Gerald Ford became our president and SAM had some fun speculating on what a winter White House in Vail might involve, or a day-trip to Virginia’s Bryce Resort by presidential helicopter…On the news front, increases in lift tickets were being talked about: Steamboat was going from $7 to $9.50, Breckenridge was up fifty cents to $7.50.
The Disney organization, stalled on Mineral King, has launched a series of feasibility studies for a year-round resort in the Independence/Mt. Lola region, 12 miles north of Truckee. In the Northwest, the Aspen Skiing Corp., under project director Jerry Blann, was poised for “a final, comprehensive evaluation” of the Early Winters area in Washington, calling it “probably the best suited potential four-seasons ski resort in the western U.S.”
In New Jersey, Vernon Valley took over Great Gorge…At Utah’s Snowbird, Dick Bass agreed to purchase Ted Johnson’s reported 11 percent interest. It was Johnson who put together the original Snowbird masterplan and land package.
Marketing Moves
A blueprint for marketing action, prepared by the consulting firm of Glendinning Associations for the American Ski Federation, is called *More People on Skis*. Glendinning is receiving a fee of $35,000. SIA is the prime mover on the project; NSAA and other organizations are also backing it…A three-man task force (Ernie Blake of Taos, John Francis of Snowmass and Bill Brehmer of Aspen Highlands) went to England, Germany and Switzerland to drum up ski tourist business from Europe. In comparing today’s total ski vacation experience in the Rockies with what the Alps offer, Blake is willing to give the Europeans the edge in only one item: “Their pastries,” he says, “are far superior.”… The Coca Cola program for creating new skiers and building mid-week business is all set for implementation and will be heavily promoted by the bottlers. A straight one-dollar discount on a mid-week lift ticket is to be offered in exchange for 18 proofs-of-purchase. Also, an introduction to skiing package (rental equipment, lesson and lift) is offered for five dollars plus the same 18 bottle caps.
Insurance Breakaway
Insurance circles were shaken when two regional associations, Sierra and Pacific Northwest, broke with the NSAA Insurance Plan to form Western Ski Areas Insurance Plan. Graham Anderson, of USI Pettit-Morry Co. is in charge of the new program; Howard Anderson will supervise the engineering. SAM reported, “While NSAA officially took the line that ‘competition is healthy,’ there was clearly some worry lest the western defection could prove contagious, and that other regional or state associations would be similarly tempted. Rufus Barringer pointedly recalled the days of insurance instability and of sudden blanket cancellations of ski area policies by underwriters prior to the existence of the NSAA plan.”
Research
The four Aspen areas handled 1,260,289 skier-visits during the 1973-74 season and Ted Farwell interpreted the results of a massive study that had been undertaken on “The Aspen Skier.” The mean expenditure/day of the vacationing skier was $69, they stayed an average of 6.44 days and 50 percent came from households with annual incomes of over $25,000. Median incomes grew 97.1 percent from $13,700 in 1968 to $27,000 in 1974; but Aspen’s ski lift ticket prices rose only 53.8 percent from $6.50 in 1968 to $10 in 1974.
With the Suppliers
The Ski-Carousel, a teaching device designed to help beginners experience the feeling of moving on skis, has been introduced by Doppelmayr…In a move described as “by mutual agreement and under very friendly circumstances,” Heron Engineering ended its relations with Poma…“We’re selling snow to the Eskimos,” announced SMI’s sales manager, Hugh Knapp. They had a contract to produce snow for vehicular traffic over environmentally fragile tundra and muskeg in northwestern Canada…Hall Ski-Lift has introduced Skistile, a device to control access to lift loading that uses a combination of restraining arms, an aural signal and a red/green light.
