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– which accounts for 2,700 of Powder Moun- tain’s skiable acres – is now accessible only to those who have purchased a multi-million- dollar lodge or empty lot in the Haven. Most of the five neighbourhoods that make up the private resort offer empty plots starting at $2 million, but one of them features modern townhouses (each 3,700 square feet with four ensuite bedrooms). These turnkey properties will be available from April 2026. The private area also boasts restaurants


and clubhouses, while the main 73,000sqſt members’ lodge is set to open in 2027 and will offer amenities such as a premium gym, spa treatment rooms and thermal pools. To become one of the 650 member fami-


lies, the joining fee is understood to be around $200,000, with an additional fee of between $30,000 and $100,000 due annually. However, Powder Mountain’s half-public,


half-private business model – which Hast- ings says ‘no one else has ever figured out how to do’ before – has not been met with universal acclaim. The news of his acquisi- tion of the resort saw him christened ‘Greed Hastings’ on the internet, amid local con- cern that much of a mountain once accessi- ble to the wider community would now be reserved for just a few hundred elite guests. ‘There are two ways to look at it,’ Hastings


says now. ‘One is that we are taking some- thing away; the other is that we are giving back.’ He says he has put money into the public side of the mountain, using revenue generated by the private area to help fund those investments. This, he argues, has pro- vided new liſts and facilities for an area that had long suffered from underinvestment and ageing infrastructure. Perhaps the appeal of having access to


one’s very own peaks and powder is obvious, but the setup on Powder Mountain tends to attract a specific type of wealthy person, Hastings says. And it’s not who the naysay- ers might like you to think. ‘It is not “luxury” in the classic sense,’ he


says. ‘Of course, it is beautiful and safe, but it is not Aspen.’ By this he means Powder Mountain focuses on offering a ‘snowy and wild’ ski experience, rather than majoring on the retail therapy and other high-end lifestyle activities typical of the Colorado re- sort. For Hastings, private skiing adds ‘puri- ty’ to the experience. ‘Powder Haven attracts rugged, adventurous people,’ he notes. So far, these figurative velvet ropes have only been installed around North American


The private Powder Haven covers 2,700 of Powder Mountain’s skiable acres IN SWITZERLAND OR FRANCE, SELLING


A SKI RESORT TO A BILLIONAIRE WOULD BE LIKE SELLING THE CROWN JEWELS


mountains. And Jeremy Rollason, head of the ski department at property firm Savills, reckons the same model ‘just wouldn’t hap- pen’ on this side of the Atlantic. Egypt’s richest man, Samih Sawiris, con-


trols much of the Swiss resort of Andermatt via his property development firm Oras- com, which has struck various deals with the Swiss government. ‘In Europe, this is the closest it could get to a private individual purchasing a whole resort,’ says Rollason. As things stand, there are oſten rules in


place to restrict foreign buyers in Europe from even purchasing a single property – let alone a whole ski area. ‘There is a slight mis- conception from US buyers that they can just come and buy property in the same way it is possible for them to go and buy a slice of Utah,’ Rollason says. ‘In Switzerland or France, selling a ski resort to a billionaire would be like selling the crown jewels.’ In France, the majority of liſts are operat- ed by some form of government body, and


are oſten state-owned too. This makes it ‘in- conceivable’ for them to be sold privately, Rollason says. In other countries like Swit- zerland or Austria, the land is usually owned by the state or the canton. Private acquisi- tions of resorts therefore wouldn’t involve the mountain itself, but rather the liſt infra- structure and the rights to operate resorts. While, so far, there are just three private


ski resorts that require a real estate pur- chase as a condition of membership (all in the US), there are already around half a doz- en places across North America that have privatised snow, such as Vermont’s Hermit- age Club, where the initiation fee is $100,000 and annual dues run around $20,000. But the concept could become more popular. Hastings is clear that he is focused on


Powder Mountain, 5,000 miles away from Mont Blanc, but he’s not so convinced that the model he’s pioneering could never reach Europe. ‘I wouldn’t say never,’ he says. Aſter all, he’s used to shaking up industries.


IAN MATTESON


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