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The Justice Department is investigating antitrust issues related to Alterra’s plan to buy Arapahoe Basin

Posted on by darion

The new Lenawee Express drops skiers off at the top of the Arapahoe Basin lift-serviced area while lift operator Shane Koenig looks on, Dec. 18, 2022, near Dillon. The new 6-person chairlift, built by Leitner-Poma of America, cuts travel time from 10 minutes to 4 minutes and has increased capacity from 1,800 people per hour to 2,400.
Hugh Carey/The Colorado Sun

Justice Department takes a closer look at Alterra Mountain Co.’s planned acquisition of Arapahoe Basin ski area.

The department requested information from the ski resort and the 18-resort Alterra Mountain Co., as well as annual resort industry surveys and studies conducted by Boulder’s RRC Associates for the National Ski Areas Association.

“It takes some time,” said Alan Henceroth, longtime Arapahoe Basin chief executive, who described the information requested by the federal government as visitor demographics, visitor numbers, financial information and “all business issues” related to the ski resort.

Alterra Mountain Co., which owns Steamboat ski area and operates Denver’s Winter Park ski area, in February announced its plan to buy the 1,428-acre Arapahoe Basin from Dream Unlimited Corp., a Canadian real estate investment trust that has owned the Summit County ski area since 1998.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice issued civil investigative demands to the National Ski Areas Association and research firm RRC Associates. The investigation relies on data from RRC’s annual surveys of U.S. ski resorts, including the annual Kottke NSAA report, as well as demographic and economic analyzes of the resort industry. In a June 26 letter to NSAA member resorts in the Rocky Mountains, the association said it was working with the federal government to narrow the scope of the investigation to only ski resorts in the six-state Rocky Mountain region.

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