Ski resort CEOs wage war of words as lawsuit lingers
By Mike Gorrell, Salt Lake Tribune
The CEOs of Park City Mountain Resort and Vail Resorts are engaging in a public war of words that parallels the high-profile lawsuit between the Park City-area ski giants.
John Cumming from Powdr Corp., PCMR’s parent company, fired the latest shot Friday in response to two letters sent in the past three weeks by Vail Chief Executive Rob Katz. Like Katz’s letters, Cumming’s answer was shared with the news media.
“Your letters,” Cumming wrote Katz, “are part of a transparent plan to pressure me and my company into agreeing to a Vail takeover” of PCMR. It will never happen, he added. “We won’t cave in, and we won’t agree to a Vail takeover that would deprive our guests and our community of all the benefits offered by three resorts that compete with each other.”
Cumming was referring to Park City’s three ski areas: Deer Valley Resort, along with PCMR and Canyons Resort, which Vail operates on a long-term contract for Talisker Corp.
In California, Powder owns Boreal; Vail owns Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood.