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Blacktail Mountain Ski Area Listed For Sale

Owners are asking $3.5 million for Lakeside operation

By Justin Franz
Opening day at Blacktail Mountain Ski Area on Dec. 20, 2014. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

The owners of Blacktail Mountain Ski Area have put the Lakeside operation up for sale.

Steve Spencer, ski area general manager and one of the founders, said the ski area is listed for $3.5 million. The sale includes the summit lodge, lifts, equipment and the special use permit from the Flathead National Forest, which owns the land the ski area uses.

“We’ve been operating the mountain for 19 years and all of us are well passed retirement age so we figured we should start looking for an exit plan,” he said.

Spencer, a Flathead Valley native, helped found Blacktail in the mid-1990s. The mountain opened in December 1998 and since then has grown in popularity. Today, about 100 people work at the ski area and it hosts approximately 45,000 skiers and riders annually.

Spencer said the mountain is profitable and that there are many opportunities to expand the ski area.

“I hope whoever buys it will take it to the next level,” he said.

According to Spencer, the owners have gotten a number of inquiries about the sale but no offers yet. The general manager said that regardless of whether the ski area is sold in the coming months, Blacktail Mountain would be open for skiing and riding during the 2017-2018 season.