Town-to-summit gondola sought at Heavenly Valley
Heavenly Valley, the giant South Lake Tahoe resort astride the California/Nevada border, is updating its old (1966) master plan; the components are impressive. The cornerstone would be a high-capacity gondola (six- or eight passenger, 3,000 pph) originating from a new terminal in the Stateline area and soaring 14,160 feet (2,980′ vertical) to a top terminal with direct access to both the California and Nevada sides of the resort. Planners foresee 6,000 skiers and visitors per day using this lift. (Between 200,000 and 300,000 sightseers are expected yearly!) One alignment of it, which includes an angle station, would provide mid-mountian access to a possible 18-hole golf course and various other four-season amenities at the 6,800-ft. elevation.
Supporting this would be about 70 acres of new ski trails, a doubling of the snowmaking acreage, an increase in people-at-one-time from 11,694 to 20,240, and a complete restructuring of the lift system.
Currently, there is a total of 25 lifts, including a tram, one detachable quad, seven fixed grip triples, 10 doubles, three surface lifts and three wire ropetows. Under the preferred alternative plan, the total goes to 33, but his time the tram has gone, and there is the giant gondola plus six detachable quads, 20 fixed grip quads, four doubles and two surface lifts. Under this re-build, total VTFH would roughly double to 52,667.
The updating of the master plan involves filing of alternatives. First alternative is a no-action plan that leaves everything as is. Second alternative is to complete everything that shows on the existing 1966 master plan. The third alternative is what Heavenly Valley wants, and is reflected in this report. The fourth alternative is a maximum development plan.
The initial documents were filed with the five responsible agencies on February 11, setting in motion the long review and decision-making process that leads to a record of decision by the Forest Service in April 1993, which in turn would lead to public hearings in May 1993.
The bold proposal should also be seen in the context of the commitment by the Japanese ownership, Kamori Kanko, which has recently announced plans for a major upgrading of the lift system, including two detachable quads, at their other North American resort, Steamboat, Colorado, and is installing a huge detachable quad this summer at Heavenly as a replacement for a fixed grip triple.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| April 1-5 | Ski & Travel Symposium | So. Lake Tahoe, Calif. |
| April 7-9 | Snowmaking & Slope Maint. Spring conference | Grand Junction Hyatt, Colo. |
| April 8-11 | 10th Int’l Mountain Resort Planning & Devel. Trade Show | Grenoble, France |
| April 9-12 | Cross Country Ski Areas Assn. Continental Conference | Whitefish, Mont. |
| April 29-30 | LMS-92 — Lift Maint. Seminar | Butternut, Mass. |
| May 5-7 | Rocky Mt. Lift Ass’n ’92 Spring Conference | Beaver Creek, Colo. |
| May 19-21 | Calif. Ski indust. Ass’n. Technical Conference | Mammoth Mt., Calif. |
| June 1-4 | USIA National Convention and Ski Area Trade Show | Orlando, Fla. |
| Oct. 8-10 | Interalpin ’92 Trade show | Innsbruck, Austria |
Obituaries
James B. VanderKelen — The founder and president of Snow Machines, Inc., Jim VanderKelen, died of cancer January 31 at the age of 65.
A patent attorney by training, VanderKelen did the patent work for his friend, Alden Hanson, inventor of the fan method of snowmaking. He later bought the patent in and developed SMI which was to become one of the largest snowmaking firms in world-wide sales. (See also the history of fan snowmaking on page 49)
VanderKelen was also a leader among ski area suppliers and was president of Ski Area Suppliers Association, a trade group currently inactive.
Among Jim VanderKelen’s survivors are his wife, Betty, and two sons, Tom and Joe. The latter takes his father’s place at the head of SMI. (See also the tributes to Jim VanderKelen on page 6.)
Jim Kroell — USIA’s director of event planning, Jim Kroell, died on February 4 of a stroke. He was 67.
Kroell was hired by (then) Ski Industries America in 1984 as its trade show manager, bringing 30 years of experience to the post.
Said USIA president, David Ingemie, “Jim was a father to all of us. He had an amazing wealth of knowledge on what it took to put an event together. He was the most fair person you could have working on a trade show, and he truly loved his work. He will be greatly missed.”
Jim Kroell is survived by his wife, Katie, four children, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Leadership and control of Vail is changing
With the resignations, effective April 19, of Mike Shannon, president, and Larry Lichliter, executive vp, of Vail Associates, the already dramatic leadership and control picture for the resort has taken a new and unexpected turn. The two top executives have decided “to pursue an entrepreneurial role” of their own with a resort acquisition company based in Vail.
As for the complex control picture, which is being played out out in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver, there should be clarification in mid-March when Judge Sidney B. Brooks holds his second hearing on the Gillett Holdings reorganization plan.
In the meantime, insights into the whole situation are to be found in John Fry’s Ski Industry Focus (Page 67).
Dendrite seeks a new developer of technology
Dendrite Associates is looking for another developer for its snowmaking technology, having terminated their agreement with STK Corp.
Whereas STK had been a company started specifically to design, build and market a gun based on Dendrite patents, the Dendrite group now favors a licensing agreement with an existing snowmaking firm, so at the Mt. Snow trade show in late January, potential licensees were given demonstrations of the gun that had been designed during the summer of 1991 using the original concepts that underlie Dendrite technology. This gun, called Dendrite 92 — which was tested earlier this winter at Copper Mt., Ski Sundown and Jiminy Peak — will not be marketed, the Dendrite partners not wanting to become snowmaking suppliers, but rather licensors with the aim of recouping their 12-year investment.
In explaining what went wrong with the STK gun, Waterville Valley’s Tom Corcoran, Dendrite president, said his group felt “STK did not fully understand some of the basic principles upon which the Dendrite technology was based,” and that the gun they produced “was flawed in some regards.”
First 6-passenger chair set for Boyne Mountain
The country’s first 6-passenger chairlift will be installed this summer at Boyne Mountain ski area in Michigan. It is a Doppelmayr design. The first in North America, also a Doppelmayr, was installed last year at Mont Orignal, Que.
The Boyne Mountain installation represents still another first for the company. They were the first with a chairlift in the Midwest — a single installed in 1950, which they moved from Sun Valley’s Dollar Mountain. In 1963, Boyne Highlands got the world’s first triple chairlifts — two of them — built by Riblet, and a year later Boyne Mt. got a Heron quad, in still another first.
Paul Augustine honored with surprise roasting
At this year’s Midwest Ski Areas Association banquet a dumbfounded Paul Augustine, owner/operator of the host area, Afton Alps, was honored by the association and given a thorough roasting by his fellow operators, with hilarious details added by his office staff and by Chris Diamond, GM of Vermont’s Mount Snow, who flew in to tell the group about Augustine’s tenure on the NSAA board and his propensity to nod off. Master of Fun was Stu Campbell, long-time head of MSAA, who had the tables turned on him later when he was honored for his long-time service to the association. Campbell has stepped down in favor of Chris Stoddard, of Mountain Management Services.
Hoopingarner named Snowbird president
Kent “Hoopie” Hoopingarner came to work for Snowbird in 1970, the area’s first employee. In 1988 he became general manager, and in January of this year was named president by owner Dick Bass, who remains chairman of the board.
“No one is more knowledgeable and respected in the ski industry,” said Bass, “and certainly no one is more familiar with Snowbird than Hoopie.”
In other management moves, Tom Jones was promoted to senior v.p. and c.f.o., John Loomis was named v.p. of mountain operations and Jerry Giles v.p. of planning and village operations.
“Gift of Skiing” scores at Pennsylvania areas
USIA’s “Give the Gift of Skiing” program, which launched late and had sales that were described as “sluggish,” was a big success at Ski Liberty and Ski Roundtop in Pennsylvania.
The two areas purchased packages for $8.50 each, selling them to retailers for $19.95. The “profit” was turned back in to fund co-op advertising which featured the “Gift of Skiing” package and focused on the participating ski shop. The shops passed on the $19.95 price to the consumer as a traffic generator (forgoing the established retail price of $29.95). The two ski areas included the complimentary beginner package with a lift ticket, lesson and rental as their investment. Some retailers re-ordered several times.
“The promotion is a success because of the depth of involvement from both sides,” said Debra Bowman, corporated marketing director for Ski Time, Inc., owner of the two areas. “The areas and their participating retailers have been able to pull skiers into the shop and new skiers onto the slopes — a win-win situation meeting everyone’s goals,” she added.
Meetings and Conferences
CCSAA Continental Conference — The Cross Country Ski Area Association will meet April 9-12 in the spectacular Glacier Park region of Montana and “map a course for the next five years.” The association feels it is at a crossroads as an association — and at crossroads for the future direction of the sport — and needs consensus on a road map.
Marketing and management techniques will be high on the agenda, as well as guest relations and customer service, which are the themes of the keynote speaker, author Susan Clarke.
Registration (call 603-239-4341) is $300 (less $50 if made by March 20), and includes lunch and dinner for three days and all conference materials. Lodging is at conference headquarters at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish at $60 single or double occupancy.
Lift, snowmaking, grooming workshops across the country
Among the fixtures where the nitty-gritty of lift maintenance, snowmaking operations and maintenance practices are presented for lift operators, snowmakers and groomers are some well established and professional workshops.
“LMS 92” — The annual Lift Maintenance Seminar organized by Dave Kenney at Butternut Ski Area in Massachusetts, runs April 29-30. Among the many topics to be covered are wire rope, lubrication, shop safety, electrical (including SCR problems), safety belts/harnesses, surface lifts and others.
Colorado Ski Country — Snowmaking & Slope Maintenance Spring Conference is scheduled for April 7-9 at the Grand Junction Hilton.
Rocky Mountain Lift Association (RMLA) — Spring Conference is at the Hyatt Regency at Beaver Creek this year, May 5-7. For more information on this or the snowmaking/grooming conference, call Julie Arterburn at (303) 866-9715.
California Ski Industry Association — Lift maintenance, snowmaking/grooming operations seminar scheduled for Mammoth Mountain, May 19-21.
Midwest Ski Areas Association — Lift Maintenance/snowmaking/grooming operations will be covered at a seminar at Alpine Valley, Wisc., August 3-5. A Summer meeting of MSAA will be held concurrently.
Ski & Travel Symposium Week scheduled April 1-5
The 17th annual Ski & Travel Symposium will be held at South Lake Tahoe, California, April 1-5. It runs concurrently with the Ski Town Forum, where issues of importance to public service representatives of mountain tourism communities, chambers of commerce, resort associations and visitors bureaus will be discussed. One of the presenters is Andrea Mead Lawrence, county commissioner, Mono County (Mammoth Lakes), who will moderate a panel on “Achieving Balance,” tackling the reconciliation of economic growth with issues of quality.
The first day, April 1, is devoted to Ski Trade Exchange — a forum for short face-to-face meetings between buyers (tour operators, meeting planners) and suppliers (ski areas, lodging properties, transportation companies).
The symposium itself runs April 2-3 and features 12 presentations or panels. Keynote is by Dr. Phil Burgess, “Leisure Travel Implications of Changing Consumer Tastes and the New Economy.”
Basic registration is $250 per person, with various combinations and discounts available. After March 13 the cost increases. For more information, call (303) 733-1117.
SAM 92 — France’s big biennial trade show and conference on mountain resort planning takes place in Grenoble April 8-11. This year’s theme is “for a controlled development of the European mountains,” which the organizers recognize as “a vast and somewhat controversial subject whose teachings have applications well beyond the European continent.”
The trade show is enormous. The 1990 session had almost 500 exhibitors from 12 countries, and some 19,000 visitors from 32 countries. Overall exhibit space is a staggering 635,000 square feet. Unlike others of its kind, the French Salon focuses on mountain economy in a holistic way that includes agriculture as well as its recreational uses, and though skiing plays the largest role in the recreational use, the show emphasizes a year-round involvement.
U.S. contact for information is Alain Lazard at (916) 583-2768.
Two-year contract for Ski Mechanics Workshops
USIA has reached an agreement with Faculty Services, Inc., program producers of the Ski Mechanics Tech Training Workshops, for the continuation of the program for two more years.
This past Fall, 1,650 people from over 500 ski shops attended in quest of certification as binding technicians. This was a 32 percent increase over the previous year’s enrollment. The binding and rental courses are accredited by five binding suppliers.
Hetrick heads Tussey Mt.
Bill Hetrick, national president of PSIA since 1987, has been appointed general manager of Tussey Mt. Ski Area in State College, Penn. Both he and his wife, Norma, are certified ski teachers. Hetrick is also an officer on the ASF board.
