New Owner Of Meadowlark Ski Resort Says He Wants To Keep It Small

At a time when billionaires and big corporations are snapping up mom-and-pop ski hills and turning them into posh playgrounds, Meadowlark Ski Resort’s new owners say they plan to keep it small and local. The youthful owners, including Jose Mas, want to build a community base camp for the long haul rather than a quick flip or luxury resort.

On a clear winter day at Meadowlark, just above Ten Sleep Canyon, you will see a breathtaking panoramic view of frozen Meadowlark Lake and the surrounding peaks of the Bighorn Mountains. One thing you will not see are lines. Even with several hundred skiers on the mountain, regulars say they still feel like they have the place to themselves. Buffalo resident Chopper Grassell, who handled the Meadowlark listing as an associate broker with Compass Land and Ranch in Jackson, said, “This is the best little ski area in Wyoming, I can assure you of that. Meadowlark, by a mile, is the greatest small ski area in Wyoming.”

Mas might seem an unlikely savior for a small Wyoming ski area. He grew up in Florida but fell in love with skiing at the University of Colorado-Boulder. After graduation, he moved back to Miami, but it did not take. “I was missing the mountains a lot,” he said. He became part of a group that traveled to national parks, but he found the experiences fragmented. That gave him the idea to start a business creating a base camp experience—a one-stop shop for outdoor adventurers. “So me and my partners, we came out here to visit Meadowlark, and we instantly fell in love,” he said.

Grassell said it was important to vet potential buyers, ensuring they understood what they were getting into and would be a good cultural fit for Wyoming. “What impressed me the most about these guys is they’ve been around in other businesses,” he said. “They’re long-term investors. They’re not known for buying and flipping companies. They’re known for being extremely loyal to their employee group.”

Mas acknowledges there will be skeptics. “There are going to be some skeptics,” he said. “You have a group from Florida who came in and bought a mountain, and they don’t know us. And just seeing what’s happened in the ski industry over the last 20 years, it’s obvious there are going to be people who are worried.” But he said he will keep showing up and listening. “We’re here to create, to build upon the legacy of what’s been here over the last 60 years,” he said. “We don’t want to change it. We want to add more things. We don’t want to kick people out of their home.”

Mas envisions a four-season resort with all the old experiences Meadowlark has always offered, plus a few new ones. He wants to offer horseback riding to alpine lakes for fishing, rent razors and ATVs for exploring the national forest, and add mountain biking and beginner mountain climbing trails. He also wants a coffee shop with grab-and-go sandwiches, free Wi-Fi, and a free Meadowlark library with books and artifacts telling the story of the resort and the Bighorns. “We want to be part of Wyoming, part of Meadowlark, part of Wyoming for the next 60 years and pass it down,” he said. The resort will be closed this summer while they work on fixing cabins and answering Facebook comments, then reopen for the next winter season.