The sale of Sugarbush Resort to Alterra Mountain Company is now official.
Alterra announced the closure of the sale Tuesday, making the Mad River Valley resort the 15th in its portfolio.
The acquisition is part of an ongoing trend of Vermont ski destinations being bought up by national corporations.
“With the acquisition of Sugarbush Resort, we are excited to expand our presence within the Northeast skier market,” Rusty Gregory, CEO of Alterra said in a statement. “We have been working with the team at Sugarbush since the inception of the Ikon Pass and found we had a like-minded vision of the industry, our community, and the mountains we all love.”
The resort’s current president and chief operating officer, Win Smith, will stay on in his current role until “the right successor is ready to take the reins.”
In a letter to the community about the sale, Smith told a brief history of the mountain, beginning with the opening of what would become Mascara Mountain on Christmas Day in 1958. Smith reflected on the handful of families that opened nearby ski hills, and the day they were all finally joined into the Sugarbush of the past several decades.
“I am certain that under our ownership, my family and I have also made Sugarbush better each year,” Smith wrote, noting improvements that have been made in snowmaking, and the seven new lifts that have been built at the mountain.
“Now, I am confident that Sugarbush’s new steward, Alterra Mountain Company, will do the same and continue to make Sugarbush better each and every year,” Smith wrote.
Sugarbush is a year-round resort with two mountains — Mount Ellen and Lincoln Peak — joined by a two-mile high speed quad, as well as multiple hotels and an 18-hole golf course.
Smith has said all of the resort’s 165 year-round employees will be kept on. During the ski season, the resort employes as many as 1,000 people each day.
“Our family will continue to be members of the Sugarbush community for decades to come,” Smith wrote, “and I certainly plan to keep skiing at least 100 days a year for as long as I am able.”
