Good twists and turns for Otten

Otten was never a business guy who liked to ski; he was always a skier who found his way, as early as his college years, into the industry.

And after falling short in his bid to reclaim Sunday River two years ago, Otten today maintains a sanguine view of things.

"Seeing the tremendous values my companies finally sold for is quite heartening," he said.

And as he prepared to head off skiing with his family, Otten noted in response to a question about the sport, "You're right. The passion never dies."

But talk to him for very long, and the bitterness is still there. And along the way, there was his second passion - baseball.

In 2004, he became a small investor in the current Red Sox management group, convinced the existing Fenway Park was one of the greatest assets the team owned, and helped find a way to modernize it and expand the seating rather than build a new park.

But when he made his bid to buy Sunday River and Sugarloaf, Otten sold his interest in the team to prepare for what he hoped would be his restart in the ski industry. (He will not discuss his return.)

By then, Otten had lost control of American Skiing, although he hoped to reacquire its two Maine assets. However, his bid was eclipsed by Boyne USA Resorts, which offered $77 million and $2 million in debt and liabilities. Otten's view is that his bid was only used to drive the selling price higher, though a former ASC executive denies that Otten was blocked from consideration.

Regretful partnership

Whatever the case, the failure to reacquire Sunday River was a final blow in a nightmare, the makings of which began almost a decade earlier when ASC was a high-flying company that owned nine resorts from Maine to California.

But the acquisition of those properties resulted in debt, which Otten sought to pay down in part by selling ASC stock, but the timing could not have been worse. Two poor snow winters led to income losses and eventually a tightening of ASC credit.