Vt. Ski Areas Association: Resorts Expect a Lackluster Season

[thetrailboss]

Well, I guess the snow in February was not enough to make up for the losses of MLK and Christmas. I saw huge crowds on President's Week at Burke and Pico, and heard that things were good. But I can understand how many folks either cancelled or made other plans.

The brief article from WCAX.

The season isn't over yet....but it appears that the main part of the revenue stream for the resorts has come to an end.

 

[Warp Daddy]

No surprise in that report at all> Remeber we are the hell bent -ski at all cost crowd the 1% 'ers who are ski crazies and go out in damn near anything

--I'd guess the other 99% want blubird conditions and are able to shift to other inteests if THEIR needs are not met weatherwise

 

[goldsbar]

The season isn't over yet....but it appears that the main part of the revenue stream for the resorts has come to an end.

It pretty much is over from a resort standpoint. Belleayre pretty much had no liftlines last weekend and was only slightly more crowded the weekend before (which featured a major snowstorm). Most of the general population I speak to don't even realize that the resorts can blow serious amounts of snow.

 

[billski]

No surprise in that report at all> Remeber we are the hell bent -ski at all cost crowd the 1% 'ers who are ski crazies and go out in damn near anything

--I'd guess the other 99% want blubird conditions and are able to shift to other inteests if THEIR needs are not met weatherwise

We are also the crowd that it's impossible to squeeze money out of, no wonder we feel so neglected

 

[ski_resort_observer]

I saw the interview on WCAX last night and while he gave a good overall take on the season I think some resorts did better than others. The Bush is still going strong, good size crowd last Sat and I hope they might be an exception to what he said. Probably others as well.

I also felt his comments were totally negetive perhaps because the VSAA is continuing to posture for the "disaster relief" money they are trying to get out of the state legistature for the Vermont ski industry. Remember, while VSAA is a great organization, let's be honest, they are not connected to state government but are a special interest marketing PR group for the Vermont ski resorts. I always take everything they say with a certain grain of salt.

 

[WWF-VT]

Parker Riehle is the director of the Vt. Ski Areas Association and said, "You never can quite recover that business that was lost in the first half of the season, but certainly our members are experiencing the ability to close the gap on those lost numbers."

VT ski areas took a big financial hit in Dec / Jan this year. Second half of the season was strong but many people stop thinking about venturing north after February vacation weeks.

High percentage of skiers now are season pass holders and far fewer day tickets will be purchased in the next few weeks

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Parker Riehle is the director of the Vt. Ski Areas Association and said, "You never can quite recover that business that was lost in the first half of the season, but certainly our members are experiencing the ability to close the gap on those lost numbers."

VT ski areas took a big financial hit in Dec / Jan this year. Second half of the season was strong but many people stop thinking about venturing north after February vacation weeks.

High percentage of skiers now are season pass holders and far fewer day tickets will be purchased in the next few weeks

All certainly true but it's not the entire story. There is still some revenue coming in the next couple of weeks like the Reggae Fest in the F&B income channel up at the Loaf, for example. I'm just saying that some resorts just might actually close the gap or get pretty darn close, while others will fall way short.

Last year the same scenerio, some resorts had double digit skier day losses from the previous winter while some actually had positive numbers. When this season is completed the final stats will be interesting.

 

[AdironRider]

No surprise in that report at all> Remeber we are the hell bent -ski at all cost crowd the 1% 'ers who are ski crazies and go out in damn near anything

--I'd guess the other 99% want blubird conditions and are able to shift to other inteests if THEIR needs are not met weatherwise

Most people, aka non season pass holders, arent going to drop hundreds to thousands of dollars per day to take a family skiing in shitty conditions. Cant blame em.

 

[kingslug]

Maybe the season will have to shift over and resorts won't have to spend a ton to open early only to have it melt. I think it will take several late seasons before anything will change though. And still it will be hard to predict from one season to the next.