By Jen Murphy
From Bloomberg News
On a powder day, especially over a holiday like Presidents Day weekend, the scene outside of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s cherry-red tram can look like a rock concert. Fanatical skiers camp out with stoves and coffee as early as 6 a.m., hoping to be among the first 100 passengers to ride the tram up 4,139 vertical feet at 9 a.m.
Over the years, the lines had deterred Dave Barnett, a 20-year Jackson Hole resident, from even attempting to reach the expert terrain off the top of the tram. But this season, one of Jackson’s snowiest on record, he’s been pleasantly surprised by the lack of crowds. Recently, Barnett, 49, and his 12-year-old son arrived at the resort at 8 a.m. and were able to score a spot on the first tram. They skied all day, and he says they never waited more than five minutes in a lift line.
“Even on a day where the resort is sold out, the slopes haven’t felt crowded,” says Barnett, a Jackson Hole Mountain Resort season pass holder.
The American West is having one of its best winters in decades—and so are skiers and the ski industry. After two seasons of negative news stories, social media vitriol and customer complaints ranging from endless lift lines to reduced operations, the ski industry is finally implementing changes and earning praise.
Last season, Colorado ski conglomerate Vail Resorts reported that it sold 2.1 million Epic passes—700,000 more than the 2020-2021 season—after discounting prices by 20%. More ticket sales combined with industrywide work shortages and a warm winter limiting terrain resulted in a perfect storm of problems.
Henry Schloss, 49, of Denver, was one of many frustrated skiers who waited in hour-long lift lines at Vail Resort the last two winters. “It was horrendous,” he says. “I could understand the COVID year, but last year the lines were just as painful.”
Complaints from disgruntled customers like Schloss didn’t go unheard. This season, Vail Resorts increased pricing across its Epic Pass offerings by about 7% (the top-of-the-line Epic Pass cost $939 and included unlimited, unrestricted access to 41 resorts). The company said the price hike was intended to prioritize the mountain experience for its guests. An added incentive to splurge: The company limited daily lift ticket sales at its 37 resorts in North America. It also increased employee wages and invested in lift upgrades to help move skiers up and around the mountain more quickly.
The efforts have made a noticeable difference. Schloss, who has been skiing at Vail for nearly 40 years, says the experience this winter has been a complete 180 from past seasons. He skis the resort with his wife and two sons, ages 9 and 7, every Saturday and says he’s barely waited longer than 10 minutes for a lift. And he has a new routine for avoiding lines for the first lift: “We drop the kids at ski school, have coffee, then get on the lifts by 10 a.m. when the first rush has died down.” He also monitors lift wait times on the Epic Mix app to navigate to quieter parts of the mountain.
Vail Resorts rival Alterra Mountain Co., which operates 16 resorts in North America, has also taken action to improve the skier experience. Significant lift investments, such as the new Wild Blue Gondola at Steamboat Ski Resort in Colorado and the Base to Base Gondola and Red Dog Lift at Palisades Tahoe in California, have increased uphill capacity and relieved congestion in base areas. Resorts have also implemented new ways to handle parking. For instance, Deer Valley in Utah coordinates auxiliary parking and shuttle options when they anticipate busy weekends.
Resorts have also gotten better at managing the throngs of Ikon passholders since Alterra introduced its multi-resort pass in 2018-2019. That was the first season of Mary Kate Buckley’s tenure as president of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. “We weren’t prepared for the onslaught,” she says. “That year we were the only resort in the West with snow. People had a pass that included Jackson, and they used it.” The next year, the resort increased parking and seating in restaurants, anticipating crowds. Then the COVID pandemic hit.
Jackson Hole, like most ski resorts in North America, implemented a reservations system throughout the pandemic. While Vail Resorts has since abandoned reservations, seven resorts on the Ikon Pass including Jackson Hole, Aspen Snowmass in Colorado, and Taos in New Mexico, still require them for Ikon passholders to help control crowds. Resort season passholders, who tend to be locals like Barnett, do not need to make reservations. It means more planning for skiers but a better experience, allowing resorts to plan appropriate staffing levels and parking arrangements. (This year, the Ikon pass cost $1,079 for unlimited access at 14 destinations, and up to seven days each at 39 destinations.)
While Aspen Snowmass hasn’t had to turn away reservations, Jackson Hole Resort, fresh off a new storm, had just one day ticket left on the Sunday of President’s Day weekend and was sold out on Monday. “Turning away revenue doesn’t make a lot of sense economically, but we’ve been able to staff more efficiently,” Buckley says. Jackson Hole is on track for a record volume of guests. Buckley attributes this in part to its ability to predict crowds and promote midweek skiing and half-day lift tickets when day tickets sell out.
Jackson Hole local Todd Jones, co-founder of Teton Gravity Research, an extreme sports media company, typically avoids resort skiing in favor of the less crowded backcountry terrain. This season, he’s been a regular on the popular tram that drops skiers at the extreme terrain the resort is famous for. “The resort hasn’t been this good since the ’90s,” he says.
An Ikon Pass that includes Jackson Hole, and a handful of other resorts, costs extra. Barnett believes the upcharge is attracting a higher-end tourist instead of the usual hardcore skier. “People may reserve a week of skiing, but they get here and realize we’re a challenging mountain so they have a three-hour lunch, or don’t ski at all and go shopping in town or visit the national park,” he says. “They have no interest in being out there on those epic days we line up for.”
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