Leslie B. Otten, president of LBO, the holding company that now owns controlling interests in Sunday River, Me., Attitash and Cranmore, N.H., and Sugarbush, Vt., is putting in a whole lot of lifts this summer at his rapidly expanding New England ski resort empire. Count ‘em: there are five new detachable quads, two fixed grip quads, as well as two relocated lifts, one of which is a detachable quad. Oh yes, and add in a magic carpet—a base transport “lift” akin to those moving sidewalks in airports.
Meanwhile, Otten’s former employer, S-K-I is not adding any lifts, but instead is replacing its entire grooming fleet and rental inventory at its six-resort empire.
(A complete rundown on these and other happenings at LBO and S-K-I can be found in separate coverage on pages 51-53.)
Otten and S-K-I headline a dramatic role reversal for the ski industry this summer. Northern New England, coming off a terrible ski season, is in the midst of one of the busiest and most expensive capital improvement summers ever. The West, meanwhile, despite an excellent ski season in many regions, is doing practically nothing by way of expansion and capital improvements. Usually, it’s just the opposite. Good ski seasons beget good construction seasons; bad ski seasons almost always mean circling the wagons.
In this day when “doing nothing” other than some routine maintenance can still cost $3 million, as Bob Roberts, Executive Director of California Ski Industry Association points out, the activity in the east is a remarkable leap of faith.
“This is the most I’ve had to talk about in five years in terms of capital improvements,” said Alice Pearce, Executive Director of Ski New Hampshire where areas are putting in six new or recycled lifts despite a 19 percent decline in skier visits last winter.
In Vermont, where business was off 15 percent last winter, areas are spending a whopping $50 million on expansions and improvements, compared to $22 million last summer and $17 million the summer before.
Sugarbush, which is increasing its lift capacity by more than 60 percent and its snowmaking by more than 300 percent, clearly wins the “most happening” award.
Stratton, also under the new ownership this year (Canada’s Intrawest), is replacing three double chairs with New England’s first high-speed “six pack” Doppelmayr chair. Elsewhere, Okemo is taking a triple out of storage and re-installing it to serve two new trails in its Solitude Peak area, while Jay is adding a 2,400 foot double chair they acquired from Camelback, Pa.
In New Hampshire, new Doppelmayr detachable quads are going in at Attitash, Cranmore and Loon, while three lifts from the auctioned off King Ridge foreclosure sale will see new life at King Pine and Ragged Mt.
Sunday River’s two new lifts—a beginner surface lift and a Doppelmayr fixed grip quad in its new Oz area—highlight the expansion activity in Maine.
New York areas, which did not put in any lifts last summer, are putting in two new fixed grip quads at Gore and Holimont, both by Garaventa/CTEC.
The Southeast, which pulled a winning season out of the bag in February, has made a stronger than ever commitment to snowmaking and grooming improvements this summer. “It’s a fairly average year in terms of capital improvements, but above average in terms of snowmaking and grooming upgrades,” said Tony Waddell, President of the Southeast Ski Areas Association. Waddell’s own area, Cataloochee, N.C., is installing 1,000-foot relocated Hall lift to service a beginner trail.
Chris Stoddard, Executive Director of the Midwest Ski Areas Association, also described summer construction activity as average for that region.
“We’re mostly replacing things, making small additions and changes,” he said. “We don’t need to put in a lot of new capacity all the time.”
Among the additions and changes are new chairs at Terry Peak, S.D., (a Riblet), Apple Mt., Mich. (Doppelmyr fixed grip quad), a Garaventa/CTEC triple at Treetops Sylvan, Mich. and at Chestnut Mountain in Illinois, a relocated quad.
Perfect North Slopes, Ind. also purchased 20 new snowguns, while Wild Mt., Minn. doubled its base lodge. A number of areas also put in 18-hole golf courses.
In Colorado, the biggest news is what is not happening. Telluride’s 3-mile, 3- stage, 8-passenger, $23 million Garaventa/CTEC gondola, held up for two years by the EPA, finally resumed construction in April only to discover the soil under one of the terminals had shifted during the delay, putting the project on hold once again. As of August, the company still didn’t know whether to hire a gondola crew or a bus crew to move skiers from the village this winter. The area’s first-of-its-kind “chondola” — half chair, half gondola (every 10th chair is a gondola cabin)—will be ready by the first snowfall. It is also by Garaventa/CTEC.
Other activity in Colorado is taking place at up and coming Purgatory, which is continuing its makeover with a $4.1 million expansion program this summer that includes a new Doppelmayr detachable quad.
Vail is also adding a Graventa/CTEC detachable quad, while Aspen, not to be outdone, is adding two Poma detachale quads. Beaver Creek and Copper are each installing relocated lifts, a triple and a double, respectively.
Action in New Mexico was highlighted by a Poma Alpha 210 fixed quad at Taos.
Despite three successive record ski seasons, Utah mainly spent the summer savoring its winning Olympic bid.
“The lack of activity is a little unusual,” admitted Mark Menlove, President of Ski Utah. “I think a lot of people were waiting on the Olympic decision, which didn’t leave enough time to factor in any new expansion plans. I think we’ll see more expansions and upgrades next summer.”
One of the two new lifts, a Garaventa/CTEC fixed-grip quad, is at Sundance; the other, a Doppelmayr fixed-grip quad, was actually purchased last year by Snowbird, but is only now being installed. Snow Basin had to cancel its new lift for permitting reasons.
In California, area operators weren’t waiting on the Olympics to decide on their summer construction plans. They were waiting for the snow to melt. The state recorded more summer skier visits than any other. “We’re the capital of ski sizzle,” boasted Roberts. “We had so much snow, I think people were really late to get things done.”
Among resorts committed to new lifts are Diamond Peak at Ski Incline (a Doppelmayr fixed quad with conveyor loading) and Squaw Valley, which sprung for a Doppelmayr detachable quad.
“Usually, after a very solid year like we had, you see a flurry of activity,” Roberts said. “But I think people would like to get a second big solid year behind them before leveraging themselves too far.”
In Oregon, Mt. Hood Meadows installed a 5,945-foot Poma detachable quad, its third high-speed lift, and bought three new grooming vehicles and a winch cat.
Up in Alaska, the biggest construction news was Poma’s 60-passenger tram at Mt. Roberts Development, but this is for the cruise ship customers, not for skiers.
In Canada, the offseason was fairly quiet, with most area operators concentrating mainly on new terrain, snowmaking expansions, increasing bed bases and upgrading base facilities.
The biggest on-mountain expansions were in the West. Sunshine Village in Banff, Alberta, spent the summer putting the finishing touches on its new Goat’s Eye Mountain. The $3 million expansion includes one of the country’s longest detachable quads, a Poma Competition 1100 model, and will double the number of Sunshine’s skiable acres.
In B.C., Sun Peaks also installed a 6,700-foot detachable quad, this one by Doppelmayr, that will open up 200 additioinal acres of terrain. The area also built a 9-hole golf course and began construction of two on-mountain hotels and an 80-unit townhouse development.
In Ontario, Georgian Peak is putting in a Poma Alpha 210 quad, while in faraway Newfoundland, Marble Mountain is installing a Poma detachable quad.
