A group of Mt. Bachelor skiers and snowboarders are gathering support in hopes of buying the ski area and making it an affordable place for the community to enjoy.

Since making a half-joking social media post seven days ago, Chris Porter and Dan Cochrane have received a groundswell of support from people who want to pitch in and help, Cochrane said. More than 5,000 emails have poured in, some offering as much as $250,000 to buy the ski area west of Bend.

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Mt. Bachelor ski area up for sale

“Our goal is to bring Mt. Bachelor back to its original mission,” said Cochrane, who is a social worker and snowboarder. “We’ve watched things change, and we’ve gone from the nostalgia of the old ski hill to a resort-oriented sport. That’s not the original intent.”

The group plans to make an offer to the ski area’s owners, Powdr Corp. The price tag is believed to be $200 million.

Powdr Corp., of Park City, Utah, announced last week that it was going to put the ski area up for sale along with two other ski resort properties. The company purchased Mt. Bachelor in 2001 from a group of owners that included the family of founder Bill Healy, and Pape Group of Eugene. Powdr sold Killington Resort and Pico Mountain in Vermont, the largest mountain resort in New England, to a group of local passholders, the Associated Press reported.

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The sale is being brokered by JP Morgan Chase, said Stacey Hutchinson, Powdr Corp. vice president of communications and government affairs.

Mt. Bachelor plays a key role in attracting visitors during the winter months, said Scott Larson, Visit Central Oregon CEO. The average winter visitor spends about $200 a day per person in Central Oregon, Larson said.

“It remains a huge draw year after year,” said Larson. “We know from our research that over half of our winter visitors come for some form of outdoor recreation, and Mt. Bachelor is a huge driver in that.”

The local-purchase vision is that a corporate structure could be erected quickly that would resemble something like Patagonia, the outdoor clothing company, or Toms shoes, said Porter. Both of these companies focus on social responsibility over profits as their mandates, and Patagonia is owned by a trust set up by the founders.

The Mt. Bachelor group realizes that it must move quickly as other operators may want to bid on the property. Forming nonprofits and corporations sometimes can be a lengthy process, Porter said.

“We’re coming from an environment of Powdr owning the ski area and not being very transparent,” Porter said. “Think of Patagonia and how the shareholders are the environment.”

In the past there have been complaints circulating in the community that the ski area is not well maintained with lifts not running and employees are not well-compensated, said Porter, who is a business teacher at La Pine High School.

At a meeting on Thursday, Porter and Cochrane met with about 20 people, including some Healy family members, who all believe that it’s possible for a crowd-funded ownership structure to emerge. Other areas and businesses have done this, Porter said. One that Porter is looking at is the Mt. Ashland Ski Area, which became a nonprofit in 1992 and is governed by an 11-member board of directors.

“We’re worried that a private equity investment firm will come in and own 51% of the area,” Porter said. “We want it to stay in the community. We’re trying to develop a new model and pathway. We are trying to make this so everyone has access and the ability to purchase a share.”