Okemo Questions

[Jack Nixon]

One of two groups bidding to purchase Crested Butte are the Muellers who
own Okemo. Any of you ski there and\or live there? What kind of job do
they do with Okemo? Should we be excited about the prospect of them
buying CB?

The other group is led by Roger Staubach, ex Dallas Cowboys QB and now
real estate bigwig. Lots of success but no ski industry experience.

Jack

[Skirecr2]

in>Message-id: >
>

Jack asked,

<<One of two groups bidding to purchase Crested Butte are the Muellers who
own Okemo. Any of you ski there and\or live there? What kind of job do
they do with Okemo? >>>

The Muellers did an outstanding job with Okemo. They have invested untold
millions upgrading the resort over the last 15-20 years. Okemo is far too
boring for this babe, but any Vermonter will inform you Okemo is next to none
for customer service, snowmaking, grooming, etc.

I'm sure Roger is interested because it's one of the last CO resorts which is
in need, or has the room for development. That is, if you believe building
condos and million dollar homes is a good thing :)

[Richard Walsh]

(Skirecr2) wrote in
>:

>in>Message-id: >
>>
>
>Jack asked,
>
><<One of two groups bidding to purchase Crested Butte are the Muellers
><<who
>own Okemo. Any of you ski there and\or live there? What kind of job do
>they do with Okemo? >>>
>
>The Muellers did an outstanding job with Okemo. They have invested
>untold millions upgrading the resort over the last 15-20 years. Okemo is
>far too boring for this babe, but any Vermonter will inform you Okemo is
>next to none for customer service, snowmaking, grooming, etc.
>
>I'm sure Roger is interested because it's one of the last CO resorts
>which is in need, or has the room for development. That is, if you
>believe building condos and million dollar homes is a good thing :)
>
>
Those of us who ski the wilds of Killington have long known that
"Okemo" is an Indian word for "Flat Mountain". There is another
one in the state which has taken on the semi-English name of
"Flatten". It's a bit south of here, but north of Mount Snow.

When I was a kid growing up in Ludlow (Okemo's home town) and the
equipment I had was pretty crappy, Okemo was very exciting. I only
skied Tomahawk when conditions were superlative and I never skied
Chief.

I worked there again for the season of 1990-91 as I was getting
back into skiing in a big way, I still used my equipment from the
70's (Hansen boots, K2 Bermuda Shorts) which was far superior
to the equipment I had in the 50's and got a huge shock about
how flat the terrain really was.

That said, the Muellers have done a beautiful job of making
Okemo a destination resort for wealthy families. It used to be
that you could release your rugrats and be assured that they
would show up at the base lodge at the end of the day.

While Okemo is still catering very well to the wealthy, it now
has two new day lodges, Solitude and Jackson Gore (under
construction) widely separated from the main base. It is now
possible to misplace your kid (or parent as the case may be).

I know lots of people at Okemo, though I rarely ski there since
K has seen fit to include me in its family. The person who skis
there demands his/her money's worth. Further, they demand
something to do for people who don't ski. Okemo seems to do
this quite well. The person who skis here is less apt to
require some of the posh treatment that IntraWest resorts
(Flatten, etc) or Dear Valet lavishes on its guests.

RW

[Jack Nixon]

Top post = bad, but thanks for the input.

Jack

Richard Walsh wrote:

> (Skirecr2) wrote in
> >:
>
> >in>Message-id: >
> >>
> >
> >Jack asked,
> >
> ><<One of two groups bidding to purchase Crested Butte are the Muellers
> ><<who
> >own Okemo. Any of you ski there and\or live there? What kind of job do
> >they do with Okemo? >>>
> >
> >The Muellers did an outstanding job with Okemo. They have invested
> >untold millions upgrading the resort over the last 15-20 years. Okemo is
> >far too boring for this babe, but any Vermonter will inform you Okemo is
> >next to none for customer service, snowmaking, grooming, etc.
> >
> >I'm sure Roger is interested because it's one of the last CO resorts
> >which is in need, or has the room for development. That is, if you
> >believe building condos and million dollar homes is a good thing :)
> >
> >
> Those of us who ski the wilds of Killington have long known that
> "Okemo" is an Indian word for "Flat Mountain". There is another
> one in the state which has taken on the semi-English name of
> "Flatten". It's a bit south of here, but north of Mount Snow.
>
> When I was a kid growing up in Ludlow (Okemo's home town) and the
> equipment I had was pretty crappy, Okemo was very exciting. I only
> skied Tomahawk when conditions were superlative and I never skied
> Chief.
>
> I worked there again for the season of 1990-91 as I was getting
> back into skiing in a big way, I still used my equipment from the
> 70's (Hansen boots, K2 Bermuda Shorts) which was far superior
> to the equipment I had in the 50's and got a huge shock about
> how flat the terrain really was.
>
> That said, the Muellers have done a beautiful job of making
> Okemo a destination resort for wealthy families. It used to be
> that you could release your rugrats and be assured that they
> would show up at the base lodge at the end of the day.
>
> While Okemo is still catering very well to the wealthy, it now
> has two new day lodges, Solitude and Jackson Gore (under
> construction) widely separated from the main base. It is now
> possible to misplace your kid (or parent as the case may be).
>
> I know lots of people at Okemo, though I rarely ski there since
> K has seen fit to include me in its family. The person who skis
> there demands his/her money's worth. Further, they demand
> something to do for people who don't ski. Okemo seems to do
> this quite well. The person who skis here is less apt to
> require some of the posh treatment that IntraWest resorts
> (Flatten, etc) or Dear Valet lavishes on its guests.
>
> RW

[Jay Pique]

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 19:51:43 -0600, Jack Nixon > wrote:

>One of two groups bidding to purchase Crested Butte are the Muellers who
>own Okemo. Any of you ski there and\or live there? What kind of job do
>they do with Okemo? Should we be excited about the prospect of them
>buying CB?
>
>The other group is led by Roger Staubach, ex Dallas Cowboys QB and now
>real estate bigwig. Lots of success but no ski industry experience.

Here's what my aunt/uncle that work at Okemo had to say....

snow then rain then 65 degrees. i'm sure you are having the same
nutty weather.
we go back to okemo for our 6th winter sometime in november. they
say, but i doubt, that they are going to open on the 8th. we had
about 2 inches last week, but that is long gone. now john needs to
mow the lawn!
the Muellers (okemo owners) are very hands on owners. we see them
all the time. they have a son, who is really a nice guy, very down to
earth, who would probably be the one to go out west. he was already
moved permantly and working at steamboat when the deal there fell
thru. he moved back to ludlow.
as at all ski areas, it seems, they are very interested in
developing the real estate, but they first made sure that they
developed the ski area. and are still doing it. go to okemo.com and
click on the Jackson Gore link to see the major development they are
into. they have poured ALOT of money into okemo, have been trying to
work with the town rather than havng an adversarial relationship, give
lots of money to the schools, have lots of scholarships available for
workers. and try to make it a personal attention kind of place. my
boss last year worked for Intrawest before coming to okemo and she
said it was a very different experience working at okemo.
anyway - it seems obvious they really want to buy another ski
area. they financing for steamboat was all set, so they don't really
have much to lose by trying for a different area.
hope all is going well over your way. hi to your 'rents
hbh and jth

[Dave Stallard]

Jay Pique wrote:

> as at all ski areas, it seems, they are very interested in
> developing the real estate, but they first made sure that they
> developed the ski area. and are still doing it. go to okemo.com and
> click on the Jackson Gore link to see the major development they are
> into. they have poured ALOT of money into okemo, have been trying to
> work with the town rather than havng an adversarial relationship, give
> lots of money to the schools, have lots of scholarships available for
> workers. and try to make it a personal attention kind of place. my
> boss last year worked for Intrawest before coming to okemo and she
> said it was a very different experience working at okemo.

FWIW, I just cannot warm up to Blokemo. It has a couple of nice trails,
but mostly it just feels so .. computer-designed. With a major glitch
at the bottom, in the form of those stupid quads you have to ride up to
the top of the beginner area, just to access the lifts that actually go
anywhere. I do hate that.

YMMV.

Dave

[Jay Pique]

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 01:07:44 GMT, Dave Stallard >
wrote:

>FWIW, I just cannot warm up to Blokemo. It has a couple of nice trails,
>but mostly it just feels so .. computer-designed. With a major glitch
>at the bottom, in the form of those stupid quads you have to ride up to
>the top of the beginner area, just to access the lifts that actually go
>anywhere. I do hate that.
>
>YMMV.

Not really! The biggest problem with Okemo is that it's not Vail.

JP
**********************
Vail - Kobe Bryant hangs out there.