Nowadays, with a team of veteran managers and 150 full-time employees, the Muellers have a little more time for outside pursuits than they did in 1982. Diane paints watercolors and squeezes in a four-mile run most mornings. Tim likes to pull over at one of the ponds that he passes on his drive to work for a short stretch of duck hunting. But the ski and snowboarding gear that Tim keeps stashed in his office closet still doesn't get much use. "I'm lucky to get out once a week, and that's mostly to check on the operations," he says.
The Muellers' schedule seems unlikely to change. In 1998, they began operating the state-owned Mount Sunapee ski area, in New Hampshire, and last year, they signed a $92 million contract (now tied up in litigation) to buy the Steamboat Ski resort, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, from troubled American Skiing Co. Why not just take it easy and kick back with an Irish coffee from the lodge? "We're entrepreneurs," Diane says. "We can't stop ourselves." Adds Tim: "We just like to see things grow and make things happen."
Contributing editor Scott Kirsner (kirsner@att.net) spends much of his time during the winter months strapped to his snowboard. Learn more about Okemo Mountain Resort on the Web (www.okemo.com).
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
