Midwest Upper Midwest Season 2018-2019

[David D]

Perhaps the manager, @David D, of Whitecap can comment on the funding reality? It would be great to see them recover quickly. Fires at resorts in-season are just terrible.

Thanks for your interest.

Yes, while the fire was devastating, it has now given us the opportunity to bring WC into the present day. While many people enjoyed it's "quaintness" it was not a viable business. When I took over in Feb of 2018 the resort was 6.5 million dollars in the hole and I am pleased to say that the property is unencumbered as of 2 months ago. This enables us to move ahead with plans to transform WC into a premier midwest destination resort. I would not have announced anything had I thought it was "out of reach". The whole basis of my business plan is that WC should be a four season facility. Through this whole process we continue to keep in mind our local communities as we do not wish to exclude them from enjoying this great place. When I took over in Feb of 2018 the resort had a total of 11 employees. The day of the fire, Jan 18th happened to be a payday and I signed 88 payroll checks. Our commitment to our local communities shall always be part of our process here. Therefore our pricing structure will always allow our surrounding communities to enjoy WC. As the mountain becomes successful the communities around us should share in that success thus the formation of the Whitecap Mountains Foundation.

We will always pay attention to "the basics", and boy do we have a pile of basics to tend to now! Last season I caught a ton of guff for building out our restaurants and tavern. People needed to realize that, in the midwest, skiers spend approx 65% of their time inside. They look for great food, fraternization and entertainment. Several people also said that we should have done lift work. Our lift work started on July 1 last year and continued up until opening day. For the first time in a long time we did not experience any lift problems. As a matter of fact we have had no major problems since 2.20.2018 and we will continue that trend through replacements and upgrades. We did close our long chair down for a day due to extremely high winds in February.

We know people want to enjoy WC. Our latest season pass sale resulted in sales that more than doubled our ski passes from last season and more surprising was the sale of golf passes. We sold 5 times more than the season before and even though our passes have now increased in price our sales remain strong. This just tells me what people think of WC.

I had the opportunity to meet several people this past season who are here on Pugski and all of us here at WC appreciate your support.

Thank you again for your question/comments and I look forward to answering any questions in the future!

David

 

[DerKomisar]

Looking forward to the 2019-20 season, already bought a couple Facebook specials this past weekend!

Hope all the best this upcoming season!

 

[Beach Bum]

Ditto. Bought one for Whitecap, heading back in early January for first time in decades!!

 

[Ski4Ever]

Thanks for your interest.

Yes, while the fire was devastating, it has now given us the opportunity to bring WC into the present day. While many people enjoyed it's "quaintness" it was not a viable business. When I took over in Feb of 2018 the resort was 6.5 million dollars in the hole and I am pleased to say that the property is unencumbered as of 2 months ago. This enables us to move ahead with plans to transform WC into a premier midwest destination resort. I would not have announced anything had I thought it was "out of reach". The whole basis of my business plan is that WC should be a four season facility. Through this whole process we continue to keep in mind our local communities as we do not wish to exclude them from enjoying this great place. When I took over in Feb of 2018 the resort had a total of 11 employees. The day of the fire, Jan 18th happened to be a payday and I signed 88 payroll checks. Our commitment to our local communities shall always be part of our process here. Therefore our pricing structure will always allow our surrounding communities to enjoy WC. As the mountain becomes successful the communities around us should share in that success thus the formation of the Whitecap Mountains Foundation.

We will always pay attention to "the basics", and boy do we have a pile of basics to tend to now! Last season I caught a ton of guff for building out our restaurants and tavern. People needed to realize that, in the midwest, skiers spend approx 65% of their time inside. They look for great food, fraternization and entertainment.

Thank you again for your question/comments and I look forward to answering any questions in the future!

David

With only 2 months (hopefully) until start of ski season, what are plans as far as snow making, more gladed areas, putting up the old triple chair, and any other improvements to the hill? Sounds like that statistic was created by a food distributor. LOL. From my experience the midwest is go go go all day and party at night. Season is too short to spend it inside during the day.

 

[David D]

With only 2 months (hopefully) until start of ski season, what are plans as far as snow making, more gladed areas, putting up the old triple chair, and any other improvements to the hill? Sounds like that statistic was created by a food distributor. LOL. From my experience the midwest is go go go all day and party at night. Season is too short to spend it inside during the day.

Thanks for your question/comment. That stat is from the resort industry and just like you I thought it was driven by a food supplier but it was not. During the off season we have been diligently working on our lifts, finishing up renovations on the golf course, we built out a restaurant/bar in our hotel, we are in the process of building a new rental shop area, a new retail area and a picnic lodge area. While all of this has been happening we have continued to plan for next spring. We have decided on a new base village location (finally), we are tweaking the snowmaking plans, we improved the wine hut experience for our guests, we are in the process of brushing out new areas for glade skiing and we are working towards the goal of breaking ground in the spring. Things always take longer than expected but this is our chance to build Whitecap for the future. Skiers can, upon visiting Whitecap, expect all of the amenities that you are accustomed too. Our CTEC lift, while originally slated to be in operation for this season has been put on hold until we finalize our lift plans. We have paid great attention to placement of lifts and our guests will see vast improvements in the near future and we are embarking upon a new signage program. Of course it is great to write about all of this but I have to say that our staff has gone above and beyond once again and we look forward to seeing everyone out here. Be sure to stop and say hello when you are here! Thanks again, David

 

[David D]

Looking forward to the 2019-20 season, already bought a couple Facebook specials this past weekend!

Hope all the best this upcoming season!

Say hello when you visit!

 

[Beach Bum]

Say hello when you visit!

You mentioned the CTEC lift will be closed. Haven't been in awhile but coming up January 1st. Is all terrain still accessible (i.e. The Dragon) via lifts or will part of the hill be closed this year due to the lift closure?

 

[DerKomisar]

Just met Lonnie from My Bohemia at the local show. Couldn’t have been more friendly and cool to chat about his place.

For the uninitiated, the place is basically shangrila for Midwest ski bums willing (able?) to make the trek.

Here’s a link to a webisode of the place-
And if you’re interested, be sure to mark the first Saturday in December.

 

[David D]

You mentioned the CTEC lift will be closed. Haven't been in awhile but coming up January 1st. Is all terrain still accessible (i.e. The Dragon) via lifts or will part of the hill be closed this year due to the lift closure?

The CTEC lift is on the North side of the resort and all trails are accessible. Thanks for your question!

 

[raisingarizona]

Thanks for your interest.

Yes, while the fire was devastating, it has now given us the opportunity to bring WC into the present day. While many people enjoyed it's "quaintness" it was not a viable business. When I took over in Feb of 2018 the resort was 6.5 million dollars in the hole and I am pleased to say that the property is unencumbered as of 2 months ago. This enables us to move ahead with plans to transform WC into a premier midwest destination resort. I would not have announced anything had I thought it was "out of reach". The whole basis of my business plan is that WC should be a four season facility. Through this whole process we continue to keep in mind our local communities as we do not wish to exclude them from enjoying this great place. When I took over in Feb of 2018 the resort had a total of 11 employees. The day of the fire, Jan 18th happened to be a payday and I signed 88 payroll checks. Our commitment to our local communities shall always be part of our process here. Therefore our pricing structure will always allow our surrounding communities to enjoy WC. As the mountain becomes successful the communities around us should share in that success thus the formation of the Whitecap Mountains Foundation.

We will always pay attention to "the basics", and boy do we have a pile of basics to tend to now! Last season I caught a ton of guff for building out our restaurants and tavern. People needed to realize that, in the midwest, skiers spend approx 65% of their time inside. They look for great food, fraternization and entertainment. Several people also said that we should have done lift work. Our lift work started on July 1 last year and continued up until opening day. For the first time in a long time we did not experience any lift problems. As a matter of fact we have had no major problems since 2.20.2018 and we will continue that trend through replacements and upgrades. We did close our long chair down for a day due to extremely high winds in February.

We know people want to enjoy WC. Our latest season pass sale resulted in sales that more than doubled our ski passes from last season and more surprising was the sale of golf passes. We sold 5 times more than the season before and even though our passes have now increased in price our sales remain strong. This just tells me what people think of WC.

I had the opportunity to meet several people this past season who are here on Pugski and all of us here at WC appreciate your support.

Thank you again for your question/comments and I look forward to answering any questions in the future!

David

If people want the sexy improvements they should understand that you have to invest in the improvements that bring in the money first. The die hards, for the most part don’t keep ski areas in business unfortunately.

 

[MN_Drew]

In case anyone hasn't seen it, 14 midwestern ski areas are on the new IndyPass, which is currently going for $199 and allows 2 days at each member area. For those of us who like to bounce around the region rather than buy a season pass at a single location it could be a good deal. I'm on the fence, probably will pass on it this year. If they had one more of the larger MN/WI areas on the list I would probably jump on it. Just thought I would pass it along in case there was anyone who it would make sense for that hadn't seen it yet.

https://www.indyskipass.com/resorts#midwest

 

[Dwight]

That is a decent deal. I have friends that are thinking about getting Ski Cooper season passes because of the partner locations in the Midwest too.

 

[Brent Dodd]

I've seen many posts about Whitecap, so thought I'd jump in too. I was up north for ATVing this past weekend and the talk in town is a new owner coming in again. They said whoever bought it last year has already run up so much debt they call them Lundberg #2. lol. Anyone know when or if the new owners are coming in? It is the best skiing in the midwest, so as long as they are open I don't really care who owns it but want to make sure they'll stay open.

 

[JJ Steffes]

I've seen many posts about Whitecap, so thought I'd jump in too. I was up north for ATVing this past weekend and the talk in town is a new owner coming in again. They said whoever bought it last year has already run up so much debt they call them Lundberg #2. lol. Anyone know when or if the new owners are coming in? It is the best skiing in the midwest, so as long as they are open I don't really care who owns it but want to make sure they'll stay open.

What is going on with Whitecap?!? It better stay open. I was having dinner tonight in Hurley and bartender said it's been talk of the town lately. He did not say anything about new owners, but did say new manager was coming in to try and get things in order. He also said that Jimmy from bottom of the main chair and Keith from the wine hut both left there. I know the skiing will still be great, but the great people make the hill fun and unique. Good luck. See you on the slopes.

 

[Beach Bum]

Rumors concerning Whitecap once again, seems this is an annual occurrence right around now. Must mean that the ski season is right around the corner.

Hopefully they figure things out and are up and running this winter. They sold those 4-pass lift tickets the other month and I hope to use mine this January.

 

[David D]

Rumors concerning Whitecap once again, seems this is an annual occurrence right around now. Must mean that the ski season is right around the corner.

Hopefully they figure things out and are up and running this winter. They sold those 4-pass lift tickets the other month and I hope to use mine this January.

These are the kind of posts that I like to answer. It seems that everyone else knows more about what is happening here than I do. Well I don't mean to disappoint but how is it that bartenders, disgruntled former employees and people who have never been here have an insight into what is going on here? I never saw them at the closing, I have never seen them reviewing the books, I have never seen them signing checks and I have never seen them here for a meeting. Must be a slow news week I guess. Whitecap is alive and well and our balance sheet is in great shape and anything to the contrary is pure BS. The employees that are no longer here are gone for a reason. They may not like the reason but that is the truth. Kieth, wanting to spend more time skiing, will be involved here at WC on special occasions and anything to the contrary is pure rumor. Whenever there is new ownership at a business and a culture change takes place, there are many employees that cannot adjust. For years people here were stealing, taking equipment to use because they thought they were entitled and pretty much taking advantage in ways that you cannot even imagine. I have never encountered the amount of corruption anywhere like here when I arrived. Slowly but surely those people have been dealt with but there is a group of individuals that would like to see WC fail. They all had their chances. They continually talk about what we are doing wrong but you know what? They are talking from the outside. If they had such great knowledge/experience to turn this around then they should have taken over. Quite simply........they couldn't step up to the plate and now they speak from a place of ignorance. Every decision that is made here is made with great thought. Though the fire caused us to slow down a bit (we opened up on time the next day) it hasn't stopped us from moving forward with our plans to renovate WC. We have had crews working all summer on the course, the lifts, brushing trails, renovating the Wine Hut, building a new restaurant, bar, rental shop, retail shop and picnic area so that you can enjoy your visit here whether you come in the summer or winter. Atv'ers came in great numbers this summer and rounds of golf played surpassed our expectations. All along the way we have purchased new rental equipment (again), brought in new construction machinery, upgraded our course equipment and more. I make sure I am available to address/answer any questions pertaining to WC and it's future and I encourage people to reach out to me. Do me a favor......... ask your bartender for a drink but ask me about WC if you want to know anything.. I can be reached at [email protected]. Ask for me when you visit! Thanks again, David.

 

[David D]

If people want the sexy improvements they should understand that you have to invest in the improvements that bring in the money first. The die hards, for the most part don’t keep ski areas in business unfortunately.

Thanks for your comment raisingarizona! More people need to understand the economics of running a resort. Thanks again, David

 

[Beach Bum]

Thanks for the response David. Glad to hear all that. It seems a bit odd that people have come here in the last 1-2 years to take shots at WC. Some biased opinions that don't seem very authentic. Like a bad yelp review that seems fake and is likely a competitor downcasting.

Looking forward to my trip there in 2+ months.

 

[JJ Steffes]

Whitecap is alive and well and our balance sheet is in great shape and anything to the contrary is pure BS. The employees that are no longer here are gone for a reason.... Slowly but surely those people have been dealt with but there is a group of individuals that would like to see WC fail. ".

On a positive note I have never talked to a single person that wanted to see Whitecap fail. Everyone in the area that I talk to, which happens to be in bars most of the time, wants to see that hill be a success. Everyone agrees it is the best place in the midwest and loves to ski it. They understand it takes a lot of cash to keep a hill open and so glad it is not their money being poured into it. But reality is a few small towns make up that area and everyone knows each other and everyone talks. So whether it is rumor or not, you have an uphill battle to fight when employees are treated bad and local businesses are not getting paid. Good luck to everyone involved, Let's hit the slope in 6-weeks please.

 

[David D]

Thanks for the response David. Glad to hear all that. It seems a bit odd that people have come here in the last 1-2 years to take shots at WC. Some biased opinions that don't seem very authentic. Like a bad yelp review that seems fake and is likely a competitor downcasting.

Looking forward to my trip there in 2+ months.

Thanks! When you're say stop and say hello. Thanks again, David