Swiss municipalities agree to take over Weisse Arena ski area [Laax, to prevent a potential takeover by Vail or Alterra]

5 comments

1. Good. If I’m forced to pay 100chf for a day pass, I at least want it to go to the local community somehow, instead of a giant American corporation.

2. Municipalities have a vested interest in longterm infrastructure reinvestment, economic well-being of residents, and economy diversification that a foreign hedge fund has no business even pretending to care about.

3. Wow, communism in Switzerland.

4. They sold all the infrastructure and lease it back for a fixed price. So they just sold their risk to the municipalities and still get all the profit.

5. I’m more of a summer hiker than a skier, so I’m not familiar with pricing for winter, but when I was in Flims-Laax last month it was the first time I’ve actually been shocked at lift prices in Switzerland. The headline prices in the area are Jungfrau / Zermatt-level, and I am not sure what merits it. The FlemXpress up to Segnes costs more than similarly-long Grindelwald-First, and was nearly empty when I took it (after catching a 50% off deal for Monday and Tuesday in September). Local ownership is not synonymous with consumer-friendliness.

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