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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Late Season: When Does The Fat Lady Sing?By Craig Altschul 
We asked Adler to check with several destinations to find out when "when" is and why they stay open when the beaches and golf courses beckon. "Many resorts, thanks to incredible February and March snowfall, kept to their stated and long-established closing dates, but a handful of the 'big boys' in the West groomed to the lifts and gave back some joyous late spring skiing to guests that took operations in some cases well past May," Adler reports. Arapahoe Basin Colo.; Snowbird, Utah; Mammoth and Squaw Valley, Calif.; Mt. Hood Meadows and Mt. Bachelor, Ore.; and Sunshine Village, Mt. Bachelor, Ore.; and Whistler-Blackcomb, Canada, all pushed around snow to make access to lifts and the corn viable. Blackcomb is now providing glacier skiing and doesn't plan on closing until July 27. Skiing at Timberline Lodge, Ore., is year-round except for a short maintenance period each September. "In fact," Adler says, "you look around in the middle of June at resorts above 7,000 feet and wonder how they can possibly open for mountain biking and hiking when there’s still snow everywhere. It makes sense to keep skiing when you can’t use the resort for summer purposes just yet." Still, resorts like Deer Valley closed April 13 like clockwork. “We close because people stop skiing, we lose our destination skiers, and it is not cost effective to run a business,” said Deer Valley's Emily Summers. But Mann doesn’t see it that way, "Sure, economics have to factor in, to some respect. It costs money – gas, electricity, etc. to maintain the snowpack. Or it gets rotten and disappears. But $50-60,000 in revenue is good because it's revenue. It's just worth it." Then again, Mammoth has a Motocross event in June that covers just about all of their earlier expenses. The year-round staff that goes to work at Mammoth once the seasonal staff leaves. "The marketing folks and CEO are loading lifts and serving food," said Mann. "We gather up the year-round staff and head towards whatever's open. We keep the seasonal ski patrol. It's no less safe out there and we have training programs for everyone." Employment at Mammoth drops from about 2,300 people in winter, to 500 through Memorial Day. But Deer Valley's skier is probably not the Mammoth skier, so it doesn't make sense to run on the same model. The Utah resort caters to out-of-state guests rather than season pass holders who book their trips months, even years, in advance. "You factor in who’s coming through your door. We have guys that drive all night, ski one day, and head home, or sleep in parking lots. They're beating our door down to ski until the last flake falls," said Mann. Mammoth also has a tempting bonus in that they allow skiers to purchase 2008-2009 season passes April 1, 2008, and use them immediately. They got nearly two months to ski on it this year since Mammoth closed May 26. Snowbird has a similar kind of legacy. The Utah resort positions itself as having the longest ski season in the Beehive State. Locals (and many out-of-state riders) buy season passes based on the fact that they can ski an extra two months. "Season ticket holders know when conditions are good or when we've run out of snow," said Dave Fields, Snowbird’s marketing director. "We’ve created this expectation that we will have skiing as long as we can. Those who like to ski, the rabid skiers, will take it whenever you give it to them." Snowbird is kept open Friday-Sunday beginning mid-May. "No ski resort is making a ton of money by offering skiing in May, but it creates great guest retention. If everyone in Utah stayed open until May, it wouldn’t pencil out for us,” said Fields. "I saw a guy screech into the parking lot, grab his board and run wildly to the hill trying to get a couple of trams in before 3 p.m. That's the guy you’re doing it for." Mann says there will be about 1,200 skiers at Mammoth on any given Saturday in May and that drops to about 300 for a weekday. Cheaper rates, a more peaceful atmosphere and availability make it attractive to snowboarders, training camps, and travelers from other countries. Japanese tourists in particular revel in the novelty of skiing into May. So when is it time to close? "You come to a point when you question what you get when you keep pushing snow, but there are no trails to ski," said Mann. "We open when we have enough and will stay open until it’s too hard to keep Chair One open." They were done moving snow to the top and bottom of that lift by May 26. What It Means: The money's not going to break a season, but as Mammoth's Cliff Mann notes, revenue is revenue. The call seems to be resort by resort, market by market. But, one thing's for sure: Our writers love these late season assignments. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Comments
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Posted by: Allan Pearlman | July 19, 2008 08:18 AM
