A decade ago, ski-industry experts, including the editors at Skiing Magazine, pronounced the family-owned and -operated resort endangered. The rise of behemoths such as Vail Resorts, Intrawest, and the American Skiing Company had the experts convinced. Meanwhile, the overall number of ski areas has been shrinking—from 622 resorts in 1988 to 481 in 2008, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Without fancy base villages, lucrative slopeside real estate projects, and the resources to invest in infrastructure such as high-speed lifts, the family-owned resort was, according to the experts, imperiled.