The Winners:
· Jay Peak. Gotta hand it to them. Not because of the snow, but when you open up a brand new hotel and begin work on an ice arena you create one hell of a buzz. Thrown in that they had a decent snow year and held pass prices down and you have a good combo. Did I mention that they were the first resort to give Vermont National Guard Families FREE season passes? What also sealed the deal was reopening early after the April Blizzard and throwing in free lunch on closing weekend. Class act.
· Sunday River: They get credit for having the balls to open in October and provide skiing for the masses when others didn’t dare. They limped along for a while, but they were the only game in town. Not bad for this being their 50th season.
· Sugarloaf: They did well in the snow department and since my visit in 2007 the place seemed cleaner and more well-run. It also helps when you throw a party for AlpineZone and throw in free drinks and tickets. They too get props for staying open for the masses. Keep it coming.
· The ski industry and holiday skiers: “What?” You say. Hear me out. This was a season that sucked for snow, unless you skied the few days a year that matter for the business: Christmas, MLK, and President’s Week. In Vermont, they nailed all three holidays without a huge freeze or a catastrophic melt down. Plus, with the low snow and uber warm temps, when April came and the resorts had already made money, they could say, “sorry, we’re closed” guilt-free, take what few $$$ were made and head to Aruba, and all without passholders complaining (well, most that is).
The indifferent:
· Sugarbush: A victim of warm November and April, as well as the shortcomings of its snowmaking system, particularly the lack of compressor power at Lincoln Peak. Throw in some line blow-outs on both sides, and it was not a great snowmaking season. Kudos for keeping pass prices the same, going ahead with Phase II, and being responsive to customers by grooming Ripcord and being accessible. Thumbs down for just “giving up” on spring skiing when they could have gotten one more weekend, and maybe one more big dump, to let people play in. Let’s hope that besides Phase II is some work on snowmaking and additional budget to blow snow on both sides.
· Stowe: No longer owned by the Feds, AIG spun Stowe to a new AIG shell corporation and with it went the hopes of maybe seeing lower prices for skiing. Despite the economy, they still hold the place as most expensive for passes and tickets and people are buying it. Calling it quits in early April was not so great.
The Biggest Losers:
· Killington: Changed their classic logo to something from a country club and then tried to reclaim the “Beast of the East” moniker. Lame. This and the botched May closing (complete with major Nor’Easter after closing) allows K to maintain the title of most criticized ski area on the east coast. Kudos for $299 passes to Pico and trying to revive that place…the Rutland Herald said that pass sales doubled there. But, pushing passes and saying “May 2nd” and then giving up, that drew flames hot enough to melt any snow remaining on the mountain. Then again, someone once said “any publicity is good publicity.”
· Burke: Burke got a two-punch as its ownership Ginn fell victim to the subprime fiasco and they came up almost ten feet short of a normal snow season. It showed with folks a bit scared to ski with Burkie Bear. With Crave at the helm, promotions are abound and word has it that they are proceeding with a “master plan.” De ja vu for the past thirty or so years. That Willoughby Quad is only going to chug along for so many years though.
· Tenney: Word has it that Tenney will be no more. Sources on Snowjournal.com say that PSNH seized snowmaking equipment and was peddling it to competitor resorts and that there is an impending auction for the remaining assets. Meanwhile no pass offers or talk of next season. Riverc0il and others said no snowmaking really for last season. Is this the end of Tenney?
· The Season Passholder: The die-hard skier who purchased a season pass really got screwed this year at many places. I can speak for myself by saying that I had four less weekends due to weather than last season. That is eight less days. The only upside was that my mountain is holding prices for next season. But in general, late openings and early closings made for less bang for the buck. The holiday warriors? As said, they got the goods on all three major periods.
· Jay Peak. Gotta hand it to them. Not because of the snow, but when you open up a brand new hotel and begin work on an ice arena you create one hell of a buzz. Thrown in that they had a decent snow year and held pass prices down and you have a good combo. Did I mention that they were the first resort to give Vermont National Guard Families FREE season passes? What also sealed the deal was reopening early after the April Blizzard and throwing in free lunch on closing weekend. Class act.
· Sunday River: They get credit for having the balls to open in October and provide skiing for the masses when others didn’t dare. They limped along for a while, but they were the only game in town. Not bad for this being their 50th season.
· Sugarloaf: They did well in the snow department and since my visit in 2007 the place seemed cleaner and more well-run. It also helps when you throw a party for AlpineZone and throw in free drinks and tickets. They too get props for staying open for the masses. Keep it coming.
· The ski industry and holiday skiers: “What?” You say. Hear me out. This was a season that sucked for snow, unless you skied the few days a year that matter for the business: Christmas, MLK, and President’s Week. In Vermont, they nailed all three holidays without a huge freeze or a catastrophic melt down. Plus, with the low snow and uber warm temps, when April came and the resorts had already made money, they could say, “sorry, we’re closed” guilt-free, take what few $$$ were made and head to Aruba, and all without passholders complaining (well, most that is).
The indifferent:
· Sugarbush: A victim of warm November and April, as well as the shortcomings of its snowmaking system, particularly the lack of compressor power at Lincoln Peak. Throw in some line blow-outs on both sides, and it was not a great snowmaking season. Kudos for keeping pass prices the same, going ahead with Phase II, and being responsive to customers by grooming Ripcord and being accessible. Thumbs down for just “giving up” on spring skiing when they could have gotten one more weekend, and maybe one more big dump, to let people play in. Let’s hope that besides Phase II is some work on snowmaking and additional budget to blow snow on both sides.
· Stowe: No longer owned by the Feds, AIG spun Stowe to a new AIG shell corporation and with it went the hopes of maybe seeing lower prices for skiing. Despite the economy, they still hold the place as most expensive for passes and tickets and people are buying it. Calling it quits in early April was not so great.
The Biggest Losers:
· Killington: Changed their classic logo to something from a country club and then tried to reclaim the “Beast of the East” moniker. Lame. This and the botched May closing (complete with major Nor’Easter after closing) allows K to maintain the title of most criticized ski area on the east coast. Kudos for $299 passes to Pico and trying to revive that place…the Rutland Herald said that pass sales doubled there. But, pushing passes and saying “May 2nd” and then giving up, that drew flames hot enough to melt any snow remaining on the mountain. Then again, someone once said “any publicity is good publicity.”
· Burke: Burke got a two-punch as its ownership Ginn fell victim to the subprime fiasco and they came up almost ten feet short of a normal snow season. It showed with folks a bit scared to ski with Burkie Bear. With Crave at the helm, promotions are abound and word has it that they are proceeding with a “master plan.” De ja vu for the past thirty or so years. That Willoughby Quad is only going to chug along for so many years though.
· Tenney: Word has it that Tenney will be no more. Sources on Snowjournal.com say that PSNH seized snowmaking equipment and was peddling it to competitor resorts and that there is an impending auction for the remaining assets. Meanwhile no pass offers or talk of next season. Riverc0il and others said no snowmaking really for last season. Is this the end of Tenney?
· The Season Passholder: The die-hard skier who purchased a season pass really got screwed this year at many places. I can speak for myself by saying that I had four less weekends due to weather than last season. That is eight less days. The only upside was that my mountain is holding prices for next season. But in general, late openings and early closings made for less bang for the buck. The holiday warriors? As said, they got the goods on all three major periods.
