Thread: State of the Ski Industry?

Any industry 'insiders' care to comment on the State of the Industry?

Specifically, what has changed in the industry as it relates to the action sports (ski) side of things post-2008? Is there as much money as before?
Ad revenue, marketing, sales, jobs, etc.

Has the internet done harm? done good for things?

I was just wondering....

There is less money being thrown around but every fucking tard and his brother has a pov cam.

For the savvy and legit: internet/social networking = free marketing.

Does not seem to be working for the freeheel/vegan segment. Stay tuned.

http://business.transworld.net/
http://www.saminfo.com/

www.SkiingBusiness.com

From my perch.

Things are improving a little bit but money is still tight.

If you have strong cash reserves now is the time to invest in lifts and other infrastructure, things won't be this cheap again.

Numbers were off this winter throughout the country, maybe because of the soft economy, maybe because of the weird weather.

The population continues to age and new skiers are still not rushing in to fill the void.

I have about 5-10 years before I quit skiing for a living and move on to the next adventure.

The timing will be just about right.

Ski-nomics: The Business of Ski Resorts in a Future with Less Snow (2012): http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2...ith-less-snow/

U.N. report: Warming spells skiing meltdown (2003): http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/p...NEWS/312039962

Originally Posted by boltonoutlaw

Ski-nomics: The Business of Ski Resorts in a Future with Less Snow (2012): http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2...ith-less-snow/

U.N. report: Warming spells skiing meltdown (2003): http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/p...NEWS/312039962

Although the Ski-Nomics article points out that the smart management of Vail has quickly learned to cope with the economic downturn and lousy weather by getting folks to spend their money on stuff outside of actual skiing, Vail is an atypical ski/snowboard resort in that it caters to people who have a lot more money than the average skier.

The average non-destination ski resort is facing a tough future. Average people have less disposable income to spend on skiing/boarding. It costs more to drive to your local resort than ever before. The winter season is shorter. I saw the owner of Jiminy Peak on TV a few years ago. He pointed out that they have about 35 days to make their season every winter: December through March weekends (more like mid-December through mid-March nowadays), plus Christmas week, Martin Luther King long weekend and President’s Week. Bad weather during any of those and your season can be toast.

Plus, someone in retail management told me that skiing is simply too expensive to sustain itself with its current business model. Mainstream ski/board retail is going to have to adopt the business model of places like Levelnine Sports on the net and ElvistheSkiMan on Ebay. For equipment companies, I think Bluehouse may be the wave of the future with their direct marketing and no middle man. For actual skiing/boarding, hiking in the BC looks solid, the cost of getting there aside and weather permitting, because you don't have to buy a ridiculously priced lift ticket.

Well any successful small town ski shop is a cover for a grow.... I don't think the ski industry has ever, in my life, been an easy place to make money. If your smart there are always opportunities to be had.

Originally Posted by charles martel

.... The winter season is shorter....

Than when? The key dates you mentioned for ensuring profitability still feature tons of snow.

There are a lot of indications the economy has not adequately improved from the 2008 bust to assess things for the distant future, unless this IS the distant future, economically.

I remember reading something this season that said wolf creek was actually doing well. More Texans in pagosa. I think more Bc. Which will lead to more deaths, which will then bring even more people into the Bc. I think the crash is great, skiing isn't going anywhere. All you need is a hill and snow, I don't buy into the "shorter season " stats either. Burn vail burn! Pretty soon we'll all be in carharts at Cooper.

Originally Posted by charles martel

The average non-destination ski resort is facing a tough future. Average people have less disposable income to spend on skiing/boarding. It costs more to drive to your local resort than ever before. The winter season is shorter. I saw the owner of Jiminy Peak on TV a few years ago. He pointed out that they have about 35 days to make their season every winter: December through March weekends (more like mid-December through mid-March nowadays), plus Christmas week, Martin Luther King long weekend and President’s Week. Bad weather during any of those and your season can be toast.

Plus, someone in retail management told me that skiing is simply too expensive to sustain itself with its current business model. Mainstream ski/board retail is going to have to adopt the business model of places like Levelnine Sports on the net and ElvistheSkiMan on Ebay. For equipment companies, I think Bluehouse may be the wave of the future with their direct marketing and no middle man. For actual skiing/boarding, hiking in the BC looks solid, the cost of getting there aside and weather permitting, because you don't have to buy a ridiculously priced lift ticket.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHahahhahahahahhahahahahhhahahhahahha hahahhahahah.....................*breathe*........ ..hahahhahahahahahahahhahahahhahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa a..........ahhhhh...

For real though. Tall tee sales are way up.

This is my "lifestyle " clothing line. It helps me look unique among countless other core skiers and gives me power to gang up on weekend warriors in Columbia at the bar

Addressing more the skiing manufacturing industry, rather than the ski area industry:

As long as people can't efficiently ski/board on the street shoes (although I DO love glissading!!)...the industry will do fine.

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septic tank needs to be pumped.

can't wait to here the next tard here defending his bros because they are "cool" or "nice" or "smart" despite all evidence to the contrary. decade on it's the same shit but the ticks have gotten more swollen and stupid

fuck em. let the fucker burn. less ski "industry" more skiing.

covert nailed it i think

Originally Posted by Summit

covert nailed it i think

comeon cummitco1776 break out the douchealiases

So....does that make all involved in the ski industry.....industrialists?

hm, ski industrialist. Sounds like you have a new tag.

swollen tard

The 2 newest ski resorts in Canada both loose $. Kicking Horse has been going for about a dozen years and has yet to show a profit. Ownership changed this past season.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort (been open for 5 or 6 seasons) reported an increase in skier visits this past season but is still below 100k skiers visits and will likely never make money. No where near the $ real estate sales that the owners of either mountain had hoped for.

^^^ the thing with BC is that you have more lift-served ski areas than the population can support, so without tourist dollars it's impossible for some of them to make money. That, and the current business model is based on real estate, not skiing.

I think in the long term (20 years from now) skiing is in serious, serious trouble. At least speaking for the way things work in Colorado, lift ticket pricing is absolutely nuts, and is set up to contribute to the crash. For resorts that attract front-range skiers, season pass pricing is pegged at anywhere from 6 to 8 single day pass prices- basically they price the season pass right at the mark where the out-of stater coming in for a week gets no help.

So, we have the situation where the season pass skier gets ridiculously cheap ski days, but the occaisional skier and visting skier gets ridiculously high broke a splintered broomstick off in my ass with no lube prices.

The result helps exacerbate the fact that the next generation of skiers IS NOT THERE. New people aren't getting into the sport because:

1. Most everybody's first day on skis is their worst.
2. The first day on skis is the most expensive (lesson, rental, ticket, etc.).
3. Resorts are breaking it off in people's asses with expecting $120 lift tickets, then rentals, $20 parking, on-mountain food, etc.

When costs for a single person to go ski their first day get into the $150-$250 range, how in the hell do new people enter the sport?
____________

So that's long term. In the short term, I'm pretty happy that the real-estate development oriented resorts (looking at you Intrawest and Vail) have taken some lumps.

On the other hand, the resorts that focus on the skiing, and have limited or no real estate component, seem to be able to do pretty well. Monarch, Wolf Creek, and Eldora are aggressively pursuing expansion plans based on their strong performances recently. Silverton has established itself, and Echo Mountain appears to be off the ground as well. Its been a long time since new ski areas have actually opened in Colorado and manage to turn a profit. It has also been a long time since the smaller ski areas have been in a position to make expansion plans.

I hope this means that the smaller- skiing focused areas continue to see skier visits as recognition that they offer an excellent skiing experience.

IMO Colorado is fairly unique & not necessarily indicative of the whole industry. How many resorts are within weekend distance from Denver (ie the major population base)? Shitloads, more than most places anyways. Competition drives the prices down.

Otherwise yeah its expensive. I don't think the industry will die out completely, but its not growing either (flat at best).

The cost of ski gear these days is off the charts.

You're looking at about 2k for a new set of skis/boots/bindings. The skis/bindings may last a few years but lately boots seem to be made out of wishful thinking. Mass market garbage.

I think the ski industry really needs to do a reality check on the current costs across the boards. Look at the cost for the average Joe to take his family skiing for a week or, outfit his family with gear..... There is no way the average guy can afford it. I bet if the ski industry had price points that where more realistic for the average Joe, we would have way more skiers participating in the sport, and the entire industry would be way better healthier. I think the only thing worse than skiing for gear costs is the Bike industry!

I remember when a lot of the local areas here slashed there season pass prices from $600+ to $2~300 they all started to make way more money. More skiers skied more often, and guess what they brought there friends to the hill and introduced them to the sport too.