The 2009-10 ski season promises to be better than you ever could have imagined, as the 22 member resorts of Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) have developed a strategy to keep skiers coming to Colorado, amid an unstable economy, by focusing on the guest experience.
To achieve their goals, Colorado resorts are making new additions to their on-snow profiles this season, and are improving and enhancing lodging and base area service facilities. Also, they are significantly investing in the human capital that forms the backbone of Colorado’s ski industry.
New in Colorado this winter ski season
During the upcoming season, Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) will invest close to $8 million in on-mountain improvements, which will include a 100% hands-free radio frequency gate access program across the four mountains of Aspen/Snowmass, making it the only destination resort in North America with 100% hands-free gates. Lift tickets will be plastic cards that hold a chip inside that detects guests as they move through lift lines, leaving no need for guests to dig into their pockets to retrieve their pass or ticket. A tunnel to ease skier traffic will be built on Buttermilk above the terrain park to separate terrain park traffic and regular skier traffic.
Off of the mountain, ASC will complete the first phase of an $18 million renovation at The Little Nell hotel, Aspen’s only five-star, five-diamond hotel. Also coming in the 2009-10 season is the LEED Silver-certified Viceroy Snowmass, the anchor hotel for the new $1 billion base village at Snowmass. The Viceroy Snowmass will boast 152 guest rooms, a 7,000 square-foot spa, a fine dining restaurant and a café.
Crested Butte Mountain Resort is now under the ownership of CNL lifestyle properties, and improvements are scheduled for the coming season. The Ice Bar will be doubled in size to increase its capacity, but the simple, intimate setting will remain. Also, the resort has added a new base area Adventure Park for play throughout the year. The Adventure Park features an eco-friendly synthetic “ice” skating rink, bungee trampolines, a climbing wall and a multi-lane, lift-served tubing hill for the winter.
Crested Butte recently unveiled Mountaineer Square, the new base area village that features the Lodge at Mountaineer Square, new dining options, the Adventure Center, and distinctive shops. The new Elevation Hotel & Spa opened, offering a new luxury option at the base of the mountain. In addition to the recent improvements, Crested Butte has another $2.2 billion earmarked for investment on improvements.
Arapahoe Basin underwent the largest terrain expansion in the United States in 2008 by opening Montezuma Bowl. These improvements resulted in significant growth in size and reputation, without jeopardizing the friendly attitude for which it is renowned, plus the needs of the new skiers and riders were met with expanded shuttle and parking facilities.
Echo Mountain Resort is launching new Ski & Ride school programs that allow guests to choose from several new multi-week programs for kids ages 4-14 and their parents. Kids’ morning and afternoon classes are offered in three-week sessions and a parent one-hour lesson and lift ticket can be added at a discounted rate. Also, in their continuing effort to improve terrain, the resort has implemented eight new terrain features throughout the mountain and four advanced features including signature features from Neff and Never Summer.
Under the guidance of new general manager Jim Spenst, visitors to Eldora Mountain Resort will see enhanced guest services starting with a new website. In 2009-10, Eldora.com has improved functionality including new features such as an interactive trail map and the ability for guests to post photos and videos. The online functions extend to the resort’s ski school department with the creation of a new online reservation system for ski school lessons.
Loveland‘s terrain park obtained new features from Planet Snow last season and there are plans to add more features for the 2009-10 season. Loveland’s snowmaking system was also upgraded this summer with more than $500,000 in improvements to ensure that Loveland is one of the first ski areas to open with plenty of snow for the 2009-10 season.
Monarch Mountain‘s rental department has invested over $55,000 in new equipment with the latest high-end skis from K2, Salomon and Volkl added to the demo fleet, plus snowboards from K2 and Burto. On the mountain, tree islands have been removed on the Mirage, Turbo, Snowburn, and Short & Sweet runs. The trees will be used in the K2 Organic Terrain Park to build more natural features. The Tilt terrain park for beginners has been more than doubled in size.
Copper Mountain recently opened Woodward at Copper, which is the first indoor and outdoor ski and snowboard camp in the world. The 20,000 square foot Woodward at Copper Barn gives campers access to Snowflex jumps, foam pits, a spring floor, trampolines and indoor skateboard features. Participants can practice tricks in The Barn and, then, head to the terrain parks and Superpipe when they are ready to try a trick for real.
Upon requests from expert and advanced skiers for more challenging terrain, Purgatory is expanding its expert terrain this season by more than 30%, opening new, steep, tree-skiing terrain accessible from its Legends lift. This expansion to the west of the previous ski area boundary will increase Purgatory’s skiable acreage by more than 10%. Purgatory’s terrain enhancement comes after years of steady growth at the resort. Most recently, the resort added a new $50 million base area anchored by Purgatory Lodge and, also, improved its snowmaking capabilities.
For 2009-10, Ski Cooper is offering specific season passes for military personnel and their families. They have also enhanced their rental fleet for this season and have a new ski school and pass program. Beginners can pay as they go for three lessons and upon completion of the third lesson they receive a season pass. Additionally for 2009-10, a new, enhanced website will allow guests to book cat-skiing and ski school reservations online and Ski Cooper is freezing prices on lift tickets, ski school and rentals, keeping them the same as last year.
For the 2009-10 winter season, Steamboat poured $2.5 million into expanding the Kids’ Vacation Center, enhanced its snowmaking system, and opened a new Ski & Snowboard School Ticket Office as well as a Patrol First Aid Base Facility. In addition, numerous private and public multi-million dollar revitalization projects are occurring in the mountain village including the new public promenade and day lighting of Burgess Creek.
Sunlight Mountain Resort has improved the online guest experience with the new Sunlightmtn.com website. Redesigned and launched this year, the site serves as a portal for the resort’s surplus of new seasonal offers, passes and promotions
Telluride is expanding terrain to offer more challenging, expert skiing by adding Gold Hill Chutes 2-5. This long-anticipated terrain comes on the heels of Gold Hill Chutes 6-10 opening in 2007-08, and Chute 1 opening in 2008-09. Chutes 2-5 offer wide-open, above treeline couloirs and chutes dropping 1,600 vertical feet. Other developments include two new restaurants, restaurant upgrades and new snowmaking, snow cats, and sun decks.
Winter Park is putting the finishing touches on the major expansion and redevelopment of The Village at Winter Park Resort. When the project is completed, it will total an estimated investment of $30 million dollars for on-mountain construction and feature 20,000 square feet of new retail, rental, restaurant and living space.
New for this season, Wolf Creek will open the $1.5 million Raven’s Nest day lodge, located mid-mountain on top of the Raven chairlift. This lodge will offer a food and beverage service as well as a warming area for Wolf Creek skiers and riders. Opening Raven’s Nest is the culmination of five consecutive years of resort improvements.
With all of these great investments and improvements, it is more than obvious why any skier or rider should consider Colorado right away when planning a ski or snowboard vacation. The resorts in this state are making every effort to continuously ameliorate their facilities to ensure complete customer satisfaction. Stagnation is not an option.
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