Short Swings!
People I’ve met love the Mountain Collective Pass
For those prepared to travel, it’s a no-brainer. Two day passes at any number of well-known ski resorts for $399. I purchased one a few weeks ago for next season and quickly encountered the dark side of this attractive product: weak Customer Support. I made the non-refundable purchase and was then prompted to register. That process didn’t function properly. I notified Customer Service, which, in turn, sent unhelpful automatic responses. Despite this, I’m looking firward to using the pass next season. Has anyone else had an issue with customer support?
CALIFORNIA
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows reached 700″ of cumulative snowfall for the 2016-17 season, the second greatest on record. First was 2010-11, with 810″ inches. California Department of Water Resources declared 2016-17 winter northern Sierra Nevada’s wettest. Average annual snowfall at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows is 450 inches.
LESOTHO, AFRICA
Believe it or not, there’s a small ski hill in Lesotho, the tiny African monarchy surrounded by South Africa. For readers who might want to check this one off the bucket list, click here for more on this Southern Hemisphere oddity.
SIBERIA
Sheregesh is a Siberian ski resort with a long season. It is a great distance from anywhere, but each Spring, thousands of scantily clad women and men travel to Sheregesh to party on skis. These Google Pictures make our costumed Spring pond-skimmers look tame.
UTAH
Onno Wieringa, Alta’s GM, is retiring following a career that started as a liftie, advanced to ski and avalanche patrol, and went on to manage one of North America’s iconic resorts. He started in 1972, the year my wife and I got hitched. 2017 is his 45th anniversary (ours, too). We started skiing there in 1973, and it’s a rare season I haven’t returned. I never met Onno, but his reputation is that of a down to earth, competent manager. See Harriet Wallis’ article this week for more on Onno.
Utah’s elected officials openly disdain protection of public lands. It’s the main reason that the Outdoor Retailers are pulling their twice annual gathering from the state. OR, in association with Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), The Conservation Alliance and Outdoor Alliance are organizing a march and rally during the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market to express support for federal public lands. Participants in the This Land is Our Land march will walk to the Utah State Capitol and hear Utah tribal leaders, outdoor industry leaders, athletes and policy makers speak to issues related to public lands.
VERMONT
The federal court appointed management team managing fraud-fraught Jay Peak and Burke Mountain was commended for stabilizing the resorts’ operations and accounting practices and increasing profits by nearly 500% since taking control of the properties a year ago.
OTHER
Jeremy Jones, founder of Jones Snowboards, is an executive with a social conscience. His essay on the perils of climate change presents a perspective of the younger generation. It’s worth reading.
Panda Poles are bamboo and they’re terrific! I bought a pair at an end-of-season price. They feel good on three counts: they function well; they look great, and they are made by a company committed to sustainable materials. These poles also are nostalgic. I’m old enough to remember switching from bamboo to aluminum. Now I’ve gone full circle. Want a pair? The Panda Pole website has a 30% discount through April 22.
Alta’s GM Onno Wieringa Retires
He’s Loved And Will Be Missed.
Credit: Harriet Wallis
Onno Wieringa has a passion for snow and for the soul of Alta. They have been his love and his career for 45 years.
He arrived at Alta Ski Area in 1972 and landed a job as ski patroller. That was his day job. At night, he was a bartender at Rustler Lodge.
After five years on patrol, Onno was promoted to snow safety director and served under Alta’s second GM, Chic Morton. In 1988 Chic was ready to retire and called on Onno to take the reins. Onno leaves a legacy for Alta to emulate for years to come.
Click for videos of Alta and Onno. http://www.alta.com/snow-and#
To read more from Harriet click here for her stories on SkiUtah.
Editorial: How Will Consolidations And Collaborations Impact Senior Skiers?
Bigger Better?
With the Aspen KSL Capital Partners acquisition of Stratton VT and Mt. Tremblant, PQ, and Vail buying the iconic Stowe VT resort, it appears the ski industry has passed a tipping point. The trend is now toward nation-wide reach, corporate management and marketing, multi-resort passes that can be used from coast to coast, and certainly more choices. These multi-resort passes are formed through acquisition and merger of resorts or through collaboration between individual independent resorts.
The good news is that the ubiquitous pass idea—Epic, Mountain Collective and others—gives the skier lots of opportunities for variation and actually brings the price of skiing down if you ski a lot. These passes give you, for example, two days skiing at designation resorts and half-price tickets if you want to ski more. Passes are on sale now for next season and, if you’re interested, now is the time to buy.
On the other hand, what about senior discounts for the less active skier? Stowe currently has a Super Senior Card (70+) that reduces lift ticket prices to as little as $44 a day. The question is will new management sustain these in the future? Vail gives seniors a five percent discount for day lift tickets at the home base resort in Colorado. For example, a regular adult ticket in late April is priced at $123; seniors 65+ pay $113. Granted it’s Vail, but that’s not much of a discount. What’s the point, Vail?
We know from reader surveys that seniors like discounts and deals. Perhaps we will see second tier areas who do encourage seniors with nice discounts and amenities benefiting from new traffic, especially from those who ski less than 10-20 days a season. Perhaps seniors will gravitate to where the lift prices are always reasonable. Perhaps local, mom-and-pop areas will get a boost from seniors re-discovering the benefits of smallness.
We will be watching.
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