Donnelly, ID – With approval from the Idaho Land Board, resort creditors and Valley County officials, members of the Tamarack Municipal Association (TMA) representing homeowners indicate that they now only need approval from a bankruptcy judge to fire up the resort’s dormant ski lifts this winter.nAs a result, the TMA is selling $199 season passes and looking to hire 65 to 75 seasonal employees. Homeowners have kicked in a quarter of a million dollars to fund the plan.

Tamarack, which first opened in 2004 as the nation’s newest ski resort, abruptly ceased operations in 2009 and sunk into bankruptcy. While a federal bankruptcy judge sorts out claims from creditors and the resort’s owners look to sell the property to pay claimants, the MRA has floated a plan to operate several of the resorts lifts Thursdays through Sundays this winter, beginning Dec. 20. Earlier attempts by homeowners to operate the ski resort last winter failed due to opposition by creditors to terms imposed by a potential Mexican financier.

Meanwhile, the resort has asked the bankruptcy judge to appoint a restructuring officer to help sell the resort as primary owners Jean-Pierre Boespflug and Alfredo Miguel have offered to step down from their management positions, a condition imposed by one of the resort’s creditors to facilitate a $2 million loan to help sell the ski area. Such a loan is considered an indication that a deal to sell the resort is close at hand.