Choteau, MT – Teton Pass ski area near Choteau has a new owner, who says that changes are on the way for the Montana resort.

Five or six new runs and two new lifts are in this summer’s plans that will cost $1.2 million, says New Zealand native Nick Wood, who purchased the ski area for $270,000. He plans to spend up to $3 million to upgrade the ski area over the next two years, including building renovations and two additional lifts.

Wood has a history of business success in his home country, where he founded and subsequently sold one of New Zealand’s largest Internet providers. He has also developed several resort hotels in the South Pacific. He has brought in two U.S. investors to partner with developing Teton Pass.

The first two new lifts going in this summer are poma surface lifts that will increase the ski area’s vertical drop by 400 feet to 1,400 feet. The new lifts, planned to be in operation by the 2010-11 ski and snowboard season, would add another 250 acres of skiable terrain to the resort. The two new lifts planned for installation next summer would add yet another 300 vertical feet.

Teton Pass ski area has not operated since the 2008-09 winter season.