What happens when a ski resort fails...

We visited today a bankrupt mountain resort located in central Idaho and known under the name of Tamarack. The facility opened in 2004, but its ski lifts have not operated since March 2009, when lenders led by the Credit Suisse Group refused to throw more cash into the struggling resort founded by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Boespflug, as they tried to recover an unpaid $250 million construction loan.

More recently, Bank of America threatened to remove the chairlifts and while a few bit and pieces of the resort have been sold to a variety of investors, like some bizarre buildings (chapel, schoolhouse and barn) at the center of the resort. In other instances, some have been operating certain amenities like the zip line and the golf course, and if all goes well, the Tamarack Municipal Corporation might get the lifts running up again, from Thursday through Sunday, this upcoming winter.

We'll know more after a court hearing scheduled for September 20. In the meantime, this show that things are not always easy with a fledgling ski resort!