Ski season ends on high note

The sun was shining, the snow was soft and the slopes at Whitefish Mountain Resort were buzzing Sunday with happy skiers and boarders. Many wore goofy costumes or retro ski outfits to celebrate the occasion, while others wore almost nothing at all. By all accounts, closing day at Big Mountain was a near perfect ending to another great ski season.

The snow report’s final tally showed a settled base of 118 inches at the summit and 303 inches of total snowfall for the season — just a smidgen above average and a remarkable feat considering the dismal start to winter.

A few inches of powder still blanketed the shady aspects of East Rim and by Chair 7, while corn snow was fully formed on the front side. Sunday was a shredders paradise.

Local skiers weren’t the only ones satisfied with the above average season. Resort management is more than pleased with skier traffic and their overall financial outlook.

December was slow for sure, resort marketing director Nick Polumbus said, but traffic picked up in January as snow started to accumulate. Christmas Day there was only 31 inches of snow at the summit and 30 trails open. By mid January, the mountain was 100 percent open.

“Skier traffic has been great since January,” Polumbus said. “December was difficult for obvious reasons.”

The resort’s four-year average for paid skier visits is about 127,000. If a normal December was factored into the equation, Polumbus said, they’d be in the 134,000 range this year. The record year for skier visits was in 2007-08 when the resort tallied 136,000 visits.

Management is aiming to raise the four-year average of paid skier visits to the 135,000 range.

“We have always believed that if we are going to get this resort to the point where it is financially viable, need to get up to 135,000,” resort chief executive officer Dan Graves said. “Then we’ll reset from there and try to go higher.”

Season pass sales were up this season, too. 6,800 passes were sold, compared to 5,200 in 2006-07.

“We’re thrilled with that,” Graves said. “Locals are seeing value in the skiing experience. Both segments of the market place are growing.”

In fact, the resort has weathered the nation’s economic downturn relatively unscathed, if not fiscally stronger — all with a stagnant real estate market. Their focus has been wholly on resort operations.

“Real estate has been very flat since 2007,” Graves said, “and in many ways that’s just fine. We’ve re-engineered the business model to focus on resort operations and any real estate sold would have been icing on the cake.”

With the fiscal year set to close at the end of April, Graves is glad to report a record year. But what makes him giddy is that the resort’s debt has been reduced from $11 million in 2007 to $1.7 million today.

“We’ve basically slayed that tiger,” Graves said. “We are no longer a slave to debt. We are in the driver’s seat. It feels so good to know we have the money to make choices.”

While the goal was to eliminate debt totally by next spring, borrowing rates are so low now, Graves said, it might behoove the resort to use a little debt to finance improvements. Without offering many details, Graves said there are some exciting skiing-related projects on the horizon.

“We are confident now that we’ve got a business mode that will continue to pay down debt, but also provides a pool of funds for expansion projects and reinvestment back into the resort.”

The summer product has played a big role in reducing debt, and the resort plans to keep expanding their offerings. This summer will bring a seventh zip line, two new mountain bike trails and a few more attractions for younger visitors, including a ropes course.

“In the industry traditionally, summer is the time money flies out the door,” Graves said. “Any mitigation is an improvement.”

Graves reflected on last summer when a ground slump forced the resort to close Chair 1 for the entire summer season.

“You can’t prepare for something like that,” he said. “You don’t work in this business without having scars. This type of stuff happens often enough where you get used to it. But you have to have a mentality of being able to maneuver and think outside of the box and respond. If it’s not weather, it’s something else.

“We’re coming off two major events that could have really been a serious stumble. Chair 1 going down in the summer and a lack of snow in December. But we’re going to end up with a record year financially.

“This is good for everybody. It enables us to be free to improve the resort, it keeps people employed and keeps infrastructure maintained.”

The resort opens for the summer season June 16.