The company’s five resorts here are seeing mellow traffic despite well-above-average snowpacks
Alterra Mountain Co
Posted inOpinion Columns
Opinion: Is the Mountain Collab serious about climate change?
It sounds good on the surface, but is short on detail and feels more like public relations than meaningful policy.
Posted inOpinion Columns
Opinion: Climate change is the most critical business issue ski resorts face
Our 4 resort companies will speak with one voice to reduce climate and environmental degradation.
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Q&A: Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory steps back and reflects on next generation of ski resort bosses
The U.S. ski industry was forged by soldiers. We all know the story about 10th Mountain vets returning from war with visions of ski runs and chairlifts that would spark dozens of American resorts. Innovators who worked every job at the ski area took the reins from those soldiers, creating even more lifts, better grooming […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Record number of skier days at American resorts this year despite so-so snowfall
For decades, traffic to American ski resorts has relied on one thing: Snow. Big snowfall meant big business. But the busiest season ever in American skiing — 2021-22, with an all-time high of 61 million skier days — was not a remarkable snow year. The previous high points for national skier visits were set in […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors, Outsider
Colorado’s independent ski areas are thriving in the shadow of dueling, consolidating resort giants
In the shadow of battling behemoths, smaller, independent ski areas are thriving. “It’s not just that the big areas are crowded and skiers want to escape crowds,” said Bob Nicolls, the owner of Monarch ski area, which saw record visitation in 2021-22, with income for the ski area climbing 20% above the previous season. “I […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors, Outsider
Epic crowds are colliding with epic labor shortages at ski areas
Alex Kaufman thought it would be an amusing website. Something to poke fun at the largest resort operator in North America. So he bought epicliftlines.com for $12 last March, just as Vail Resorts announced a plan to slash the price of its popular Epic Pass by 20%. “I thought ‘Oh, this could become a thing. […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors, Outsider
Busier-than-ever year for Grand Junction chairlift maker reveals strength of nation’s resort industry
GRAND JUNCTION — The welders are happy to show their boss the final piece of what’s been a two-year project. The massive steel structure is ready for shipping to finish off the multi-year construction of one of the largest gondolas in the country, stretching between two resort villages at California’s Palisades Tahoe ski area. “Check […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors, Outsider
Snow may not be piling up at Colorado ski resorts this season, but anxiety sure is
It wasn’t that long ago that ski resort operators lost sleep over snowfall. Then they had to fret over once-in-a-lifetime protocols to limit the spread of contagion at their ski areas. Now, the worries are stacked even deeper, with affordable housing, dwindling numbers of workers and ever-lengthening lift lines joining the perennial fretting over snow […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors, Outsider
Colorado ski resorts are in an uphill battle for workers amid the historic labor shortage
As the first snow of the season covers the high country, Colorado’s ski resorts are starting their search for thousands of workers in what many say is an unprecedented labor crisis. Housing continues to be the albatross for ski resort employers. It was a challenge before the pandemic. “But now it’s gone from ‘very difficult’ […]