Resort, a Powdr resort, mistakenly failed to renew a "sweetheart lease" for a portion of its ski terrain acreage, the company was eventually evicted from the property and, after a protracted legal fight, "reluctantly" sold its remaining area assets to Vail Resorts for approximately 180 million dollars in late 2014.
Properties
Ski resorts
Western United States
* California
**
Boreal Mountain Resort
**Soda Springs
* Colorado
**
Copper Mountain
**
Eldora Mountain Resort
* Oregon
**
Mt. Bachelor
* Utah
**
Snowbird
**Woodward Park City
Northeast United States
Canada
*
Silver Star Mountain Resort, Vernon, British Columbia
Camp Woodward youth camp locations
*Bend, Oregon; Mt. Bachelor, Oregon; Tahoe, California; Southern California; Snowbird, Utah; Park City, Utah, Copper Mountain, Colorado; Eldora Mountain, Colorado, Killington Mountain, Vermont, and Woodward Pennsylvania.
Other operations
* Sun Country Tours, Oregon
* Powderbird Helicopter Skiing, Utah
* Stovepipe Wells Village, California
Former properties
*
Alpine Meadows, California
*
Park City Mountain Resort, Utah (sale to
Vail Resorts announced September 11, 2014)
*
Lee Canyon, Nevada (sale to
Mountain Capital Partners announced April 13, 2023)
*
Killington Ski Resort, Vermont (sale to a small group of local investors announced Aug 22, 2024)
*
Pico Mountain, Vermont (sale to a small group of local investors announced Aug 22, 2024)
References
{{Reflist
Companies based in Utah
Skiing organizations
1994 establishments in Utah