Never has that adage rung truer than in 2002-03. Early and abundant snow helped the East shake off world events to post an excellent and, in many cases, record season. In the West, where the snow was more erratic, so was the season.
The slow economy had virtually no effect on most ski areas as many reported skier spending up along with visits. Ditto for any effects from the buildup to war. Skiers also had little fear of flying this season. Many big western resorts reported good increases in destination visitors over last year.
East
“The economy and the buildup to war did not have an impact at all,” said Pam Cruickshank, marketing manager at Okemo, Vt., on track for a record 550,000-plus skier visits. “What was more of an impact was that everybody had snow.”
The abundant snowfall and season-long cold temperatures lifted the entire East with the exception of some of the biggest northern New England resorts. Simply put, people did not have to travel that far to find great skiing. Wachusett, Mass., was on track for a record 420,000-plus visits, Mountain Creek, N.J., which exceeded 100 operating days for the first time in more than a decade, had a record year, as did the entire mid-Atlantic southern New England and southeast regions.
“We’ve had two out of three exceptional years,” said Steve Showalter, president of the Southeastern Ski Areas Association. “People didn’t have a problem spending money at all. They bought a lot of the most expensive packages.”
Small to mid-sized areas had the best seasons. In Maine, for example, New Hermon, Big Rock, Titcomb, Lost Valley, Black, Shawnee Peak, Mt. Abram all reported double digit increases, while Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River had more modest increases.
“It won’t be a record, but it was a very strong year,” said Greg Sweetser, executive director of Ski Maine.
On the downside, extreme cold also impacted business.
“It was an OK season,” said Michael Colbourn, vice president of sales and marketing at Mt. Mansfield, Vt. “It was frustrating to have the snowpack as deep as it was and not have more people skiing because of the extreme cold.”
Midwest and West
In the Midwest, cold temperatures helped offset a relatively sparse snow year in the north. For a change, southernmost states (Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana) had the most snow and best results. Perfect North Slopes, Ind., was up 25-plus percent over its previous best season. Snow Creek, Mo., also had a record year. Overall, it was an average year and slightly better than last year.
In Colorado, early season snow helped resorts to their best start in five years, and a nearly eight percent increase over 2002 going into March. There were strong increases in destination and especially front range skiers (up 19 percent). In Utah, destination visitors were also up, but the locals, who make up 48 percent of the market, stayed home.
“If the snow is not great the locals don’t ski,” said Kip Pitou, president of Ski Utah. “The snow cover was not as good as normal but it was decent. We saw no fear of flying at all. Our destination business was up, indicative of the investment we made in the Olympics.”
After last year’s stupendous snow year, skiers also stayed home this season in the Pacific Northwest.
“I think there was a hangover effect from last year,” said Scott Kaden, president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association, attributing the drop-off in skier visits to lack of snow rather than the dismal regional economy.
“Our economy is in the tank but it was last year, too. I think there was just a hangover from having such a stellar snow year followed by such a mediocre one.”
In California, the season was “weird,” said Bob Roberts, executive director of the California Ski Industries Association, depending on how they got hit by the big December snow drop.
“Some areas were up 15 percent, some down 15 percent,” Roberts said.
Overall, he said the state should surpass 7.2 million skier visits, down from last year’s record 7.5 million.
Canada also had a record season in the East and a slow start but good finish in the West.
Trends
In calling around we asked ski areas to comment on other trends from the season. Here’s what we found:
Sliders continue to want more terrain parks, and ski areas are responding.
“We had a big step up in the quality and number of terrain parks,” said Alice Pearce, executive director of Ski New Hampshire. “At least 10 or 12 areas had very good parks this winter, compared to only about five or six last year.”
“You don’t need a lot of vertical to have a good terrain park, so even the smaller areas can offer them,” Maine’s Sweetser said. “Boarding remains stable, but the twin tips and free-riding skis which can also go in the pipes and parks are really taking off.”
At Okemo, which added its second superpipe this season, Cruickshank noted a similar trend.
“People think they’re just for snowboarders, but the number of skiers using them is huge. A lot of adults are using them, too. They’re getting very multigenerational.”
Mountain Creek, N.J., with the only superpipe south of Vermont, continues to grow its huge youth market through terrain parks.
“At least 25 percent of the area is dedicated to terrain parks,” said Bill Benneyan, marketing director. “We’ve got five individual parks and at least 30 rails. We’re very much youth-driven.”
Learn-to-ski programs also continued to grow and prosper. Areas and states offered more, less complicated, programs and were rewarded with huge influxes of beginners.
“Hunter Mtn., Holiday Valley, Greek Peak all had huge years with their learn-to-ski programs,” said Dirk Gouwens, president of Ski Areas of N.Y.
“A lot of people made their first ski trip this year,” Showalter said of the Southeast.
International skiers, with the exception of the British and Irish, continued to decline at many resorts.
“The Japanese and South American markets have really disappeared,” California’s Bob Roberts said.
“Japan has dropped way down for the last two to three years,” agreed Canada West’s Jimmie Spencer.
Kids programs, on the other hand, were huge everywhere.
“We used to go after families to get kids,” said Chip Perfect, president of Perfect North Slopes, Ind. “Now we go after the kids to get the families. The whole dynamic has changed.”
