Black Mountain, NH OPEN AGAIN more alive than ever

[drjeff]

I'm gonna agree with @AdironRider here. What Black is doing is definitlely working right now, but likely not sustainable. Sustainability might come from vibe/community/goodwill from the insane efforts to provide great product the last 2 seasons, and I am hopeful that these metrics being shared are proof of that and that Black continues this way for the foreseeable future. Cautiously optimistic here.

That said I am bringing a group of 20+ there tomorrow and half of them plan to simply drink mimosas and eat fondue mid-mountain all-day.

Exactly. The key will be 2 to 3+ years from now and will the folks who are discovering Black for the 1st time now, keep coming back. Time will tell

They are definitely doing many things right now, and folks are noticing, which is a great thing for any ski area, and especially one that was definitely on "life support" a couple of years ago

 

[millerm277]

I'm gonna agree with @AdironRider here. What Black is doing is definitlely working right now, but likely not sustainable. Sustainability might come from vibe/community/goodwill from the insane efforts to provide great product the last 2 seasons, and I am hopeful that these metrics being shared are proof of that and that Black continues this way for the foreseeable future. Cautiously optimistic here.

That said I am bringing a group of 20+ there tomorrow and half of them plan to simply drink mimosas and eat fondue mid-mountain all-day.

Are they really though? Beyond the expense of catching up with deferred maintenance, I'm not really convinced that Black is doing something unsustainable to continue in the future if their customer base is recovering well.

Between last season's numbers and those percentages for this year, it sounds pretty plausible that they could be turning in 90k+ visits or the like for this year if the end of season numbers stay that high vs prior year.

 

[machski]

Are they really though? Beyond the expense of catching up with deferred maintenance, I'm not really convinced that Black is doing something unsustainable to continue in the future if their customer base is recovering well.

Between last season's numbers and those percentages for this year, it sounds pretty plausible that they could be turning in 90k+ visits or the like for this year if the end of season numbers stay that high vs prior year.

I would say the one thing not sustainable under a co-op model is pushing to open super early like this year or pushing for super late closes. Snowmaking is still expensive, especially pushing and having to rebuild for super early and build crazy depths for super deep. Black has the wrong exposure to make that eve close to cost effective year in and out.

 

[Newpylong]

There is no way in hell they haul 90K skier visits, Ragged just broke 100K for the first time ever last year. The infrastructure won't support it even if they wanted to come.

I don't think the current model is sustainable either, but I don't know if it has to be, unless people are going to be expecting that year in and year out. I think a more moderate opening and closing date, not dragging hoses to non-snowmaking trails in the long term makes more sense. You can still put out a good product if you can do some efficiently and Black's snowmaking now is in a much better position.

I have to assume this is all part of simply trying to create enough energy and interest so that a more sustainable model will actually work.