It’s a bit of a moonshot, but it’s a moonshot that would create resiliency within our community, so I think it’s worth exploring for that reason alone.”

Town Administrator Jonathan Cain

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Ned releases Eldora acquisition FAQs

NEDERLAND - November, 2024. The end of the year approaches. Residents on the mountain chop firewood, stock their freezers, and fuel their generators. Town officials buckle in for round after round of budget discussions to come to grips with a fiscally constrained 2025. And the first major snow of the year falls for three days straight.

The snow penetrates through all that has plagued the minds of Nederland’s inhabitants over the last year.

The need for water, sewer, and road infrastructure improvements. Demands for more housing, child care, and other health and human services. A call for economic development and tourism management to boost sales tax revenue. All of it softened by the blanketing accumulation of snowfall. 

Because regardless of all that ails the town, the anticipation of ski season can be felt trembling throughout, with residents ready to ignite the minute that Eldora Mountain Ski Resort officially opens (which happened to be early this year, on Thursday, November 7).

Skiing is recreation, it is sport, it is an industry, and for some, it is a lifestyle. From all those who try to fit a run in before work, during a lunch break, or before returning home for the night, skiing already runs in the veins of the community. 

Skiing is Nederland. Nederland is skiing. They are synonymous, to both the people who live here and to the people who travel up the canyon to get here.

And now, some local officials are daring to ask, what if Eldora Mountain truly became a Town of Nederland asset?  

“We are pursuing the acquisition of Eldora,” Mayor Pro Tem Nichole Sterling told The Mountain-Ear in an exclusive interview that also featured Town Administrator Jonathan Cain and Mayor Billy Giblin.

“It’s a bit of a moonshot, but it’s a moonshot that would create resiliency within our community, so I think it’s worth exploring for that reason alone,” Cain said. 

“It’s an opportunity that we’d be foolish not to pursue,” Giblin added. 

The Town of Nederland representatives, before fully expressing their excitement for this ambitious, yet strategic, venture, first stated that there is currently no agreement or contract in place between the Town and POWDR.

At this stage only the most preliminary of plans are forming out of this idea.

“We have the dream but the steps need to be figured out,” Cain noted. 

'A locals-first sustainable mountain'

That dream is one that many Nederland residents may share. A day dream while waiting in line for the lift; a passing thought when experiencing bumper to bumper ski traffic in the canyon; a wish and a hope after throwing down $1,100 to $1,500 a person for the 2024 - 2025 Ikon Pass.  

“A locals-first sustainable mountain,” Sterling put the dream into words.

“I think people identify Nederland and Eldora in the same breath, but that connection is not as clear as it could be,” Cain explained. “Having this local mountain that’s really closely identified with the Town, with access to nature and recreation, would be a really good way to make that connection more clear; and if it helps with our economic resilience that’s great.” 

In August of this year, winter recreation powerhouse POWDR announced the sale of several of their ski areas, from Killington and Pico in Vermont, to SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia, and Mt. Bachelor in Oregon.

Eldora Mountain Resort was also among the listed attractions to be sold.

Why is POWDR selling ski resorts?

“POWDR is selling these resorts to balance its ski business with new ventures in the National Parks sector and with its Woodward action-sports brand, in alignment with its founders' and stakeholders’ goals,” Eldora President and General Manager Brent Tregaskis wrote in his letter to the community, posted by The Mountain-Ear on August 29.

“Eldora’s hardworking staff will continue to serve the community with the same dedication we always have,” Tregaskis assured the community. “Eldora will remain the same backyard winter playground for Nederland, greater Boulder, and Colorado’s northern Front Range.”

Tregaskis, citing his experience navigating several previous ownership shifts throughout his career, praised POWDR for their numerous improvements to Eldora’s facilities and customer experience, while remaining hopeful that the next owners will continue to carry that torch. 

Since POWDR acquired Eldora in 2016 the recreational destination has received upgrades to its snowmaking capabilities, parking infrastructure, trail systems, and kitchen facilities. Most recently, we have seen the development and grand opening of Ignite Adaptive Sports’s newest headquarters and children’s learning center, Caribou Lodge.

Nederland representatives not only feel that the Town could carry this tradition, but that its municipal designation would be a major benefit towards funding and contracting out for these capital investment projects.

“We have partnership capabilities with the County and with the State that a private entity has a harder time getting to,” Sterling explained. 

Mayor Giblin elaborated on how the Town of Nederland offers attractive benefit packages and insurance options for employees, as well as the ability to access grant funding that corporations cannot.  

“Nederland has some inroads to working more collaboratively and directly for housing, transportation, and child care,” Giblin said. 

“We have an advantage to help the ski area be more sustainable from an employment point of view, and we could help with potential year-round operations through a couple of different methods.” 

The concept of a municipality claiming its local recreational asset for its own is not a new one, especially not for Colorado. Though “going corporate” seems to be the recent trend in the winter recreation industry, there have been many exceptions, each with different and unique management structures.  

Such exceptions include Steamboat Ski Resort in Steamboat Springs, which is owned by the Denver-based conglomerate Alterra Mountain Company but is managed by an independent Board of Directors.

Winter Park, on the other hand, is managed by Alterra but its ownership is split by Alterra and the City of Denver. Ski Cooper is owned by Lake County and is managed by the 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization Cooper Hill Ski Area. 

In contrast to industry giants like Alterra, Mountain Capital Partners, and Vail Resorts, there are also ski areas owned by small organizations or individual families, such as the privately owned Telluride Ski Resort; Wolf Creek Ski Area, owned by the Pitcher family; and the Loveland Ski Area, owned by the Upham family.

“There’s this narrative that the ski areas have consolidated; that the Colorado experience of skiing is not the same anymore. And it’s not bad, but it’s different,” Cain stated, implying that a locally-owned business cultivates a different vibe and atmosphere more akin to the original, independent spirit of skiing.

“We wouldn’t be beholden to that corporate structure that oftentimes drives up costs,” Sterling added, referencing the expense of the traditional corporate executive structure. 

Though still early in the planning stages, the Town of Nederland is considering maintaining ownership of the ski area while hiring a separate team to manage Eldora’s operations.

“We don’t have any preconceived notions about what this has to be,” Cain said. “We’re trying to do it organically and, in terms of management structure, there are opportunities to be creative and figure it out.

“I think the model that would work the best is if we stick in our lane and pick experts who can ‘do the thing,’ and run it like a private entity but with these public benefits,” Cain noted, as he transitioned from detailing the Town’s ideas for logistical operations to discussing the fiscal implications of such a venture, starting with the potential funding structure.   

“There’s a lot of partnership potential, and there are at least three pretty large grants that we need to explore,” Cain continued. “From telling our story to building a coalition of partners who have the same vision as us, there are all sorts of opportunities to fund something like this so that we don’t have to touch one dime of Town money.”

Throughout the fall months Cain has been enveloped in the Town’s tenuous financial situation going into 2025, so it is of no surprise that he has been heavily weighing the decision to pursue acquiring Eldora Mountain Ski Resort from a financial perspective.

While not in a dire predicament, Nederland faces some budgetary challenges in 2025, many of which are shared among mountain municipalities, such as the high cost of upcoming infrastructure development and improvement, combined with the rising cost of law enforcement, measured against a need to improve the revenue streams coming into the Town. 

But Town officials believe that if the mountain and Nederland were to become one it would create a synergistic boost to the productivity and economic growth of the two entities, both as a whole and as two separate operations. 

Potential economic development

“They need the land, so to speak, and we need the potential economic development opportunity; it’s mutually beneficial,” Sterling said, speaking on how Nederland’s initiative to create affordable workforce housing serves Eldora’s needs as well. 

It was also noted that Nederland’s central business district serves the ski area in providing additional retail space, which in turn would create more retail choices and economic vibrancy for downtown.

“We can start to attract businesses like snowboard makers, YETI, outdoor product manufacturing,” Sterling continued. “It would be pumping that economic vitality back into the community so that kids and families would want to stay here longer.”

That vitality is not only aimed at kids and families from out of town, to provide amenities to keep them staying in Town longer and spending more money, but it also benefits the families with kids who choose to live here, by encouraging them to remain here. 

“A lot of these mountain towns that focused on building tourism are now having to go backwards to resident amenities,” Giblin commented, regarding responsible growth. “We feel that this acquisition can be part of building amenities as we grow, and it’ll help direct how we grow.”

Cain, Giblin, and Sterling are steadfast in their assertion that a Nederland-owned Eldora will provide sustainability and resiliency for the community. 

Sustainability and resiliency in an economic sense, from introducing the recreational industry to the Town of Nederland, which has not had a true industry since the reintroduction of mining in the 1970s. From creating new, well-paying jobs, and potentially enhancing the downtown area.  

But this venture could also provide sustainability and resiliency in a more sociological sense, as it is not only about the amenities – housing, childcare, and public transportation – but it’s also about the people who use and need those amenities.

“What came out very clear from our comprehensive planning is this identity of Nederland being a town inside of a park, inside of a recreational district, and this hammers that in,” Sterling said, speaking of the venture to acquire Eldora.

The idea of creating a special recreational district has been discussed by Town staff and officials and the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board several times, though no actionable initiatives have come forward.

Cain reiterated Sterling’s statement regarding a recreational district by suggesting that, if the Eldora acquisition is successful, it may provide the opportunity to expand Nederland’s Parks Department, Nederland Community Center funding, and partnerships with recreation-based non-profits, into becoming a fully fledged Parks and Recreation Department. 

“When you think about this balance between providing equitable services to residents and making sure they have quality of life and managing the impacts of tourism and making sure it pays its own way, parks and recreation is a space where it really becomes about the community more than about the visitor,” Cain said. “Those are the places where we can really say, ‘this is Nederland.’”

The picture has been painted of Eldora Mountain Ski Resort becoming a community asset, becoming something that instills pride in our Town.

Many Nederland residents have experienced Eldora from its foundational conception in 1962. The attraction is ingrained in their memories, justifying its part in Nederland’s history.

What Town officials are stating by pursuing this acquisition is that if the Nederland community has been there with Eldora since the beginning, why not continue forward together as one? Both could become better, and enable that very community to nurture its asset, to build it from its foundations and make it stronger. 

“When people say Nederland needs to stay Nederland, really that’s what this is about, and controlling our destiny in this way is a really cool way to make sure we can maintain Nederland,” Cain said, before making a call for feedback from the community.

The Town of Nederland hopes to hear all voices regarding the proposal to pursue acquisition of Eldora Mountain as it is discussed by Nederland’s Boards and Commissions in the future.

How to provide feedback

The first opportunity for residents to provide feedback will be on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. The Board of Trustees meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and can be attended in person at the Nederland Community Center or online via Microsoft Teams.

There will be an opportunity for public comment during discussion of the related agenda item. Residents can also submit their comments, questions, and/or concerns in a public letter or email to the Board. 

For more information on upcoming meeting times and agendas, go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/board-of-trustees

To submit an email to the Board of Trustees, go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/contact-a-board-or-commission

  “As much as it’s a Board of Trustees decision, it’s a community decision,” Cain concluded. “I think that’s what good community engagement does, is it welcomes those voices either way, and when we go through those comments we’ll find the kernel of truths.”

“The reason we’re doing this is because our strength is our community.”