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Although Blacktail had to put sever- al summer projects on hold, Wood said the area was “ramping up to start on time”—usually the second or third week in December. Demand Remains Strong Despite last season’s weather challenges, resorts report demand remains strong going into 2024-25.
“We changed the way we sell our season pass, but it’s on par for where we expected sales to be,” Wood said. “We have a very loyal base.” At Waterville Valley, Cobbett report- ed sales were down slightly in units, but up in revenue with another pass dead- line approaching. “We won’t really know where we end up until after that,” he said. At Greek Peak, marketing director
Jon Spaulding said advance pass sales were actually pacing ahead of the pre- vious year, “which isn’t usually the case after a low snowfall year.” “We can point to the investments and upgrades that we have made over the past few years to our snowmaking infrastructure and ability to cover more terrain, more often, as part of the reason for this,” he added. Hickok said season pass demand was strong at Mission Ridge, but he wor- ries about the rest of the market. “Com- ing off last year, passholders had a great time. We got open early and stayed open until the end of April. Our season pass demand is as high as ever. Our pass sales are on par. “WHAT WE’RE SEEING IN OUR SEASON PASS SALES IS PEOPLE COMING RIGHT BACK TO SKIING. THEY WANT TO SKI AS BADLY AS WE WANT THEM TO BE HERE.” “I wish everybody else had a good season,” he continued. “The bad snow year affected people’s mindset. I feel peo- ple tuned out on the season. I’m hoping with the long-term forecast favorable, it will grab a lot of people’s interest in get- ting out on the mountain.” Ditto at Nub’s Nob. “Demand is still strong,” Doornbos said. “Our skier visits number was not too bad. What we’re seeing in our season pass sales is people coming right back to skiing. They want to ski as badly as we want them to be here.” Asked if the occasional-skiing public lost interest after last winter’s weather challenges, Doornbos said, “I think it will be OK. I don’t think the skiing popula- tion is dropping out of the sport. They’re just driving farther north.” Hopefully, they won’t need to do that this winter. “Weather is cyclical,” Wood noted. “And all signs are pointing to a great winter. I feel it in my bones. The Farm- er’s Almanac is on our side. We’re feel- ing good and ready to hit the ground running. We’re all gearing up for a really great winter.”
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