Mother Nature Played Santa, Scrooge Over Christmas Holidays

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06 January 2016

Push to The Latest: No

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2016—It was a tale of two sides. One side was bountiful with business up and deep snow. The other side did not repeat the success of a year ago due to a lack of snow and mild temps. As usual, Mother Nature dictated much of how Christmas week went for resorts across North America.

The Western half of the country has been getting bountiful snow since November—a marked difference between this year and last for many on the West Coast—which resulted in happy guests and big numbers for resorts.

Ski Apache, N.M., was up 12 percent over the holiday weeks and set an all-time, single day record for visitation on Dec. 28.

Mountain High in SoCal was up 15 percent year-over-year from Dec. 19 through Jan. 3, and its North Pole Tubing Park was sold out 90 percent of the time. At Tahoe, Mike Pierce from Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, Nev., said, “The Christmas holiday period was a homerun.” Mt. Rose is up compared to last year, but not dramatically because the resort actually fared pretty well with snow before Christmas 2014, which spurred business during the holidays.

Further north in Washington, Stevens Pass saw its best visitation numbers since 2006-07, exceeding the resort's five year average over the holiday period by 35 percent. Season-to-date, overall visitation is up 119 percent compared to last year. If there's any question that snow is a catalyst for an uptick in business, it took just 22 days this year for Stevens Pass to reach the total amount of snow it received during the entire 2014-15 season. The resort received 12 feet of snow in December.

That news is consistent with most areas in the Northwest. According to John Gifford, president of Pacific Northwest Ski Area Association, “It was a very busy week for everybody. They were all singing, ‘Happy days are here again!'”

In Colorado, Purgatory was up five percent year-over-year in visitation and spending over the holidays, thanks in large part to five feet of snow that fell during Christmas week.

Utah got a boost from one of the biggest snowstorms in recent memory. The storm rolled through during the week of Dec. 20, just in time to ramp up demand for the holidays. Not that it was entirely necessary, according to Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah: “The mountains got absolutely demolished with snow in mid-December. The vibe has been really good and we made a lot of noise leading into Christmas, so it seems every resort enjoyed successful holidays as a result.”

Resorts in Western Canada also enjoyed a successful holiday period. Julia Grant, Grouse Mountain communications manager, said, “This was our busiest holiday season in history.” Business was up 10 percent from the resort's best Christmas period ever.

Across much of the Eastern half of the continent, business was off significantly—enough so that few resorts we willing to make comparisons to year-ago levels. But with delayed openings and limited terrain, many areas were off by 40 percent or more.

In Eastern Canada, Ontario's Blue Mountain Resort was able to open with top-to-bottom terrain on Dec. 30, but offered a variety of “green season” activities and attractions for the crowds that came despite the earlier lack of snow. “Bookings for lodgings were still as busy during peak season,” said Tara Lovell, public relations manager. “We've seen a change in guests—especially guests that just want to be a part of the experience at a ski resort during the winter.”

Meanwhile, Mont Sutton in Quebec's Eastern Townships experienced a slow start to the season, but still drew crowds for the Christmas holidays. “We were happy to accommodate families and visitors with our New Year's cocktail event, snow camps, and après events. The ambiance was definitely there,” said marketing director Nayda Baron. “We got 42 cm of snow between Dec. 26 and Jan. 4. The season is only starting so we are expecting more snow."

Back in the States, the holiday season in the Midwest saw limited and late openings for many areas, but wasn't entirely a loss. In fact, Great Bear Ski Valley, S.D., was one of the lucky ones, with 15 inches of snow falling Dec. 25-27. General manager Dan Grider said, “Pretty drastic change this year vs. last for us. Holiday break, Dec. 23 to Jan. 3, revenues were up 45 percent, visits were up 61 percent.”

Cascade Mountain, Wis., had a rough start to the year, down 40 percent going into the holidays, but thanks to cold weather and powerful snowmaking, it was as busy a Christmas week as the resort has seen, according to spokesperson Randy Axelson. With other resorts in the area not able to open, Axelson said that success might be attributed to pent-up demand and Cascade being able to offer a quality option in a space where options were limited during the holidays.

In the Northeast, the tough start to the season started showing some promise as the holidays progressed, with consistent snowmaking conditions and even some natural snow arriving after Dec. 25.

Sunday River, Maine, has had the most open skiable terrain in the East. Spokesperson Sarah Devlin said some days ran shy of last year, but thanks to having more terrain open, there were also days that surpassed last year.

New Hampshire's Ragged Mountain held its “Life's a Beach” promo throughout the holidays. Spokesperson Tyler DeVaux said the resort sold out of the $19 lift tickets and free learn-to lessons it was offering on a limited basis every day during the holidays.

In Vermont, Stowe had a high level of lodging occupancy, and even hired Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan to help christen its new skating rink in the resort's Spruce Peak area.

At Sugar Mountain, N.C., the holiday period was indeed a challenge, according to spokesperson Kim Jochl. However, ice skating, retail, food and beverage, and scenic lift rides did generate some revenue. The resort reopened on Jan. 2 for skiing and riding.

Clearly, for the dozens of resorts in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic that weren't able to open during the holidays, it was not a Christmas to remember. However, as of late, cold weather and snowfall have returned to many parts of this winter-starved region, and there is still a lot of season left.