SUBLETTE COUNTY – A rumor swirling about a billionaire buying White Pine Resort for its liquor license was laid to rest this week with a video call to owners Alan and Robyn Blackburn in New Zealand.

The Blackburns would never sell White Pine to be anything other than what it is right now – a family-friendly ski and summer resort. They were adamant about that.

Community support over the past winter’s ski season that opened with perfect snow was “really tremendous,” Alan Blackburn said. “The year before we didn’t have much of a season.”

“It was great, really really great,” he said. “There was really tremendous support from the locals and the visitors with family, friends and locals coming up several times.”

Yes, they said, Jackson Fork Ranch owner Joe Ricketts has expressed interest in White Pine.

But selling to anyone who would split it up “would be horrible for the community,” Robyn Blackburn said. “We need to ensure continuity at White Pine.”

A perfect buyer would “preserve it and look after it, treasure it and keep it the way it is, not split it up,” she said.

The Blackburns did sell White Pine’s outfitting and guiding (OG) business recently to Wyoming Catholic College of Lander.

“We cannot sell the permits,” Alan Blackburn said, because 16 years ago, the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the forest where the resort is located, determined that if White Pine ownership changed, the special-use permits are “null and void.”

“Catholic College does not want a ski resort,” he said. “We sold them the OG (outfitting and guiding) operation and they can apply for their special-use days on the wilderness and forest.”

That recent transaction doesn’t affect anything for the public or local outfitters, Blackburn said. “It’s never really been a huge part of our business. White Pine can definitely function without the OG business.”

The college’s outfitting operations do not have to be based at White Pine, he added, “But they could if they wanted.”

White Pine still owns the horse corrals and Bobbi Wade is leasing that part to base her horseback business, Blue Sky Sage, Blackburn said.

Events like wedding receptions and family reunions will be on the summer calendar, which is managed by general manager Katie Lane after her successful ski season management.

Because of Lane’s growing competence, Blackburn is loosening his “hands-on management” after spending the entire winter at White Pine, with less to oversee each week.

In March, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and several weeks ago he flew to New Zealand where Robyn had returned to wait out the pandemic.

“He basically needs to retire,” she said.

Blackburn’s treatments help manage the illness, he added and he’s returning to Pinedale.

“It’s going to be a busy summer at White Pine,” he said. “I will be back mid-May but I will no longer do the hands-on management. Katie is so competent.”