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  1. #1
    gostan's Avatar
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    Win Smith Bloomberg Interview

    Stan

    "There's No Cure For Life"

  2. #2
    *** Please note: Slide Brook Express Quad is on a maintenance delay and will open as soon as possible. ***

  3. #3

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    I rode the Slide Brook yesterday. It was fine.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Go Figure View Post
    *** Please note: Slide Brook Express Quad is on a maintenance delay and will open as soon as possible. ***
    It opened around 10:40. Not sure what the issue was.

  5. #5

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    Yes, it was an RPD fault and opened at 10:46. An RPD is a Rope Pulley Device. There are on all sheaves to make sure the haul rope is going through the sheaves properly. They are exposed to the elements and they wear out or can be torn easlily It is a very quick fix but requires climbing the tower.


  6. #6
    Back on topic. Pretty good interview. Good pitch for under 30's pass and stuff. Dumb question on their part to ask about $168 lift tickets as it's not comparable to the region and shows they didn't fully do their research, but made Win's comments about $50 tickets that much more stand out.

    The comment on last year versus this year being down 9% YTD. That surprises me. Is that 9% as strictly looking at revenue? If so is it revenue for tickets only or inclusive of Food & Beverage? Or is it 9% profit and figuring in factors like more lift maintenance required for more downtime and more snowmaking (though much less than anywhere else. Sorry. Can't let it rest). Just curious if one only arm/segment of the business dipped due revenue or if the issue was more an offset of increased expenses. I had thought that this year we broke the record for skier visits in a single day twice (or maybe 3 times). Granted those are spikes in volumes and may not represent a seasonal trend, but it seems the more days where records are broken the more likely it isn't coincidence and overall visits must be up.

    Lastly a suggestion as it relates to skier demographics dropping off. The under 30 pass came out which addresses one need, but the comment on pricing out middle America is true. I remember a few years back I was changing my boots by a ticket window and a guy bought tickets for his family of 5 for the weekend and rentals for all of them for both days. If I was wearing a monocle it would have surely fallen off. Of course I front load my expense with buying gear and season passes so to me on a day I had spent $0 it was an extreme, but I tried to multiply that in my head for as many days as I get in and figured I'd need to get a job replacing Bill Gates who as far as I know holds the job of being super rich.

    In any case as a recent skiing dad the kids ski free with a season pass is great. Awesome policy and I tell everyone I know with kids. A few will likely do it but not yet because they don't have the same motivation and the kids are too young to be worth it to them. But last year, and even this year with him being 2, I find it a big challenge to just get out there. I mean I'm too dumb to know that it's way too much work for a few runs with him, but I see it as an investment and the sooner he is independent so will I be. With a second one on the way I'm going to have to be legally retarded to attempt it in the first few years, but I will. Because I am. At least about skiing.

    My point is that I would have loved to see a significantly reduced rate for child care for people with a season pass. If the mountain said that they would watch my kid for a half day (3 hours) while I ski then that would have been awesome. I mean they will, but it's insanely expensive on top of everything else. You can buy 8 day packs, but they run $840. If when I bought a season pass they said would you like the infant/toddler upgrade for $300 more and it included 10 half days I'd have probably put one on my pass and one on my wife's without even thinking about it. When he gets to the mini bear age he may ski free with me outside of the program, but that's a lot of money and it will be decision time. I mean I already have him doing cork 1080s off a kicker in a zipper line so good luck trying to up sell me that you can do better.

    So you did research and found that there was a lessening number of skiers between 20 and 30. I haven't spent a lot of time researching, but I would guess that you lose a fair amount of people between X and Y regardless of age, but only as a result of them having kids. Some people just aren't quite as dumb as I am by trying to force it to work. I figure once you lose them then it probably takes a long time to get them back, if at all. And if you don't get them back then they probably don't take their kids as often who don't grow up loving the sport as much and then when they get to 20 and 30 years old your numbers are down.

    Just a thought. Add a component to season pass holders for kid care and kid programs. You'll be probably one of the few ski mountains that do, but families will flock to you. There are a few people like me that will fight through whatever obstacle is put in front of me to ski. I see fellow parents at the mountain. I'm guessing though that more people who would otherwise stay skiers just give up because it's too much. Childcare is prohibitively expensive for many so the alternative is to not utilize it. If parents got a few hours of free time together a day at a reasonable price I'm sure many would jump on the opportunity. As a result people stay skiers, their kids start skiing early and become addicted and as they get older the skier visits increase as opposed to decrease overall.

  7. #7
    MM4B wrote..."The comment on last year versus this year being down 9% YTD. That surprises me. Is that 9% as strictly looking at revenue? If so is it revenue for tickets only or inclusive of Food & Beverage? Or is it 9% profit and figuring in factors like more lift maintenance required for more downtime and more snowmaking (though much less than anywhere else. Sorry. Can't let it rest). Just curious if one only arm/segment of the business dipped due revenue or if the issue was more an offset of increased expenses. I had thought that this year we broke the record for skier visits in a single day twice (or maybe 3 times). Granted those are spikes in volumes and may not represent a seasonal trend, but it seems the more days where records are broken the more likely it isn't coincidence and overall visits must be up."

    Whether Win is referring to revenue or profit, it's likely that skier visits are either flat or down, despite the quad packs.

  8. #8
    Not necessarily. You can't assume skier visits are down based on anything he said. They may in fact be, but you'd only be making a guess. From on mountain observations it feels like the opposite (which could have been a factor of lifts being open/closed of course), but the record was set/broken at least twice this year for single day visits.

    It is entirely possible to have skier visits be up, but have less profit due to more snow making (I believe Win indicated they spent more than ever before this season. Again in my opinion not enough still to keep up with regional competition) or for increased expenses due to lifts breaking and work and parts for them. You could also break it out by F&B versus visits/tickets. It could be that people showed up and after a frustrating day with the lifts said forget it and went home and not to the bars so possibly more people during the day, but less money because they left earlier than usual.

    Without data we are all just guessing.

  9. #9
    OK, that's all possible, but your earlier posts (and those of others on this board) remarking on increased skier visits remain...guesses.

  10. #10
    as for skiing in general. I saw a report not too long ago (I will try and find it and post it) that alpine skiing has been declining. But that was taken out of context because there was a huge increase in Freestyle skiing. The total numbers are not going down.

  11. #11

  12. #12
    Hawk's Avatar
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    Skier visits are up from last year. That comes from my friends at the lift ticket office. So not a guess. Unless they are lying. But even if I didn't hear that from them, it is totally obvious that there are more people here this year. Easily.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by MntMan4Bush View Post
    Back on topic............

    My point is......I would have loved to see a significantly reduced rate for child care for people with a season pass. If the mountain said that they would watch my kid for a half day (3 hours) while I ski then that would have been awesome. I mean they will, but it's insanely expensive on top of everything else. You can buy 8 day packs, but they run $840. If when I bought a season pass they said would you like the infant/toddler upgrade for $300 more and it included 10 half days I'd have probably put one on my pass and one on my wife's without even thinking about it.......There are a few people like me that will fight through whatever obstacle is put in front of me to ski...............Anyways, wifey and I both have season passes. He skis free. That's great. So I figure I'd swing in and try and get him a pass with his picture as a memento for his first season skiing and a reminder when he's older of his skiing lineage. Picture is snapped. "That will be $30
    Sorry if my next comments fall on deaf ears, but seriously-- was it not your choice to have kids? Quit complaining, off topic.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by ThinkSno View Post
    Sorry if my next comments fall on deaf ears, but seriously-- was it not your choice to have kids? Quit complaining, off topic.
    ++++++1

    Seriously dude,... Quit your bitching about the 30 bucks. Your kid will ski for free until he is 12 under your pass, no other area in N.E. has this offer.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by djd66 View Post
    ++++++1

    Seriously dude,... Quit your bitching about the 30 bucks. Your kid will ski for free until he is 12 under your pass, no other area in N.E. has this offer.
    Please read my original post. I almost had a much different response to you until I saw how he quoted me.

    ThinkSno did some digging to combine a much older post of mine with a current one and call it a qupte. Talk about out of context. I haven't mentioned the $30 pass once since I started that thread and had no intention of doing so now (hence why I didn't) Please take back your. I'll accept that you were confused by ThinkSno's massaged "quote" from me. I wish I had the time to search around and stitch together a paragraph of select sentences of everything people have said. ThinkSno must work for someone's political campaign. In fact if you read my actual post in this thread I say how awesome my kid skiing for free is and how I market that like crazy with anyone who has ever skied and now has a kid.

    ThinkSno - Kind of wishing your parents made a different choice myself right now. The only reason it's off topic is because you pulled a quote of mine form another topic/thread. Kind of douchy in my opinion but hey. My point is that if Win is so concerned about loosing a demographic of skiers (which he mentioned in the interview) to reduce a season pass to $300 for an individual then I am suggesting there is another demographic that drops off as well and that is people with kids. By reducing daycare costs he could potentially get the 2 adult full price passes, plus F&B and whatever as opposed to just the one skier for $300 and their F&B footprint. Some people may never make it to a point to utilize the kids skiing free because they drop out of the game year one and it's harder to get back in sometimes when you get out of a routine. Lucky for you that's not me. I'm here to stick around if for no other reason than to make sure you don't miss me good buddy.

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