BY JOSH LASKIN Bigger and Bolder
Why so many ski areas are adding to their footprint, and the logistics behind these terrain expansions.
A major driver for this uptick in ski area terrain additions is obvious: the need to increase capacity to meet the demand for winter sports—U.S. skier visits have exceeded 60 million for an unprecedent- ed three consecutive winters. “We believe the number of skier visits in the country is limited by the available capacity,” says Pete Williams, director of mountain planning for SE Group, which works with ski areas on permitting, planning, and design. “The theory is, if you doubled the capacity, you would see twice the number of skier vis- its we’re seeing today. I don’t think we’ve heard of anyone who’s done an expan- sion who didn’t see a visit increase.” A terrain expansion can benefit a ski area in a variety of ways. It can fur- ther diversify terrain, attracting differ- ent skier demographics by adding more beginner, advanced, or intermediate trails. It can motivate destination skiers to extend their stay, which can increase ticket sales on non-peak days. Or, for some ski areas, it can turn a local’s hill into one worth traveling for. “Virtually all ski areas sell out on their peak days,” says Williams. “So, if you can figure out ways to bring people in midweek, that’s the holy grail of every- thing. You’re not only trying to increase your overall capacity [by expanding]; you’re trying to make your mountain more interesting.” Smith says Waterville Valley needed to expand to stay relevant. As surround-
ing resorts grew, Waterville became a smaller resort by comparison. With a planned addition of 140 acres of terrain, new spaces for events and dining, and a two-stage gondola that will connect the resort’s Town Square to Green Peak’s base and summit, he anticipates that the resort will become a travel destination. PLAN AHEAD Ski area operators who have undergone even small expansions stress that it’s a herculean undertaking. Construction is often planned in multi-year phases, and it can take five years before a shovel even hits the ground—which is important to understand when considering such a project. Financing the expansion. Figuring out how to pay for the project (often multi-millions of dollars) is the first and most obvious task. Waterville Valley was able to secure a small loan of around a million dollars to get projects like lift relocation, engineering work, and trail cutting started while working to secure a federally backed Small Business Admin- istration (SBA) loan. Securing a loan can be challenging when there aren’t physi- cal assets that the bank can repossess in the event of default. Regardless of the funding source for an expansion project—some may lean on creditors, like a real estate investment trust, while others might have a capital reserve they can use for a loan downpay- ment—preparation is key.
Ski area terrain expansions large and small appear to be on an uptick in re- cent years, from Deer Valley’s mas- sive planned 3,700-acre addition (see “Skiing Double,” p. 77) to smaller but impactful expansions at mom-and- pop mountains, like Wisconsin’s Troll- haugen—and they’re getting the at- tention of the skiing and riding public. “If I say, ‘I’m going to make more snow,’ people will say ‘yeah, whatever,’” says Waterville Valley GM Tim Smith, who is overseeing a phased master plan at the New Hampshire resort that start- ed with the 2017 debut of a new lift and 10 new trails on a second summit called Green Peak. “Expanding by 45 acres was that thing you could yell from the roof- top and people would pay attention.” Of course, terrain expansions aren’t always just about the marketing oppor- tunities (though that’s certainly a bene- fit, says Smith).
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