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January 2013

Skiers, Riders Are Optimists

A little early-season snow is all it takes to tap the pent-up demand from last winter.

Written by Linda Goodspeed | 0 comment

“To say the mood is upbeat is an understatement,” says J.J. Toland, communications director at Jay Peak, Vt., which opened for the season the day after Thanksgiving 90 percent occupied. “We’ve never seen booking levels like this before, even with the addition of 1,000 new pillows.”

“The mood is amazing,” agrees Amy Frischmon, owner of Wild Mountain, Minn., which opened October 7. “Everybody is really excited. Passes are up slightly, and we had lessons going out Thanksgiving Day.”

“We had a huge turnout for Thanksgiving weekend,” says Sarah Eilers, marketing ops manager at Snowshoe, W.Va. “It was our earliest opening in 10 years.”

“Some of our old timers said it was the best opening day conditions in years,” adds Andy Goggins, marketing director at Mt. Bachelor, Ore., which also opened Thanksgiving weekend. “We had knee-deep powder.”

Yes! After last year’s dismal ski season and lack of snowfall, winter is back! In many parts of North America, ski resorts got off to a decent start, with good conditions and great enthusiasm.


East: Itching to Go
In the East, Hurricane Sandy dropped two feet of snow on Snowshoe. The area had just come out with a new $99 pre-Christmas pass, and skiers rushed to take advantage.

“We’ve had a phenomenal response to it,” says marketing director Dave Dekema, whose task now is to convert those early passholders into season-long customers. “We set a record for Thanksgiving, and it’s helped our early bookings. Reservations for Christmas were slow until we opened.”

There is nothing slow at Jay. Two-thirds of the way through the area’s $450 million revitalization, pass sales are up by double digits and by Thanksgiving, the resort was already 94 percent booked for the entire season. “Our occupancy levels are off the charts,” Toland says.

For the first time ever, he says, Jay went to the Toronto ski show in October with no March inventory to sell, and “We still did 10 percent more business than last year.”

Toland credits Jay’s new water park. “It’s a game changer. It’s weather-proofed us.” Hotel guests are now 2-to-1 nonskiers, which Toland says gives Jay a new marketing opportunity. “We’re offering never-evers coming up for the water park a free ski or ride lesson. It’s turning into a conversion tool for us.”

At Waterville Valley, N.H., which opened a week earlier than budgeted on Nov. 17, pass sales were up 22 percent. “We had a great Thanksgiving,” says Bobby Foster, marketing director. “A lot better start than last year.”

He credited the Canadian market and the area’s vaunted racing club programs. “We have a very active race program,” Foster says. “It’s a big piece of our business.” And racing may soon become even bigger, with planned bids for a World Cup race and the NCAA ski championships.

Thanksgiving weekend was also “fantastic” at Sunday River, Me., which opened for the season Nov. 6. “We had significantly more terrain open for Thanksgiving than last year, great crowds and demo days,” says Darcy Morse, communications manager.

Morse says advance pass sales and reservations were even with last year, Sunday River’s second-best performance ever. The resort has also launched online ticket purchases with tiered pricing up to 35 percent off. Combined with a Cyber Monday lodging sale, early season
business was brisk. “We’re trying to incentify people to buy in advance, either single day or multi-day tickets and lodging,” Morse says.

Pats Peak, N.H., opened Dec. 1 with new snowmaking, welcome center and air bag in the terrain park. “There’s a pent-up demand to get going,” says Kris Blomback, GM.Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands, Mich., opened the week after Thanksgiving, a week earlier than 2011. Passes and early reservations were both up slightly, says Erin Ernst, PR manager.


West: Follow the Snow
In the West, early snow again pounded the Pacific Northwest, which had record snow last year.

Stevens Pass, Wash., opened earlier than usual on Nov. 20 after picking up 50 inches. “Thanksgiving wasn’t a record, but the diehards were out getting a few laps under their belt,” says Nate Escalona, marketing manager.

Sixty-eight inches helped Mt. Bachelor off to an equally fast start.

Farther down the coast, Mammoth opened Nov. 8 on manmade snow on three trails. But the natural stuff was soon swirling, and by Thanksgiving Mammoth had the most terrain open in the country, with 14 lifts and 90 trails. “Conditions were really fantastic,” says Joani Lynch, PR manager. “It helped boost some of our pass sales. Reservations are also picking up. The mood is upbeat, helped by some humongous storms.”

New at Mammoth this season is a self-guided “progression” terrain park. “We want to try and overcome that barrier to entering a terrain park,” Lynch says. “We’ve seen a big plateau. There seems to be a lot of intimidation to entering a park.” Mammoth is also offering complimentary digital stations where guests can download and edit video, an increasingly popular perk at ski areas.

Heavenly and Kirkwood both opened Nov. 14—two days early at Heavenly, and a week early at Kirkwood. “We got off to a good start with good natural snow, augmented by snowmaking,” says Russ Pecoraro, communications manager. He says crowds were good, and pass sales and reservations were “on track. There’s a lot of pent-up demand,” he says.

“Most people didn’t get their fill last year,” agrees Mike Pierce, marketing director at Mt. Rose, Nev., which opened last year on Dec. 9 on all manmade snow. This year, Mt. Rose opened Nov. 21, before Thanksgiving, with great natural snow and good crowds. “People are fired up, we had a strong Thanksgiving,” Pierce says.

In Utah, a 54-inch storm allowed Snowbird to open two days early, on Nov. 15. “It was our best start in a few years,” says Emily Moench, communications manager. Moench says Snowbird met its pass goals, but early lodging reservations were down. In response, the area rolled out a couple of “powder priority” deals—a “first on the mountain before it opens” ticket, and a “first on the chairlift” special line-cutting ticket. Snowbird also offered a $139 pay-in-December, use-anytime room rate.

Steamboat, Colo., was also offering some “amazing” lodging and airfare deals following a slow start. “One of the pluses that came out of last year, is we learned how to make a quality snow product,” says Loryn Kasten, PR manager.

Thanks to snowmaking, Steamboat managed to open on its traditional day before Thanksgiving with five trails and two lifts. Kasten says pass sales were good, but reservations were coming in more slowly. “There’s a little bit of wait and see where the snow is falling before people book,” she says.

At Bridger Bowl, Mont., where visits were down 60,000 last season, hungry skiers were out before the mountain opened Dec. 7. Despite last year’s poor season, pass sales were strong, among Bridger’s top three best years. “It’s a diehard crowd out here,” says Doug Wales, marketing director.

More and more, that seems to be the case everywhere.