The new owner of Meadowlark, a humble ski area in Wyoming, is making the rounds, chatting with local news outlets to share his vision for what the future could hold.
The news first broke earlier this month in a press release that said the ski area and lodge had been swooped up by MAS Tierra, a “newly formed hospitality venture operating under Miami-based investment firm MAS Alpha Securities.”
Now, the picture of the new team is becoming clearer. MAS Tierra was founded by Jose Mas, Jr., who grew up in Florida but attended college in Boulder, Colorado, visiting local ski resort classics like Arapahoe Basin and Vail.
He returned to Florida after graduating, but missed the mountains and later moved back to Colorado. Mas eventually had the idea of a base-camp-style experience that served as a “one-stop shop for the outdoor adventurer,” Cowboy State Daily reported.
What does that mean for Meadowlark? The proposed changes, so far, don’t seem dramatic. The Cowboy State Daily noted that while Mas understands the economics of corporations transforming little mountains into luxury destinations, it’s not what he wants for Meadowlark.
MAS Tierra
Speaking with the outlet, he highlighted off-season activities. He said that he wants visitors to be able to go horseback riding and rent ATVs, noting that those kinds of things have been available, but not formally offered.
The press release also mentioned a “future offering of a range of excursions, nature exploration and guided tours through open terrain.”
Mas showed interest in adding a coffee shop alongside free Wi-Fi. He’d like to see a free library at Meadowlark that shares the history of the ski area and the surrounding Bighorn mountains.
Mas appears to be aware of how an outside owner might look. Skiers never know what they might get after their local mountain is bought, particularly when it doesn’t involve one of the dominant resort businesses. At the very least, if Vail comes into the picture, you know you’ll be getting an Epic Pass.
“There are going to be some skeptics,” Mas said, per the Daily. “You have a group from Florida who came in and bought a mountain, and they don’t know us.”
With that in mind, he plans to listen, the outlet continued.
“We don’t want to change [Meadowlark]. We want to add more things. We don’t want to kick people out of their home, and this is their home,” Mas said.
MAS Tierra
In the near future, the Buffalo Bulletin reported that the new ownership will focus mainly on clearing up deadfall this summer and engaging with people in town. Ticket and pass prices are set to go unchanged for next winter.
Per a reply to a social media post, the new team is also working on updating the ski area website and “getting Meadowlark to the 21st century!”
MAS Tierra bought Meadowlark from Wayne and Holli Jones, the ski area’s previous owners since 2009. The new owners have a one-year permit with the local Forest Service branch, which administers the lodges. After the first year, if MAS Tierra meets the Forest Service requirements, they’ll extend to a 40-year permit for the ski area and a 20-year permit for the lodge, the Buffalo Bulletin reported.
“We welcome partners who approach this land with genuine respect for [the Bighorn National Forest’s] history, while also bringing new communities to the region to experience everything it has to offer,” said Amy Ormseth, an official with the Forest Service, in the news release.
MAS Tierra
This is the first property under the MAS Tierra umbrella.
The group, according to its website, is “grounded in a simple idea: that the most meaningful experiences come from a deep connection to place. Each property begins with the land. Its scale, its history, its pace. From there, the approach is one of care and continuity, not reinvention.”
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