Whistler Blackcomb Callaghan Valley. The British Columbia government paid $600 million for major upgrades to the Sea-to-Sky Highway, which carried the majority of visitors to the alpine sites. In 2006 Intrawest was purchased by the alternative asset management firm, Fortress Investment Group. Three weeks before the opening of the 2010 Olympics, Fortress failed to make payment on its loan used to buy out Intrawest. This caused its creditors to force Intrawest to divest itself of several of its resort holdings in 2009 and 2010 which included a partial sale of Whistler Blackcomb, in order to reduce its debt load. This was achieved
Whistler Blackcomb hired Intrawest to build similar developments on their behalf. In 2010 Intrawest sold off much of its 75% interest in Whistler Blackcomb Resort via a public share offering. On August 8, 2016, American company Vail Resorts bought Whistler Blackcomb Holdings for C$1.39 billion. Nippon Cable minority interest in Whistler Blackcomb resort has continued throughout the ownership changes, by way of ownership of a 25% interest of the Whistler and Blackcomb partnerships. The ski areas at Whistler and Blackcomb are situated on two ridge-lines running roughly northwest to southeast. The two are separated by a deep valley with Fitzsimmon's Creek running