# United States & Canada Vacations Forums > Ski Country Forum >  >  Got a spare 1.68 billion around? Intrawest

## kenh

Got a spare 1.68 billion around? Intrawest

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## MIke R

As a former tennant of Intrawest, having had shops  at Copper and in the River Run Village @ Keystone which they, for a while, strangely managed the property, even though Vail Resorts owned the property, I can tell you it comes as no surprise.....for  one most of their money is tied up in real estate, not ski resorts, so they are taking a big hit with that....and for two they dont  have a good business plan at all....never have....read the book "Downhill Slide" to get an inside glimpse into just how much mismanagement occurs in and amongst these big corporate owned ski resorts.....with the demise of American Ski Corp, the probable demise of Intrawest, it seems that Vail Resorts and Booth Creek Resorts (my current commercial landlord ) are the only big corporate owned ski companies left standing.....the model just doesn't work.....it will probably evolve back to where it once was i.e. ski resorts being owned individually by local partnerships, financed by local banks

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## MartinS

Lift tickets are so darn much money. When I was in Telluride in February there was hardly a lift line. Sign of the times maybe ?

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## MIke R

> Lift tickets are so darn much money. When I was in Telluride in February there was hardly a lift line. Sign of the times maybe ?



nope....you were just lucky...skier visits were up last year nationally compared to the previous year.....thats why the tickets keep creeping up in price.....there doesn't appear to be a strong price resistance yet.....

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## Rona123

My season pass price creeps up ever so slightly every year, but it's still a great value. I think the pain of making the drive will cause me to end my season pass purchases sooner than price. But I sure miss those days in the mid 90's of the buddy pass for $200. Those were the days!

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## rivertrash

Vail/Beaver Creek and their sister resorts have a $579 pass this year called Epic Pass.  No blackouts, no limited number of days at Vail and Beaver Creek.  Just unlimited skiing at all Vail Associates resorts.  We are bracing for longer lift lines in Beaver Creek.

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## MIke R

I haven't paid to ski anywhere in 20 years.....thank God....but these annual passes are still a good deal if you ski 20 or more days a year

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## rivertrash

Vail/Beaver Creek websites are showing regular season lift tickets running $90-94 this year if you buy 3 days of 5 or 4 days of 6 tickets.  Doesn't take long to make that $579 Epic Pass pay for itself at those rates.

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## Rona123

Yep, especially at those daily prices. I usually can't stomach the extra hour to get to Vail, and usually end up at A-Basin or Breck, so the Colorado Card is my pass. But it still gives me 10 days at Vail or Beaver Creek when I really need a fix...

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## MIke R

the heavyweights weighing in...

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/2...oming%20season

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## fourthtimer

HEDGE HITS A SLOPE FORTRESS' LAST RESORT 
October 23, 2008 -- NY POST By MARK DeCAMBRE and KAJA WHITEHOUSE

Wes Edens' embattled Fortress Investment Group may be forced to arrange a bankruptcy today for Intrawest - a ski resort owner that the alternative investment manager bought two years ago for $1.8 billion.

Sources told The Post that while a majority of the lenders behind the $1.7 billion in debt that Fortress used to acquire Vancouver, British Columbia-based Intrawest support a restructuring of the debt, a handful are resisting amid the protracted credit crisis. In order to move forward with a restructuring, all lenders have to agree to the plan, sources said.

Without it, Fortress might have to turn to a prepackaged bankruptcy for Intrawest, which owns the Whistler ski resort in British Columbia. The company has been whacked by cash-strapped consumers cutting back on ski vacations. 
Lehman Brothers was among the syndicate of lenders that provided the Intrawest loan.

Fortress' investment represents roughly 10 percent of the firm's private-equity portfolio of $17 billion.

"That's not an insignificant amount," said Jackson Turner, an analyst who covers Fortress for Argus Research and yesterday downgraded the firm's stock to a "sell" rating. "If that goes bankrupt, there's going to be a lot of pain." 
Fortress could be forced to chip in about $200 million to help Intrawest, said one source.

The problems with Intrawest couldn't come at a worse time for Fortress, which also has been tackling problems with its $18 billion hedge-fund business. 
Fortress has been Wall Street's poster child for a new era of hedge-fund managers that have attempted to tap the public markets while running funds separately for an elite network of wealthy private investors.

Fortress' shareholders and some of its top executives have been hammered as Fortress' shares have sunk more than 80 percent this year. Yesterday its shares tanked more than 17 percent to $3.90.

However, Fortress' Edens has told investors that the firm has about $300 million in free cash and a stockpile of between $5 billion and $6 billion in cash raised to take aim at other financial institutions.

Fortress also has said that it has been able to refinance the lion's share of the debt that was used to acquire companies over the past year or more.

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## kenh

Fixed

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## MIke R

for now..........

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