PACIFIC GROUP RESORTS BUYS MOUNT WASHINGTON ALPINE RESORT

British Columbia ski area becomes the fourth in the portfolio

COMOX VALLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Mount Washington Alpine Resort on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (MWAR) was purchased by a Canadian subsidiary of Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. (PGRI), a multi resort holding company headquartered in Park City, Utah. The sale was announced today and includes all of the Alpine and Nordic skiing terrain and operations and most of the development land near and around the base of the resort. The current ownership group will retain two development parcels.

Peter Gibson, General Manager of Mount Washington Alpine Resort, noted, “George Stuart and his ownership group have invested a tremendous amount of money and energy into Mount Washington over the past 25 years. They built something to be proud of, but George is 74, and he’s decided it’s time to retire from the ski industry.”

Gibson continued, “We are looking forward to working with PGRI to take Mount Washington to the next level with improvements like snowmaking where they have a strong background.” Mount Washington will be the fourth resort in Pacific Group Resort’s current portfolio. PGRI’s other resorts are in the eastern U.S. and have virtually 100% snowmaking coverage.

Pacific Group Resorts’ President and CEO, Vern Greco, explained, “We’ve been working on the transition of the resort to our ownership for a couple years now. It finally worked out that this was the right time, and we are very excited to have the opportunity to add Mount Washington to our portfolio.”

Greco said he expected the staff and daily ops would remain largely unchanged from previous years, but he indicated one of the priorities would be to add snowmaking infrastructure at the resort. Mount Washington historically has been one of the snowiest resorts in Canada with a long term average of over 450 inches of snow annually. The past two ski seasons have been below the historical trends helping to explain why virtually all significant ski resorts in North America now have snowmaking infrastructure to provide confidence to skiers who want to be able to rely on good conditions.

Greco added, “We are very happy to be working with Peter Gibson and his management group. They are industry pros, and we’re proud to have them join our team. Peter started working at Mt. Washington Alpine Resort clearing ski runs with a chainsaw in 1978, a year before it opened for skiing. He’s been a part of helping this resort grow from the very beginning.”

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ABOUT PACIFIC GROUP RESORTS
Pacific Group Resorts (PGRI) now operates four ski and snowboard resorts and four golf courses, plus numerous other resort activities such as adventure parks with mountain coasters, canopy tours, ropes courses, tubing, and lift served mountain biking and hiking trails. The company’s Wisp Resort has a state of the art man-made white water rafting course at the top of the mountain which hosted the 2014 World Championships for kayaking and canoeing. www.pgri.us

PGRI operates the four season Wisp Resort in the Appalachian Mountains of western Maryland and the year round Wintergreen Resort in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains under long term leases with a publicly traded REIT, EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR). PGRI runs the ski operations of Ragged Mountain Resort in New Hampshire’s White Mountains under a management contract and owns and operates Mount Washington Alpine Resort on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island.

PGRI is an affiliate of Pacific Group which has built and developed signature base area facilities and real estate projects at Whistler in British Columbia, at Mammoth and Squaw Valley in California, at Solitude and Snow Basin in Utah, at Jackson Hole in Wyoming and at Copper Mountain in Colorado. Pacific Group has also developed master planned communities such as the 14,000 acre Wolf Creek Ranch east of Park City, Utah.

ABOUT MOUNT WASHINGTON ALPINE RESORT
Mount Washington Alpine Resort, located just 20 minutes from the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is the Island’s only full service ski and summer resort hosting approximately 300,000 visits per year. The guests enjoy five chairlifts and five carpet lifts accessing over 1,700 acres and 1,657 vertical feet of alpine terrain. The resort also has 55 kilometers of designated cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails along with a dedicated Nordic lodge. www.mountwashington.ca

Summer activities at Mount Washington include scenic chairlift rides, disc golf, miniature golf, boardwalk chess and checkers, and dining. The resort also plays host to over 30 weddings per year plus numerous group and corporate events.

Mount Washington Alpine Resort was opened in 1979 by two Campbell River businessmen, Henry Norie and Alex Linton. In 1989, the founders sold their interests to George Stuart and a group of shareholders who invested into the resort by upgrading lifts, adding terrain and base area buildings, and investing in infrastructure and roads. Twenty-five years later, Mr. Stuart’s group sold the resort and most of the developable land near the base area to a Canadian subsidiary of Pacific Group Resorts, Inc.