We talk to Colorado Sun journalist, Jason Blevins, about this ski season & his predictions for next year’s, then we’re joined by Chris Davenport to talk about the 30th anniversary of the US Extreme Championships in Mt. Crested Butte; the Winter Olympics in Beijing; and more.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- Blevins in Mt. CB (2:33)
- Starting the Colorado Sun (4:08)
- Jason’s background (11:13)
- Assessing this season (20:37)
- Affordable housing in mtn towns (26:17)
- Return of a reservations system? (31:40)
- Dav jumps in / history of the Extreme comps (39:26)
- Ski passes as NFTS (46:35)
- State of backcountry skiing (57:21)
- Winter Olympics recap (1:04:17)
- What We’re Reading & Watching (1:23:28)
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If you want a real world example of what Jason is saying about the future of passes, check out Thredbo, Australia’s offering for 2022 season. Thredbo is independent and the main competitor for Perisher, which is on Epic. Thredbo worked out that trying to compete with Perisher on price (which they did for a number of year, pre Covid) was a spiral to the bottom. The new passes are roughly double the cost of an Epic pass, with slightly cheaper options if you accept blackout days during school holidays, weekends etc. The new passes include a fantastic sports center with 50m pool, gymnasium, weight, climbing wall etc. , which Perisher can’t offer. What I’ve noticed personally over the last couple of seasons is two things. Many Thredbo pass holders, simply got pissed off and bought Epic passes instead, though I know some wealthy people who just bought passes for both resorts because of the recent uncertainty, meanwhile, Thredbo has lifted its game in customer service, and while I anecdotally heard complaints from Perisher skiers about queues and lack of terrain opening, queues in Thredbo were rare, and the vibe was very good. Obviously the last two seasons were anything but normal, so stay tuned! For the record, I have no connection to Thredbo resort, but did choose their pass over an Epic pass.
Good discussion as always. Really enjoyed this episode. I don’t think the restaurant reservation analogy is an apt comparison to ski reservations because the experience at a restaurant isn’t conditions/weather dependent. The menu/food is the same no matter what day you go so there’s no downside to reserving a week in advance. Part of the fun IMO (or torture if you take it too far) of skiing is trying to nail good conditions. For the storm-chasing passholder crowd, a reservation system potentially eliminates the ability to make the early AM call and score. Disclaimer: I didn’t have a pass during the reservation period so do not have direct experience with how early one has to book to ski on a potential pow day. Personally the frenzied atmosphere pushed me away from resort powder days years ago, and I’d rather ski an uncrowded 4″ day than a crowded 12″ day. Al recently had a blog post about how they are managing this at A-basin. We’ll see what happens next season, but thus far their commitment to providing a good experience for their customers instead of selling the maximum number of passes seems to be earning them a lot of love.
I get there point re those behind Shiffrin but Gut, Goggia and Suter shine in speed. Shifferin’s reign is driven by the technical events then grown into some success in speed. I think its the slalom and GS racers who were ready but maybe aren’t the long term names. Combined is the wildcard
Loved this episode. Definitely a top 5 for me and I’ve listened to a lot of them! Thanks guys!