The Powdr Corporation, stylized as POWDR, is an American

privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

that owns and operates

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

s in the United States and Canada. It is headquartered in

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

, and was founded in 1994 by John Cumming, co-founder of the clothing company

Mountain Hardwear Mountain Hardwear is a subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear based in Richmond, California that manufactures and distributes apparel, accessories and equipment primarily for the high performance needs of mountaineering enthusiasts and outdoor athletes ...

History

Powdr was founded in 1994 by John Cumming with the purchase of the

Park City Mountain Resort Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) is a ski resort in the western United States in Park City, Utah, located east of Salt Lake City. Park City, as the ski resort and area is known, contains several training courses for the U.S. Ski Team, including s ...

, about 30 miles outside of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. Later that year, the company bought the

Alpine Meadows Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

ski resort near

Lake Tahoe, California Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake ...

. In August 1995, the company bought the

Boreal Mountain Resort Boreal Mountain California is a ski area in Soda Springs, near the Lake Tahoe area of California. It has six chairlifts and two surface lifts, and offers the only night skiing in Tahoe, until 8 pm. It is owned by Powdr Corporation. Located on ...

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 appro ...

Soda Springs, Nevada County, California Soda Springs (formerly, Summit Valley, Soda Springs Station, Hopkins, Hopkins Springs, and Tinkers Station) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Nevada County, California, United States. Soda Springs is located we ...

. In April 2001, Powdr bought the

Mount Bachelor ski area Mount Bachelor ski resort (stylized as Mt. Bachelor) is a ski resort located in Central Oregon, approximately west of Bend, along Century Drive Highway. The ski area is on the northern side of Mount Bachelor, a stratovolcano rising atop a volc ...

Central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards the ...

. The company bought

Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort The Lee Canyon Ski and Snowboard Resort is located in Lee Canyon, northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. The base lodge is situated at the base of Lee ...

in November 2003. Powder bought the Killington and the

Pico Mountain Pico Mountain Ski Area is a ski area located in Killington, Vermont, United States. Established in 1937, it was one of the first commercial ski resorts in the state. The base of the resort is located on the northwest side of Pico Peak on U.S. ...

ski resorts near

Killington, Vermont Killington is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,407 at the 2020 census. Killington Ski Resort and numerous vacation lodges are located here. The town was previously named Sherburne, but was renamed to its or ...

, from

American Skiing Company American Skiing Company was one of the largest operators of alpine ski, snowboard and golf resorts in the United States. Its resorts included Sunday River and Sugarloaf, in Maine, The Canyons in Utah, Killington, Mount Snow, Haystack, Heavenl ...

in May 2007, and in December 2019 Powdr purchased SilverStar Mountain Resort, its first mountain resort in Canada. In July 2007, Powdr sold Alpine Meadows to

JMA Ventures JMA may refer to: * Japan Medical Association * Japan Meteorological Agency, Japanese government agency that researches natural phenomena * Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar )Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar() , war = the Syrian Civil War , ...

. In 2008, Powdr bought something called Outside TV, which it later sold in 2019. Powdr bought Copper Mountain in Colorado in December 2009 from

Intrawest Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc was a developer and operator of destination resorts and a luxury adventure travel company. The company was founded in 1976 as a privately funded real estate development company. In 2006, Intrawest was purchased by ...

. 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 is planned to open in 2024. In June 2016, Powdr bought the 55-year-old

Eldora Mountain Resort Eldora Mountain Resort is a ski area in the southwest corner of Boulder County, Colorado, near the unincorporated community of Eldora and west of the town of Nederland. Location Eldora is one of a few Colorado ski resorts on the east side of ...

near

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

. In December 2019, Powdr opened Woodward Park City youth sports complex.

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 **

**Soda Springs * Colorado ** Copper Mountain **

* Nevada **

Lee Canyon Lee Canyon is a canyon containing a small community and recreational area in the Spring Mountains located on in Clark County, Nevada, United States. Primary access is via Lee Canyon Road. Access to the adjacent Kyle Canyon and Mount Charleston, N ...

* Oregon ** Mt. Bachelor * Utah **

Snowbird Snowbird is a common name for the dark-eyed junco (''Junco hyemalis''). Snowbird may also refer to: Places *Snowbird, Utah, an unincorporated area and associated ski resort *Snowbird Lake, a lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada *Snowbird ...

**Woodward Park City

Northeast United States

Killington Ski Resort Killington Mountain Resort & Ski Area is a ski resort in Rutland County, Vermont, United States, near the town of Killington. It is the largest ski area in the eastern U.S., and has the largest vertical drop in New England at . Since the 2013– ...

, Vermont *

, Vermont

Canada

Silver Star Mountain Resort SilverStar Mountain Resort (SilverStar) is a ski resort located near Silver Star Provincial Park in the Shuswap Highland of the Monashee Mountains, 22 km northeast of the city of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. SilverStar's snow season ...

, 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

Former properties

, California *

, Utah (sale to

Vail Resorts Vail Resorts, Inc. is an American mountain resort company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The company is divided into three divisions. The mountain segment owns and operates 40 mountain resorts in four countries, Vail Resorts Hospitality o ...

announced September 11, 2014)

References

{{Reflist Companies based in Utah Skiing organizations 1994 establishments in Utah