Powdr Doubles Down in Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort looks much as it did when it was developed in the mid to late ’60s. The two small base buildings date from that era and are little-changed. The 11 trails, too. There is a newer triple chair and a carpet lift for beginners, but LVSSR has a decidedly old-time feel.

That may change, now that the ski area has submitted a new master plan to the Forest Service. It includes a total of 11 lifts and 51 trails on 1,600 vertical, all within the current 700-acre permit area. Hike-to terrain could add almost 1,000 vertical as well. Now owned by Powdr Corp. and managed by Brian Strait, the area has great potential. The two million people living in the greater Las Vegas area are an hour or less away, there are no mountain passes to cross, and the Forest Service already supports “snow play” just down the road from the resort (we use the word “support” loosely; the chaotic mass of thousands who flock to the snow play area on a pleasant Saturday is largely left to its own devices). Interest in a modern ski and ride hill would boom.


What Next for Intrawest, Vail?
With the departure of Bill Jensen, former Vail Resorts mountain division president, and his imminent arrival at Intrawest, both companies are undergoing a change at the top. What will the two companies look like?

Given Jensen’s track record as a resort manager, his appointment at Intrawest solidifies the company’s change in focus from real estate to resort operations. It coincides with the recent elevation of the “resort chiefs” at each Intrawest resort, which puts the chiefs in charge of producing growth from any and all sources, not just real estate. Jensen’s selection also revived rumors that, with this resort-first emphasis, Fortress is preparing Intrawest to go public once again--less than 18 months after Fortress took the company private--or to spin off individual resorts (Mountain Creek, Snowshoe, and Stratton are among the rumored candidates), or some combination thereof.

And what of Vail Resorts? The departures of Roger McCarthy a year ago and now Jensen have elevated John Garnsey and Blaise Carrig to head the mountain division. With the promotion of Chris Jarnot to replace Jensen as COO of Vail and the not-so-distant promotion of Lucy Kay to the same role at Breckenridge, VR’s leaders are long on marketing experience. Both Jarnot and Kay were their resort’s marketing heads, and Garnsey ran the Vail Valley Foundation, which promotes cultural, educational, community and sporting events in the Vail Valley.

We should note that Intrawest and Vail Resorts are surely in competent hands; Jensen, Kay, and Jarnot are all past SAMMY winners.


About that Park Resource Guide...
Last spring, following the announcement of the verdict in the Salvini case, NSAA initiated a revamp of its terrain park guide for resorts. The aim: to expand the guidelines and disseminate “best practices” information on design and management nationwide. The overall emphasis of the guide will ultimately be on customer education and safety. But reaching a consensus on education, design, construction and management at North American resorts has, however, proven difficult.

To gain broad input and, ultimately, buy-in for the guide, NSAA conducted lengthy sessions on terrain parks at the winter shows. The discussions have highlighted concerns about whether a single guideline can cover the different needs of all resorts.

At present, some park management policies vary from resort to resort. One example: a handful of resorts use park pass programs and the SmartStyle educational video to educate users; others prefer more direct education in the park using park rangers and signage. Such differences can make consensus difficult, but not impossible. After all, safety is the primary goal for everyone concerned.

To that end, NSAA is forging ahead and has set a perhaps optimistic August publication date for the new Resource Guide.


My Kingdom for an Affordable Quad
Leigh Nelson, owner of Welch Village, Minn., has a problem. He’d like to buy a nice little quad chair. Under 400 vertical, say, and no more than about 2,000 feet long. In fact, he’d like to buy three. But he can’t find one he can afford.

He’s not alone, of course. With small areas performing better than they were a decade ago, they are better able to buy lifts. And there are, Nelson estimates, about 500 chairlifts that will need replacement in the next decade. But the smaller suppliers who used to serve that market have all disappeared.

So, last November, Nelson organized a meeting of about 30 interested resorts and suppliers to explore the potential for a cookie-cutter, mass production quad. It would have a standard design for top and bottom terminals, lift towers, motor and drive electronics, and chairs. And, Nelson says, it will have the creature comforts and customer satisfaction of a detachable--the design may be cost-effective, but it won’t look or feel cheap. Superior Tramway, Sky Trans, and Doppelmayr CTEC all have expressed interest in moving forward, and Nelson expects to get the ball rolling before the end of March. He wants his new quad ready for 2008-09.


SIA: Lots of Graphics, Little Innovation
It’s easy to tell when a retail market is mature: it becomes all about the graphics. And the focus this year was definitely on graphics (see our product review, page 50). Ski shapes, board features, softshell garments, headwear with embedded musical accoutrements--been there, done that. So now, differentiation comes from graphics.

There were a few exceptions. As SAM foretold, Denny Hanson introduced his new $1,500 Apex soft ski boot, and Kneebinding debuted. Atomic showed two unusual ski concepts, each with a novel, dynamic way of adjusting the ski flex in response to the skier’s movement and actions. Flow Snowboards took the wraps off its new highly-adaptable, quick-adjusting rental binding, the pi project; it was widely hailed as the biggest hardware innovation at the show--one of the very few times a rental product has earned that distinction.

One hot topic was the show’s move to Denver in 2010. Most questions focused on the city and not the convention center: Will attendees have to bunk down in Boulder, 45 minutes away? Will there be enough transportation? And most important--are there enough restaurants, bars, and strip clubs? However, if the Denver Convention Center can handle 35,000 Democratic National Conventioneers this August, how hard can it be to host the ski biz?


Rental Revolution at Hand?
According to several sources, the consolidated-boot-sole rental systems--from Head, Dalbello/Elan, and most recently, Nordica (see page 50)--are beginning to take hold. As one proponent told us, if the new systems can eliminate the two minutes it takes to adjust a binding to a boot, and a shop outfits 1,000 renters in a morning, that’s a savings of 2,000 minutes--about 33 man-hours, or 11 rental staff. If a shop were to reassign, say, four staff to bootfitting and eliminate the others, it would improve the rental experience and save $35,000 a year in labor costs, which is more than enough to finance a significant part of the upgrade to the new gear.


Agreement Clears Way for Canyons Sale
A last-minute agreement between The Canyons, Talisker, and Wolf Mountain has settled several of the suits swirling around the sale of The Canyons and should allow Talisker to complete its purchase of The Canyons by May 31, assuming Talisker can raise the cash to complete the $100 million deal. A key provision of the deal is that Talisker will replace American Ski Company as the tenant operating The Canyons, for which Wolf Mountain remains the landlord. It’s still possible for the sale to falter, as not all lawsuits have been dismissed, and there’s that small matter of $100 million in a very tight credit market.


Tamarack bankrupt?
At press time, the majority owners of Tamarack Resort have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the group failed to obtain an $118 million loan, which made it impossible to meet payment on an existing loan of $262 million from Credit Suisse. In all, the group owes more than $300 million. In the meantime, it’s business as usual at the resort.


SHORTSWINGS
One man’s trash is another’s treasure: after a one-day downhilling experiment, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sees good prospects for skiing and other sports on "Mount Trashmore," a 200-foot-high pile of garbage; a dozen people have applied to use the site, in both winter and summer... H2B visa limits, which are pla­guing many areas this winter, will likely remain in place through at least next winter; the visa quota is hostage to a wider resolution of the immigration issue, and resolution is unlikely until after the presidential election.