Gore / North Creek Lodging and Amenities

[x10003q]

Counting revenue might be.
From an ORDA board meeting. 19-20 season was stopped short.
View attachment 23721

Notice how there is no mention actual ski area visits in last years ORDA corporate report? If Gore is still showing 215K visitors, how much more revenue would there be if the number was 250K visitors?

 

[gregmarx]

Thanks for sharing those revenue numbers @tirolski. Rapid recent growth at Belleayre is no surprise but at Gore I would've expected less rapid growth -- details on Gore (and Whiteface) visitation numbers were conspicuously absent from ORDA's postseason press release -- so interesting to see that revenue pace (assuming it holds up post-audit).

That said, as an NYC area resident (and primary ski-trip planner for a family of 4) I would agree with everything @x10003q says about there being an opportunity to significantly increase marketing and promotion around here. Serious skiers definitely know Gore, and there's some positive word of mouth, but for people who have hazy plans about wanting to do some skiing with their family it's not on the radar the same way Mt. Snow and Stratton are. I would expect (hope?) there are plans to expand marketing in line with new investment but haven't seen much signs of it yet.

(Though on the other hand... while family destination travelers from NYC area seem like an obvious potential market to me, it's not clear to me the folks at Gore really agree, based on current programming and messaging? There's no full-day ski school, no tubing, and relative to southern Vermont, not a ton of easy-to-discover off-mountain activities for time not spent skiing. That last part isn't their fault, but I feel like they could do better than this suggested itinerary for families, with an "apres activity" of "game night in" and also a suggestion to meet with a local financial advisor while on your family vacation?? I get that "it's not a resort" is part of the appeal, but I feel like there's more they could do to make people want to plan a 3- or 4-night stay -- assuming they can find lodging! -- without treading into "resort" territory.)

 

[tirolski]

... but I feel like they could do better than this suggested itinerary for families, with an "apres activity" of "game night in"

Ya left out the suggested hot cocoa and s’mores. That’ll be sure ta get the kiddos going before bedtime.
That suggested itinerary link is over 2 years old on their web page.
Sometimes time goes slower when yer having fun.

 

[gregmarx]

Ya left out the suggested hot cocoa and s’mores. That’ll be sure ta get the kiddos going before bedtime.
That suggested itinerary link is over 2 years old on their web page.
Sometimes time goes slower when yer having fun.

As a former journalist, I always appreciate when people click the links!

You can tell the itineraries page is old bc the link to the financial advisor (who I assume was a former community sponsor or something?) is broken. I still found it directly from the home page. And I don't mean to overstate the meaning of an obscure webpage like this but I mean... suggesting to parents they give their kids hot cocoa at the hotel after skiing is equivalent to saying "Sorry there's absolutely nothing to do around here, you're on your own." (Which is not even entirely true! We had a lot of fun tubing at Dynamite Hill on our way home from a Gore weekend last March.)

 

[MarzNC]

Have to wonder whether the ORDA mountains have ever reached out to the Indy Pass.

I know people who checked out Belleayre and/or Gore when they were on the MAX Pass by driving west from CT, instead of north into VT.

 

[Harvey]

There was some discussion two years ago. The reach was in the other direction Indy > ORDA.

 

[tirolski]

Have to wonder whether the ORDA mountains have ever reached out to the Indy Pass.

ORDA is far from being considered as independent entity.

 

[gregmarx]

Have to wonder whether the ORDA mountains have ever reached out to the Indy Pass.

I know people who checked out Belleayre and/or Gore when they were on the MAX Pass by driving west from CT, instead of north into VT.

This came up a little bit in the Storm Skiing interview with Whiteface GM a couple months ago (last 5 min of podcast). He talked about how MAX Pass had opened up Boston market to Whiteface and it was disappointing not to be included on Ikon originally. He does say there have been internal discussions about Indy but doesn't sound like anything especially likely -- obv there is concern about what it would do to Ski3 sales.

 

[Campgottagopee]

ORDA is far from being considered as independent entity.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[Peter Minde]

That’s the question

Not for nothing but these are very complicated economic problems. There are break even points that go up or down based on all kinds of factors. Taxes, minimum wage, OSHA, availability of labor, inflation etc… Small business owners have a lot of things to consider.

Just gotta wonder.... if the pizzeria went through that many owners, was it a lack of demand or a lack of business savvy?