TOP FIVE FRIDAYS: OCTOBER 9, 2020
#1: Powder Magazine Announces Suspension of Operations, Perhaps Indefinitely:
Farewell for now, Powder Magazine. We can only hope to see you again. Image: Powder Magazine on Facebook
We start this week with some somber news: Powder Magazine, one of the longest running publications in skiing’s history, has officially announced that after a 49 year run, their operations will be put on an indefinite hiatus. In an open letter published on October 5th, Powder’s Editor in Chief Sierra Shafer confirmed the rumors that began circulating on social media last Friday. In her letter, Shafer leaves the door open ever so slightly that a return is possible, saying simply, “We do not know if or when this hiatus will end.” For skiers of all types, the news is undeniably upsetting as Powder’s annual gear guides and photo journals have long been a staple of the ski community.
Unfortunately, it was a confluence of factors that ultimately did the magazine in, at least for the time being. The first fracture came just over a year and a half ago, when Powder Magazine, along with Bike, Surfer, and Snowboarder Magazines, were sold to American Media Inc., (currently known as A360 Media, LLC) by The Enthusiast Network (now Motor Trend Group). That act was an early sign that niche sports publications had been facing increasing financial pressure as The Enthusiast Network (TEN), underwent a substantial reformation which saw them unload a number of popular publications. As part of that transition, Powder Magazine ended up in the hands of the same company that owned tabloid magazines such as The National Enquirer and US Weekly. At that time, it was clear to many that the interests of the ownership and the editors at Powder were unlikely to be in perfect alignment. Fast forward to this past August when American Media Inc. and Accelerate360 decided to combine forces. Ultimately, this was likely the nail in the coffin as the newly formed A360 Media, LLC quickly made it clear that along with the merger would come a period of transformation. Within two weeks of announcing their new business, a slew of staff furloughs were also announced. Now, a month later, we’re seeing the company unload its niche sports publications as it decides to focus on more mainstream efforts where advertising dollars are easier to come by. Unfortunately for us, this all means we’re quite likely losing one of the sport’s most iconic magazines due to a series of unfortunate financial circumstances. For those of us who hope to see Powder write again, it seems as though our best chances rest with an independent group making an offer to buy the publication and returning it to its independent roots. Let’s hope that someone steps forward with such an offer in the near future. For the time being though, all we can do is enjoy the magazine’s final two issues. For more on this, check out the open letter from Sierra Shafer, as well as this send off from Backcountry Magazine.
#2: Indy Pass Identifies Overlooked Market, Sees Explosion in Growth:
While its target market may only ski an average of 4 days, it makes up 75% of North American skiers, partially explaining why The Indy Pass has seen exponential growth in its second season. Image: The Indy Pass on Facebook
In an ode to the importance of Powder Magazine, our next highlight this week comes from an article that they published on Wednesday highlighting the explosion of interest in the Indy Pass this season. A quick recap for those who haven’t heard of this interesting season pass option: acting as something of an alternative to the Epic or Ikon Passes, the Indy Pass offers 2 days of skiing at over 50 independent ski resorts for the low rate of $199.00. In this week’s article from Powder Magazine, Founder of The Indy Pass, Doug Fish, explains that his pass isn’t necessarily setup to compete with either of the sport’s two largest passes which target skiers who’ve traditionally purchased season passes and log on average 10+ days of skiing per year. Instead, The Indy Pass looks to tap into the casual recreational skier market, where skiers don’t buy a season pass and register an average of 4 days of skiing per year. While this market may register less days per skier, the key metric that Fish has his eye on is the fact that it makes up 75% of all skiers in America. Recognizing the size of the market and the fact that an average of four day tickets would exceed The Indy Pass’s $199 price point, Fish has keenly created a multi-pass option that would save skiers in this market money, open up the opportunity to ski at more resorts, and also enable them to pack in more days on the hill without any additional cost.
All of the aforementioned factors combine to create the real headline from this week’s article: Indy Pass sales are up 645% over last season. In the midwest, the numbers are even better, with Minnesota in particular being up over 5,000% from last year’s numbers. Obviously these stats are jaw dropping for a number of reasons, and while total sales still pale in comparison to those of the Epic or Ikon passes, the implications are substantial. For starters, this level of growth in the pass’s second year indicates that Fish’s hunch was correct: there is a massive market of skiers that have been overlooked thus far in terms of being offered a more affordable, less committed season pass option. Secondly, when paired with the fact that Epic Pass sales are reportedly up 18% this season, it would seem to indicate that people are viewing skiing and snowboarding as a way to safely get outside and recreate this winter in a socially distanced manner as the pandemic remains a part of everyday life. Of course what this means for the ski experience on the whole is yet to be seen. Finally, the most intriguing insight that was presented in the Powder article, is Fish’s suggestion that if the Indy Pass can continue to grow in popularity, and if it means that each person who purchases the pass finds themselves going just one or two more days per year, it could ultimately lead to millions of additional skier visits per year. While Fish wasn’t so bold as to suggest it, our wandering minds wonder if this could ultimately be a major part of solving the issue of a declination of interest in skiing and snowboarding on the whole in recent years. While that’s simply speculation for now, it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on this trend moving forward. For now, we’ll refer you to Powder’s article regarding this year’s pass sales, as well as the Indy Pass website itself.
#3: Updates from the World of Ski Racing: 2020-2021 FIS Calendar Announced, Mikaela Shiffrin Discusses Uncertain Future:
It’s official! After a tumultuous off season, the 2020-2021 FIS World Cup schedule has finally been released. Image: FIS World Cup on Facebook
Now, for some more typical news for this time of year: the 2020-2021 FIS World Cup schedule has finally been announced. For those of you who’ve been following this story with us over the course of the summer, the simple fact that there is a schedule for the upcoming season is a bit of a relief. Due entirely to the worldwide pandemic, an unprecedented number of questions once swirled around this season’s FIS World Cup, at one point including the possibility that it might only feature European racers racing in Europe. Fortunately, that’s not how this story’s played out. While ultimately nearly all non-European events were scrapped (including all North American races, much to our dismay), and some strategic scheduling was forced to be implemented, by and large this year’s calendar resembles that of a normal year. The only non-European events on either the Men’s or Women’s calendar are a Women’s Downhill and Super-G race to be hosted in Yanqing, China, on February 27th-28th, which will act as an Olympic test event. To be totally honest, we’re not convinced this event will come to fruition without significant improvements in the global health emergency, but we’ll address that as the dates get closer. In the meantime, you can head over to Skiracing.com to check out the Men’s and Women’s FIS World Cup calendars!
In other ski racing news, we feel compelled to share an article that’s been making its rounds in which Mikaela Shiffrin suggests her time in the world of competitive ski racing may be coming to an end sooner rather than later. Citing a shift in her perspective regarding what matters most, Shiffrin is quoted as suggesting that it’s possible that one day in the not-so-distant future, she may come to the realization that the exhaustive travel schedule accompanying a World Cup ski racing schedule simply isn’t worth it. While readers of Top 5 Fridays know that we love extrapolating ideas and offering a touch of speculation as we ponder the future as it relates to skiing, now doesn’t feel like the time to do so. Rather than make any suggestions in regards to Mikaela’s comments, we’ll simply send you over to the article to read her comments yourself.
#4: Freeride World Tour Announces 2020-2021 Schedule with Revamped Format:
An overview of the new Freeride World Tour competition format. Image: Freeride World Tour Offical Website
Finally, let’s end the week with some updates from another one of our favorite competitive events in skiing: the Freeride World Tour. While the FIS World Cup spent much of the summer expressing the challenges it faced in regards to the upcoming season’s schedule, the Freeride World Tour has been much quieter. As it turns out, that’s because this year’s tour more or less feels like business as usual. Despite the global pandemic, this year’s FWT features the same venues as last season: Hakuba in Japan, Kicking Horse in Golden BC, Canada, Ordino Arcalís in Andorra, Fieberbrunn in Austria, and Verbier in Switzerland. While we’re not entirely sure how the event plans on packing all of these worldwide locations into the span of just a couple of months, their press release does assure us that event organizers are working with local authorities at each stop to ensure that they’re compliant with current regulations. So, we’ll just have to trust them on this one.
With the calendar being largely unchanged this season, the real news for this upcoming iteration of the Freeride World Tour are the adjustments that have been made to the event’s format. In previous years, the event was pretty straight forward, with athletes being scored for their run at each venue, and their points accumulating over the course of the season. After the fourth stop, the riders who made the cutoff for the championship would compete at the final stop. This year, the FWT decided to shake up the format in a variety of ways. For starters, the cutoff to compete in the finals has been shifted back, meaning the top 13 men and 6 women will be determined after the third stop rather than the fourth. From there, those who make the cut will head to Fieberbrunn, Austria, where they’ll each get two runs, the higher score of which will be counted. In addition to two runs, the points they earn will be worth 1.5x as much, meaning the winner of the event will receive 15,000 points rather than 10,000. Between the two run format and the multiplier, this should setup Fieberbrunn as an extremely competitive stop. From here, athletes will head to Verbier, Switzerland where point totals will again be given a 1.5x multiplier. Finally, after all is said and done, potentially the biggest difference in this year’s format is that rather than simply tallying up points from all 5 events, only the top 3 point totals for each athlete will be counted. All in all, this revamped format should generate even more excitement in what’s become one of our favorite skiing events. To learn more, check out the official press release from the Freeride World Tour.
#4.5: Don't Forget, Our 2021 Ski Test is Now Live!
