“We had an essentially perfect November,” said Jim Felton, communications director at Breckenridge, Colo. “We had the most snowfall in seven years, very little wind and below average temperatures that allowed us to make snow with almost perfect efficiency. The result was a strong November for Breckenridge and for all of Colorado.
“The last two years some areas in Colorado had snow and some didn’t. It was a harder message to communicate in the marketplace that Breckenridge had pretty good skiing when much of the state did not. The high tide is floating all boats this year.”
“We had the most fabulous Thanksgiving ever,” said Barry Godwin, marketing director at Shanty Creek, Mich.
At Cranmore, N.H., so many skiers came out for Thanksgiving weekend to enjoy the good snow conditions that the area nearly sold out of food.
Across the country, ski areas reveled in one of the snowiest, coldest Novembers in years. On November 23, Shanty Creek had 42.5 inches of snow on the ground, compared to two inches a year ago and five inches the year before that. “I’ve never seen so much snow on the ground at this time of year,” Godwin said.
Alpine Meadows, Calif., received four feet of snow in October, allowing it to open early on November 1. Mt. Bachelor, Ore., opened Thanksgiving Day amidst a snowstorm that left 13 inches.
Jack Frost/Big Boulder, Pa., which traditionally don’t open until the second week of December, had enough snow to open both resorts by Thanksgiving, but only enough skiers to justify opening Jack Frost. Jack Frost also reported good crowds in response to its new Traxx Motor Sports Park. The area previously operated the park only in the summer for dirt bikes and ATVs. This winter it put snowmaking on the 10-acre park and opened it to snowmobiles, both rented and brought by owners.
“It’s really a no-brainer,” said Carl Kerstetter, Jack Frost/Big Boulder marketing director. “These people own very expensive equipment with nowhere to go on it.”
The great start had people looking ahead. In New Hampshire, where nine areas opened for Thanksgiving (compared to just two that made it all the way through the weekend a year ago), Mt. Sunapee reported a 23 percent increase in season pass sales and local lodges had the greatest number of advance bookings ever.
Next door in Vermont, 10 areas were open by Thanksgiving with the most terrain in three years. Killington had 60 trails open and Okemo, which had to close last year because of torrential rains, had 30 trails open. “We had good steady crowds,” said Jennifer Smith, Okemo communications manager, who said lodging reservations for the season were up 2 percent over last year and December bookings were up 3.2 percent.
At Shanty Creek, which has spent $10 million on improvements over the last three years only to sit through less than wonderful ski seasons, reported Christmas bookings ahead of last year’s strong Millennium turnout. The area’s new 85-suite, ski-in/ski-out hotel, fully open for the first time this season, is also attracting a lot of attention, Godwin said.
Management at Indianhead, Mich., was also enthusiastic. Now under new ownership, the area opened Thanksgiving weekend for the first time in five years with 85 percent of its terrain open. “Christmas through the holidays is looking very good; we’re essentially full,” said new owner Brett Stangeland, who bought Indianhead with three other members of his family October 13.
Huge October snowfalls also helped launch the Tahoe region to a fast start. “We sold more tickets on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, than we did the entire week of Thanksgiving last year,” said Rachel Woods, public relations coordinator at Alpine Meadows. “Our season pass sales are up significantly and our 10-pack sales are up. There are a lot of people in the Bay Area who’ve been involved with dotcoms and been rewarded. They’re our main customers.”
The California market is also growing at Mt. Bachelor, Ore., which had 9,500 skiers over the four-day Thanksgiving holiday compared to 6,800 a year ago. “We’re expecting a strong season,” said Carly Hogan, Mt. Bachelor marketing manager. “The California market is growing for us. We’ve had very good impact from a one-page ad we ran in the Los Angeles Times. We’ve also done a lot more marketing and PR in the local community and created better lodging packages and frequent skier programs. I think it’s brought a lot more hype and excitement back to the mountain. We’re definitely looking forward to a great season.”
We’ll check back with you when it’s over in the spring.
