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There's A New Sheriff In Town - Is There Optimism Around The 'Bend'?
By Craig Altschul
August 11, 2008
Powdr Corp. hung out an "Under New Management" sign at Mount Bachelor. It appears the fresh breeze rolling through the Cascade Mountains of Central Oregon has a name: Dave Rathbun.
The winds of change became a foregone conclusion when a significant disconnect with many in the energetic, outdoor-focused community of Bend and its 75,000 residents took on a life of its own. The biggest straw to break was a lift - the Sunrise Express - on New Year's Eve day, stranding skiers and riders.
That incident was followed by a "clustering of chairs" upon morning start-up at the bottom terminal of the Pine Martin Express 11 days later, resulting in operators having to run the lift in reverse to off-load approximately 15 passengers. Both incidents, regardless of the "here's why it happened" part, received widespread media coverage and led to a perception that the resort's lifts were not safe.
Attitudes soured toward the resort in its big backyard 22 miles to the west. Perhaps the most damaging rebuke came in the form of a column in the Bend Business Review written by Chamber of Commerce Chairman David Rosell, a prominent community leader. Here's how he put it:
"I am writing this to express true concern for both the mountain my family and I love so much, as well as for our local economy, which we at the Bend Chamber are so dedicated to enhancing. Over the recent holiday season, I witnessed inexcusable mayhem and confusion at the ski area."
Still, Rosell's words were mild, as even he acknowledged, compared to views expressed in places like Bachelor blog sites, Craigslist Rants, or in front page stories in the more mainstream Bend Bulletin and Bend Business Review. One outraged local wrote in OnTheSnow.com's blog last winter: "Thank you Powder Corp. (sic.) for taking the most beautiful landmark in our city and turning it into a 'mountain' of hate!!"
This building antagonism has caused some serious corporate angst as the resort posted its lowest visitor count in five years. This bottom line came in the same season Oregon ski resorts, in total, were logging an all-time record of 1.95 million skiers and snowboarders.
Powdr Corp. has owned Mt. Bachelor, for nine years. It was founded 50 years ago by Bill Healy and is the sixth largest ski resort in the United States (3,683 skiable acres). Powdr fired President and General Manager Matt Janney and the directors of operations, marketing, and food and beverage at season's end. Janney had previously operated Powdr's Alpine Meadows, Boreal, and Soda Springs properties.
Rathbun is a 20-year industry veteran with credentials rolling from Stratton Mountain (operations, guest services and sales); Intrawest (national business development and sales for the company's Colorado properties); to his most recent role as Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Killington/Pico resorts. Bachelor is his first President/GM appointment. Powdr bought Killington from financially unwound American Ski Corp. prior to last season.
"The opportunity to come to Bachelor came out of the blue," Rathbun told The Industry Report. "I was perfectly happy at Killington where the challenge was to implement a new business model that would result in renewed capital investment after 11 years of limited capital under ASC. In order to achieve increased earnings, we switched from Killington’s long-standing volume strategy to a quality strategy.
"We took a great deal of heat. We did our best to communicate the new strategy, which many people have since agreed resulted in a better experience last season, but many others simply didn't like the message or new direction. The results speak for themselves: this summer $8.4 million in capital improvements are underway, including the first new high-speed lift installation at Killington in 10 years.
"We eliminated many comp and greatly discounted lift tickets, and the ASC multi-resort season pass went away. Chris Nyberg and the entire Killington management team believed we could get to the point this coming season when the focus on quality would begin to pay dividends. I was looking forward to continuing to help Chris move Killington and Pico in the right direction."
Rathbun acknowledged every resort situation is different. "But, based on the mountain, the quality of life in Central Oregon, and the fact that I enjoy a challenge," he said, "made coming to Mt. Bachelor a good choice for my family and me at this time." Rathbun and his wife have two daughters.
"New leadership was deemed necessary to move forward in a positive manner at Mt. Bachelor. My skill set fits well with the challenge ahead," he said.
Rathbun has spent "a lot of time" with his staff to get a handle on the situation so he could interpret what was real and what was perception.
He explained his plan of attack, created after his research: The first thing is to "reconnect with the local community though events, focus groups, and becoming a better partner." He intends to reach out to business owners, tourism entities, and passholders. He said he will build a strong team so, in the future, the resort could become known as an "employer of choice." All the key executive level positions will be filled this month.
He said training will be key, but social events also will play a role. For example: A BBQ was held at the shop the day of this interview. The resort will continue to be good stewards of the environment. "Bachelor has a great track record, but has missed opportunities to communicate it."
Rathbun and his staff have developed a significant checklist of improvements they can make right away and they are at work checking them off.
An example of rather simple fixes: "It can be a bluebird day at the base, but the Summit Express is closed on top due to high winds (100 mph gusts are not uncommon as storms clear out). Guests see the top chair is not running and can't understand why, since conditions are less severe in the base areas protected from the prevailing winds. We need to educate guests and communicate the conditions better, tell them what’s going on, through signage, Web cams, and perhaps an anemometer tied to a mobile, real-time communications system."
The final item in this ambitious turnaround effort is to begin work on a Master Plan for the resort with plenty of input from all stakeholders. He expects this planning to gain momentum this year.
"I'm willing to talk with anyone about their concerns," Rathbun told us. "My role is to get Mt. Bachelor back on track. We need to get this house in order. There is a perception we are not delivering a quality experience. We're going to fix this first. We're going to make sure our delivery process is defined. We're going to communicate it. We will be approachable and transparent about how and why we do things."
Rathbun, who describes himself as "the eternal optimist," said he has been buoyed by the fact that "everyone has been very receptive to me and they seem to be optimistic that things can and will change now."
The IR measured that optimism with two important local leaders. Rosell, the Chamber president who wrote that column last winter, told us he met with Rathbun for lunch last week for two hours and "I continue to forge ahead with cautious optimism, but I have much more confidence after lunch than I did before hand.
"I asked him many specific questions and I liked his responses," Rosell said. "My first priority was to tactfully ensure that he has a true sense of the situation up at the mountain, which I am now confident that he does. We, then, went one by one down a list from the lifts, to customer service, company culture, connecting with the locals, price, operating practices, being a good steward of the land, a master plan, consistency, and reliability.
"He is a no nonsense kind of guy with a great deal of experience. He realizes the proof is in the pudding and how much Mt. Bachelor affects the local economy of central Oregon. We are here to support Dave to help facilitate positive changes."
Doug LaPlaca, President/CEO of Visit Bend, appears to be on that same wave length. "The challenges that Mt. Bachelor has faced have been well-documented and openly recognized by Dave as well as Powdr Corp management. We are very fortunate to have a respected leader like Dave addressing those challenges," he told the IR.
"Mt. Bachelor’s success is critical to the health of Bend’s winter tourism industry. Visit Bend and the Bend tourism community stand behind Dave and we are excited to help him make the changes that need to be made to solidify Mt. Bachelor’s rightful position as the premier ski resort in the Pacific Northwest," he said.
Mt. Bachelor took the first – perhaps most important step beyond dealing with the lift perceptions – July 31. Rathbun, telling the local media, "We are listening," announced season pass price reductions ranging by category from 14 to 50 percent.
But, perhaps the most telling comment came from Nathan Irwin, a 19-year-old "Bendite" who had defected to Mt. Hood Meadows. Here's what he told the Bend Bulletin after hearing the new season ticket pricing: "I'm stoked."
What It Means: The proof, as the Bend Chamber President clearly points out, is in the pudding, but Powdr's choice of Rathbun, and the new sheriff's fast draws, point to some serious justification of the term "cautious optimism."
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