TOP FIVE FRIDAYS: APRIL 22, 2022
Lead Image: A skier getting pitted at Arapahoe Basin, a Colorado resort that cut its ties with the Epic Pass, reduced its season pass and ticket sales by 10%, has seen 40% less skier visits this season, and yet is remarkably on track for it’s most lucrative season yet. Image: Arapahoe Basin on Facebook
#1: Colorado’s Independent Ski Resort Industry is Absolutely Thriving:
Despite the fact that Monarch Mountain Ski Resort isn’t a part of any multi-pass, or maybe because of it, the resort is one of many independent Colorado ski resorts to be experiencing substantial growth over the past couple of years. Image: Monarch Mountain on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the April 22, 2022 edition! This week, we have several stories from the world of ski resorts, ranging from off season announcements to the status of the competitive landscape. Some of these topics require a higher level of thought to consider, so to round out the week we’re sharing a profile of U.S. Men’s Slalom skier Luke Winters in an effort to end things on a lighter note. Now that you know what you’re getting into, let’s go ahead and get started!
The first highlight in our trio of resort reports this week is an article from the Colorado Sun that gives champions of independent ski areas something to feel good about. In this classically excellent piece from author Jason Blevins, we learn of the high level of success being seen at ski resorts across Colorado. For all of the attention that multi-pass resorts have received in recent years, independent ski areas in the state have been quietly experiencing unprecedented success. Due to a variety of factors, ranging from daily lift ticket prices to traffic congestion on and off the slopes at multi-pass resorts, to the overall Covid-induced interest in the great outdoors, Colorado’s independent ski areas have seen a tremendous uptick in both ticket sales and revenue. At Monarch Mountain for example, the resort has seen a 50% increase in season pass sales since the 2019-2020 season. Elsewhere, at Sunlight Mountain Ski Resort, increased visitation led to an overall increase in revenue as food/beverage, rentals, and lessons all contributed to a 21% increase in revenue last year.
One of the more interesting passages of this article though, is actually the story of Arapahoe Basin, which, while partnered with the Ikon Pass to provide limited access, remains independently owned. As you might already know, Arapahoe Basin was initially partnered with Vail’s Epic Pass until 2019, at which point the resort decided to end unlimited access for Epic Pass holders. Building on that move to reduce access, the resort also implemented a cap on both season pass and daily lift ticket sales starting this past season. As a result, visitations at the resort are tracking at about 40% below 2019 levels, their last year in partnership with the Epic pass. While that statistic might lead you to believe that breaking ties was bad for business, it turns out that the exact opposite is true. Despite the drop in visitation, Arapahoe Basin’s revenue is actually projecting to be its best ever. What this tells us is that while some resorts benefit greatly from partnering with the Epic or Ikon Passes, it’s not a blanket statement that can be applied to every situation. Arapahoe Basin’s experience is proof that for some resorts, it can actually make more sense to focus on themselves and on giving their guests the best possible experience. This of course leads us to think again about a concept we first conceived a few weeks back in the middle of March: the idea that just like skis, the ski resort industry is evolving to become more diverse, and more specialized, creating a landscape in which there’s bound to be the perfect skiing experience for everyone. It’s hard to say whether or not that’s actually the case or if it’s just our optimism showing, but one thing that’s simple to say is that you should definitely check out this article from the Colorado Sun to learn more about the state’s independent ski area success stories.
#2: New York State’s Olympic Regional Development Authority Approves Funding for Over $90m in Upgrades at State Owned Resorts:
The sun sets at Gore Mountain, where New York State’s Olympic Regional Development Authority has just approved two new chairlifts at a price tag of over $12 million. These upgrades are part of a $91.7m total package across four NY resorts. Image: Gore Mountain on Facebook
In other resort news this week, New York State’s Olympic Regional Development Authority, the state agency tasked with maintaining and growing interest in the areas surrounding its Olympic facilities, has just approved $91.7m in funding for four state operated ski resorts. For skiers and riders who call Gore, Whiteface, Belleayre, or the North Creek Ski Bowl home, this is welcome news as all locations will receive significant upgrades. At Whiteface, the state is looking to spend $16.5m on a new year round lift that will take guests from the Bear Den Lodge to the Legacy Lodge. At Belleayre, Lift 7 will be realigned, and the resort will also receive an additional brand new lift. The combined total for these projects, plus additional maintenance for two other lifts at the resort, is expected to be approximately $9m. At Gore Mountain, the Hudson lift will be replaced by a 4 person, detachable lift at a price tag of $8.7m, and the Bear Cub Poma lift will be upgraded to a longer aerial lift for $3.5m. Finally, at the North Creek Ski Bowl, the state will spend $19.7m on a new year round base lodge, and an additional $7.25m on a Treetop Trolley Ride to entice year round use of the ski area. In addition to these major upgrades, another $11m has been set aside for snowmaking and trail improvements across the four resorts. All in all, it’s a huge win for the region as this financial support sets all of these resorts up for a healthy future.
That, however, is only half the story. We actually partially covered this story previously, back in February, when it was announced that the NY ORDA had announced plans to spend $30m on upgrading the lodge at Gore. At that time, much like today, we celebrated the win for Gore locals, while also highlighting the frustrating flipside for owners at other ski resorts in New York. In short, the issue is this: while New York is doing amazing things for the four ski areas that it helps operate, it’s also giving them an unfair advantage over the other 40+ ski areas in the state. The problem highlighted by owners of other resorts is that these state subsidies only help a few key ski areas while the others are left to fend for themselves. In other words, the state is helping pick specific “winners”, directly violating the concept of the free market. Alternatively, resort owners who aren’t benefiting from these subsidies argue that a better use of taxpayer money would be to create a grant fund that any ski resort could make use of, applying for project funding as needed. It’s a complicated issue to be sure. While New York has successfully made use of former Olympic facilities, a task that’s not often accomplished, there’s also a strong argument to be made in regards to the unfairness of these subsidies. While we’re not in a position to pass judgment, we can refer you to the latest article from the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that shares the latest development news, as well as our previous highlight of the issue from February. If you feel a certain type of way about this issue, please, by all means, let us know in the comment section below.
#3: Stowe Mountain Announces Move to Paid Parking Next Seasons:
A Green Mountain Transit bus pulls into the Stowe parking lot. If things go according to plan next season, these buses will be pulling in more often, and with more people. Image: Stowe Mountain Resort on Facebook
Next up in the world of big complicated issues at ski resorts, is a headline from our own backyard: Stowe Mountain Resort announced this week that it will be implementing paid parking on weekends and holidays starting next season. Now, to be clear, this isn’t the first time a resort has implemented paid parking, and it isn’t the first time we’ve covered such a story either. In fact, it’s becoming a bit of a trend within the industry. But, it’s the first time it’s happened in our area, and with Stowe being our home mountain, it feels like an appropriate time to revisit the concept as we now have a local���s perspective on the situation.
First, let’s start with the announcement. On Monday, April 18, Stowe’s Facebook page shared a letter from the mountain’s General Manager announcing the news, including some of the factors that resulted in the new policy and a number of details regarding what the new policy means. In short, the move was made in an effort to promote carpooling, largely as a result of both parking issues at the mountain and traffic congestion on the road to and from the resort. This is pretty much the same story at every resort that’s implemented a paid parking policy: the move comes about as a means of mitigating traffic and parking problems. In an effort to ease these issues, Stowe will begin charging a yet to be announced amount for parking on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays for cars containing less than four people. To avoid parking fees, guests can carpool to the resort with four or more people, park at the Toll Road parking lot (a small parking area a mile or so down the road from the main base area), or park in town and take public transportation to the resort. Taken at face value, the policy seems to encourage carpooling as a means to reduce traffic, congestion, and ultimately the amount of carbon emissions created by those heading to the resort. That’s the line of thought being shared by the resort.
The court of public opinion of course, has had a very different reaction to the news. Along with the announcement of paid parking on weekends came a swift and immediate response from a disgruntled customer base who immediately accused the resort of gauging their customer base for all the money they can get. While that perspective is likely a bit too accusatory, there is something to be said about the fact that many season pass holders are now being asked to continue paying to access the resort. In the comments of the Facebook post, many were quick to bring a number of scenarios to light that make it difficult for them to reasonably expect to head to the resort with a full car load. One example that sticks out was a comment from a young parent, whose family consists of themselves, their significant other, and their small child. To ask this family to either carpool with one random person, ride public transportation with their toddler, or pay to park at the resort, is obviously asking a lot.
As a result of the announcement, we’ve also already anecdotally heard from many long-time Stowe skiers that they won’t be renewing their passes next year. Instead, they’ll be heading to other resorts in the area such as Smuggler’s Notch or Sugarbush, which happens to be on the Ikon Pass. This of course, leads us to start wondering what next year will look like here in our hometown of Stowe. For instance, how many skiers and riders who’ve called Stowe home will find themselves elsewhere? Will their void be filled by Epic Pass holders traveling up from East Coast cities? If so, what will the weekdays look like? Most importantly of course, there’s the question of whether or not the paid parking program will have its intended effect. If it does, and if visitation remains consistent, it could be argued that it was ultimately the right move for the resort, even if it drives local passionate skiers to neighboring resorts. Looked at through this lens, this conversation feeds back into our previously mentioned theory that ski resorts are evolving to become better fits for more specific crowds. While local weekend warriors might hate the new policy, it may result in a preferable preference for the type of skiers who buy an Epic Pass, visit various resorts throughout the season, and don’t mind paying for parking as it’s a practice they’re accustomed to. Whether or not that’s the case remains to be seen, but one way or another, we’ll be interested to see how this all plays out. For now, check out the announcement via Facebook.
#4: Luke Winters is Likely the Future of U.S. Men’s Slalom Racing:
He is power. He is grace. He is Luke Winters… look at that face. Just kidding Luke! Congratulations on being the first U.S. Slalom skier to make it to the World Championships since 2016! Image: SkiRacing.com
If you’ve made it through our gauntlet of ski resort news, congratulations! Your reward is this light hearted spotlight of Luke Winters, the most promising slalom skier on the Men’s U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team. If you tag along with us throughout the winter, you likely know that we don’t often share highlights from the world of Men’s slalom racing. Unfortunately, it’s been quite a few years since the U.S. team has had an athlete capable of dominance in that discipline. However, you also might be aware that that tide’s been slowly changing over the course of the last year or so as Luke Winters has begun making more and more appearances in the points. By the end of this past season, Winters had actually performed so well that he became the first U.S. Men’s slalom skier to be invited to the World Championships since 2016, where he ultimately finished in 8th. As a result of that finish, we even proclaimed here on Top Five Fridays that he had “plenty of promise” for next season. In an article shared by SkiRacing.com this week, we learned this week that this type of slow-burn development has actually been the story of Winters’ career so far.
What’s interesting about the Luke Winters story, is that he isn’t the type of skier that was identified as World Cup caliber at a shockingly early age. Instead, he spent a number of his formative years splitting his time between skiing and a number of other sports. In fact, it wasn’t until he was a sophomore in high school that he began attending a ski academy, and it wasn’t until he was a junior that he committed full time to skiing. Once he did though, Winters found himself on a path in which each and every year, he made a little more progress. After two successful high school seasons, he was asked to join the U.S. Training Team upon graduation. Unfortunately, he suffered an ACL injury that first season, causing him to sit a majority of it out. Once he was back on snow however, he picked up right where he left off, first finishing in third overall in the NorAm slalom rankings in 2018, followed by a second place finish in 2019. After that season, Winters was invited to join the World Cup circuit in the 2020 season. There, Winters once again began his slow-churn style of development, finishing in the top 30 just three times in his first World Cup season. After that experience, Winters doubled down on his training, analyzing his competition and learning ways in which he could shave time off his finishes. Ultimately, that’s the mindset that’s taken him to where he stands today: a 25 year old, top 10 finisher in last year’s World Cup slalom race, entering another off season of training. While it’s impossible to know what the future holds for Winters, this story from SkiRacing.com, as well as his career long trend of slowly becoming better each season, leaves us excited to see what he brings to the course next winter. Until then, we recommend giving the SkiRacing.com piece a read.
#5: And Now, Your Edits of the Week: Shane McFalls, the Creator of Line’s Traveling Circus, Shares His “Adventure on Otis Lane”:
Editor’s note: If you’re not already familiar with Shane McFalls, it’d be well worth your time to watch the video he released last year chronicling his family’s life as they navigate his young son Soren’s Leukemia diagnosis.