Vail Shakes Up the Resort Business Again
With its purchase of Afton Alps outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul and Mount Brighton outside of Detroit, Vail Resorts is seeking to cement its relationship with two first-rate feeder areas for its empire. For $20 million, VR has gained access to many thousands of potential EpicPass buyers and destination visitors.

How many buyers? VR claims that more than 468,000 skiers and riders live in the two metro areas, which were among Vail’s largest markets in the resort’s early years. And more generally, about a third of the visits recorded by Midwestern skiers take place at destination resorts in the West. That’s a lot of potential. VR plans to increase its share with new pass products for the 2013-14 season.

But that’s just for starters. Vail will step up learn-to efforts at both resorts to create more skiers in the Midwest. And observers expect Vail will add other Midwestern resorts, perhaps in the Chicago area and further east. Wherever it goes, VR will upgrade facilities as well.

While some of VR’s new neighbors are apprehensive, others welcome the resort giant’s move, as do most areas across the Midwest. They expect that VR will raise awareness of skiing and riding generally, and thus help all local resorts in its orbit promote skiing and riding against non-downhilling activities. One operator noted that Minnesota has seen the number of resorts in the state shrink from 34 to 14 over the past 50 years, but that the remaining areas are all strong and well-run, and should benefit.

We also expect non-VR destination resorts to step up to the plate. Many Midwestern resorts have, or have had in the past, sister relationships with destination resorts. Grand Targhee and Welch Village come to mind. Watch for Intrawest, Powdr, and others to pursue such alliances in the Midwest aggressively. And that’s all good. As one Midwestern operator told SAM, destination visits in the West (and in Europe) help cement skiers’ and riders’ commitment to the sports, and that keeps them coming to the local hills.


Give New Riders a Brake
We like to think that SAM fuels a lot of creativity and action among our readership. But surfer/skater Tony Haddleton was not who we had in mind. Still, Haddleton read our Speak Out regarding the need for a better experience for beginning snowboarders (May 2012) and was inspired, he says, to develop the Boarder Kontrol snowboard, which employs a brake to help beginners control their speed and thus aim downhill without fear of speed.

Haddleton’s board has a broad blade—a cross between the rounded toe of a spade and the broad blade of a hoe—behind the bindings that can, by pulling up on a handle, extend through the base of the board and into the snow. Voila, speed control. The combination of blade and handle also helps stabilize riders, lending an even greater sense of control in those crucial first few hours on a board, when it can otherwise feel as though one is strapped to something as maneuverable as a lunch tray.

Now, we don’t know if the Boarder Kontrol board will revolutionize beginner instruction. But it shows a different way of approaching things, and that’s something that instruction sorely needs. A 15 (or 17) percent retention rate just isn’t sufficient.


Leaving Whistler, Intrawest has New Life
With the sale of its 24 percent stake in Whistler Blackcomb Holdings to KSL Capital Partners, Intrawest has engineered a remarkable transformation. The company got its start in the ski industry at Blackcomb. Its departure from Whistler completes an effort to restructure and refinance its operations.

The company’s profile has changed a great deal in the past six years. When Fortress Investment Group bought Intrawest in 2006 for $2.8 billion, Intrawest was the 800-pound gorilla in the U.S. and Canadian ski industry. But the purchase required massive debt. That proved nearly impossible to roll over in post-crash 2009, and the company nearly succumbed. A group of creditors threatened to foreclose during the 2010 Olympics, tainting what should have been the resort’s crowning moment.

Now, having sold Copper Mountain, Mountain Creek, Panorama, and Whistler, along with resort properties in Squaw Valley, France, and the Sandestin golf resort, Intrawest is leaner and meaner. Its stable of Steamboat, Winter Park, Tremblant, Blue Mountain, Stratton, Snowshoe, and Canadian Mountain Holidays is still significant. Having reduced its debt and refinanced it at a lower rate and over a longer term, the company is poised to make strategic investments. Watch for CEO Bill Jensen to move Intrawest back into the limelight quickly.


Welch GOES DIRECTLY TO PARALLEL
With several areas inching closer to teaching direct-to-parallel skiing, it’s no surprise that PMTS, the direct-to-parallel teaching system developed by ski coach and former PSIA demo team member Harald Harb, has been gaining traction lately. PMTS can have a never-ever skier making linked parallel turns on green runs in one day, with a level of confidence and exhilaration that long-term converts are made of. Several areas in the Midwest have PMTS-trained instructors on staff this winter and are offering at least some PMTS lessons.

But Welch Village may be the only one that has instituted PMTS throughout its ski school and racing programs. From ski and ride school manager Peter Zotalis on down, everyone has been trained in the system, and the school is rolling out the new methodology in all classes. Carve on!


Moms, travel, and food
We know how important moms are in the vacation decision-making process. That’s why Park City founded Snowmamas, a website where moms can ask questions of knowledgeable locals and resort visitors for advice. Now, Vail Resorts has partnered with family travel writers to launch a new website, www.EpicMoms.com, designed to provide moms with thoughtful tips and expert advice on vacations at VR’s seven destination resorts. The site includes advice and tips and blog posts regarding where to stay and eat, winter and summer activities, mom getaway weekends, and date nights at the resort. There’s also “Ask an Epic Mom” that answers questions on the website.

The Epic Moms include Jen Leo, a travel writer in Tahoe; Jamie Pearson, author of travel website Travel Savvy Mom; Rachel Walker of Boulder, Colo., and Kara Williams a longtime freelance writer based in Colorado.

Ski Utah has also maintained a healthy blog (www.skiutah.com/winter/blog). Visits have grown annually and are up 35 percent this season. The blog has become the backbone for content on SkiUtah.com. So naturally, it’s expanding, too.

Latest addition to the menu: food. The site’s newest contributors are a gustatorial duo, Pam Olson and Daniel Cochrane. Olson, a.k.a Foodie Pam, touts choices from on-mountain noshes to the finest in-town dinning. Olson is a freelance writer and former executive editor of Utah Homes & Garden magazine. Cochrane, a.k.a Burritos and Snow, is a passionate snowboarder and burrito connoisseur.


We’re From ORDA and We’re Here to Help
The Olympic Regional Development Authority took over state-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center to run a tight ship. That means ending a sweetheart deal for local residents in Shadaken, Belleayre’s hometown, who received deeply discounted rates on Sundays for tickets, plus free ski lessons and rental equipment. ORDA offered the same discount deal for kids 8 to 18 that it extends to residents at Whiteface and Gore, its other ski areas, but local officials declined. Unhappiness is understandable, but why look any gift horse in the mouth?


Shortswings
Gun-shy about losing seasonal workers as a second consecutive season started slowly, Aspen Skiing Co. provided dinner to seasonal workers in November as they waited for the season to begin, as it has in similar circumstances in the past. As many as 90 employees -in-waiting accepted the SkiCo’s invitation each night over a two-week period ... A bankruptcy judge has ordered Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth to return $41 million (of the more than $200 million) he received in loans from Credit Suisse. The money will be used to pay off creditors other than Credit Suisse, which the judge held responsible, along with Blixseth, for the Club’s failure... Utah gets the “forward thinking”?award for its plan to bid on hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics, even before the IOC begins considering sites for 2022.