Locals spearhead effort to buy Mt. Bachelor resort

This summer, the owner of Mt. Bachelor ski resort, POWDR Corp., announced plans to sell. Bend locals Chris Porter and Dan Cochrane are leading an effort to keep resort ownership local. They’ve incorporated as Mt. Bachelor Community Inc. and hope to attract both small and large-scale investors that share their values. Porter and Cochrane join us to discuss their plans.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Over the summer, the Utah-based corporate owner of Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort announced plans to sell. Two Bend residents, Chris Porter and Dan Cochrane, immediately sprang into action. They are leading an effort to once again have the resort be locally-owned. They hope to attract both small and large scale investors who share their values. Chris Porter is a business teacher at La Pine High School. Dan Cochrane is a real estate appraiser. They both join me now. It’s great to have both of you on Think Out Loud.

Dan Cochrane: Thanks for having us, Dave. I really appreciate you.

Miller: Dan first – can you just tell us briefly about one of your favorite days on Mt. Bachelor?

Cochrane: Well, there’s been a lot of them over the 40 years that I’ve been snowboarding up here. But probably one of my best was most recent – two years ago, we had a huge storm come through in April, so it was a late season dump. We started out with heavy powder on Sunday, that sent everybody with sore legs going home. That night it dried out, and the next day everything was light and fluffy, and the resort was empty. Got to share it with a good buddy of mine I grew up with over in Corvallis, and we just had one of the most amazing days.

Miller: Chris, what about you, a day that stands out?

Chris Porter: I think this is more serendipity because Dan, I’m gonna second that storm that happened to be during my birthday in April. I’m a tax day baby. Maybe that’s why I got into the career field. And anyway, I was up there with the neighbor. And it was one of these super light powder storms. When you’re going down the hill, and I have a few of my own special lines I’m not gonna share on this program – far too large of an audience – but I was going down there with my neighbor and one of my really good friends, Brett. And it was pure silence. And then you could hear Brett out there hooting and hollering in the woods. And I just stopped and thought to myself, you know what? This is the sound of freedom right here.

Miller: To go from freedom and joy to just to financials here, it’s not just a place that’s beloved by skiers and snowboarders. It also employs more than 1,100 people. It is Central Oregon’s second largest private employer. Regardless of who buys it, what’s at stake in this sale for the region, Dan?

Cochrane: I think, Dave, there’s so much opportunity here, for locals, the Mt. Bachelor community at large. We have the sixth largest ski bowl acreage in North America. It’s really a legacy opportunity for all of us to secure what is our local gem. Mt. Bachelor brings in an estimated $175-200 million in economic revenue to the Central Oregon region. They have lots of local business partnerships. But also for the riders at large, we’ve got some incredible programs here like MBSEF, and Oregon Adaptive Sports that allow opportunities and options for kids and those with disabilities access to the mountain. So this is a real chance for us. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, since Mt. Bachelor opened 66 years ago, to secure this resource for us locally.

Miller: Chris, can you give us a sense for the public responses you’ve gotten since you announced your intention to try to put a local ownership group together?

Porter: So we have received thousands and thousands upon thousands of emails. And to put in an emotional response to this, when I need to pick-me-up in the morning before I go to school, all I have to do is open our emails at buymtbachelor@gmail.com , and it is better than a cup of coffee. We have so many people from across the Mt. Bachelor enthusiast community, regardless if that’s the family that makes the pilgrimage down from Seattle every year, to the folks who live here in our own backyard. They are really excited about this opportunity. And they express that every day. They are beyond excited. And they love to share that sentiment, and we love to receive it. It’s overwhelming, the emotional response we’ve gotten. We caught lightning in a bottle.

Miller: Dan, am I right the estimates are that this could be a $200 million purchase in the end?

Cochrane: To the best of our information, yes. Maybe a little bit north of that.

Miller: I imagine some of those emails aren’t just “these are my memories. I want this to happen.” Do they also say “And I could put X number of dollars towards this?” If you add up the amount of money that people have already said that they could put towards this, are you anywhere close to $200 million?

Cochrane: We have a ton of different partners that have stepped in. And the amazing part about this process is we’re only between eight and nine weeks into this. So the work that’s been done in very short order by our incredible team of volunteers is nothing short of amazing. And we hear that time and again. Every day, we see another family office, or another business entity, or individuals that want to come in and be a part of this. At this juncture, our focus is all hands on deck for our lead investors, and that is the $30-50 million group.

Miller: Meaning, folks who would put in a significant amount of money, and then it would be buttressed by folks in the community who could put in $500 or $1,000?

Cochrane: We’re looking at a few different options as far as investment opportunities. Our legal team is working on this right now. I really defer to Chris because this is his area of expertise to speak to some of the specifics there.

Miller: Chris, I’m curious what the models are that you’re thinking about. And also how people who don’t put in $50 million might have a meaningful voice in terms of the future decision making in the management of the mountain.

Porter: We are really making sure that we balance out these first anchor investors in that $30-50 million range with that community support. How this is done is through a Regulation A+ filing that’s very similar to what we’ve seen done in Oregon in the past at such places as Willamette Valley Vineyards. Very simple as to how it’s done, goes through the SEC, the process takes about four to five months, and then we have an investment rolled out.

Why this works is because we can offer ownership perks. Our dream would be to have, for about the cost of a season’s pass, you can become not just a shareholder with a vote, but now you become an owner, which benefits can be pass perks, it could be goods and service perks, and also that right to vote. And our goal is to have some board representation by the common share class owners. That way we have a balance between these early anchor investors, and that common investor.

Miller: Dan, you told Bend Magazine two years ago that “since POWDR Corp. took over, it’s become clear that profit over people is the new motto.” What did you mean? What were some of the issues you had with the ownership group that is selling?

Cochrane: In the current state, we have lots of options and opportunities, as all resorts or any new business ownership would, to improve upon existing operations. I think POWDR has done a fantastic job since they purchased it back in 2001 to keep this mountain viable and going through some difficult times and difficult economies that we’ve seen. So at this juncture, we’re looking forward to the opportunity to simply improve upon what’s here at this point. We’re very excited about that.

Miller: What’s an example of where you see room for improvement, and where you think that local ownership would actually be the difference in the decisions that will be made?

Cochrane: Definitely the operations. The lift systems are aging. There does need to be some replacement there in time. And I think, as far as local ownership goes, there’s a ton of different benefits here as far as business partnerships, different community models that have worked in the 31 different North American independent ski resorts. So we need to look only to some of our neighbors, like Hoodoo and Mt. Ashland, to find how this is working successfully. We don’t need to recreate the wheel. We can just look to what’s working there.

Miller: Is it your hope that the ownership folks at POWDR or the folks at JP Morgan Chase – who they’ve hired to manage a sale for them – that they could be swayed by local passion and by the pitch of local ownership? Or do you assume in the end they’re simply going to look at the dollar figure that is attached to the offer? Chris, what are you thinking?

Porter: Well, I think it’s mutually beneficial to both organizations to have that community partnership side. I do think, no matter what the dollar wins the day. I think POWDR is going to be happy to work with anybody who has the largest bid in this process.

Miller: Chris Porter and Dan Cochrane, thanks so much.

Porter: Start doing your snow dance!

Miller: Colder, wetter, more snow for everybody who wants it. If you don’t, read a book and get cozy. Chris Porter and Dan Cochrane, thanks very much.

That’s Chris Porter, a business teacher at La Pine High School. Dan Cochrane [is] a real estate appraiser at Cochrane Appraisals. They are two of the folks who are spearheading this effort to try to get a local ownership group at Mt. Bachelor.

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