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Colorado 2018-19 Colorado Weather and Stoke
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After a wonderful powder day yesterday it was bitter cold and windy up high. @Ron definitely delivered some nice little powder stashes in the trees and lower elevations to save the day. As expected he was a great guide. Hoping tomorrow brings a little more reasonable temperature and a whole lot less wind.
Power out in breck. The gondolas running but dont know if power on the mountain. Is.
Skied Keystone yesterday, and it was cold for the most part. Wind was not a major factor until about 1pm, when it started whipping up as the clouds just hinted at breaking up, and I headed off the mountain.
Conditions were quite good overall. With most of the reported 6 inches falling during the day on Wednesday, untouched or untracked was hit or miss. Big Horn in the Outback probably had the deepest conditions. However, most south facing runs revealed the usual scratch Keystone surface by about lunchtime.
Overall skier traffic was light. I don't think I ever really "waited" in a line from boarding the gondola at 8:40am through 1:30pm.
A fun unexpected bonus was seeing all the avalanche dogs from around the region on the mountain for a week of training.
Visibility was fine, with just enough light breaking through the thin clouds, and very few people out. This shot looking down Mozart on the back side of Dercum, was pretty representative. Having nothing lift accessed above treeline helped of course.
This is about as clear as it ever got--and then only for a moment.
Everybody likes dogs playing in the snow
Conditions were quite good overall. With most of the reported 6 inches falling during the day on Wednesday, untouched or untracked was hit or miss. Big Horn in the Outback probably had the deepest conditions. However, most south facing runs revealed the usual scratch Keystone surface by about lunchtime.
Overall skier traffic was light. I don't think I ever really "waited" in a line from boarding the gondola at 8:40am through 1:30pm.
A fun unexpected bonus was seeing all the avalanche dogs from around the region on the mountain for a week of training.
Visibility was fine, with just enough light breaking through the thin clouds, and very few people out. This shot looking down Mozart on the back side of Dercum, was pretty representative. Having nothing lift accessed above treeline helped of course.
This is about as clear as it ever got--and then only for a moment.
Everybody likes dogs playing in the snow
Please tell ABasin is going off the Epic.
Arrived today (Friday) at 9:30 and almost didn’t make the parking lot cutoff. The base area feels like a Saturday. What the hell has happened to this place
I sent them an email yesterday letting them know if they drop off the Epic pass that I would buy a double down season pass. If they don't hear from their customers how will they ever make good decisions? Wouldn't hurt for more people to start emailing them the same thing.
$$$ speaks louder than words!
And I think Epic pays a lot of salaries, builds new stuff, keeps those parking lots full, and insures a viable future for ABasin.
The growing Duopoly seems to be making it harder for independents to have a very clear business model for incremental growth, improvements, and sounds finances.
"The Anti Resort"
https://www.skimag.com/ski-resort-life/the-anti-resort-a-basin
It seems to me, the parking situation and Epic partnership, are making the "vibe" at ABasin about 5 years out of date for this article.
Loveland may be the last "anti-resort" standing in the Front Range on I-70, and even there we need to wait and see how Ikon/Epic play out the next few years and if they can remain a mostly true independent (102 free days at US, Canadian, and International partner resorts is not exactly going it alone)
https://www.skimag.com/ski-resort-life/the-anti-resort-a-basin
It seems to me, the parking situation and Epic partnership, are making the "vibe" at ABasin about 5 years out of date for this article.
Loveland may be the last "anti-resort" standing in the Front Range on I-70, and even there we need to wait and see how Ikon/Epic play out the next few years and if they can remain a mostly true independent (102 free days at US, Canadian, and International partner resorts is not exactly going it alone)
Any more, Fridays are increasingly indistinguishable from weekends, with so many people having Fridays off on 9/80 schedules or otherwise. I was amazed at WB I-70 traffic at 7:45 this morning in Mt. Vernon Canyon. I would not expect to arrive at any ski area, including A-Basin, at 9:30 am on a Friday anymore and have decent parking. I was depressed to get to Mary Jane a couple of Fridays ago at 8:40 and find I had to park on the road.
Any inside news on the power outage in Summit County? I heard on the news to stay away. I'm not a good listener and was planning on trying to beat the traffic this afternoon in route to Copper. Smart or not so smart if I bring a couple down bags just in case?
My friends at Copper never lost power today. My wife went over there to work around 8:30....power has been back on in Frisco since around 9:45 after being out for 3.5 hours when it was -12 out.
Copper tweeted that the base area has power, so I'm not sure it's still affecting them? Rolling outages across the county otherwise. But I'm just reading twitter.
Loveland is arguably thriving. The main lot is full or near full almost every day of the week and that’s relativity new. Which is to say that the Ikon/Epic duopoly doesn’t appear to be draining customers, but probably the opposite, and I’ve run into a lot more destination skiers. Hearing southerners try to pronounce “Ptarmigan” is grin inducing.
I think it was last year that my wife was talking to a Loveland ski patroller who said “Our uphill lift capacity vastly exceeds our parking capacity”, and unlike A-Basin with its sister relationship to Keystone, there is no parking overflow/shuttle potential. So Loveland can’t be under financial pressure that it otherwise wasn’t under before, and it seems a lot of people are showing up and buying day passes. And with Airbnb, there is plenty of lodging nearby - that’s probably the biggest change. We just heard last week that Chair 6 is now slated for a high speed replacement.
I don’t think A-Basin is trying to be an anti-resort. A-Basin’s master plan includes things like a summer zipline. They have added a lot to the base, and are directly competing with Breck and other large resorts. The idea that A-Basin is going to return to some former state is already over. I had really hoped that A-Basin would go independent and link up for a “Loveland Pass Pass” with Loveland, but the more I think about it the more I realize a lot of people would choose that pass and it would put a lot of pressure on Loveland with lots filling up early. A-Basin doesn’t add enough to Loveland for that to be a deal I want to see happen.
Because when you have a pass at Loveland and at A-Basin as your only 2 passes like I do, you are likely to end up skiing 90% of your days at Loveland while both are open.
Either way, getting to Luv at 9:30 on a Friday is a risk for parking now, even if half those cars apparently aren’t people actually skiing (Subaru + the Rapture). But there still won’t be anybody on the mountain unless you want to stick to beginner terrain.
No lines are what makes the anti-resort - the rest is just the base.
My guess is that they already know they're making good decisions based on revenue and profit.
You're basically either asking for pass prices to be astronomical (presuming they sell enough) or for them to not make as much money. It's very rare for any business to choose to make less based on some standard other than profitability.
Good luck, but I would bet a lot that they'll keep trying to grow and make more money, and likely stick with Epic.
(I think) We collectively think A-Basin is paid per Epic skier day. The business case for them to run at capacity with a pass priced like Loveland and to exceed their Epic revenue must be interesting.
Buying a Loveland and A-Basin cost for ~$800 vs Ikon or Epic is really compelling given the quality 8 month season and proximity to Denver plus lower on mountain costs. My Luv passes pay for themselves in gas, avoiding massive lost traffic time, plus lower cost food and beverage over a season.
But the Epic annual annuity must be highly predictable and being on a pass is clearly excellent for brand awareness.
The reality is that ski areas really don’t care if you stand in line or miss a parking spot. Ski mountain ops are a fixed asset cost business, and running at capacity is how you maximize ROA. There’s a reason everybody is building out summer ops - it takes an idle asset and monitizes extra months.
You will get Disneyland with that - it’s precisely who you are competing with for summer vacation dollars. Anybody can ride a lift to get a meal and drink in an amazing place. Sucks for the purist, but hey, you want your ski area operator healthily profitable or you are relying on billionaire sugar daddies to eat the losses for you.
That gets really risky on inheritance.
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