Top Five Fridays: January 5, 2024
Lead Image: Jessie Diggins on her way to a third place finish in Davos, one of her four podiums across the first five stages of this year’s Tour de Ski. Image: Jessie Diggins on Facebook
#1: FIS World Cup Tour de Ski Update - Jessie Diggins Leads the Pack Heading into the Final Two Races:
The podium at the most recent Tour de Ski event, a 20km pursuit classic in Davos, where Jessie Diggins took third, and fellow U.S. teammate Rosie Brennan took 2nd. Image: Jessie Diggins on Facebook
Hello and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the January 5, 2024 edition! We’ve got a real grab bag of ski news for you this week, with coverage featuring a variety of topics that feel a bit unusual in comparison to our typical discussions here. For example: this time of year we typically start with a recap of FIS World Cup alpine results. But, there were no alpine races this week. Fortunately though, we do have a heck of a story to bring you as the FIS World Cup Cross Country circuit is amidst what many would consider the most exciting event on their annual calendar: the Tour de Ski.
Think of this event as the pinnacle of the FIS XC calendar. Set up as a stage race, the event takes place over the course of seven days with stages in both Italy and Switzerland. Over the course of the event, athletes compete in an array of race formats, ranging from sprints, to a 20km pursuit, as well as 10km and 15km sprints. Within each race, or stage, a podium is awarded, while the cumulative fastest time is declared winner of the entire Tour de Ski event. Historically speaking, it’s not an event that Americans have particularly excelled at, as no American man or woman made either podium for the first 11 iterations. That all changed in year 12 though, when Jessie Diggins placed third in the 2017-2018 event. Then, three years later, in 2021, Diggins did what no American had ever done: she won the Tour de Ski.
We provide that backdrop to bring you this week’s headline: as of the time of this writing, Jessie Diggins is leading the pack in this year’s Tour de Ski by a margin of 44 seconds. To achieve that position, Diggins started the Tour de Ski by winning a 20km pursuit free race and placing third in a 10km interval start classic in Toblach, Italy. From there, the Tour moved to Davos, Switzerland, where Diggins finished third in a sprint final free, and third in another 20km pursuit classic. That series of podium finishes is ultimately what’s given Diggins the nearly half second lead. Now, she’ll look to hold or extend that lead over the final two races in Val Di Fiemme, Italy: a 15km mass start classic, and a 10km mass start free. Obviously it’s still anybody’s race, but with the way Diggins has been performing, it also feels like it’s her race to lose. With the final two stages scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, we’ll have an answer to this lingering question when we return next week. For now, you can preview the upcoming stages here, and read a recap of the most recent races here.
#2: Amer Sports, Parent Company of Salomon, Atomic, Armada, and Others, Announces American IPO:
The Amer Sports logo, above it’s portfolio of brands.
In other big news this week, it was announced that Amer Sports has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) here in the United States. Now, if you’re not a business nerd and want to fast forward through this highlight, we totally understand. For the rest of you though, let’s get into some details.
First and foremost, let’s talk about why this is a big deal. If you’re not familiar with Amer Sports, then the first thing you need to know is that they’re the parent company of eleven major sports brands. In their portfolio are three brands we know you know and love: Salomon, Atomic, and Armada. Additionally, they own Arc’teryx, Peak Performance, Wilson, Louisville Slugger, Enve Composites, Atec, Demarini, and Evoshield. In other words, they own some pretty significant brands within the winter sports, technical apparel, baseball, and biking categories.
In an article from the Financial Times, we learn a bit about why Amer Sports is going public. To make a long story short, a group of investors led by Chinese consortium Anta Sports of China purchased Amer sports in 2019, at a valuation of $5.6 billion. To make that happen, they took out a loan worth about $1.42 billion. That loan is coming due in March, and so Amer Sports is looking to raise about $1 billion with this IPO, at a valuation of $10 billion. While this might paint a daunting picture, to know that Amer Sports owes $1.42 billion in two months, it helps to consider how much revenue Amer Sports is generating. According to the Financial Times report, the company generated $3.1 billion over the first 9 months of 2023. Still, they hold a net debt of $5.8 billion, and operated at a loss of $114 million over the course of those nine months. In other words, while Amer Sports and their brands are selling quite well, the parent company is still looking to free itself of the debt that it incurred when it purchased and invested in the company back in 2019. The hope is that this upcoming IPO will help them shake off that debt so they can begin operating profitably.
Now, let’s talk about why this matters to you, a skier. Before we dive in though, please keep in mind that this is not meant to be any form of financial advice - we’re not experts, we’re ski bums. That said, when Amer Sports goes public, it means two things for fans of the brands they own, particularly for us skiers, Atomic, Salomon, and Armada. First, if the IPO goes well, it means that the parent company of these brands will be more secure financially. Second, if you’re someone who plays the stock market, consider this your heads up. If you believe that Amer Sports will be able to continue growing their portfolio of brands, then it’s advisable to buy shares during their IPO. Again, we don’t want to offer speculative financial advice here, so please don’t consider this an endorsement or non-endorsement - it’s simply a heads up in case you want to explore the option. At the moment, there are no values disclosed. We don’t know how many shares will be sold, at what price, or on what day. We simply know it’s coming, so we figured we’d pass along the info to our readership in case any of you want to get in on the action! To learn more, check out the report from Financial Times, or the press release on the Amer Sports website.
#3: A Ski Bike Hit and Run at Keystone Raises Questions About Their On-Resort Safety:
This video isn’t directly related to this story, but we figured it might be helpful to see what a snow bike is as you read this highlight!
In other news, we have a story that caught us off guard and led to more questions than answers. Before we get to our line of questioning, let’s start with the facts: this week, on January 3, 2024, a man on a ski bike collided with a man and his daughter on the slopes of Keystone, leaving the man in critical condition. To make matters worse, the man riding the ski bike did not stop to render or call for help. Instead, he took off. Now, the Summit County Sheriff's office is treating the incident as a hit and run and is asking for help tracking down the culprit and any witnesses to come forward. To be clear, this is an awful situation, and the man on the ski bike is very much in the wrong here. As a reminder to our readers, if you are ever involved in a collision on the slopes, not only is it common courtesy to check and make sure everyone is ok or to seek help if they’re not, but it’s also the law to do so.
What makes this story stand out to us though, is the involvement of a ski bike. Over the past few years, this new method of recreation has slowly gained popularity, with everyone from biking enthusiasts to snow cops getting in on the action. With this week’s news though, we’re left wondering: are snow bikes safe for ski resorts? To be clear, that’s an honest question that we don’t know the answer to. In fact, it reminds us a bit of the early days of snowboarding, when ski areas would ban the devices from their slopes, deeming them unsafe. Clearly that line of thought was wildly off base and snowboards proved to be perfectly safe, but we can’t help but feel compelled to at least revisit it once again, this time in terms of snow bikes. The fact of the matter is, they’re pretty new to the scene, and without enough evidence to prove whether or not they’re safe for ski resorts, all we can do is observe until we have enough data to draw conclusions. All of that said, our gut tells us that snow bikes most likely are similarly safe to skis and snowboards, and it ultimately comes down to the person riding it. But what do you think? Let us know your thoughts on snow bikes in the comments below!
#4: Showdown, Montana Offers Free Lift Tickets to Season Pass Holders of Closed Resorts:
A birds eye view of Showdown Mountain, where you can ski for free if you’re a pass holder at a Montana ski resort that hasn’t been able to open. Image: Showdown Mountain's Official Website
Finally, for our last highlight we want to share a piece of news that just feels good. As we all know, it’s been a bit of a dry start to winter. Sure, some of us had snow in late November and December, but since then the vast majority of the United States has been through a bit of a dry spell. New England, the PNW, California, the Rocky Mountains - it doesn’t matter where you are, things have been lacking in the powder department. In most cases, ski resorts have been able to make enough snow to at least partially open, but there are still many smaller ski areas that have yet to spin their lifts. Case in point: the great and typically snowy state of Montana, where several small ski areas have been unable to open for the season. As a result, their season pass holders are left high and dry: having already spent the money on a season pass, but unable to use it. Or, can they?
Enter this week’s news: Showdown, Montana has just announced that they will be honoring season passes to any ski area that remains closed. Us being somewhat jaded by the workings of the ski resort industry, immediately began looking for the financial value here, wondering, “how does this help Showdown make money?” While they may generate some income with their food, beverage, or ski rentals services, the real answer is that that’s not really part of the consideration. In the words of Showdown president and general manager, Katie Boedecker, “Their season pass holders have made an investment in their season, and they're looking for a return on that. We want to add value for those season pass holders and take some of the sting away from their ski areas not being open at this time.” In other words, this move doesn’t really seem to be about money at all. Instead, it’s about community, and supporting skiers and snowboarders during a challenging winter. What makes this story even more heartwarming though, is that the generosity isn’t just coming from Showdown. While the news article doesn’t dive into details, we do know that resorts like Discovery, Lost Trail, and Bridger Bowl Ski Area have all reached out to one closed ski area, Maverick Mountain, offering their own ways to support Maverick’s pass holders. All in all, it’s a pretty cool story, especially in a day and age when we’re accustomed to ski resorts focusing on profits over community. To read more, check out the report from Montana’s KTVH.