Mad River Glen Sells Existing Single Chairs

Auction results for the single chair auction were revealed last night. 140 Single chairs were sold at auction which raised $270,000. According to a member of the mountain’s executive committee, the proceeds are not limited to the refurbishment of the single chairlift and may instead be used on other expenses of the cooperative.

Approximately 50% of the projected $1.7 million cost of the chairlift replacement has been committed to the project by the Preservation Trust of Vermont which will own the refurbished single chairlift under a 50 year covenant which was signed by the cooperative shareholders.

Single Chairs must be picked up at the mountain by April 15th or they will be forfeited.

Mad River to Maintain Redemption Ban, Uses Donations to Pad Budget

According to published minutes, Mad River Glen will maintain the existing ban on Share Redemptions. A number of shareholders (over 30 at last report) have tendered their shares for redemption and due to the resort’s precarious cash position, the shares will not be redeemed until March 2008 at the earliest.

No word on whether the planned decrease in redemption price will mean that shareholders will be redeemed (if ever) at the lower price which will be prevalent at that time. In addition to the decrease in share redemption price, shareholder will be assessed a $100 “administration fee” for the tender.

Shares tendered for redemption will still have the annual Annual Purchase Requirement (APR) assessed until the time that the Cooperative agrees to redeem shares. There was discussion at the meeting about whether the Covenant which was signed by the Cooperative and Preservation Trust of Vermont precluded the redemption of shares. If true, the earlies that shares could be redeemed would be 2058, well beyond the projected lifespan of most shareholders.

Regarding the expected receipt of money from the Preservation Trust of Vermont, management says that it intends to pay itself back for losses from prior fiscal years. It is unsure whether monies from tax-exempt entities could be utilized for current or prior year expenses without running afoul of IRS regulations governing non-profit entities.

Mad River Season Pass/Mad Card Sales Down

According to published minutes, Mad River Glen’s early season revenue was down significantly over prior years. Mad Card (the resort’s affinity card) were off by 18% and season pass sales were down by 12%.

Mad River’s season pass price increases were the highest in the industry at 15% and the resulting per-unit number is down significantly. Combined, Mad River missed it’s budgetary numbers by over $100,000.

In addition, Mad River voted to increase the per-share cost to $2,000. This is down from the widely reported $2,500 which was shown to adversely affect prospective share sales. The mountain also voted to decrease the price at which shares would be redeemed to $1,200. Due to Mad River’s precarious cash postion, they have failed to honor requests to redeem shares. A backlog of shares are waiting to be redeemed once the mountain chooses to redeem shares.

Glynda McKinnon who was sheperding the fundraising activities was fired due to slow progress on the fundraising front.

With respect to the agreement with the Preservation Trust of Vermont, Mad River is obligated to pay a minimum amount of $309,000 ($39,000 for the poison-pill Covenant’s cost and $270,000 for fundraising). The mountain planns on borrowing under it’s existing line of credit with the Northfield Savings Bank to fulfill the Preservation Trust of Vermont’s requirement.

In other news, the mountain has laid off employees due to poor weather. The forecast looks promising for the next several days.

Mad River Glen Updates Status of Single Chairlift, To Raise Share Price

According to published minutes from a November Board meeting, Mad River Glen has updated the status of the single chairlift construction.

In addition, the Board of Trustees took a straw poll in favor of raising the per-share price to $2,500.

What a Great Weekend!

Thanks to everyone who joined us this weekend. I had a great time, both on and off the board!

I especially would like to thank my new friends — some of you I remember your names and some others, not-so-much. I’d love to see you again in Chicago!

Mad River Closed Again

After opening for a week, Mad River’s season has come to a close. Ouch.

Still Time to Register

What are you doing during the weekend of January 19-21st? There is still time to join us!

Mad River to Delay Opening

Today, Mad River Glen delayed it’s planned opening until “after the weekend”, or during the Christmas week.

Bad Weather Forecast for Central Vermont

It’s looking like the weather outlook for the Christmas Holiday is not promising, with rain expected on the Saturday before Christmas. Mad River Glen is planning to open the mountain on Friday, December 22nd in advance of the all-important, make-or-break Christmas week.

Mad River Glen Pulls Rabbit from Hat — Restates Losses Again

As recently as October, Mad River’s losses from last season were estimated by management to be $280,000. Through some creative accounting (allocating 2006 expenses to FY 2007), the newly restated loss for the financials is $173,000.

The Board Meeting minutes were released earlier this week. In addition to the disclosed roll-forward of expenses, the meeting noted how that pre-season pass sales were significantly less than expected, by $100,000. That means the ‘06-07 season starts out with approximately $200,000 of unbudgeted expenses.

The Mad River Board voted not to redeem shares which have been tendered for redemption. According to minutes from the meeting, it is expected that shares will be considered to be redeemed in January.

According to published reports, the board has been recommended to raise the cost of a Mad River Share to $2,500. Meetings will be held over the next few months to discuss the timing of the share price increase. The MRG Board also discussed lowering the price at which shares could be redeemed to $1,200.

The head of the Single Chairlift Campaign Committe commented that less than 50% of MRG Board members have contributed to the Capital Campaign to finance the replacement of the Single Chairlift. The Board is considering, as was mentioned here earlier, that they would pass a special assessment on all outstanding shareholders as a funding source for last resort.