Herding cats ? David Perry's challenge

The newly formed partnership of KSL Capital Partners and Aspen that just declared it will purchase Deer Valley will have its work cut out for their new COO, David Perry. This new — and yet unnamed — Denver-based entity now ranks as North America’s second-largest group of ski resorts just behind Vail.

The big difference is that Vail Resorts, as a public company, is organized with its branding, its image, its management practices and of course works under the umbrella of its formidable Epic Pass. This homogeneity is a key factor in producing economies of scales and insuring profits.

All things that Perry will have to create in short order or will have to muddle through for years depending on how advanced his vision of the new company already is, and on the willingness of each resort to be a team player.

Sure, the Intrawest family (Snowshoe in West Virginia, Steamboat in Colorado, Stratton in Vermont, Blue Mountain, Mt Tremblant and CMH, all in Canada) should constitute a starting nucleus to get that unlikely union to gel.

This said, in adding Aspen, Deer Valley, Mammoth and Squaw/Alpine to the mix, David Perry will soon find himself in the cat-herding business, with each established and set-in-its-ways resort clamoring for keeping its status quo and clinging to its idiosyncrasies, starting with Deer Valley that will resist letting snowboarders all over its slopes.

A great herding job that we'll soon (hopefully) marvel at!