Written by Doug Waltman, Chagrin Valley Ski Club (as appeared in their inaugural newsletter for the 2019-2020 season; October 3, 2019)
Summer is the time when ski resorts get bought and sold. It’s a time when resorts make improvements.
Here is some of the big headlines that occurred over the summer.
· Vail buys Peak Resorts. Unless you had your head buried in some beach sand you probably know our local resorts are now Vail properties. Stay tuned, story developing. STOP THE PRESSES! Not so fast. A Peak Resorts investor filed a suit at the end of August to stop the acquisition claiming Peak ski suits didn’t follow securities rules. Story developing.
· Speaking of Peak Resorts, they had a great year. Fiscal 2019 revenue was a record $184.4 million.
· Oh, there’s no truth to the rumor that Epic has a $199 Mt. Everest add-on option.
· Overall skier visits for the 2018-2019 were up 11% over the previous season to over 59 million skier visits. That’s the 4th highest number of visits on record. Snow sells lift tickets and last year’s abundant accumulation brought everybody out on the slopes.
· The number of ski resorts in the U.S. is growing. After years of resorts turning off their lifts that appears to be changing around. In 1991 there were 546 resorts. That number shrank to only 470 in 2015. However, this past season there were 476 open ski areas.
· Speaking of that, this season there will be at least 477 resorts open. Cockaigne NY plans to re-open this coming winter.
· A-Basin dumps the Epic Pass and goes IKON.
· Criminal charges were brought to the previous owners
of Jay Peak, Ariel Quiros and Bill
Stenger, for their Ponzi investment scheme.
· Deer Valley lost a bid to dismiss the Gwyneth Paltrow vs. Sanderson lawsuit.
· Speaking a lawsuits, a woman successfully sued a man for causing her injury on the Lower Lion’s Way trail at Vail when he failed to check his speed as he attempted to pass her. She was awarded $750,000 because she had the right of way. Lesson— Know the Skier’s Responsibility Code and follow it.
· A court rules British Columbia’s Jumbo Valley is to stay wild. Plans for the long awaited year-round ski resort have been shelved.
· It was discovered that ski areas have the 3rd highest injury rate of any U.S. businesses. You have a 10% chance of getting hurt working at one. Lesson— It’s safer to work in a coal mine.
· Skeletal remains were found in Vail’s back bowls, believed to belong to a Chinese national who went missing last February.
· In-N-Out Burger plans to open their first burger joint outside of California in the Park Meadows Mall area in Colorado Springs. Sadly, the Quaker Steak & Lube near Denver closed.
· Aspen raised their minimum wage to $15 per hour.
· Expect to pay 10% more for ski gear this winter due
to tariffs imposed on China. Thanks
Donald.
· Denver prairie dogs were found infected with the Plague. You’ve seen those cute prairie dog colonies just outside of the Denver airport. I recommend you not stop to feed them.
· At least three ski resorts in South America closed early this year, even before their winter ended, due to a lack of snow.
· Sherman R. Poppen died this summer at the age of 89. Who was he? Why he invented the snowboard in 1968 and called it the “snurfer.”
· A new billion dollar destination ski resort, tentatively called the Mayflower Mountain Resort is planned for Utah. It will be just down the road from Deer Valley. They hope to begin spinning bull wheels in 2021.
· Scientists have found dust from a star that exploded 20-million years ago wound up in the snow at Antarctica.