I keep forgetting that Snowtime owned Windham for quite a while. Irv Naylor started with Roundtop in 1964, then Liberty, and owned and developed Windham from 1981 to 2005. Whitetail was added in 1999. Snowtime put Windham on solid footing, with high speed lifts, night skiing, and fully automated snowmaking by 2004. When a group of local investors approached him in 2005 with an offer to buy Windham, he sold it to focus on the three PA ski areas/resorts. He made it clear then that none of the PA properities were for sale.
Besides the purchase of Whitetail, 1999 was a life changing year for Naylor for another reason. His other love was horses, in particular steeplechase racing. He was still riding in races at age 63. Unfortunately in his last race on April 17 his horse fell and he was paralyzed by a spinal injury. Now at age 83, he is still a major player in the world of steeplechase racing as an owner.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-04-24/sports/9904240035_1_naylor-fisher-steeplechase - April 1999
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/bs-sp-steeplechase-naylor-20180404-story.html - April 2018
The reason Naylor built Ski Roundtop starting in 1964 was that his experience at nearby Blair Mountain with his young son was pretty terrible. He related the story for DCSki in 2008. Blair closed in 1966.
http://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=28
Irv Naylor was quite a horseman. He rode in many the locally famous steeple chase races around Monkton and Glyndon here in Baltimore County horse country. He has promised his wife that he will dance with her before he dies. Snowtime resorts are first class. They always reinvest the profits into improvements, every year. I wouldn't bet against his dance with his wife.
snowsmith wrote:
Snowtime resorts are first class. They always reinvest the profits into improvements, every year. I wouldn't bet against his dance with his wife.
I second this comment on the Snowtime resorts. They really do put out a great product especially in the very tough locations they are in for winter sports. Whitetail’s mountain passport plan is really what got me hooked on the sport, and it really is great being able to have these options so close to home.
Hopefully he will get that dance with his wife.
Since Irv is in his 80s, I wondered who was taking care of Snowtime day-to-day. In 2016, the long time Pres. and GM of Liberty, Eric Flynn, was promoted to VP and COO of Snowtime. I guess Irv is still CEO.
Long time DCSki members may know who is in charge at Snowtime, but it's new to me. Snowtime's President, Scott Romberger, has been with the company for quite a while. He was the Controller for Snowtime in 1998 when the PA resorts only included Roundtop and Liberty. That was when Snowtime blocked the possible sale of Whitetail to in 1998. Eric Flynn was already at Liberty and was involved in the negotiations.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-09-15/business/1998258001_1_whitetail-ski-resort-general-authority-dauphin-county - Sep 1998
https://www.skimag.com/uncategorized/snow-time-buys-whitetail - Dec 1999
https://www.saminfo.com/headline-news/8736-snow-time-inc-makes-key-management-moves - Oct 2016
SAM Magazine””York, Pa., Oct. 19, 2016”” Snow Time Inc., the parent company of Pennsylvania's Roundtop Mountain Resort, Liberty Mountain Resort, and Whitetail Resort, has made several key staffing changes.
Matthew Thomas has been named general manager of Roundtop. Thomas has several years of ski industry experience in the Northeast and at Alyeska Resort in Alaska. Most recently, Thomas served as director of risk management at Camelback Mountain Resort, Pa.
Chrisanne Bowden has joined Snow Time Inc. as corporate director of human resources. Bowden comes to Snow Time from Callos Resource LLC, a multi-state recruiting and employee placement firm, where she was VP of the mid-Atlantic region. She will oversee the corporate HR functions for all three Snow Time resorts, which include a workforce of 4,000 seasonal and 400 year-round employees.
Eric Flynn, longtime president and GM of Liberty Mountain, will transition from his role as GM to a fulltime role as Snow Time's vice president and chief operating officer. In his redefined position, Flynn will focus on master planning and operations for all of the company's resorts, as well as key staff development.
"These are exciting times for our company as we continue to grow our resorts' winter and summer operations,” said Snow Time president Scott Romberger. “Matt and Chrisanne bring much experience and depth, while Eric's focus on company-wide initiatives will help us grow to new levels."
Didn't know that Snowtime made an offer to buy Montage in 2006. The Snowtime offer was $5 million but the winning bid was $5.1 million. Unfortunately, the new owners from Philly didn't know how to run a ski area in PA as a sustainable business. They renamed it Snö Mountain and were out of money by 2012. Snowtime wasn't that interested by 2013 when an auction was held as part of bankruptcy proceedings. First thing the new owner did in 2013 was revert back to the original name.
http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=941 - Nov 2006
https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/auction-could-determine-ski-resort-s-future-1.1449221 - Feb 2013
https://wnep.com/2013/03/27/deal-in-the-works-to-buy-sno-mountain-change-name/ - March 2013
