Given the cost of capital and ops, you can't just operate for four to six months a year. So what's a resort to do in the other six to eight months?

Gravity sports, including climbing walls, bungee towers, ropes courses, even giant swings, offer one way to achieve critical mass, along with conventions, mountain biking, water parks, and the rest. They appeal to the same thrill-seeking resort audience, which makes them a good fit. Gravity sports, not unlike Alpine slides and ziplines, involve getting off the ground and have an apparent element of danger (much more apparent than real, we should note). Each can offer visitors a spectacle that gives them a reason to hang around. And they can provide a significant cash flow for a small investment.

Multi-season resorts are discovering these benefits. Most major Colorado areas offer one or more of these activities in the base area. Steamboat has a four-station bungee jump and climbing walls. Vail, Beaver Creek, Winter Park, Copper, Durango Mountain Resort-all have some combination. So do Squaw Valley, Mammoth, Park City, Jackson Hole, Jiminy Peak and others.

The Business Attraction
Gravity sport systems make sense financially. They tend to require low initial investment and produce a high return. A four-station bungee tower can serve 60 to 100 persons an hour; a single ropes course can do roughly the same. With per ride costs between $5 and $10, a $30,000 installation can produce $60,000 to $90,000 in a three- to four-month season-more than recouping the initial capital investment in the first year. On a busy weekend, the daily take per trampoline can reach $4,000.

If tramp (yes, that is the lingo that is used for trampoline) facilities operate over a longer season or even year-round, as some do, the upside is even greater. And there's really no reason to limit a bungee tramp to summer use-skiers and riders are often looking for other ways to entertain themselves, and trampolines can draw a crowd on warmer winter days.

One reason for the strong revenue stream: these are high-thrill, short-term experiences. A two-minute turn on the bungee tramp is a blast; if it goes for five minutes, jumpers can become bored. And after a two-minute turn, many kids go to the back of the line for another turn, even if (as sometimes happens) the line is an hour or longer. "Kids just love to bounce," says Jesse Desens of the Squaw Valley Adventure Center. "They can practice flips and other tricks. People even bring their one-and-a-half-year-olds."

It's a little odd, therefore, to learn that many areas turn the trampoline and climbing operations over to concessionaires. The reason? Many resorts are reluctant to invest even $25,000 in summer ops, knowing how many of their winter ops can use the money. And given the nature of the resort business, with many staff doing summer maintenance, areas are frequently happy to turn the gravity games over to an independent operator. That keeps an area's investment to zero, and still provides a (reduced) cash flow.

Gravity Sports Operations
As a former ski area employee, concessionaire Greg Gallavan understands that perspective. He runs Amazin' Mazes, which operates tramps, climbing walls, and human mazes at several resorts, including Breckenridge and Winter Park. "The areas are focused on winter; I'm able to focus on summer," he says. "When a ski area goes through the capital process, everyone has their needs; few areas are going to buy something that works just in summertime. I deal with ASC, Intrawest, and Vail, and they can't invest $50,000 tomorrow, but I can."

Beyond the investment, there are few barriers to running a bungee operation, climbing wall, or ropes course. Training is not difficult. Ken Sharkey of Vertical Reality says that it takes two hours to train an employee for a climbing wall, and about four hours for a bungee tramp. Angela Drury of Rebound Unlimited notes that the company requires buyers to pay for a three-day installation and training session; cost is roughly $500 a day. Most customers are sufficiently pleased that they ask the company to return for a yearly training refresher course.

Drury says it takes four to eight hours to create "jump masters," employees who can help customers get into the harnesses and provide instruction, as necessary, once guests are on the tramp. "They run it, learn how to operate the bungee cords. It's not terribly difficult. You do have to know how many bungee cords to use depending on the user's weight and how long to keep someone on the tramp," she says.

The key to operating safely, she adds, is to focus completely on the jumper when he or she is on the tramp. But that's part of the training too, since the jump masters "always get involved in tricks, such as front and back flips. It's important for jump masters to help teach kids. Adults learn almost without instruction," Drury says. Several suppliers and concessionaires noted that the skill of the jump masters in helping customers get the most from their time in the air is the key to delivering a great experience.

Though gravity sports are relatively safe, the insurance cost can be daunting. "My insurance bill is more than $30,000," Gallavan says, for his several operations. "This dissuades people." So does the potential for workers' compensation claims. Again, as a small business, Gallavan believes he has an advantage here as well. "A ski instructor who tweaks a knee can claim workmen's comp; I've never had a big claim-maybe $400 in 18 years. My employees know we're a small company."

Still, the liability concerns are less an issue than for, say, a ski area-even one without a terrain park or halfpipe. While there is some risk with all gravity installations, serious injuries are rare. Built-in belay systems for walls and ropes courses remove much of the apparent risk. Daily inspections and regular maintenance are required to ensure that the safety systems are functioning properly, not unlike the operation of other resort facilities.

Another advantage is that concessionaires can offer year-round employment for resort employees. "We [concessionaires] often hire the area's winter employees, which means they can stay in the area year-round," Gallavan says-so the area can keep experienced employees without providing them full-time employment directly, with the added expense that that entails.

And finally, a concessionaire is at heart an entrepreneur. That means Gallavan has incentive to innovate and bring new activities to the resort. He attends trade shows (like the recent International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions show, see pages 58-59 for more) to scout new activities. Again, the area reaps some of the financial benefit without spending a dime.

So should an area own its gravity facilities or leave these operations to a concessionaire? Here's how a few different areas handle it.

Squaw Valley: Concession Route
At Squaw Valley, Cynthia Braga is the concession manager. She works with Jesse Desens of the Squaw Valley Adventure Center, longtime operator of the climbing wall, bungee tramps, and ropes course in Squaw. The tramp is now in the village common area, managed by Intrawest's Neighborhood Company, while the indoor climbing wall and ropes courses remain under Squaw's aegis.

The Adventure Center has full control over its operations. Braga negotiates the lease, which is based on 15 percent of the Center's revenue. It's a hands-free deal for Squaw; the Center carries its own insurance and names Squaw as "other insured."

For Squaw, the value of these activities is the variety it offers to guests. "These are great to have, because people are asking all winter long, what activities can we do?" says Braga. "We think these are valuable even if they don't make money. They make us a year-round resort." The gravity activities complement the other summer offerings, which include ice skating, hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Squaw is looking for other activities that will draw customers in the off-season; go-carts could be part of the mix before long.

Why not own and manage the gravity facilities and make it a bigger profit center? Braga points to several reasons. First, leasing to a concessionaire makes it a lot easier to manage-it's more closely run. Things can get lost in the shuffle of a big organization. Desens has run the center for several years; he has the experience to do it well. "People like to have options, and they also like dealing with small private companies rather than the resort all the time," Braga adds.

Partly, the answer is priorities. Squaw's largest summer attractions "are the events-food and wine, music, and art festivals," Braga says. The tramps, walls, and ropes courses simply add to the draw. Plus, Squaw is the site of several summer camps, and the extra activities help the camps as well-soccer camps use the tramps and climbing walls on a daily basis.

And Squaw is happy to leave the operation details to someone else. "It involves a fair amount of training," Desens says. For a group at the ropes course, Desens is a hands-on manager; aside from having dozens of people playing at a good height above the ground, corporate team-building groups require a skilled facilitator. His ropes course is a triangular design with three 50-foot towers, with about 20 high events for folks to do. "It gives people a chance to push beyond what they are comfortable doing; that feeds into daily life," Desens says. Corporate groups often shell out big dollars for team-building exercises.

"There are risks, and you have to keep on top of maintenance and inspection," he notes. "Can an $8-an-hour employee be given that much responsibility? It may not be a good idea."

The work can also involve long and unpredictable hours. Desens' labor force varies from less than 10 in winter to about 25 during the summer. Summer hours for the tramps are 10 until 8; for the ropes course, 10 to 4. That sounds a lot like winter ops, and some areas (and employees) prefer a slower pace in summer.

Ownership Has Its Rewards
In contrast to Squaw, Park City owns and manages its extensive summer activities. The facilities range from carousel rides to Ziprides. The main attractions are the Alpine slides (four tracks) and Ziprides (also four lines), both of which were expanded last summer. The area also offers mini golf, a human maze, three kiddie rides, plus four bungee tramps and a climbing wall. That is all in addition to chairlift rides, hiking and biking.

All this creates the critical mass to draw large crowds. "We have people who wait in line for an hour, hour and a half," says Mary Flinn Ware, summer operations manager.

Compared to all the other summer activities at Park City, the tramp and wall facilities are not difficult to staff or operate, Ware says. "We do the standard safety training, daily inspection of the harnesses and wires, and replace cables at the recommended intervals," she notes.

And it's profitable. Exact revenue and profit figures are hard to obtain, but "it's a significant amount of business, and it increases yearly," Ware says. "We look for new attractions every year."

Liability is not a big concern. "There have been some injuries at other facilities, but not at Park City," Ware says. "It's quite safe so long as you do the inspections and the maintenance." For example, the climbing wall has an automatic belay system, and rappelling speed is kept low; the attendants' job is mostly to keep people from hurting themselves.

Whether you bring in a concessionaire to run the gravity sports facilities or operate them yourself, these activities can generate cash flow even as they create excitement and provide an entertaining new component for your summer program. And the cost of entry is low. Now matter what your perspective, gravity sports look good.