Two community ski hills made news this month, a few states apart. One got a lease that runs until most of us are long gone. The other is still trying to convince bond buyers it can pay for a mountain it doesn’t own yet.
Same goal on both sides: keep a local hill in local hands. Very different price of admission.
Sky Tavern locked in 92 more years
Outside Reno, Sky Tavern, which bills itself as the nation’s oldest nonprofit ski and snowboard training facility, signed a lease amendment with the City of Reno that stretches its term to 99 years, through October 31, 2118. The Reno Gazette Journal reported that the city council approved it.
The organization says it has taught more than 100,000 kids to ski since its junior program started in 1948. Now it wants to expand, fundraise hard and eventually let kids under 12 ride free through community sponsorships, with its centennial coming in 2038.
Note what it didn’t do. It didn’t buy the land. It got time.
Nederland is buying title with borrowed money
In Boulder County, the town of Nederland (about 1,500 residents) agreed in January to buy Eldora from Powdr for $120 million and approved up to $225 million in bonds. The Colorado Sun reports the bigger number covers more than $100 million in capital projects and reserves on top of the price.
It hasn’t closed. The mayor’s September letter to residents said the purchase agreement had expired, and the town has asked for $20 million in donations to show bond investors it’s viable. If the deal dies, the town is on the hook for about $2.5 million in transaction costs, roughly $1.2 million of it already spent.
I covered the $20 million gap earlier. The new twist is the fix.
The twist: Nederland’s new plan is a lease
Per a town memo reported by KUNC and BizWest, the proposed “sale-leaseback” works like this: the town buys Eldora with bond money, immediately hands legal title to the bond trustee, and leases the resort back to run it. The town gets title back only once the bonds are paid off.
Read that twice. To make the deal financeable, Nederland would give up title for the life of the bonds and operate as a tenant. That’s the Sky Tavern model, except it costs $120 million up front plus interest instead of a vote at city hall.
Here’s the side-by-side:
| Sky Tavern | Eldora (proposed) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds title | City of Reno | Bond trustee |
| Operator’s role | Long-term tenant | Tenant until paid off |
| Upfront cost | A lease vote | $120M purchase |
| Debt approved | None announced | Up to $225M |
| Cost if it falls apart | None reported | ~$2.5M to town |
| Runway | To 2118 | Bond term |
That’s not a knock on Nederland’s motives. Wanting your hometown mountain to stay yours is a good instinct. But the market is telling them what Sky Tavern’s setup already shows: the operator doesn’t need to own the dirt, it needs certainty.
The lesson for every small operator
Most of you are already tenants. If you run on national forest land, your ski area permit works like a lease with an expiration date. Plenty of municipal hills sit on city or county ground.
So before your next capital campaign, ask three questions:
- How many years are left on our permit or lease? A donor funding a lift wants to know it outlives the chair.
- Who besides us benefits from our hill? Reno’s mayor called this “an investment in our community’s future.” Find your version of that sentence, and the official who’ll say it.
- Are we chasing ownership when tenure would do? Title feels like control. Debt service says otherwise.
Community ownership can work, but it’s a heavy lift for a town with a small budget. A long lease is the chairlift with no lift-line: less glamorous, gets you up the hill.
Sky Tavern now has 92 years to plan its expansion. Nederland is planning around a bond market. Which one would you rather pitch to a donor? And how long is your runway?
