Denver, CO’s Closest Ski Resort Filed for Bankruptcy Last Week:

According to the Denver Post, the owner of Denver’s closest ski resort, Echo Mountain, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last Friday. Nora Pykkonen bought the ski resort in 2012 and and is now unable to payback $1.45 million in loans to the ski resort’s to 20 creditors.

Nora claims that the ski resort will continue to operate despite the bankruptcy filing.

“We will continue to operate just as we have been operating. This is just a restructuring.” – Nora Pykkonen told the Denver Post

Nora Pyykonen - owner of Echo Mountain — Nora Pyykonen – owner of Echo Mountain

Nora bought the ski resort in 2012 and turned it into a private 226-acre ski race training facility that appeared to have promise before interest waned. The membership fee was $5,000 and $5 million in upgrades were promised. The private race ski resort model proved financially unviable and as that venture turned sour, Nora changed Echo back into a public ski resort this season in order to make more money. She reported good business over Christmas this year but not enough to pay back her creditors.

“Over Christmas, we were just shocked by the number of never-evers coming up to take lessons.” – Nora Pykkonen told the Denver Post

Nora’s new plan is to attract as many beginners as possible while continuing to provide race training along with terrain park features and some tree skiing.

It will be very interesting to see if Denver’s closest ski resort can keep the doors open.