Lake Louise Ski Resort Owner Seeks Creditor Protection
By Jeffrey Jones

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - An owner of several major Canadian ski
resorts, including World Cup-hosting Lake Louise in Alberta, said on
Monday it has filed for protection from creditors and plans to sell a
number of properties after being hit by a cash crunch.

Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, a privately held company that owns
eight high-profile ski resorts in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec,
said it plans to restructure its debt and sell "non-core" resorts
following a weak start to the ski season and a U.S. bank's decision to
withdraw from ski-industry lending.

The actions, the subject of speculation for several months, were
expected to have no impact on skiers who hold season tickets or have
booked vacation packages, the company said. The ski industry in western
Canada has been hampered this season by an unusually light snowfall.

"Certainly the snow conditions didn't help. They kind of pushed us
behind the eight ball, if you will, in terms of cash flow," Resorts of
the Canadian Rockies spokesman Joe Connelly said. "We have expanded
considerably. We've spent just over C$90 million ($58 million) in our
resorts over the last five years."

Connelly said most of the money was spent expanding Lake Louise, an
annual stop on the World Cup skiing circuit, located in Banff National
Park, as well as the Fernie and Kimberley resorts in southeastern
British Columbia. Those are considered core, he said.

Its other ski resorts are Fortress, Nakiska and Wintergreen in Alberta,
as well as Mont-Sainte-Anne and Stoneham in Quebec.

All told, the assets have a value of about C$160 million, and the
company's debt amounts to about a third of that, Connelly said.

One of Resorts of the Canadian Rockies' top rivals is Intrawest Corp.,
which operates such properties as Whistler/Blackcomb in British
Columbia, Stratton in Vermont and Mont Tremblant in Quebec. In
February, it reported increased earnings for the second quarter due to
higher revenues and a tax-related gain.

Connelly said his firm's top lender had been FleetBoston Financial
Corp., which cut back on loans to the industry. "That put us into a
situation where we've got to find a lead lender for our debt."

Resorts of the Canadian Rockies also owns golf courses and hotels,
which are now not considered key to the operation. However, which
assets get sold will depend on prices that are offered, the company
said.

"The appraisals on our properties, as well as our other assets, are
clearly worth more than our debt, so we are in a position to consider
all bids carefully," company owner Charles Locke said in a statement.

Under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, which is similar
to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, Resorts of
the Canadian Rockies debts are frozen as of March 9, pending
restructuring and a plan of arrangement.

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. has been appointed monitor
and adviser while the firm is under court protection.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont.

To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html