What If The Windham Mountain Club Was Owned By The Town?

A Proposal For The Town Of Windham's People To Explore...

The town of Windham has a problem. It is overly invested in the tourist industry and yet it doesn’t own these important assets to the community. I’ve been puzzling over how the Town of Windham could make an offer on the Windham Mountain Club and eliminate many of our residents’ concerns. And as if by providence, I found an article from Ski Magazine detailing how the small community of Nederland (Dutch for Netherlands), Colorado, purchased their local ski resort, Eldora (I must confess not being a skier, I didn’t know about this resort), but it is reported to be very popular. And it’s only 30 minutes outside of Boulder, Colorado. Nederland’s population is roughly 1,500 residents. So, how will they make this purchase? Revenue Bonds!

Some Interesting Stats About Eldora:

• Base Elevation: 9,200 feet

• Peak Elevation: 10,600 feet

• Total Acreage: 680

• 300 inches of Snow Annually

• Open since 1962

• 21 Minutes from Boulder

• 47 minutes from Denver

• 100% Snow Coverage according to the Website, Best Snowmaking in Colorado.

• Snowboard, Ski, AT, XC, and Snowshoe Friendly Terrain

Eldora offers some advantages that Cave Mountain does not have, like a Peak nearly 11,000 feet above sea level. And convenient drives to two major population centers, each under an hour in travel time by car. Also, Eldora hasn’t used up valuable space to sell housing. As evident in the image below of the resort.

So they can use more of their 680 acres to offer their customers skiing access. Their longest trail is 3 miles long. But surprisingly, the vertical distance between the base lodge and the peak is 1,400 feet, which is very similar to Cave Mountain’s reported 1,600 feet. Which means that essentially, Eldora doesn’t have a massive vertical distance between the base lodge and the peak, just like our little hill. Which means they choose to develop their 680 acres to create more terrain that is usable for skiing. Ski Windham instead sold acreage to create condos and homes instead of investing in skiable terrain. In the long run, those short-term sales limited the growth of the mountain’s terrain. I’m not sure that was the best decision, given that Skiing is a numbers game ultimately. Less terrain and shorter trails mean longer lines at the ski lifts. Not to mention overcrowding on the terrain itself. However, it cannot be helped.

What we, as a community in Windham and specifically the Town, should do is buy out the minority shareholders of the Windham Mountain Club. This will give our community more sway at the table and the ability to leverage the community’s interests more effectively. This is just the first stage in a total takeover of the mountain and returning it to a community-owned asset. Ultimately, we will want to do a leveraged buyout of the principal shareholders, and this will give us total control of the mountain. That should be our 3-5 year plan. To own the entire Mountain again.

What do we do with it once we own it?

We should focus the the mountain as a destination for middle-class families. With affordable lift prices and increased terrain for spring, summer, and late autumn, mountain biking on the Southern side of the mountain. We should focus on maximizing our appeal to people in the middle class. We should end the “Club” amenities and open that space up to the public in the lodge for more clients. The words “Semi-Private” should be abolished from the lexicon of the marketing groups in the new Mountain. It should be open to as many people as we can safely serve on the weekends.

If this alienates the more affluent people of the Mountain, my answer is simply “Oh, well”. I am certain that people like Ari Fliescher and Josh King will find another mountain with the required amenities that meet their alpine lifestyle requirements— I just don’t think Windham should be that anymore.

I think we should have summer events at the mountain. Such as low-cost summer concerts for the entire family. We should finish the Aquatic Park if the Windham Mountain Club doesn’t do so, and make that affordable for all people to use, perhaps for Free! The Golf Course should also be public and offer reduced tee fees so that it is affordable to a greater segment of the population.

In short, we should “Welcome The Middle Class Back To Windham!”