Only 25 to 27 new lifts will be installed at U.S. resorts according to Jan Leonard, president of CTEC, Inc. This is about the same number that went in last year, but down considerably from the nationwide average of 65 lifts installed every year up until 1987.
“We had people knocking on our doors wanting to represent us in Japan and Canada back in the mid-80s, but we always turned them down,” Leonard said, “Up until 87 we had all the business we could handle. There was no reason to look outside the U.S. Now I wish I had listened to them.”
CTEC will install 12 new lifts this year, but Leonard say the company has “traded dollars for market share.”
“There’s no money in the lifts, the competition is terrible, and we’re just not making the margin,” Leonard said.
Most of the new lift installations will be in California and Colorado. California, despite a bad ski season, will see new lifts at Bear, Boreal and Sierra Ski Ranch. In Colorado, Keystone is hogging most of the attention with its new ski terrain. After opening the terrain to heliskiers last season, Keystone will install a new high-speed quad and cut 21 new trails in that section. A new high-speed, six-passenger gondola will also join the summits of Keystone and North Peak. Other Colorado lifts are going in at Beaver Creek’s Grouse Mountain and at Wolf Creek.
Utah, which had a record season, will have a considerably quieter summer. There will be no Deer Valley’s, which spent $6 million last summer gearing up for its 10th anniversary season. “Skier days were up seven percent last season,” said Ski Utah’s new president Randy Montgomery. “But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Other costs were up too. It’s going to be very quiet this summer.”
Activity will be taking place at Alta, which is replacing an existing lift with a new triple chair. Brighton, meanwhile, has ordered a quad, but is still waiting for approval from the Forest Service to install the lift in its Snake Creek area. Snowbird is also in “public comment” over its Baby Thunder area where it plans to install a relatively short lift to service three runs and a race hill. Most other areas are concentrating on snowmaking upgrades and expansions.
Quietest of all the regions will be the Southeast and the Northeast. Only two areas in the northeast have announced major expansion projects. Not surprisingly the two — Sunday River in Maine and Okemo in Vermont — were the only areas that managed to increase business last winter.
Okemo is putting in its ninth new lift in nine years, while Sunday River will be installing a new quad and cutting eight new trails. Okemo is also spending $1.5 million to expand the base lodge and Skiwee facilities. “Three years ago the Skiwee area was the largest one in the East,” said Scott van Pelt, Okemo director of marketing. “Believe it or not, we now need more space there.”
A few new lifts and a few old lifts — recycled and rebuilt — will be going in around the Midwest. But only a few. “There hasn’t been a lot of expansion here the last few years mainly because the market isn’t growing and the existing physical plant serves very well,” said Chris Stoddard, the new executive director of the midwest Ski Areas Association.
Added Steve Bauer at the MSAA: “The biggest priority out here has been upgrading snowmaking. Virtually everybody has 100 percent coverage, so now its mainly a matter of improving efficiency and capacity.”
Snowmaking, in fact, seems to be one segment of the industry that is growing. “Once again the early indications for snowmaking are very strong,” said Joe VanderKelen sales manager of Snow Machines, Inc. in Midland, Mich. “Snowmaking throughout the world continues to grow as a market.”
Geographically, VanderKelen said the biggest expenditures for snowmaking were being made in the Far West, Western Canada, Colorado, Utah and Montana. “The Midwest and Southeast are about average and the Northeast is quite a bit below average.”
David Roberts, president of Sno-star Pipelines, Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., also reported sales were down in the Northeast, but said overall business was strong. “The larger systems and the larger areas are doing well, but the smaller areas are missing.”
The two biggest high-profile snowmaking projects this summer will be taking place at Sun Valley, Id., and at Mammoth, Calif.
