- Joined
- Mar 26, 2018
- Posts
- 44
As noted, there's a regular Sun Valley crowd in Seattle, but I don't see anything that happens with passes affecting their behavior. They don't ski at Crystal much, or anywhere else, but that wouldn't change (at least not much) if their tickets at Crystal were free.
As for the non-SV crowd, once you're traveling as far as Sun Valley, I (anyway) would be considerably more inclined to take a plane to Salt Lake City, rather than Hailey (unless somebody is offering to fly me to Sun Valley in a private plane, but that doesn't happen as often as I think it really should). So the already existing 5-7 days at Deer Valley and Alta/Snowbird - not to mention Jackson, Big Sky, Squaw Valley etc. - are already more of a draw than Sun Valley would be.
For destination-type places within driving distance, bringing in Whistler, Bachelor and the interior BC areas would have more appeal, at least to me. Cypress is, of course, already in (it's Boyne-owned), but I don't think it's much of a factor.
As for the possible benefits (to Alterra) of inflow to Crystal, that would seem pretty limited. As already noted, there isn't a lot of lodging at the mountain, so the destination-traveler capacity is limited. The Forest-Service-approved Master Plan does allow an additional hotel, but it wouldn't be a huge increase. I think (might be off on this a bit) that it doesn't quite double the current lodging capacity. As an aside, Crystal doesn't even own the existing lodging anyway, so - unless Alterra has also struck a deal to buy the lodging, which I suppose is possible - all they get out of Ikon pass holders popping into Crystal is lodge food sales (and Crystal doesn't own all the food service, either). A more intriguing down-the-road plan might be adding lodging at the nearest private land, by Greenwater. It's not at the mountain, but I believe it's at least as close as Sun River is to Bachelor. That depending, of course, on the determination that Crystal could draw significant destination skiers in the first place.
As for the non-SV crowd, once you're traveling as far as Sun Valley, I (anyway) would be considerably more inclined to take a plane to Salt Lake City, rather than Hailey (unless somebody is offering to fly me to Sun Valley in a private plane, but that doesn't happen as often as I think it really should). So the already existing 5-7 days at Deer Valley and Alta/Snowbird - not to mention Jackson, Big Sky, Squaw Valley etc. - are already more of a draw than Sun Valley would be.
For destination-type places within driving distance, bringing in Whistler, Bachelor and the interior BC areas would have more appeal, at least to me. Cypress is, of course, already in (it's Boyne-owned), but I don't think it's much of a factor.
As for the possible benefits (to Alterra) of inflow to Crystal, that would seem pretty limited. As already noted, there isn't a lot of lodging at the mountain, so the destination-traveler capacity is limited. The Forest-Service-approved Master Plan does allow an additional hotel, but it wouldn't be a huge increase. I think (might be off on this a bit) that it doesn't quite double the current lodging capacity. As an aside, Crystal doesn't even own the existing lodging anyway, so - unless Alterra has also struck a deal to buy the lodging, which I suppose is possible - all they get out of Ikon pass holders popping into Crystal is lodge food sales (and Crystal doesn't own all the food service, either). A more intriguing down-the-road plan might be adding lodging at the nearest private land, by Greenwater. It's not at the mountain, but I believe it's at least as close as Sun River is to Bachelor. That depending, of course, on the determination that Crystal could draw significant destination skiers in the first place.
