Nice Article on Ski Maynia

[thetrailboss]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...2cdeaJi2JzrmELEOr1lL/story.html?event=event25

I thought I might see a few familiar faces there....

Nice article about Sunday River. 60" for the ENTIRE season? That is unreal.

 

[Jully]

Skier visits down 10%. I'm surprised it's that small a drop!

 

[cdskier]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...2cdeaJi2JzrmELEOr1lL/story.html?event=event25

I thought I might see a few familiar faces there....

Nice article about Sunday River. 60" for the ENTIRE season? That is unreal.

After a winter like this having skier visits only down 10% is better than I would have expected.

 

[machski]

I had figured only about 50". I also had heard they were only down 4-6% through beginning of Feb so if that was true, the drop increased in the second half of the season. That indicates they could have thrown in the towel to save some operating $$. Glad they kept it going.

 

[SIKSKIER]

Why did the article keep saying many people skied free?Wasnt it free for everybody?Probably refering to the tickets that were given away vs passholders is my guess.

 

[deadheadskier]

I think the no snow in my backyard phenomenon really impacts the back half the season. I have several casual skiing friends who go maybe 5-6 days a year between Xmas and early March.

From mid-March on they couldn't believe I was still skiing every weekend. I don't think casual skiers recognize / understand how much man-made snow the mountains make and assume we need a big natural snow year to ski into April. The same skiers don't have a clue that Killington is open in May almost every year and offer a great experience.

 

[Sons of Thunder]

I think the no snow in my backyard phenomenon really impacts the back half the season. I have several casual skiing friends who go maybe 5-6 days a year between Xmas and early March.

From mid-March on they couldn't believe I was still skiing every weekend. I don't think casual skiers recognize / understand how much man-made snow the mountains make and assume we need a big natural snow year to ski into April. The same skiers don't have a clue that Killington is open in May almost every year and offer a great experience.

You're exactly right. It's impossible to plan any trips in April because all my friends swear the season is over. Their loss I guess?

I wonder why people have a hard time wrapping their heads around spring skiing/riding. It seems like the mountains do a fair bit of marketing/events to get the people to come out.

 

[cdskier]

I think the no snow in my backyard phenomenon really impacts the back half the season. I have several casual skiing friends who go maybe 5-6 days a year between Xmas and early March.

From mid-March on they couldn't believe I was still skiing every weekend. I don't think casual skiers recognize / understand how much man-made snow the mountains make and assume we need a big natural snow year to ski into April. The same skiers don't have a clue that Killington is open in May almost every year and offer a great experience.

Absolutely...so many people at work are shocked in April when we talk about what we did on the weekend and I say I went skiing. "Really? There's snow? Didn't it all melt already weeks ago? Ski areas are still open?"

 

[deadheadskier]

You're exactly right. It's impossible to plan any trips in April because all my friends swear the season is over. Their loss I guess?

I wonder why people have a hard time wrapping their heads around spring skiing/riding. It seems like the mountains do a fair bit of marketing/events to get the people to come out.

For the non-diehards, I think they just miss their summer activities and are much more eager to hop on their bike, going golfing etc. during a 60 degree day then go skiing. Weather obviously is a bit more challenging for long term planning too due to much greater potential for rain in April than midwinter.

 

[thetrailboss]

The down 10% figure also surprised me. That is impressive.

 

[xwhaler]

Total skier visits down 10%----I bet the actual revenue/profit is down much more than 10%
Figure a lot of pass holders skiing this season or those with discounts. The folks really contributing to the $ (rentals, lodging, f+b, lessons etc) stayed home

 

[cdskier]

Total skier visits down 10%----I bet the actual revenue/profit is down much more than 10%
Figure a lot of pass holders skiing this season or those with discounts. The folks really contributing to the $ (rentals, lodging, f+b, lessons etc) stayed home

Although some of the f+b lost from less people could also be offset by people that did show up choosing to spend more time drinking in the lodge/bar than skiing on the mountain...

 

[xwhaler]

Although some of the f+b lost from less people could also be offset by people that did show up choosing to spend more time drinking in the lodge/bar than skiing on the mountain...

Good point. I know I did my share of contribution to the bar $ this season!

 

[benski]

Total skier visits down 10%----I bet the actual revenue/profit is down much more than 10%
Figure a lot of pass holders skiing this season or those with discounts. The folks really contributing to the $ (rentals, lodging, f+b, lessons etc) stayed home

Though some of those people who did not ski may have spent money tickets they did not uses and cancelation fees for lodging.

 

[Razor]

One major thing Sunday River has going for it in a non-snow year like the past one is that people realize that SR will have the best available product due to its snowmaking reputation. So I'm not surprised that SR's skier visits were not off too much in comparison with other resorts.

 

[cdskier]

So I'm not surprised that SR's skier visits were not off too much in comparison with other resorts.

Did anyone else release any numbers yet? Maybe some others did better than expected as well?

 

[thetrailboss]

Anyone go? How was it?

 

[steamboat1]

Did anyone else release any numbers yet? Maybe some others did better than expected as well?

Adam Greshin (part owner of Sugarbush) said in a Seven Days interview they were down about 25%. Mike Solimano of Killington said at a town meeting last month they were down 30%-35%.

edit: POWDR numbers are usually hard to come by but Mike said last year skier visits were approx. 800,000, this year approx. 550,000.

 

[cdskier]

Adam Greshin (part owner of Sugarbush) said in a Seven Days interview they were down about 25%. Mike Solimano of Killington said at a town meeting last month they were down 30%-35%.

edit: POWDR numbers are usually hard to come by but Mike said last year skier visits were approx. 800,000, this year approx. 550,000.

Interesting that Killington was off so much. With them being known for a really powerful snowmaking system that surprises me a bit. Sugarbush is more in line with what I would have expected at many areas this winter. The article from Seven Days with Adam was from early April so neither their numbers or K's numbers would be final, but I didn't see anything myself in April that would drastically change them at least for Sugarbush. All the April weekends I was at SB seemed to be emptier than usual for that time of year.

Edit: Sidenote, I never realized Adam was in the VT Legislature until reading that Seven Days article. I don't really know much about him other than he's part owner of SB. I've seen him on the mountain several times and even sat at the table next to him at dinner at Peasant last year one night, but never really talked to him.

 

[steamboat1]

Interesting that Killington was off so much. With them being known for a really powerful snowmaking system that surprises me a bit.

I'm pretty sure Killington's numbers were up considerably last season compared to what they were in the recent past. I can see their numbers dropping that much with the season we just went through. As a weekday skier I can say the place was pretty quiet during the week this season.