Strong pushback to a consultant’s report offering harsh criticism of Eaglecrest Ski Area was offered by its board of directors during a meeting Thursday night, but the resort’s new general manager — whose previous job involved coping with biggest fraud in ski industry history — also said “I have never seen a group of managers and operators this stressed out.”
The report by Kirk Duncan, Eaglecrest’s general manager for seven years beginning in 2004, is intended to give the Juneau Assembly an overview of the ski area’s operational and economic prospects as city leaders consider future funding support for the resort. Duncan’s assessment states buildings and equipment are in poor shape due to neglect, wages are subpar, and the board’s leadership is responsible for many of the faults.
The latter was among the findings challenged in a multipage list of responses by board members that was presented — minus their names — during Thursday’s meeting by Mike Satre, the board’s chairman.
“The author claims the board of directors is the source of many of Eaglecrest’s challenges, but does not give specifics and supported examples of how the current governance model contributes to Eaglecrest’s challenges,” one comment states. “Further, he makes claims about board members’ skill sets that are inaccurate and unscrupulously convenient.”
Duncan’s report also states a used gondola Eaglecrest hopes to begin operating by 2027 might generate enough summer revenue to make the resort financially stable, but there’s no solid marketing research to support the hopeful projections of leaders at the ski area and Goldbelt Inc., which will host the summer tours. Meanwhile, Eaglecrest has a negative bank balance, is operating at a heavy loss and maintenance problems have resulted in consequences such as the shutdown of one of two mountaintop lifts for this ski season.
Another board response addressing those points declares Duncan’s report “overlooks important options.”
“In the author’s analysis of the next several years’ maintenance requirements, he seems to take the position that the only path forward is one where the Assembly funds every bit of deferred maintenance and (pay) plan gaps immediately,” the commenter asserts. “He does not analyze the impact of deferring maintenance until cash flow from the Gondola is available to bridge historical gaps in maintenance funding, or discuss approaches that strike a balance between catching up on maintenance and wages and managing tight resources.”
But agreement with Duncan that Eaglecrest’s current situation isn’t sustainable — and not just in financial and infrastructure terms — was also expressed by some of the ski area’s leaders during the meeting. Among them was Craig Cimmons, previously a manager at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont while its was under federal receivership between 2016 and late 2022 due to an alleged $200 million fraud by its owners, who became Eaglecrest’s general manager in September.
“I can tell you — in the short time I’ve been here and the conversation I’ve had with staff — if the funding doesn’t come in the operations of Eaglecrest are going to continue to fall on human beings and those human beings that are up there will not last much longer,” he said. “I have never seen a group of managers and operators this stressed out, this overworked, this understaffed, and this underfunded. Something drastic needs to happen or that team is going to crumble from the inside, and then that trickles down to the frontline staff. And those frontline staff, they’re very tired.”
The report presented to Eaglecrest’s board Jan. 2 is scheduled to be discussed during the Assembly’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Jan. 27. Eaglecrest board members and leaders are also expected to offer their responses — and have scheduled another board meeting Jan. 16 to finalize what those will be.
Mike Satre, the board’s chair, said during the meeting one encouraging aspect of the report is it agrees with projections by Goldbelt and Eaglecrest officials the gondola will indeed result in a large surplus of annual revenue that can be used for maintenance and upgrades — if it attracts the number of riders at the price point projected.
“Ultimately I think this is part of the good news that we should be going back (with) to the Assembly,” he said. “The Assembly should recognize that the financials of the summer operations and year-round operations at Eaglecrest are robust under a number of different scenarios and assumptions.”
Duncan’s report states Eaglecrest can overcome its debt and start generating a profit in scenarios where gondola ticket prices are $45, $65 and $85 each — with the latter figure the target set by Goldbelt — which would be $118, $145 and $171.50, respectively, when bus transportation and cruise line commissions are factored in. But Duncan’s report states it will take until 2036 for Eaglecrest to show a profit with $45 tickets, compared to 2028 with higher-priced options.
Furthermore, the report assumes the gondola will have 40,000 riders during its first summer in 2027 and rise gradually to 125,000 by 2034, but Duncan said that is based on Goldbelt’s hopes the gondola will eventually get 150,000 riders a year rather than any hard data suggesting that level of interest exists.
Board members, in their written comments and during Thursday’s meeting, said they are aware of many of the hardships in Duncan’s report and in many instances are working to overcome them. For instance, one written comment noted, current wages may be below average for the ski industry, but “this fails to acknowledge the nearly 30% increase in the past 4 or 5 years” for Eaglecrest employees.
“Deferred maintenance and aging infrastructure are longstanding issues well understood by the board,” another comment notes. “However, the board has also held to the idea that we need to work within the budget approved by the assembly.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
