Ski Sundown owner Bob Switzgable covets this cold, snowy time of year.
Even more so, Switzgable says, since an economic mogul has driven many southern New England skiers into Connecticut for their winter recreation.
While overall revenues fell 9.2 percent last winter at the nation’s largest ski resorts, smaller midsized slopes, such as Switzgable’s in New Hartford and Mohawk Mountain in Cornwall, fared much better, falling only 2.7 percent, according to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), a trade group representing 326 alpine resorts.
“People are staying closer to home,’’ Switzgable said. “They’re not going north or somewhere else to ski for a week. We’ve been the beneficiary of that.”
Attracting skiers looking to play closer to home isn’t the only factor boosting the bottom line of Ski Sundown and other Northeast ski resorts.
“Cost containment was critical to improving profitability in the [Northeast],” according to NSAA’s recent economic analysis of the 2008-09 ski season. “In particular, the Northeast region was impressive by increasing operating profit despite a decline in gross revenue.”
Gross operating profit was up in the Northeast by 1.6 percent, to $3.6 million per ski area. That’s in sharp contrast to the double-digit declines of operating profits reported by resorts in the Midwest, Rocky Mountains and Pacific West.
This season, ski operators are hoping that Mother Nature will help them out. The entire alpine sporting industry suffers when it doesn’t snow, said Switzgable, noting there is a three-month window where Mother Nature, skiers and snowboarders, and 130 of his top snow-making machines must align to bring him steady revenue.
“Even if there’s no snow in their backyards, people have come to expect snow the very next day on our slopes regardless of warm weather or rain,” he said.
Although Switzgable says “snow trumps the economy always in this business,” he sees excitement for snow sports swell every four years around the winter Olympics.
The 2010 Winter Olympics — launched in Vancouver, Canada over the weekend — will help promote snowboarding and skiing by serving as a free advertisement for winter sports.
“Beginners who might not try the sport see it on TV and they come here,’’ said Switzgable. “We’re a teaching mountain, so that helps us with a small increase in our business.’’
Attracting New Skiers, Snowboarders
The closing of several Connecticut ski slopes, including Mt. Tom and Middlefield’s Powder Ridge — there are five ski areas in the state, according to NSAA.
“There may be an initial increase in getting some more skiers to our mountain, but overall in the long term, less ski resorts in the state means you’re bringing less people into the sport,” he said.
At Mohawk Mountain, the number of skiers has remained stable during the recession.
Carol Lugar, president of Mohawk Mountain and a second-generation family business owner, is seeing multi-generation ski families hit Mohawk’s slopes.
“If anything, it’s steadily getting busier year by year. We do very little advertising,” she said.
One secret to Mohawk’s longevity, Lugar said, is its ingenuity during snowless winters, including making snow.
“My father experimented with crushed ice around 1949, then air-water snow guns. He’s in the National Ski Hall of Fame,” she said.
Not being born into the ski business, Switzgable turned entrepreneur after living the life of a ski bum for 20 years. Before convincing Ski Sundown’s previous owner to let him take over in 2002, he operated its ski lifts, made snow, and worked in the cafeteria and ski store.
He “instantly fell in love with the place” and quickly learned that two vital requirements for operating the resort are having the best snow machines that money can buy and being able to swiftly increase his staff size from 12 to 500 during peak season.
“The ski industry is different than a lot of businesses and that’s what I love about it,” he said. “While there’s Mohawk (Mountain) and we do share some skiers and are always looking for a bigger piece of the pie, it’s just as important that other ski areas are as successful as we are. If I have a lift problem for example, I know I can get a part from Mohawk. We’re all here to help each other. It’s a great position to be in.”
“After 25 years here, it’s the best,” he said. “I’m seeing people who worked here, skiied here, and now they’re back with their kids or grandkids.” g
Joanna Smiley, a freelance writer from Collinsville, will periodically serve as a guest columnist for the Hartford Business Journal.
