Ski Industry "Debundling"

[raisingarizona]

The one day I skied at Solitude, parking was completely full, yet lift lines were short to non-existent. Parking is their limiting factor there, as it is for all the Cottonwoods resorts. They could all handle more skiers, but the resorts generally do a poor job managing parking, and UTA does an even worse job at providing sufficient bus service. They slashed service in half this year, and it can be hard to even get on a bus now as they are often full.

I never really thought about any of these things back then skiing fresh lines all day.

 

[trackbiker]

Many Resorts (including some on the Indy Pass) are charging an extra $5 for an RFID card- what do you all think? Nobody ever asked me to pay for a wicket.

I don't have problem with that. I think it is more to encourage people to save the card and bring it with them next time they ski. It's a one time fee if you save the card
I ran a coat check at a nice restaurant one year in college. I would not give anyone their coats back unless they had their tag. It's amazing how all of a sudden they could find it. Otherwise I would have run out of the tags in no time just because people were too lazy to look for them.

 

[MarzNC]

Are resorts really more crowded, or just getting more attention for crowds via social media? Are they more crowded out west than in the east? Why aren't skier visits rising more dramatically? Last year was the biggest ever for visits, but by a very small margin and not much above the 20 year average.

Population growth is happening in (almost) every state, but fastest out west (Utah and Nevada, AZ at the top), second fastest in the south and southeast.

Are powder days and good snow days becoming less frequent, so everyone comes out on the same days, enhancing the perception of "crowded-ness"? From what I have read the ski season is significantly shorter than it was in 1980.

Be great to understand what is really happening.

Not possible to generalize in answer to those sorts of questions. At least need to restrict a discussion to a particular region. What's happening in the northeast doesn't apply to the southeast or midwest. What's happening in the PacNW is different from Idaho and Montana, or Utah and Colorado, or Tahoe.

Looking at the new lifts that were installed in 2022, in many cases the planning process started well before 2020. In some cases, the planning started before the recession in 2008. Feels like many projects being finished in the next year or two are part of a longer term plan that went through more than one revision as the industry shifted gears. Need to look back at the last 5, 10, 15 years for a given ski area/resort to have a sense of what's different and the primary factors.

 

[Benny Profane]

Well, back to the title of this thread. I can definitely see Vail throwing minor mountains in their portfolio, especially in the East, over the side. Who will buy them, especially if it's more than one every season?

 

[Ripitz]

I can definitely see Vail throwing minor mountains in their portfolio, especially in the East, over the side.

Give us Wildcat back dammit!

 

[Benny Profane]

Give us Wildcat back dammit!

Can I operate the groomer? Please? I'd have a bitchin' sound system in that thing. Just dont want to end up with that thing rolling over on my head like what happened to that actor dude.

Give us Wildcat back dammit!

 

[tirolski]

The one day I skied at Solitude, parking was completely full, yet lift lines were short to non-existent. Parking is their limiting factor there, as it is for all the Cottonwoods resorts. They could all handle more skiers, but the resorts generally do a poor job managing parking, and UTA does an even worse job at providing sufficient bus service. They slashed service in half this year, and it can be hard to even get on a bus now as they are often full.

Ya can take a train from downtown Denver to the lifts in Winter Park in a couple hours. 34 bucks gets ya a one way ticket.

All Aboard the Winter Park Express | Amtrak

The ski train is back for the 2022 season — with fares starting at $29

www.amtrak.com

It has lots of tunnels, avoids the I-70 shitshow & parking fees. Should be a purty ride thru the mountains to boot.
Anybody ever ride it and/or ski Winter Park?

 

[MarzNC]

Ya can take a train from downtown Denver to the lifts in Winter Park in a couple hours. 34 bucks gets ya a one way ticket.

All Aboard the Winter Park Express | Amtrak

The ski train is back for the 2022 season — with fares starting at $29

www.amtrak.com

It has lots of tunnels, avoids the I-70 shitshow & parking fees. Should be a purty ride thru the mountains to boot.
Anybody ever ride it and/or ski Winter Park?

The schedule for the Winter Park train isn't that great for people who fly to Denver. Pretty much requires spending a night in a hotel near the train station to start with. It's geared to locals who are headed to WP/MJ for the weekend. I looked into the idea when the train started up again several years ago.

Had a chance to check out WP/MJ using Ikon for a few days a few weeks ago before heading to Wolf Creek. One of the advantages of driving from NC is having more flexibility about exactly when to arrive in Colorado. The Mary Jane side opened on Dec. 2, so it was worth the stop. The resort was a lot larger than I thought. Had a very good time and would go back in the future.

 

[tirolski]

The schedule for the Winter Park train isn't that great for people who fly to Denver. Pretty much requires spending a night in a hotel near the train station to start with. It's geared to locals who are headed to WP/MJ for the weekend. I looked into the idea when the train started up again several years ago.

Had a chance to check out WP/MJ using Ikon for a few days a few weeks ago before heading to Wolf Creek...The Mary Jane side opened on Dec. 2, so it was worth the stop. The resort was a lot larger than I thought. Had a very good time and would go back in the future.

Yeah but ya could take the red eye & nap on the plane and the train too.
They have food and drinks on the train as well.

 

[snoloco]

Here's how well received paid bag storage is at Stratton. This is the hallway leading to the men's room. How this is better than having racks on the sides is beyond me.