SAM Magazine—Cambridge, Vt., Feb. 27, 2024—In the midst of an unusually warm season for much of North America, many resorts reported snow and upward trends in visitation and revenue over the Presidents’ Day holiday period.Courtesy of Sierra-at-Tahoe

For some, the holiday marked a strong start to the spring season, while others are scaling back operations or shutting down altogether post-Presidents’ week. Vail Resorts closed Paoli Peaks, Ind., and Snow Creek Mo., last week, and Hidden Valley, Mo., shuttered operations on Sunday, Feb. 25—among several other Midwest ski areas that have closed or paused operations, a testament to the region’s warm winter. 

Even in reliably snowy Colorado, Aspen Snowmass is reportedly closing four of its redundant lifts over three properties on weekdays, perhaps an indicator of soft midweek business at the destination resorts.

Still, there are plenty of optimistic operators after the solid Presidents’ Day period just passed.  

EAST 

For Sugarbush, Vt., a foot of fresh snow leading into the holiday weekend kept visitation on track for the period. “We’re right in line with what we expected heading into the holidays, and overall, for the season, we’re right on track,” said communications manager John Bleh, adding that ancillary numbers are trending ahead, in-line with budgeting.

Visits for the week came mainly from passholders and vacation markets like Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey, said Bleh. He also noted that the resort is seeing an uptick in beginners this season. 

The resort was 100 percent open for the holiday. Although weather swings this season have been a challenge, said Bleh, some forethought and planning helped set operations teams up for success. “New snowmaking investments really helped us weather the early season conditions and open new terrain earlier than in years past,” he said. 

After a challenging December that included a delayed opening, a strong January dropped more snow on Snowshoe, W.Va., than the resort received over the entirety of last winter. “With the slow start, December didn’t look great on paper, but fortunately, January and February have been strong, and March is pacing well right now,” said marketing director Shawn Cassell. “It’s looking like we’ll top last year’s visits when all is said and done.” 

A perfectly timed February storm set Snowshoe up for a solid Presidents’ holiday, said Cassell. He reported strong numbers in Snowshoe’s ski and ride school, noting that the resort has sold out of nearly all lesson products on several weekends, including this holiday. 

MIDWEST

Little Switzerland, Wis., reported visitation for the season is down year-over-year, but it’s not all that bad, relatively speaking. “Our three areas [Little Switz, Nordic Mountain, The Rock Snowpark] are down about 15 percent from our three-year average. That said, the three prior years were our best years ever,” said owner Rick Schmitz. “We are still having a good year.” 

Schmitz credits his operations teams for keeping up the best possible conditions, despite the mild weather. “In my 19 years of doing this,” he said, “this has been the most challenging weather we have had in the Midwest, with sporadic and marginal snowmaking windows and extremely warm, prolonged thaws. Our teams have done an amazing job keeping all three of our areas open and in great shape given the weather. 

“One of my favorite posts from a customer on social media this year was, ‘Given the weather, conditions have no excuse to be this good,’" he added.

According to Schmitz, an accompanying challenge to Little Switzerland’s weather woes has been conveying to beginners that the resort still has slidable surfaces. “Our core customer understands snowmaking and expects us to be open,” he said. “Newer customers cannot believe we are open when there is no natural snow and it has been 50 degrees for a week straight. 

“We've never had to make snow this often or late into the season, and we've never had to rebuild our hills so many times,” Schmitz added.  

The Presidents’ Day holiday period arrived at Boyne Mountain, Mich., with a substantial snowmaking window and some natural snow, allowing for a nice refresh on the mountain, said general manager Jason Perl, adding that the resort even picked up a little sunshine during the week, which drew crowds of passholders and never-evers alike.  

“Our outlook remains positive,” said Perl. “All we can do is play the hand we’re dealt, and the team has done an exceptional job.” 

Recent snowmaking investments have proved critical this year with short snowmaking windows, said Perl. “We had to make the greatest impact possible in often less-than-ideal amounts of time. We all know the saying, and we made plenty of lemonade.”

His outlook for the remainder of the season remains positive. “The ski business is tough but oh-so-rewarding. Our goal is to remain open into April, and we plan to continue snowmaking efforts to make that happen,” he said, noting that his team is willing to make snow into March if it ensures the mountain can operate into April. 

WEST 

Many western resorts are reporting a return to normal (or better than normal) after a slow start. Brad Wilson, general manager at Bogus Basin, Idaho, reported a record in both visits and revenue on the Friday leading into Presidents’ Day weekend, with both numbers up for the holiday period over last year. 

 According to Wilson, the highest percentage of visitors during the weekend were holiday skiers, rather than passholders. “We had more skiers on our beginner and intermediate lifts than our ‘backside’ advanced lifts,” said Wilson. “Lots of families! Many of our season pass holders travel [away] on holiday weekends.” 

Ticket sales were so strong for Bogus Basin on Friday, that Wilson capped available day tickets for Saturday of the holiday weekend until he could ensure crowds would be appropriately managed and tickets could be sold again for the afternoon. “We probably left some lift ticket sales on the table, but better to be safe than have to turn people away with parking full,” said Wilson.  

As for the rest of this season, Wilson hopes the positive trend will continue and said his budget for the season remains attainable, but probably not the banner year Bogus Basin saw in 2022-23. “We had such an incredible start to last season and an extended late season, so there is no way we’ll surpass last season’s visits,” said Wilson. “Fortunately, we budgeted as such and will likely (it’s a little early for the crystal ball) surpass that budget and finish the year with our second best in visits and revenue.”

Wilson also noted a shift back to pre-pandemic visitor behavior, with visitation more concentrated during weekends than midweek. “To respond, we created a new ‘Value’ season pass that allows seven-days-a-week access, but on peak weekends the pass is [only] valid from 3 p.m.-10 p.m., when we have capacity,” he explained. 

Eldora Mountain’s (Colo.) prime location supported solid holiday visitation, according to marketing director Sam Bass. “Visitation was strong through the holiday, even with the relatively dry early winter, thanks to our proximity to greater Boulder and the northern Front Range,” said Bass. 

Bass also said staffing numbers at Eldora are stronger than in years past. “We had one of our best recruiting years ever and have been fully staffed with an exceptionally strong class of employees going above and beyond for our guests every day.”

For California resorts, snow was late to the party, but a few atmospheric river events helped get things back on track. John Rice, general manager at Sierra-At-Tahoe, said the season’s late kickoff meant some passholders made their maiden voyages to the mountain just this holiday weekend.  

Sierra-at-Tahoe’s Presidents’ Day weekend numbers were flat against last year, but Rice is encouraged by an apparent shift in momentum. With fresh snow, he anticipated that visitation would return to normal in the second half of the season. “We were pleased to see our web analytics showing interest in the new snow,” said Rice, “and it is translating to stronger visitation the week following the holiday period.” 

Sierra-at-Tahoe’s ski and ride school also saw strong demand for both youth and adult first-time lessons coming out of the holiday weekend. “Profit center yields followed ticket revenue, as the holiday crowd showed up and contributed to overall yield,” said Rice.  

The resort launched the new spring “FOMO Pass” on Presidents’ Day, which aims to draw some of those holiday visitors back with unlimited access for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. “It’s is equivalent to the 3-PAK price ($267 for adults), which has been selling strongly,” said Rice. “So far, the initiative is a big hit with locals and loyal day trippers, and it’s an easy upsell for our staff.” 

Down in SoCal, Mountain High reported visits at or below a five-year average prior to the holiday week. After Presidents’, however, those numbers have perked up a bit and sit at or slightly ahead of the five-year average, according to California Mountain Resort Company (CMRC) CEO Karl Kapuscinski, who said snowmaking was a safety net through a rocky December. “Mountain High had the more traditional December of our resorts, largely in part due to snowmaking, as that market is used to that sort of thing,” he explained. 

Kapuscinski reported that Dodge Ridge, China Peak, and Bear Valley, Calif., all hit at or near record visitation and revenue on the Sunday of the holiday weekend. “As a whole, the second weekend was also a solid performer,” he added. “Friday was extremely busy yet again, and the following Saturday and Sunday felt like another holiday weekend.”

Ski and ride schools were sold out at all of the resorts during the holiday period, thanks, in part, to very nice weather. “Demand for outdoor activity continues to remain strong here,” said Kapuscinski, “and we’re even seeing growth in diversity at our resorts, with a large increase in families who are new to snow sports.

WESTERN CANADA 

Matt Mosteller, vice president of resort experience for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, said new snow in the region was well-timed ahead of the holiday period, especially at Fernie Alpine Resort, British Columbia, where snow also refreshed the slopes during the holiday weekend and throughout the week. 

Mosteller reported favorable numbers across the board for the holiday period at another RCR resort, Kicking Horse, British Columbia, which hosted the Freeride World Tour, Feb. 14-20, bringing additional positive media coverage and interest. Kimberley Alpine Resort, British Columbia, saw a solid regional holiday turnout as well, in part thanks to a foot of fresh snow over a 24-hour window.

FORECAST

As for the remainder of the winter season, resorts reporting a positive February turnout hope to continue the recovery from a tough start, while others are just hoping to make it to the finish line in the face of continued unfavorable conditions. 

Report by Mike Chait

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