After the recent string of ski resort mergers, Red Mountain is bucking the trend. One of Canada’s most core resorts, on a section of road known as the “Powder Highway” in British Columbia, is looking to raise money for the resort and avoid corporate ownership by selling off pieces of the ski resort to actual snowboarders and skiers.
“RED Mountain is an Endangered Species within the ski resort world,” wrote the resort on its crowdfunding page. “We have the snowfall, vertical drop, world-class terrain and 4-season fun to go boot-to-boot with the’ Big Guys,’ but have consciously maintained our mom ’n’pop/weird uncle feel for over 100 years. We’re tired of seeing families priced out of a premier ski vacation by Mega Resorts. It’s time for a change.”
The crowdfunding actually has two stages. Right now, the mountain is just gauging interest in its “Test the Waters” stage. The”‘Test The Waters’ portion allows parties to express interest in the investment without handing over any actual loot — now or later,” says the resort. “Imagine a hyper-convoluted “Like” Button that is 100 percent risk-free.”
Once Red Mountain sees where the interest lies, they’ll move on to its actual crowdfunding stage where it offers equity ownership in tiers. For example Tier 1 equity is $1,000 and includes 5 transferable lift tickets while Tier 5 is $25,000 and includes a family season pass and two single adult season passes among other goodies.
The whole point of the project is to make sure a core mountain like Red, which boasts nearly 3,000 feet of vertical and 4,000 acres of riding, remains a mountain for the people–a noble project.
“What we’re asking of the larger snow-sliding community is as straight-forward as pointing those planks downhill: Buy in now,” says the resort’s release. “And bow out of the side of skiing and riding that is quickly becoming a pursuit for 1-percenters.”
