Weather: El Niños, La Niñas, Los Awful
The start to our season was a cruel one. Of course, we should know better than to count on great conditions for Thanksgiving, but that broad brown belt that stretched across Ski Country USA as Christmas approached was a bit much. True, most areas were cpen, and at presstime, weather trends looked favorable for northern New England and, yes, Jackson Hole was wallowing in an abundance, but please, Aretha Franklin, if you really are Mother Nature, give us a break!
In the meantime, there’s always good old NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to turn to. They have such comforting news, like 1999 was cooler than 1998, thanks to La Niña. But then they tell you 1999 was second only to the El Niño-induced scorcher of 1998. In mid-December, according to The New York Times, NOAA said the U.S. “experienced record-breaking warmth in both of the two most recent winters”. . . and the center predicted that “on average, most of the nation will be warmer than normal over the January-through-March period just ahead.” More specifically, the above-normal prediction is for everything below a line that starts in eastern Nevada that continues northeast to southern Maine. (That’s a lot of ski real estate, incuding Utah, Colorado, southern Midwest areas and all the East except Maine.) Above that is a band they enigmatically label as “no prediction” that includes most of California, western Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. From Montana west, “near normal” or “below normal” temperatures are happily predicted.
USOC—Humorless in Colorado Springs
If you’re not up on one of the silliest hissy fits in Olympic history, check out the item “Brighton Has Fun in Utah” on page 100. The big guns of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) are aimed at Brighton, Utah, whose lighthearted, self-deprecatory advertising has infuriated USOC because, as claimed by general counsel Scott Blackmun, “Your current ad campaign dilutes the value of the Olympic mark and impairs our licensing and fundraising efforts.” Even Kip Pitou, mellow president of Ski Utah, harrumphed that “Any negative spin on [the Olympics] is probably not the best thing for us.”
But most Utahns saw it all differently. As an editorial in the Salt Lake City Tribune said, “. . .the Olympics are big and legitimate enough that a little humor will not hurt them. . .The ability to see Brighton’s ads for what they are and what they are not, and to enjoy their humor, is a sign of maturity that will put Salt Lakers in good stead during 2002.” Summing up, the editorial said, “If [Brighton’s humor] has any effect on the Games, it will be salutary rather than negative.”
Even the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) seemed to have little stomach for the starchy pursuit of Brighton and appeared to be distancing itself from the giant legal nanny in Colorado Springs. “It’s really a USOC matter,” said SLOC spokeswoman Shelley Thomas.
Simultaneously, and counterpoint to all this, was one of the greatest comic opera gigs of all time—that of His Excellency, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, airily explaining to Congress how he is personally exempt from the new ethics rules adopted by the IOC. Talk about “diluting the value of the Olympic mark!”
An “Uphill Battle” Against a Legacy
In a December 15 memo to members of NSAA’s Public Lands Committee, Geraldine Hughes set forth details of why NSAA (and other outdoor recreation interests) are facing an “uphill battle” with the Administration’s determination to establish a long-lasting legacy “driven largely by conservation and environmental interests.” NSAA’s current mission is to “have the industry’s concerns considered and addressed.”
The same concerns were featured at Ski Industry Week (SIW), held this year at Squaw Valley for the first time. In a workshop on the Future of the Ski Industry, Bob Hall of the Outdoor Recreation Council said that our whole industry—not just ski areas, but the SIA side as well—must become aware of the threats to the sport and get involved at all political levels in countering them.
The point was well taken, as pointed out by Peter Keelty, reporting for TSIL: “On a somewhat disquieting note, nearly 25 percent of a crowd that hung on every marketing word uttered by Banana Republic CEO Jeanne Jackson. . .left the room as the subject turned to environmental concerns and politics.”
Another reminder on this point: areas on private land likewise need to pay attention. The Endangered Species Act also applies to them, as NSAA’s Capital Watch spelled out, citing a November rule that “any habitat modification or degradation may harm a listed species, and thereby qualify as a prohibited ‘taking’ under Section 9 of the Act.”
Environment as a topic is beginning to induce an almost universal eye-rolling. But it won’t go away and our biggest battles lie ahead. Adam Werbach, ski enthusiast and young ex-president of the Sierra Club, was keynote speaker at SIW. His message was for us to get involved as guardians and protectors of the environment, not as exploiters. The same message is on page 22 in a fascinating piece by Arthur Dejong, mountain planner and resource manager for Whistler/Blackcomb. He concludes: “If we lead conservation, we will determine our own environmental destiny. If we follow, others will determine that destiny for us.”
A Fiscal CATscan for the Big Three
In mid-December, Schroeders, one of the world’s larger financial houses, invited top figures from the ski resort industry to participate in a seminar on aspects of the recreation industry, along with leaders from other fields, such as the cruise line industry. NSAA’s president, Michael Berry participated, as did Les Otten of American Skiing Co., Adam Aron of Vail Resorts and Daniel Jarvis, CFO for Intrawest.
Berry told SAM he was truly struck by how small we are financially as a total industry compared to the other recreation activities that attract the attention of investors. Berry’s take was that the ski world came off well in its presentations and in the subsequent questioning, but that the audience of top financial professionals probably didn’t have much to learn about our fundamentals. “That audience,” he quipped, “probably held most of the people who finance our industry’s biggest acquisitions.”
Seven Springs Family Feud Continues
Those who at one time were hooked on the family feuding in “Dallas” can find comfort in the Seven Springs saga. In August 1998, Booth Creek Holdings agreed to pay a cool $92.5 million for the highly successful, 5,000-acre Dupre family-owned resort in western Pennsylvania. Over-simplifying, there are three family entities and one of those opposes the sale on the grounds of first-refusal rights established by agreement in 1969. They have agreed to meet the Booth Creek price. But their opposition to the sale has lost twice in court. Now the Superior Court has agreed to a re-argument of the case with one of the nine judges recusing himself. The guess is that a 4-4 split would result in the case going to the state’s Supreme Court. In the meantime, the resort soldiers on with its customary cash-cow ebullience.
Victory Bound, but in Time for 2002?
It is ironic that, at a time when the ski world feels very good about Bill Marolt’s leadership of the U.S. Ski Team, a bunch of not-such-great things are happening to his “victory bound” alpine prospects. Latest is the season-ending injury to the ski team’s hottest racer, Chad Fleischer, who was in the top nine downhillers in the World Cup standings. Added to the loss through injury of Picabo Street, Megan Gerety, Katie Monahan and Tasha Nelson, the prospects for alpine medaling seem dim. In the Austrian-dominated Nations Cup, the U.S. languished in distant (very!) 10th place. As expected, the brightest scene is in freestyle and snowboarding, though even here, results have not (yet) been stellar, especially in freestyle.
But, there’s still lots of competition ahead.
Short Turns
Monarch Ski and Snowboard Resort, in south central Colorado, is being offered for sale on eProperty.com, the first on-line real estate auction system of its kind. The current owners are investors who buy, improve and re-sell. . .Lift Engineering filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, December 6. A new company is being formed in Carson City by long-term L.E. engineer, Ken Pearson, to handle future parts and service business. . .For Loon Mountain, N.H., it’s back to the drawing board as the Forest Service reneges on a previous understanding and orders up a full EIS for its South Mountain expansion. . .In November Blue Pages we forgot to include one provocative piece of scientific fact: the best snow inducer is naturally occurring testosterone. Honest! But don’t ask us how to capitalize on this.
