To Matt Janney, president and general manager, Mt. Bachelor:
Hey man, remember those good old Healy days of summer? Yeah, those days when the mountain would stay open for all us snow lovers almost as long as the snow lasted? Dude, you were there and loving it all too! What happened, man? What happened to all those sunny summer mornings cruising down the hill under a hot summer sun? What happened to Bill’s mountain, what happened to skiing thru July 4? What is up with May 18? That closing is so lame, man!
Hey Matt, this might sound crazy: With the tremendous dump of snow the mountain got this season, let’s all revive those great nostalgic days of past years and a hold a BIG summer season party to celebrate our great ski year, commemorate Bill Healy’s mountain, and let’s all enjoy some great summer snow riding.
Here is the plan: Only stay open only for the weekends and holidays, get some live bands and hold a ski and music festival combination. Create a celebratory, fun atmosphere, theme party, something, anything. Just don’t waste all that great snow that we all prayed for in November!
It is a supply and demand thing, man; nature supplied the snow, you supply the party and create a BIG demand for a unique and novel product of summer skiing. Promote your greatest attribute (super-long snow seasons) and outdoor fun on a great mountain!
But here is the deal, Matt: Keep it affordable to keep that demand thing going strong. Sell tickets for morning riding and afternoon music, and by staying “reasonably priced” you might be able to sell a bunch of your over-priced burgers and expensive brews!
Matt, I know we all are older and supposedly wiser, but we have sadly lost many of our youthful ideals. Back in Healy’s time the ideal of snow depth being more important than some corporate bottom line really was a novel idea, and so purely simple and justly worth finding again.
Duane Wyman, Sunriver
This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2008.
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Duane–
Bachelor cannot create demand–in spite of what you may have been led to believe, demand is consumer driven. I know that the ski area doesn’t have to respond–probably won’t respond–to your suggestions, but I wish they would.
I wish they would let us know how much has been invested in the lifts since the good old days. I wish they would tell us how much it costs to operate and maintain them-and the snow grooming fleet, too. What’s the payroll for minimal staffing? How much would it cost to put on the weekend shindig you suggest? How much to advertise it to try to ‘generate and maintain the demand’ so DW and his friends can get in their max turns for the season?
The amazing thing about a ski area is they are just so simple to operate. You wait for the snow. Turn on the lifts. Then count the money as it rolls in.
I am no fan of corporate skiing as exemplified by Powdr Corp. Big Business has destroyed the familial experience skiing once offered. Corporate profits are the bottom line–not the ski area development, the ski area staff, the ski area customers. I did finally go up for some end of season skiing this year for the first time–it was great, conditions were excellent, and I had a good time. It was expensive and the lifts ran slowly–well below design speed. At least they didn’t break down.
There are options for people who want to ski after the 18th–trek in and shredd til your heart’s full of back woods joy. Thirty years ago snowboarders weren’t allowed on ski areas and chair lifts. The sport’s pioneers hiked to get their turns.
It’s low cost–healthy–unsupervised–sounds like everything a skier would want.
SC: you,re right (I guess); reality sucks along with getter older and watching a mtn of great snow melt away!