Peak Resorts was a publicly traded Wildwood, Missouri-based company that operated ski resorts in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, United States. The company was founded in 1977 by Tim Boyd two years after graduating the University of Missouri when he bought the Wildwood Golf Course in the suburban St. Louis, Missouri, community of Wildwood, Missouri, for $250,000 with owner financing. In 1982, he added a ski resort that would become Hidden Valley Ski Area. Shortly thereafter, he opened a ski-resort in suburban Kansas City, Missouri, at Weston, Missouri. The company continued to expand owning Paoli Peaks in Paoli, Indiana; Boston Mills and Brandywine in Peninsula, Ohio. In 2002 it expanded with Crotched Mountain in Bennington, New Hampshire. In addition it has long term leases on Jack Frost and Big Boulder ski areas in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania in the Poconos as well as Mad River Mountain in Valley Hi, Ohio. In 2007, the company nearly tripled its revenue with the acquisition of Mount Snow in Vermont and Attitash in New Hampshire from the financially troubled American Skiing. The acquisition increased Peak Resorts ski visitors from 1 million to 1.7 million and revenue of $85 million. On October 21, 2010, the company announced it had entered into a purchase and sale agreement for Wildcat Mountain Ski Area, its third New Hampshire holding. Wildcat now operates as a sister resort to Attitash under the two mountains one ticket promotion allowing skiers and riders to alternate between resorts while using the same lift ticket. While previously privately owned, Peak Resorts shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on November 21, 2014, under the ticker symbol "SKIS." Its IPO saw an offering of 10,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $9.00 per share closed 9 days later on December 1, 2014. On November 30, 2015, the company announced its intention to purchase Hunter Mountain adding its first New York mountain to its stable of ski resorts. The acquisition was completed on January 7, 2016, in an all-cash deal of $35 million, plus the assumption of two capital leases estimated at approximately $1.8 million. For the 2016–17 ski season, Peak Resorts debuted a new season pass named the Peak Pass that linked its seven Northeast resorts: Mount Snow in Vermont; Attitash, Wildcat, and Crotched Mountain, in New Hampshire; Hunter Mountain in New York; Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania. On July 22, 2019 it was announced that Peak Resorts would be acquired by Vail Resorts, pending approvals. The transaction closed on September 24, 2019. The company's common stock was delisted from Nasdaq Global Select Market at the close of trading the same day.
