Nick Piazza

The only snow currently at Sleeping Giant near Pahaska Tepee is at the highest elevations of the ski lodge. But it's not skiable and the little snow there is a reminder of how tough it is to make a profit from skiers while winter snow comes later and later than previous seasons.

Cody international banking entrepreneur Nick Piazza wanted to reopen the community winter recreation facility, investing more than $2 million into the venture starting in 2020. However, nothing he could do would make it snow in time for the lodge to not lose money and he ended up begrudgingly closing the lodge about four years later.

Now, a Texas company is interested in acquiring a National Forest Service lease and the current assets at the business. They aren't concerned about the amount of snow the property receives; they are mostly interested in what they can do there in the summer, according to Piazza, who added that his company wasn't prepared to add to the summer fun.

"All I heard for the entire time I was operating [Sleeping Giant] was that I was a total moron because I wasn't running the summer [attractions], and that's where we could make all the money," Piazza said. "So these guys came in, they said, 'Look, we want to make a big investment here. We want this to be a destination. We want to upgrade the facilities. And we're not going to say an outright No to skiing, but we're not going to promise that we're going to run during the winter.' To be quite honest, you know, that was probably the best offer we had."

Those previously interested in the property had apparently planned to make Sleeping Giant more into a private club rather than something that would benefit folks from surrounding communities, Piazza said.

"HMH Capital was the best offer for the community that came in since the business was listed," he said. "They want to put $10 million into this thing over two to three years. And I think, you know, that's what it kind of needs, a big push."

Founded in 1990, HMH Capital Group is an asset management company located in Dallas with a background in private family wealth management, real estate investments for limited partners, as well as asset management and owner's representation services in various U.S. and European markets.

The company owns two other tourist attractions, including the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Colorado, which HMH Capital Group has been managing and operating since 2012. The company has completely rebuilt all of the improvements on the park grounds.

"The award winning and nationally recognized results have generated the highest revenues and profit in the almost 70 year operating history of the company," the company says on its website.

HMN Capital also owns and operates the Museum of The Bible, in Washington, D.C., which opened in 2017.

"They are willing to invest a pretty big chunk of money in the North Fork. Everybody's going to benefit in the North Fork corridor. It's going to drive more people out there, and it's going to be activities that everybody's been telling me for five years that they want," Piazza said.

To discuss the possible sale, the Wapiti Ranger District of the Shoshone National Forest held a public meeting to introduce the prospective buyers of Sleeping Giant Ski Resort to the community at the Wyoming Game and Fish field office in Cody on Wednesday night (after press time). The meeting included information from the Shoshone National Forest about the process and future engagement opportunities for public involvement.

The deal has not been officially inked, but officials for HMH were at an inspection of the ski lifts Wednesday, just a few hours before the public meeting. There is a chance Piazza could retain a portion of the investment, but in a minority position, Piazza said.

Wapiti District Ranger for the Shoshone National Forest Casey McQuiston said he was eager to hear ideas for summer amusement at the public meeting, but that a "Six Flags" type option isn't going to fly, if, in fact, the deal goes through at all.

"It's not necessarily a foregone conclusion on all this. We have to follow a process, and it's still relatively early on in the process, so nothing's been decided yet," he said Wednesday morning.

He said despite it being early in the process, he wanted to engage the public. The public meeting allowed people to voice their opinions before the Service signs a contract with HMH.

"I felt like it was a good opportunity to engage the public, to let people know what's going on out there and introduce them to Brent [Hargrave] and HMH Capital, the prospective purchaser — well before things actually started happening out there," McQuiston said. "I would really like to see something going on out there — something for the recreating public. But it's not like an at-all-cost type of thing. I still want to make sure whatever is going on out there, whatever kind of additional activities, additional structures and features they're proposing is in keeping with the character of the North Fork corridor."

Hargrave told McQuiston he wants the summer activities to be cultural attractions using the unique landscape. That is attractive to the Forest Service as it looks for appropriate vendors inside the national forest.

"We don't want it to be like some super bright colors with a bunch of flashing lights and super loud activities or anything like that. So as long as it's in keeping with the character, it's definitely something we can consider," McQuiston said.

Some of the possible activities mentioned in negotiations have included mountain biking, a summer tubing run and other activities meant to add value to the already available zip line infrastructure. The Sleeping Giant ski hill was established in 1936. As ski hills have turned into massive resorts or have been pushed out of business, investors and the community of Cody have made huge efforts to sustain this historic community ski hill.

For more information, contact the Wapiti Ranger Station at 307-527-6921.