Jul. 17-- Whatever is happening with ailing American Skiing Co.'s sale of its prized Steamboat ski hill is staying very hush-hush. 

Not one group has publicly expressed an interest in buying Steamboat since American announced in May its intention to sell its flagship resort as an attempt to stave off bankruptcy. 

American has required that all possible buyers sign a confidentiality agreement promising they will not reveal their interests in Steamboat. This week, Steamboat's managers will begin showing the resort to prospective buyers. 

Steamboat managers and the New York-based bankers handling the sale declined to comment. 

Six groups have expressed at least some interest in partnering with the city of Denver for the operation of Winter Park ski area, about 90 miles southeast of Steamboat. 

Is it safe to assume that at least those six also have approached American with an interest in buying the snowy hill in Ski Town USA? 

Harry Frampton, whose East West Partners asked Denver for some more information about partnering at Winter Park, said his group will not be pursuing Steamboat. 

"I imagine one is enough, don't you?" said Frampton, who developed Beaver Creek ski area as well as the now-bustling village surrounding it. "We can't do everything. Besides, we are more familiar with Winter Park, and there's a larger real estate component there." 

Powdr Corp. -- the Utah-based owner of Park City Mountain Resort, California's Alpine Meadows and Oregon's Mount Bachelor -- is also saying it is not interested. But the company, which recently sealed a $28 million deal for Mount Bachelor, has tossed its hat into the Winter Park fray. 

Vern Greco, president of Powdr's Park City ski hill, spent 18 years at the helm of Steamboat ski area before American Skiing bought it and California's Heavenly ski area for $288.3 million in 1997. The Japanese group that sold Steamboat to American purportedly paid $110 million for the resort. 

"Most people believe that the purchase price for Steamboat and Heavenly combined was over the top," said Greco, pondering how much American is asking for Steamboat, which now boasts a brand new $50 million, 327-room lodge. 

"They need to generate some cash badly," said Greco. "Is this going to be a fire-sale type thing or will American stick to their guns in terms of a purchase price?" 

American, whose stock is perilously close to a delisting on the New York Stock Exchange, announced Monday that it had secured a $30 million cash infusion from its largest shareholder, Texas-based Oak Hill Partners. It's the third time in as many years that the group, led by Texas billionaire Bill Bass, has pumped life-sustaining cash into American Skiing. 

Another Winter Park suitor, Tim Mueller, who once led a team of investors in the failed attempt to build a ski area at the now golf-heavy Lake Catamount neighborhood outside Steamboat Springs, also declined to reveal any interest in buying Steamboat. 

Canada-based Intrawest, the resort real estate goliath that last week announced it had presold $233 million in resort village property in the last 90 days, isn't saying anything about Steamboat. But then, Intrawest repeatedly told analysts and investors it wasn't in the acquisition mood before Denver revealed Intrawest was in line for more information about partnering with the city at Winter Park. 

"We are always looking at opportunities and exploring opportunities," said company spokesman Stephen Forgracs. "We are looking at all sorts of stuff." 

Intrawest has about $200 million in cash on hand right now, according to company president and chief executive officer Joe Houssain. In a press conference last week, Houssain announced that in the last three months, his real estate team had presold about 70 percent of its new projects at seven resorts across the continent. 

The sales will increase Intrawest's bed base by 9,000 at its 10 mountain resorts and one beach resort. An analyst's formula combining occupancy rates and spending patterns of Intrawest guests indicates those 9,000 beds will give the company about $10 million a year in resort revenue. And in the next 24 months, Intrawest will close on another $589 million in presold real estate. 

"There is no one else that even comes close to providing the amount of second-home housing that we are providing," Houssain said in the conference. 

While Intrawest, long rumored as a Steamboat buyer, is obviously a capable contender should a bidding war erupt for the 2,900-acre resort, some ski industry analysts wonder whether Steamboat has the real estate assets Intrawest requires in an acquisition. 

The company expects a 20 percent return on its investments, said Michelle Russo, a leisure analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. And they like to buy underperforming resorts surrounded by lots of undeveloped real estate. 

Whereas Winter Park boasts 160 acres of available real estate -- 120 acres of which is developable -- Steamboat's base-area real estate is already home to condominium complexes and a small village. The resort has one 47-acre parcel that has not been developed and about three other smaller parcels. 

"I'm not sure what the upside of Steamboat is for them," Russo said. "They have said repeatedly that they are not going to be dumping capital into projects if there is not a possibility for a large return." 

Hayley Kissel, a leisure analyst for Merrill Lynch, said, "I don't think Steamboat gives them the real estate opportunities they need to really make something work. But you almost think they have to be looking," Kissel said. "But for Intrawest to double down in the Colorado market by buying Steamboat, I'm not sure that would make a lot of sense." 

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