The biggest company in the ski industry just got a little bigger. A federal district court in Utah ruled on Wednesday that Park City Mountain Resort had failed to renew its lease on time, effectively handing most of Park City Mountain’s ski terrain over to competitor Vail Resorts.
As Bloomberg Businessweek reported in February, Park City Mountain Resort has been locked in a dispute with its landlord, Talisker, since 2011. When Vail took over management of the neighboring Canyons Resort in 2013, it also acquired the rights to the land under dispute—and took over the legal battle. The 82-page ruling (PDF) establishes that PCMR failed to renew its lease on time. Since the lease wasn’t in effect when Vail began its negotiations with Talisker, PCMR also lost its right of first refusal on any sale or transfer of the property. So as the court sees it, the terrain is Talisker’s to do with as it wants, which is to bring in Vail as the new tenant and operator of the terrain, as attorney John Lund said in a statement.
