Last year a Wall Street type was overheard saying, “So what’s to running a ski area? One business is like any other.” Fortunately (for him), he did not invest in the resort that was offered (he still went broke on the market), but fortunately (for the area) new experienced management came in and got things turned around.
What is special about running a ski area so that it makes a profit? Is it just another business? It doesn’t take much savvy to know that the imponderables of weather, the economy, and skier habit play a part. But, beyond that how do you make a profit?
To answer that question, Ski Area Management did an indepth study of four small to medium-sized ski areas that have and do make a clean and handsome profit. In the profiles of these areas — Traverse City Holiday, Lost Valley, Brighton and Mission Ridge — you’ll find that each one has a unique quality or feature or gimmick that draws skiers and keeps them coming back. But a few factors do seem to run through all of the operations described:
- Simplicity of operation: no amenities, no real estate
- Proximity to one or more population centers
- Layout of the area for good grooming, attractiveness, easy skiing
- No fat on the payroll and little turnover among employees
Certainly, these are the success factors of any business, so in a sense that guy from Wall Street was correct: one business is like any other. But in the ski business, keep your eye on those damned imponderables.
TRAVERSE CITY HOLIDAY, MICHIGAN
- 2 T-bars, 5 rope tows
- Snowmaking: over 66 per cent of area
- Vertical drop: 275 feet
- Trails: 40 per cent beginner, 50 per cent intermediate, 10 per cent expert
- Season: 3 months
- Location: 7 miles from Traverse City
- Adult ticket: $4.50 weekdays, $5.50 weekends
With no bar and no lodging at the ski slope, Traverse City Holiday has to make it in recreation — and it does. Over 50 per cent of the skiers who come to the area are season pass holders who have paid from $50 for one person up to a maximum of $175 for a family. Sales are about 250 family memberships and 325 single memberships. Because it is close to the city, people can come out for an hour or two when they have time, rather than spending a full day skiing.
Owned since 1962 by the Sutton family (Ray and Gwen and four boys), Mrs. Sutton manages the area while Mr. Sutton is a vice president of the Traverse City Iron Works. Prior to their ownership, the area was run by the city, where it appears, bureaucracy overshadowed efficiency. In fact, says Mrs. Sutton, for the first few years of her management the payroll ate up profits. Now she has a payroll of about 30 people including one maintenance man year-round, lift and snowmaking crews, ski rental, office workers and ski patrol. Mrs. Sutton takes no salary for running the area.
After the season pass sales, the second and third big attractions of Holiday are the childrens’ program and the ski school. Children from four to seven are given two hours of lessons three days a week under area supervision. The ski school, however, is operated by a local ski shop owner. With six instructors certified in GLM, Holiday was the first area in northern Michigan to offer this type of instruction and has specialized in it ever since.
Weekends draw the biggest crowds with a top of about 1,500 on a vacation day. Ladies’ day on Wednesday and a Thursday evening snack party for adults are usually the busiest weekdays. There is also night skiing on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Most of the area’s business, particularly the season pass business, is repeat skiers so only occasional newspaper or radio advertising is necessary. The six-area Traverse City Ski Council, which has a booth in ski shows and conducts occasional press weekends, probably accounts for some of the “down state” weekend business that Holiday gets.
The Suttons say Holiday has never been in the red, but what profits there have been have gone back into the area in improvements and additions like a second T-bar and more night skiing. But, the basic reason for financial success, says Mrs. Sutton, is the trim payroll. If it rains, the area is closed and there is no payroll.
LOST VALLEY, MAINE
- 2 chairlifts, 1 T-bar, 1 rope tow
- Snowmaking: over 100 per cent of area
- Vertical drop: 240 feet
- Trails: 40 per cent beginner, 40 per cent intermediate, 20 per cent expert
- Season: 3 months
- Location: 6 miles from Auburn, 24 miles from Portland
- Adult Ticket: $5.50 weekdays, $6.50 weekends
Lost Valley opened in 1961 as a rope tow area for children in the metropolitan and suburban region of Auburn, Maine. As interest in the sport grew the area grew, but with a special advantage: the use of its snow for the testing of grooming equipment. One of the owners and developers of lost Valley is Otto Wallingford, of Valley Engineering. Other owners are Dr. Camille Gardner, a local veterinarian, and Fern Pontbriand, manager of the area and owner of a sports shop in Auburn.
In managing the area, Pontbriand’s intention is to fill every hour of the operating days during the week. Weekends, he admits, are fairly slow for the ski school and less busy on the slopes. A typical week day begins with a women’s instruction program at 10 a.m., Bates College physical education groups at 1 p.m., Yarmouth Academy groups at 3 p.m., Lewiston and Auburn learn-to-ski groups (about 300 children) at 4 p.m., Naval Air station groups at 6:30 p.m. and adult learn-to-ski groups (about 250 people) at 7 p.m. These evening instruction programs, which attract up to 1,000 people each season, are the backbone of the area’s income. All participants are pre-paid with no substitutions, and cancellations only in case of rain. The charges for the lessons (daytime or evening) are determined by the volume and frequency of lessons (five, six or eight sessions), with the average price of $1.75 per person per visit. The ski school hires 60 part-time instructiors and 15 full-time instructors.
For the rest of Lost Valley’s operation Pontbriand hires 85 to 90 employees, plus two paid patrolmen and 45 volunteer patrolmen. The area owns and operates all concessions, including the rental shop, ski shop, the dining room and the bar. This permits flexibility in utilizing the personnel, moving lift men to the rental shop when the lifts are not busy and groups are getting fitted for skiing, for instance. Year round, he hires two full-time mountain men, the cocktail lounge manager who organizes and caters large parties off-season, and one ski shop person who is used in his sports shop when the area shop is not operating.
The area operates every day from 9 to 5 (longer than most Eastern ski areas) and from 6 to 10 in the evening. Pontbriand says these evening hours add three-and-a-half extra days to his operation per week. Last season, a particularly poor snow year, Lost Valley operated just 52 days, less than half of its normal season, but it made money. How? Pontbriand points to the closeness to population centers and lack of competition, particularly in night skiing; the ability to move employees around to different jobs when needed; the longer hours of operation; and the volume ski school operation.
MISSION RIDGE, WASHINGTON
- 4 chairlifts, 3 rope tows
- Vertical drop: 2,140 feet
- Trails: 25 percent beginner, 50 percent intermediate, 25 percent expert
- Season: 5 months
- Location: 13 miles from Wenatchee, 135 miles from Seattle
- Adult ticket: $7 weekdays, $7.50 weekends.
Mission Ridge made a breakthrough with the $7 lift ticket in 1974 — no area in the region had had a price that high — yet it was the best year the area had ever experienced. Snow is a good part of the area’s success; grooming and location are other aspects of this feature. Located east of the Cascades, Mission Ridge gets up to five or 10 feet, while on the other side, where there is more rain, one fall can bring a paralyzing 20 to 25 feet. Summer trail grooming and winter snow grooming are naturally essential to keep the lesser snow depth in top shape and Mission Ridge promotes this feature to the fullest.
Walt Hampton and his brother, Wilmer, began to plan the area in 1959 with the backing of 450 stockholders and $385,000 in low interest loans. They began building in 1965 and open the next year with two chairlifts and two rope towns. Chairs were added in 1967 and 1971. Throughout the years of operation Walt Hampton has kept a tight-fisted control of expenditures and employment. He hires 30 to 40 full-time mountain workers and a number of part-timers when needed. In summer four workers are used on the mountain. People hired for these jobs range from school teachers to orchard workers, but there is little turnover from season to season. The ski shop and cafeteria are run by concessionaires.
The ski school, however, is owned and operated by the area. During the week business is not big, although growing and there is also a ski racing academy which has 30 to 40 youngsters in attendance most of the time. Weekends from 10 to 12 school groups arrive for package learn-to-ski days. Because of the distance to metropolitan centers (two-and-a-half hours from Seattle), about 50 per cent of the skiers sleep over at least one night on weekends. One of the remarkable aspects of this clientele is that many pass from one to three other ski areas to get to Mission Ridge.
Last year Mission Ridge spent about $16,000 in advertising which included brochures and an area newspaper, the Seattle ski show, plus salaries and printing. For several years the area has sponsored the slalom and giant slalom nationals, which has produced significant publicity and news coverage. Race spectators are charged admission and the 200 or so tickets sold usually covers race costs.
The shape of the area is significant in attracting skiers, according to Walt Hampton. It is a basin shape, but complex, big, and rolling with lots of off-trail skiing, yet easy grades that the average skier can handle from top to bottom. This variety keeps skiers coming back.
BRIGHTON, UTAH
- 4 chairlifts
- Vertical drop: 1,525 feet
- Trails: 25 per cent beginner, 50 per cent intermediate, 25 percent expert
- Season: 6 months
- Location: 25 miles from Salt Lake City center
- Adult ticket: $5
While it is not small by Midwest or Eastern standards, Brighton is not large when compared with its neighbors like Snowbird, Alta and Park City. The area, originally a T-bar slope operated by the Wasatch Mountain Club, was taken over by the Jensen and Doyle families in 1947. But, it was not until 1955 that they began to expand, adding lifts, slopes and buildings. Today, Zane Doyle specializes in the mechanical operations on the mountain; his son, Mike, helps him with machinery and maintenance; while Dean Jensen is the treasurer and business manager and his son, Gil, handles public relations and the ticket selling.
“In a family operation,” says Dean Jensen, “everybody works. We’re all indians and few chiefs.”
Being so close to Salt Lake City, Brighton naturally draws the bulk of its clientele from local skiers on weekends, yet Jensen notes an increase in business from out-of state, particularly from Southern California, to which he credits the promotion efforts of the state. Other promotion of the area is mostly word of mouth, but brochures in the hotels and motels also draw customers, particularly when other ski areas are crowded.
Most of its skiers also go to other areas, but the season pass sales are increasing each year with about 300 to 400 per season. One feature of the area that families like is the way most of the slopes and the lifts converge at two points which are within public address system earshot. Parents can leave children in the beginner’s area and listen for a page in case of emergency each time they get to the bottom or use loudspeakers to gather family members together.
The ski school programs attract local high school and college groups for physical education credit instruction as well as race coaching. These group lessons run over a six-week period with a different school group on the mountain every day. The ski school has 30 full and part-time instructors.
For the rest of the area, there are from 18 to 25 employees during the winter season who work on the lifts and slope grooming. About four crew members are kept through the summer to do maintenance and improvements on the mountain.
The ski school is the only auxiliary operation owned and operated by the Jensens and Doyles. The two cafeterias, the ski shop and the rental shop are all leased to outsiders. Brighton has few amenities to attract skiers — no nursery, no real estate, no night skiing, and needs no snowmaking — yet the area does make money. Dean Jensen attributes their success to hard work, by all members of the ownership, and to a carefully budgeted operation. Most of the financing has been provided by the owners with only one bank loan in the past and one last year to finance a new chairlift.
