Top Five Fridays: July 11, 2025
Looking out at Eldora Mountain Resort. If all goes to plan, the mountain will be owned by the town sometime in October. Image: Eldora Mountain Resort on Facebook
#1: The 1,500 Person Town of Nederlands, CO Plans to Buy Eldora Mountain, and it Won’t Cost Taxpayers a Dollar:
In an announcement that likely surprised even the town board itself, Netherlands, CO has signed a term sheet with POWDR, ultimately clearing the way for a purchase agreement for Eldora Mountain Resort. Image: Eldora Mountain Resort on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the July 11, 2025 edition! This week, we’ve got a triple header of big, big news, followed by a much more relaxed highlight #4 as we learn some valuable life lessons from a ski racing legend. We’ll tell you who shortly, but before we do, let’s jump right into the latest news coming out of Nederland, CO.
Now first things first, if you’re unfamiliar with Nederland, CO, we don’t blame you - it doesn’t exactly have the same level of brand recognition as the Vails, Aspens, and Stowes of the world. But, for those living in Boulder, CO, the town is known as the home of Eldora Mountain Resort - a ski area located just about a half hour outside of the city. The last time we checked in with Eldora and the town of Nederland was back on November 22, 2024, when it was announced that the town was exploring the possibility of purchasing the ski area from POWDR Corp. As a quick reminder, that was just a matter of months after POWDR sold Killington to local investors, had announced its intentions to sell a few of its other ski resorts (including Eldora and Mt. Bachelor), and just after Mt. Bachelor locals had formed a collective to attempt to purchase their home mountain as well. In other words, this news didn’t come out of nowhere. It happened at a time when there seemed to be a very real chance that a select few POWDR resorts might actually be able to be purchased by locals. Still, as one Nederland town administrator put it at the time, the whole idea was, “a bit of a moonshot.” This week, as luck would have it, the moonshot landed.
Just days ago, on Tuesday, July 8th, news broke that the town of Nederlands has signed a term sheet, allowing negotiations with POWDR to proceed, with the end goal being a signed purchase agreement for Eldora Mountain Resort. While we don’t know the price tag of the resort will be, we do know that town officials estimated back in November that it would just them between $100 million to $200 million to complete the transaction. For comparison, Arapahoe Basin recently sold for $105 million.
Now at this point you might be wondering, “how does a town with just 1,500 people afford a $100 million ski area?” Great question, and as it turns out, the answer is even better. To complete the sale, rather than attempt to fund the purchase through raising taxes, the town of Nederlands plans to sell municipal bonds which it will then repay with lift ticket and other on-hill revenue. From what we can tell, it’s a pretty savvy move as it allows the town to leverage their legal status to issue bonds rather than go through more traditional funding routes such as private investment or bank loans, while also protecting tax payers from needing to participate in the financial burden. Additionally, because of the lack of tax payer money, the town is able to avoid a drawn out legal process which would require voters to approve the move. With this angle, the town can operate quickly, expecting to close on the sale as early as October.
As exciting as the sale itself is, so too is the outlook for the ski area. After the acquisition is completed, the purchase agreement is expected to call for the POWDR team to stay on board through the following two summers and winters, ensuring a smooth transition. Also joining Nederland’s effort is a group of industry experts operating under the moniker “303 Ski” - a group that includes former Vail and POWDR presidents and vice presidents. This well versed group of advisors will support Nederlands immediately after the purchase goes into effect, as well as into the foreseeable future. As for what that future might look like? Well, there’s early talk of bringing back night skiing, as well as transforming the mountain into a four seasons destination through the addition of mountain biking. While the sale of Eldora to the small town of Nederland comes as a bit of a shock, we have to admit, it all seems to make perfect sense. To learn more about this latest news, check out the coverage from the Colorado Sun, or check out the town’s own FAQ page.
#2: After 14 Years of Back and Forth Legal Disputes, Alterra and Local Conservation Groups Have Finally Come to an Agreement in Tahoe’s Olympic Valley:
A view of the area involved in a 14 year development dispute. Finally, after countless lawsuits and appeals, Alterra and conservation groups have agreed on a way forward. Image: Keep Tahoe Blue
In other “big win” news, we caught another unexpected yet amazing update this week, this time coming out of the Lake Tahoe region. If you’ve read along with us over the years, then you might already know the on-again, off-again story of Alterra’s development plans at the base area of Palisades Tahoe, in Olympic Valley. Coincidentally, the last time we checked in on this story was also on November 22, 2024, at which point the Placer County Board had just reapproved Alterra’s development plans. At that time, local opposition, though frustrated and exhausted, promised to file yet another lawsuit to stop the development. While the outcome of that lawsuit will never be known, we do know that at the very least it would have added further delay to a project that was already 14 years in the making.
This week though, we caught some very unexpected, very good news: Alterra Mountain Resort and the coalition of opposition groups seem to have come to an agreement. According to coverage from SFGate, after the most recent lawsuit was filed, representatives from Alterra reached out to the League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Watch in an attempt to negotiate. Likely exhausted by the drawn out legal battles, Alterra was finally ready to listen. As it turns out, that was really all it took to find middle ground. In the words of Jesse Patterson, the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s chief strategy officer, “As soon as we had that conversation, you can see how quickly we got to something.” Ultimately, that “something” means a 40% reduction in the number of planned bedrooms being built, a 20% reduction in commercial space, and the elimination of a planned waterpark. Additionally, plans for a timeshare development that would’ve prevented access to a popular hiking trail have been scrapped, and in its place will be a conservation easement. In exchange for these concessions and a handful of others, the League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Watch have agreed to drop their lawsuits, effectively clearing the way for the development.
From here, Alterra will need to create new development plans that reflect the negotiated changes. Assuming the watch groups set eyes on it and approve of the plan, Alterra will then submit it once again to the Placer County Board. Should they approve it, the conservationist groups will withdraw their existing lawsuits and not challenge the latest iteration. Assuming this all goes to plan, it seems like this decade and a half long saga might finally enter its next chapter. To learn more about this week’s news, check out the report from SFGate.
#3: With Latest Investment in Chile, Colorado Based Mountain Capital Partners Hopes to Become the Operator of the Largest Ski Area Outside of Europe:
The lay of the land down in the El Colorado region of Chile. Shot from Strava’s Fatmaps, by way of Blackbird Mountain Guides. For a larger version, click here.
Finally, for our third piece of resort related ski news this week, we’re sharing an update that actually came out late last week, but one in which we didn’t have space for in our weekly coverage. Still, because it’s the middle of summer and ski news slows down ever so slightly, and because this is pretty big news, we felt like it was important to let you all know that Mountain Capital Partners (MCP) plans to become the operator of the largest ski area outside of Europe.
On Thursday of last week, word began spreading that Colorado based MCP was planning on becoming the controlling shareholder in Andacor S.A., a Chilean ski resort operator that owns four ski areas. On Andacor’s roster are the extremely southern Volcán Osorno and the slightly less southern Pillán (Villarrica), two ski resorts that are far enough away that they rarely make the travel plans of North Americans. The real gems of this acquisition though, are the two northern ski areas: Parque Farellones and El Colorado.
For those of you who’ve been following MCP’s slow but steady acquisition of South American ski areas, then you likely already know why this news is pretty substantial. For those of you who haven’t been following along, or who aren’t familiar with the El Colorado region of Chile, allow us to explain: in this particular area, there have long been three neighboring ski resorts whose boundaries but up against each other: Valle Nevado, La Parva, and El Colorado. At the base of El Colorado is a small ski area known as Parque Farellones. At the base of that ski area is the small town of Farellones. Just under 2 hours due west from Farellones, is the Santiago airport.
Should this acquisition go through, MCP would own or have controlling interest in the three large ski resorts that make up the El Colorado region, as well as the small ski area that provides lift access to them directly from town. With plans to interconnect the resorts, it would make for the largest ski area outside of Europe, including any and all North American resorts. Further sweetening the deal though is the region's accessibility. More often than not, traveling to ski areas in South America can require a serious amount of adventure. In this case though, the destination is one plane and one two hour bus ride away. Between the size of this new interconnected resort, its variety of terrain, and its accessibility, MCP is on the verge of creating a new summer hotspot for North Americans looking to keep their ski dreams alive.
In addition to the obvious, what’s the takeaway here? Well, it’s starting to look as though MCP’s James Coleman has quietly masterminded one of the smartest growth strategies in recent memory. While the big dogs like Alterra and Vail have juggled big name acquisitions domestically, in Europe, and in Australia, James Coleman has acquired overlooked, mid-sized resorts primarily in the southwest and Chile. In doing so, and particularly with this latest acquisition of the El Colorado region, he has built a multipass style pipeline from the southwest to Chile, providing a level of year round skiing opportunity that no other pass has. Where he goes from here only time will tell, but at the moment, it looks as though Coleman’s savvy is keeping him afloat in an ultra competitive business landscape. To learn more about this, check out the reports from Powder Magazine and Storm Skiing.
#4: The Life and Times of Daron Rahlves: From Black Magic Ski Techs to World Championship Podiums:
Finally, as promised, our fourth highlight is here to cool you down as we share with you an interview with Daron Rahlves from SkiRacing.com. As our summertime readers know, we like to take the opportunity this time of year to share stories from some of the highest level athletes within our sport, both past and present. This week, SkiRacing.com gave us the chance to do just that with their excellent coverage of Rahlves’s story.
While we’re sure our older readers know the name, there’s a chance that some of our younger readers might not be as familiar with Daron. To put it succinctly, Rahlves was the winningest member of the legendary U.S. Speed team of the early 2000’s, winning 12 races between 2000 - 2006. Overlapping with the first half of Bode Miller’s career, the two made up one of the strongest Alpine Racing teams of the era.
Throughout his interview with SkiRacing.com, we learn all types of fascinating details about Daron’s experience - some of which can be looked to for inspiration for other young athletes. For example, one thing that immediately jumped out at us was the very first quote of the article, when Rahlves said, “The fun of skiing took over early.” As we’ve discussed alpine skiing’s development pipeline over the years, the importance of letting skiing be “fun” has appeared time and time again. At the end of the day, the best skiers in the world have one thing in common: the sport is still fun for them.
In addition to this simple statement, the other surprising takeaway that we learned was that Rahlves was a bit of a late bloomer. After moving from Tahoe, CA to Waitsfield, VT to join the Green Mountain Valley School, Rahlves initially struggled with the transition. While he was clearly a strong skier with plenty of promise, Rahlves wasn’t pleased with his performances through his junior years. In his words, “At 19, I was decent in the U.S., but not internationally. My Junior World's best was 33rd in super-G.” Frustrated but undeterred, Rahlves continued training both mentally and physically. Finally, at the age of 21, he began experiencing success. Again, in his words, “Wins and podiums in FIS, NorAm, and Europa Cup gave me confidence. I broke through in Kvitfjell with a 4th in super-G.” The lesson? If you truly believe in yourself, then keep putting in the effort. The results will come.
As is usually the case with these types of articles, there are tons of other interesting details to discover. From jet ski world championships to black magic ski whisperers, this interview has all of the fun career highlights you could ever ask for and more. We’d hate to spoil all of the good parts of the interview by going on and on about them, so rather than do just that, we’ll turn you over to SkiRacing.com, where you can learn all there is to know about the life of Mr. Rahlves.