Pinkham Notch, NH – Missouri-based Peak Resorts confirmed today recent rumors that it has entered into a purchase agreement with Pat Franchi to acquire all Wildcat Mountain Ski Area assets and attractions in Pinkham Notch. Parties involved expect to finalize the purchase pending approval by the U.S. Forest Service.nThe purchase will add to Peak Resorts’ growing portfolio of New England ski resorts, which includes nearby Attitash and Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire and Mount Snow in Vermont. Wildcat Mountain will become the 12th ski resort currently owned and operated by Peak Resorts.

“Wildcat Mountain is a legendary ski resort known to many in the industry and it has a lot of history,” said Peak Resorts CEO Tim Boyd. “I am pleased to add Wildcat Mountain to Peak Resorts because it offers a unique, year-round experience in a one-of-a-kind location and there are opportunities for growth and improvement over the long-term that we can consider and are familiar with delivering at all of our resorts.”

In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps started clearing the Wildcat trail, one of the first ski racing trails built in the United States. Twenty-five years later, on January 25, 1958, Wildcat Mountain opened for lift-serviced skiing with The Wildcat Gondola and a single T-bar surface lift. Wildcat’s trademark for many years, the Wildcat Gondola was the first lift of this type in the U.S. to be built.

Franchi and his family purchased Wildcat Mountain from original developers in 1986 and made significant capital investments to day lodge facilities, snowmaking, summer attractions, and lifts. In 1997, Franchi replaced the original gondola with the Wildcat Express, a high-speed detachable quad chairlift that accesses the summit at more than 4,000 feet in just over six minutes, providing visitors over 2,100 vertical feet of skiing and riding in the winter. The lift is converted in the summer and fall with four-person enclosed gondola cabins to be the state’s highest scenic gondola.

Franchi’s legacy will be his support to many charitable foundations including the continued annual Yahoo weekends hosting children and their families from Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Peaks Resorts is considering the marketing opportunities and potential value offered in combining lift ticket and season pass products valid at both Wildcat and Attitash for the approaching 2010-11 ski and snowboard season.

“Being two of New Hampshire’s larger resorts and located in relative close proximity to one another, there is much to be gained in ticket and season pass products that are valid at both Attitash Mountain Resort and Wildcat Mountain,” said Peak Resorts Vice-President Kent Graham. “Visitors to our valley and locals alike will now be able to gain greater value and access to the best of each resort’s defining attributes and distinctive qualities.”

Graham also stated that Peak Resorts will be replacing old snow gun technology at Wildcat Mountain with more productive and energy efficient snowmaking equipment as well as upgrading and expanding the snow grooming fleet this season.