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Intrawest scrambles for cash
By Petti Fong, Vancouver and Tony Wong, Toronto
December 25, 2009
Canada may be aiming to “Own the Podium” at the 2010 Winter Olympics, but there’s a chance the Games skiing venue will end up owned by its creditors.
Intrawest ULC, the Vancouver-based company that operates the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort that will play host to Olympic skiing and sliding events, is scrambling to refinance a term loan that was due Wednesday.
A Bloomberg News report said Intrawest may be “pushed nearer to default” if it cannot renegotiate terms on a $524 million (U.S.) payment that came due Dec. 23 after getting a 60-day extension.
Intrawest and organizers of the 2010 Games downplayed any concerns about what a potential default could mean for the 2010 Winter Olympics, now less than two months away.
“Whistler Blackcomb is an important partner in the staging of the 2010 Games and we continue with solid progress in our planning with them for the skiing and sliding sport events,” Dave Cobb, the deputy CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, said in a statement.
“Planning for the 2010 Winter Games is nearly complete, the venues are finished and this issue will not impact the staging of the 2010 Olympics.”
Intrawest was formerly headed by Canadian Joe Houssian, who built it into the largest mountain resort operator in the world. In 2006, Houssian sold the company to New York-based asset manager Fortress Investment Group for $1.8 billion, including the assumption of $950 million in debt.
Since then, values on retail, commercial and hotel real estate have seen significant declines.
Citing two people with “direct knowledge of the situation,” Bloomberg News reported that the debt was acquired to help finance Fortress’ buyout of Intrawest in 2006. Since then, a drop in vacation home sales at Intrawest’s resorts and declining values in Intrawest’s real estate holdings have hurt the company and its parent.
On Wednesday, Fortress, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, fell 3 per cent.
Managing director Lilly Donahue declined to comment to the Star Wednesday.
Intrawest CEO Bill Jensen said the company is current on all its obligations and in active dialogue with lenders regarding a refinancing of the term loan.
“It is business as usual for Intrawest,” said Jensen, “and we are providing our customers and homeowners the memorable experiences that they have come to expect . . . and will continue to do so regardless of the outcome of these discussions.”
The resort’s core ski operations are off to a good start this season, according to Intrawest. At Whistler Blackcomb, early snowfalls have generated a stronger-than-expected start to the ski season. The resort operator had feared bookings would be off because tourists would stay away in light of the upcoming Games.
“When you think of skiing in Canada, you think of Intrawest, it’s such an iconic brand,” said John O’Bryan, vice-chair of commercial realty firm CB Richard Ellis Ltd.
“It’s been a terrible year for companies exposed to the travel and resort sector because discretionary spending has taken a beating,” he said.
“And you can’t get more discretionary than going out and buying a ski chalet.”
Apart from operating resorts in the U.S. and Canada, Intrawest is also heavily exposed to the real estate market, selling fractional ownerships and condominiums at many of their sites.
“In a recession the buy decision on secondary real estate just isn’t compelling,” O’Bryan said. “Going on vacation isn’t a core activity, it’s something you can give up.”
O’Bryan says Intrawest’s focus on the luxury end of the real estate market may also have hurt their prospects.
Luxury retailers and high-end hotels have traditionally been the first to experience a downturn during a recession.
“It’s not just Intrawest that’s suffering. They’re in a market with lousy fundamentals and disappearing margins,” O’Bryan said.
At Intrawest’s Blue Mountain development in Collingwood, a 467-square-foot condominium can be had for $166,000.
The Intrawest website proclaims: “It’s a Buyer’s Market at Blue.”
O’Bryan said Intrawest’s Canadian developments are likely holding up better than its U.S. holdings.
Intrawest’s claim to fame, though, is the development of Whistler’s ski village, which will be a centrepiece of the Winter Olympics Feb. 12-28.
Under Houssian’s leadership, the company steadily became more upscale, teaming up with luxury operator Four Seasons in 2002 to build a resort in Whistler.
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South Korea qualifies for a bobsleigh first
December 24, 2009
South Korea's bobsleigh team has emulated the Jamaicans of Cool Runnings fame and qualified for next year's Vancouver Olympics for the first time.
The country's four-man team, who have to train in Europe on borrowed sleds, qualified after a fifth-place finish at the America's Cup on the weekend lifted them to a world ranking of 15 and earned them a ticket to Canada, Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korea has no bobsleigh course and the team owns only two sleds for use in international competitions which they cannot afford to ship back and forth.
Pilot Kang Kwang-bae, who competed for his country in the luge at the past three Winter Olympics, said: "I'm so proud of my teammates. It's an honour."
Members of the Jamaican bobsleigh team became global celebrities after qualifying for the 1988 Calgary Games, providing inspiration for the hit movie Cool Runnings.
Kang is still on the lookout for two more Koreans to replace a pair of Ukrainian teammates who have helped fill the sled in the absence of fit and able volunteers.
"I heard that a training site for bobsledding is under construction in (2018 Winter Olympic bid city) Pyeongchang. That will be a great help to us," Kang told Yonhap.
Kang and teammate Kim Donghyun will also compete at next month's European Cup in Turin in a bid to boost their chances of qualifying for the two-man bobsleigh event in Vancouver
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Weather will be the wild card for 2010 Olympic Games
By Stephanie Levitz
December 24, 2009
Vancouver BC — Olympic organizers want a fairytale experience for the 2010 Winter Games, so the weather they need is what Goldilocks wanted from the three bears' porridge.
It can't be too hot, it can't be too cold. It needs to be just right.
"The weather for us is always been one of our major concerns in sport, it obviously affects our field of play and so anything that affects that is always a concern," said Tim Gayda, vice-president of sports for the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, in a recent interview.
"We took the weather into consideration way back even in the bid phase, about how we go about planning where the venues are (and) how we schedule the competitions, so the weather is pretty much at the forefront of our minds from years ago."
Too much huffing and puffing from Mother Nature in 2010 could blow the entire Olympic system down.
Adverse weather that forces the delay of an event impacts staff, volunteers, spectators, security, transportation and of course, the athletes.
It could also put a damper on the vision of Vancouver that officials need to help lure tourists back after the Games.
While red mittens might be the appropriate souvenir up in the crisp, snow-capped mountains of Whistler, B.C., the more practical souvenir for Vancouver itself might be the official Olympic umbrella.
On the dates the Games are being held, there's been an average of eight days with no precipitation at all over the last six years.
"The rain has never stopped Vancouver from doing anything, so if we can't play in the rain, we can't do anything so we learned to adjust to it and work with it," said Paul Welsh, general manager of Edelman Vancouver, a communications firm handling marketing for several Olympic-related events and sponsors.
"It could be a shocker if you're not from around here."
There are dozens of outdoor events planned around the Games and planners have been mindful that rain could ruin the fun.
Wary that rain could transform one of the city's sites into a mud hole, Vancouver officials found flooring made from old tires to cover an entire park.
When GE was looking around for its Games showcase, it went with a covered downtown plaza being turned into a skating rink. Tourists will stay dry but also get the feel of winter in a city better known for biking in February than blades.
For the 2010 Games, forecasters are predicting an El Nino winter, meaning balmy climes and the potential for fog.
Though the Games are just weeks away, organizers said they weren't prepared yet to discuss what contingency plans they have in place if there's a weather delay or how they'd handle something like an unexpected dumping of snow hours before a competition.
With the federal government investing $9 million in forecasting for the Games, surprises aren't likely.
Teams and organizers will get regular briefings from forecasters and Olympic officials on what to expect come competition day.
Decisions on cancellations or postponements will be made by the international sports federations in conjunction with meteorologists and organizers.
Only a few Winter Olympics have been pulled off with no weather delays at all, the most recent being the Lillehammer Games in 1994.
At the Calgary Games in 1988, every sport scheduled for Canada Olympic Park, including luge and bobsled, was postponed at some point. A warm Chinook wind had rolled in during the Games, softening ice on the tracks and knocking skiers around the hills.
Several test events for the 2010 Games were delayed or cancelled altogether this past year because of bad conditions, which also gave organizers a chance to refine their plans. They declined an interview request on what exactly they'll do differently in a few months time.
Though organizers can't control the weather, they can have some control over conditions on the field of play.
In 2010, they are removing all of the natural snow at the base of the ski jumps and replacing it with man-made snow in order to give jumpers consistent landing pads.
At the alpine ski runs, there will be a snow maintenance crew of 40 staff, working around the clock with a fleet of 20 snow cats.
According to the organizing committee, the snowmaking system for that venue has the capacity to make 21,000 litres of snow per minute.
Weather can also be a factor for indoor venues.
Five ice meisters were hired by the organizing committee to monitor conditions in the venues as anything higher than 45 per cent humidity in air creates frost, which ruins speed and control.
They'll each have access to a wireless environmental monitoring system called Eye on the Ice which will send them regular reports and alarms if conditions become unacceptable.
How simple it is to control indoor climate does make snowboarders a bit envious, said Christian Hrab, high performance director for the Canadian Snowboard Federation.
But the unpredictability of performing outdoors is in part what attracts people to sport, he said.
"It's definitely one of the parts that makes the sport so interesting is that there is so many changing factors all the time that we have to prepare for," he said.
One key for snowboarders will be their wax technician, who will mix a different combination of wax for boards depending on humidity and temperature.
In addition to the logistical nightmare that comes with delaying an event, weather can also take a toll on athletes' morale.
That's something ski jumpers have become used to.
"Whenever you have a sport that is controlled flight, wind makes a big difference and trying to minimize the effect on the athletes with wind is very important," said Brent Morrice, chairman of Ski Jumping Canada.
Delays and postponements for ski jumping is common and it's why their event is on the first day of the Games, to allow room for rescheduling.
Recently, the international body that governs the sport changed the scoring system to take wind speeds into account when awarding points during competition.
But while in the fairy tale, Goldilocks ran away from the three bears, athletes don't have the same choice if they aren't faced with just right conditions during the Games.
"The best athletes can deal with anything," said Hrab. "The very best will show up on a bad weather day and see the advantage they can have over everybody else and just be strong."
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Steamboat skiers relish chance to come home
By Luke Graham
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Emiko Torito could only watch as Hannah Kearney narrowly nudged her from the top of the podium and out of the lone automatic berth to the Olympics that was up for grabs Wednesday. She took a moment to compose herself before addressing members of the media.
The Lowell Whiteman School graduate and freestyle moguls skier had put down the fastest second run of the day and looked as if she might have stamped her ticket to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
But for as much as it must have hurt, Torito — whose family still lives in Denver while she resides in Park City, Utah — brightened up when asked about the Voo Doo ski run and what it was like to come back to Steamboat to compete.
“This is where I feel like I blossomed as a skier,” said Torito, who still has a good shot at making the Olympic team. “Coming back to this mogul course where I spent so many countless hours as a teenager, hiking the mogul jumps and training, it’s like coming back to my roots. This is really nice. Steamboat’s incredible.”
Torito was among a group of moguls skiers at Wednesday’s 2010 U.S. Winter Olympics Team Trials that used to — or still — call Steamboat home.
For all of them, coming back to Steamboat — and particularly the Voo Doo course — was something special.
Especially with the 1,000 or so spectators in attendance.
“It feels so great,” said Eliza Outtrim, who attended The Lowell Whiteman School her senior year and still calls Steamboat home in the summers. “To come back and get to ski on this course is a great opportunity. It’s always really, really fun.”
Although none of Steam?boat’s brethren won Wednesday, the results didn’t damper the many homecomings.
“It’s been good. I wish I could have done a little better and laid down a better run,” said Mike Morse, who lives in Steamboat. “I was having a little trouble in the middle section. I’ll keep moving from here and hopefully things will get better.”
Morse already has two top-10 finishes on the World Cup circuit this season and looks like he’ll be up for consideration for one of the Olympic spots. Outtrim, who is finishing up an economics degree at Colorado College, said she has an outside chance to make the team.
For Torito, however, Wednesday’s second-place finish seemed to provide some motivation.
“That’s my goal this year is to go as big as I can and be faster and bigger than every girl on the mountain,” she said. “I feel like I accomplished that and skied a good run with a lot of pressure. … This is the right direction to go to the Olympics. I think I can keep improving to make that goal of the Olympic podium. I’m headed there.”
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