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EDEN, Weber County — Reed Hastings says he wants to keep Powder Mountain "uncrowded and unspoiled" by mixing private skiing options into the public resort, which will change where visitors can ski beginning next winter.
Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix who pledged to add $100 million in new investment into the northern Utah resort after rising up to become its majority stakeholder this year, explains that the resort will focus more on real estate sales moving forward to help "fund lifts and lodges for everyone."
As a result, the resort's Village and Mary's lifts will switch from public to private access next year for people buying into the community. The resort will also add a new lift called Raintree for private skiing as well, he wrote in a public letter posted online Tuesday.
Powder Mountain also plans to spend $20 million to update and increase public lifts in other parts of the resort open to visitors.
This includes a new high-speed detachable quad to replace the existing Paradise lift, an upgrade to the 50-year-old Timberline lift, and a new fixed-grip quad from the base of Timberline to the top of Lightning Ridge. The latter will open new intermediate and expert terrain.
"We believe this blend of public and private skiing secures us decades of exceptional uncrowded skiing for all, funded partially by real estate," he wrote. "To stay independent and uncrowded, we needed to change, and we didn't want to join the successful but crowded multi-resort pass model or sell to a conglomerate."
Netflix co-founder is new majority owner of Powder Mountain after $100M investment
Just months after buying into a minority ownership position of Utah's Powder Mountain Resort, Netflix co-founder and longtime CEO Reed Hastings has ascended to majority owner of the facility by way of a new $100 million investment announced Wednesday.Powder Mountain first opened in the early 1970s, but had fallen into financial struggles in recent years. Hastings, an avid fan of the resort for the past five years, wrote that he jumped into ownership after learning about these struggles. He purchased a stake in it back in April before taking majority control of the resort by the end of the summer.
Tuesday's announcement follows multiple changes that were announced back in September for this season, including 500 acres of new terrain, new cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails, and a winter sports activity center. It opened for the season last week.
The resort also cut the price of night skiing lift tickets from $39 to $19 in an effort to make the resort more accessible.
