Vail, Colorado — Tributes are pouring in across the country for a ski industry legend who played a major role in skiing.
On September 22nd, George Gillett Jr. passed away following a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s. The sports and media businessman owned the Montreal Canadiens, chaired Liverpool F.C., managed the Harlem Globetrotters, and owned both Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek.
Leading Vail During Its Glory Days
For a stretch in the 1980s and early 1990s, Gillett owned Vail Associates. During his tenure, he helped grow Vail through new lifts and terrain expansions. He also brought in the 1989 World Alpine Ski Championships.
Following the acquisition of the ski resorts in 1985, Gillett said that he wanted to “hold up a mirror, and remind ourselves that we are primarily in business for the customers. We have a rigorous budgeting process, and our notion of emphasizing quality and service doesn’t mean we’re not cost conscious, because we are. But I think that once we establish a budget, then we’re gone. We’ve left our heritage. Our heritage is that ‘I have a vision.'”
And that he did, as guests loved his tenure. His work helped Vail secure the number-one-ranked resort in Snow Country Magazine for three straight years.
Tributes came pouring in across the skiing community for Gillett. Vail Daily’s article is a good read on his legacy in Eagle County, but this quote by the son of Vail Mountain’s founder summarizes his impact:
“I don’t want it to be a big dig at anybody else, but I think you’ve got to say that the Gillett era was a golden era for Vail. He opened China Bowl, he got Blue Sky Basin — it was in the permit in ’57 — but George kept it moving because without China and Siberia bowls you don’t get to Blue Sky,” said Pete Seibert Jr. “The high-speed lifts, he kept adding them, and the added capacity, but more importantly, the experience changed...
You didn’t spend half your day in the lift line and on the lift; you were skiing. And George just invested in everything. Vail was his baby. He wanted Vail to be, from what I could see and what my dad liked about him, they both wanted Vail to be the best in the world.”
Unfortunately, his ambitious buildout came with debt, the stock market crash of the late 1980s, and high interest rates, and Vail Associates went bankrupt in 1991. Leon Black of Apollo Global Management bought his shares in Vail Associates and built up what would become Vail Resorts.
Second Act In Skiing
In 1996, he created Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. At one time, this company owned three New Hampshire ski resorts (Cranmore, Loon, and Waterville), three California ski resorts (Bear, Northstar, and Sierra-at-Tahoe), Grand Targhee in Wyoming, and The Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington. All of them have since been sold to new owners/operators.
His contributions to the ski industry led to his induction into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame in 2005.
We send our condolences to Gillett’s family and friends during this time.
Image/Video Credits: Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame
