Major US Ski Resort Goes Bust

Tamarack ski resort in Idaho has been declared bankrupt four years after the resort opened proclaiming itself the first new destination ski resort in the US a quarter century. The centre stopped operating lifts and accommodation yesterday (Wednesday 4 March) due to a combination of overdue loan repayments, limited credit, falling demand for property and unpaid bills. The resort had also made an operating loss of nearly three million dollars so far this season.

Tamarack has seven modern lifts, a golf course and had completed 250 of over 2,000 planed accommodation chalets, with almost as many again under construction at the time that the resort ceased trading.

Tamarack had attracted several big name celebrity endorsements and resort guests included former US President George Bush.

The resort's lease to Idaho Department of Lands has been paid through to January 2010 raising hopes that an investor might be found during the year to relaunch the resort before it falls in to an unviable state.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Admin wrote: resort guests included former US President George Bush.

That explains it. If anyone has the kiss of death, he does.

The big ski resorts in the US rely heavely on property sales and time shares. Home and second home sales are virtually nil at the moment, so this is not surprising. I met an architect in Park City, who designs a lot of "on mountain homes". He was working on a home half way up the mountain at the Canyons. It had stables for several horses and an indoor riding arena. The owners (from California) needed to bring their horses on their skiing vacation :roll:

Trencher