Community Effort to Purchase Mt. Bachelor Fails

Originally posted on Powder | By Izzy Lidsky | Last updated Mar 11, 2025 4:10 PM ET

Mt. Bachelor Community Inc (MBCI), otherwise known as the group of Bend, OR locals that organized an attempt to purchase the ski area from its current owners, Powdr Corp., have released an update on their attempt.

MBCI's update states that the organization was ultimately unable to submit a bid to purchase the mountain, which was estimated to cost around $200M, "due to time constraints " and competing with other bidders who had a five month head start.

The update notes their, "...mission to ensure that the broad community that loves this mountain has a meaningful equity stake and a voice in the future of Mt. Bachelor," remains unchanged.

Efforts to purchase the mountain began last fall when two Bend, Oregon locals, Dan Cochrane and Chris Porter created Mt. Bachelor Community, Inc. In January, MCBI released a progress report announcing they were in talks with JP Morgan Chase and an ultra high net worth individual about the mountain's purchase, and underlined many of the community groups intentions for the ski area if their bid was accepted.

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Two months later, those plans have changed. Despite the fact that MCBI will not be the owners of the Oregon ski area, the update still details the groups goal to 'establish democratized ownership' in the resort which they still hope to achieve through "integrating well-capitalized investors, strategic debt financing, and broad community investment in a synchronized manner."

The group hopes that this plan will garner financial support from the community and "ensure ownership remains focused on long-term growth and innovation."

Although the group was unsuccessful, the update notes the national recognition that their efforts gained with coverage from the New York Times and other media outlets. Rumor has it an Emmy-nominated director is considering making a Netflix documentary about the community effort.

MCBI closes by saying that a partnership between future ownership and the organization will ensure Mt. Bachelor operating at the "highest level."

The update does not have any mention of the GoFundMe started to raise money for the purchase of the mountain, which has collected more than $45K to date, and what will be done with those funds.

New ownership of Mt. Bachelor has not been confirmed.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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