The Hidden Valley Foundation has confirmed that Kettler Brothers has put the resort up for sale. The resort property includes the ski area, the golf course, inn, conference center, tennis club and I am guessing over 1,000 acres of developable land ( the orginal resort property was over 2,000 acres). Many HV residents will be happy to see Kettler go, however, the planning and layout, walking trails, vegetation preservation, the numerous ponds, resort architecture and resort atmosphere are all superior to most of the resorts that I have been to. Clarence Kettler, the visionary behind the land planning, should be given an award for the excellent work that he did. However, as far as running a resort, they were clueless. And now I hear that they have some serious tax bills due because a large loan was forgiven (thus becoming taxable income). I heard rumors that there are 3 suitors bidding for all or part of the resort. Bids are supposed to be due by the beginning of August. This could affect if Laurel Mountain opens this year since, who knows, 7Springs may be one of the suitors.

Jimmy, Murphy, now's our chance! Moonshine Mountain has a price tag on it! Let's move!

Don't worry Snowsmith, when we get done overhauling Hidden Valley there won't be a trace of the old regime left...

Which reminds me, maybe we could get Laurel from Seven Springs and convert that if things don't work out at HV...

I know that I'm probably pipe-dreaming, but it sure would be awesome if 7Springs would buy HV and create some connecting trails/lifts between the two resorts. They're on the same ridge and only separated by a little over a mile.....but there is State Forest land between them, which would certainly be a complicating factor.

Moonshine mountain? That's a good one. Your must be referring the liftees that HV hired.

I don't think a connecting trail is possible. The two ridges are too far apart. You can easily see 7S from HV but a connecting trail? I doubt it.
Does anyone have any ideas as to who may be bidding on the resort? How about a joint owner for HV, Laurel and Blue Knob? You could ski all 3 in the same day.

Rumors include 7springs and disney(yes that disney) but like i said just rumors . I just hope it opens this year/

Ya know, i'd not thought much about locating Moonshine Mountain in PA. Didn't seem like the moonshiners had much history there. But i found this, web page and i wonder if whiskey's that important in SW PA, maybe we need to take a closer look. We could have a re-enactment daily at 4:30 right in front of kwill's still.

Having 7S run all 3 Western PA resorts (7S, HV, & LM) would be awesome. One can only hope!!! Only one reservation, though, is the likelihood of a steep increase in season pass prices.

Yeah but the choice would be great. I would love to see my 50 dollar season pass good at LM,HV, and 7S.

Disney? Why would Disney want to run a small ski area? There must be other suitors. How about Snowtime? Or the owners of Wisp wanting to compete with 7Springs? Or some rich fat cat who's obsessed with skiing and wants a resort to play with (like the guy who orginally purchased Laurel Mountain, then died 2 weeks later). How about the 84 Lumber guy who owns Nemacolon Woods Resort. How about Booth Creek Holdings who tried to purchase 7Springs several years back?

The choice would be great but a $50 season pass to ski 3 mountains... ??? I don't think so.

Remember, if HV didn't drop season pass rates several years ago to attract customers, you'd still be seeing $700 season passes @ 7S. If 7S becomes the only game in town (western PA), say goodbye to the $350 season pass.

Here's a link with an image showing both 7S and Hidden Valley.

7S-HV-Image

Oh yeah, one of the first whiskey rebellions in the history of the country. Whiskey has a long and proud history of causing strife, unrest, and civil disorder. I think beer- especially light beer, Jimmy- is just a conspiracy to keep us oppressed. Moonshine Mountain: Let Freedom Ring. Anyway...

That photo makes Hidden Valley and 7S seem an awfully long way apart to be connected by a ski run or two. You could probably build another ski area between the two and still not get connected. Who was trying to buy Blue Knob a couple years ago? Some British family, wasn't it? Wonder if they're still shopping around for a resort. Would probably be in better condition than BK, but maybe the price isn't right.

I am a instructer at HV so yeah 50 bucks was my cost last year. And i dont kow why disney but they has been rumors since ski seasons about them. Rumors coming from the boss themselves. Heck with that much money who know what could be done.

Josh who is more worried about someone not buying the place than anything.

I think that a wild card in in this situation is the new slot-machine law in PA. The law provides for 2 slot-machine licenses at hotels/resorts (as well as 4 or 5 at racetracks, and 2 at stand-alone gambling casinos). Thus far there have only been 2 resorts - 7 Springs and Nemacolin - that have expressed interest in those 2 licenses, and 7 Springs may have a problem since their board of directors is apparently made up of the same group of people as their borough council, which is frowned upon by the slots law. Would Disney be interested if HV provided them a possible avenue for a slots license? Stranger things have happened. It'll be interesting to watch this play out.

Sorry BushwackerinPA... didn't know you were a ski instructor @ HV. But for the rest of us who purchase season passes at non-ski instructor rates, a 7S takeover of HV would, in my opinion definitely increase season pass rates. On the flip side though, I have no doubts that if 7S would buy HV, regulars @ HV would be thrilled at the high quality, professional operations provided by 7S management & staff, both on and off slope (e.g. LM was operated exceptionally well last year).

As a side note, please view my edited comment about LM's status. Should know whether LM will open this year by the end of the month.

Trust me, we are excited to see the manangment changed.

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Would Disney be interested if HV provided them a possible avenue for a slots license? Stranger things have happened. It'll be interesting to watch this play out.

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This would really go against the grain of what Disney has done in the past. I can't seem them promoting family-friendly gambling. Plus, Disney doesn't seem to do anything lowkey and HV just doesn't seem like a spot that disney could exploit. Plus, the evil of big corporations(accountants) would demand that this is showing some type of profit already, unless they are scrapping the whole thing and creating Disneyworld PA.

BTW, I used to be one of those corporate accountants so I know how number ruthless we can be.