![]() ![]() Heading into his busiest week of the season in March, he had cases of alcohol on tap and his team prepared 80,000 pounds of food for the pending deluge of spring break skiers. He was not happy when he learned the association had been in talks with the governor about closing all ski areas but never gave its members a heads up that a closure was possible. A couple months ago he left Colorado Ski Country, the trade group that represents now 22 of Colorado’s ski hills - basically, all of them except the five Vail Resorts areas. Pitcher, who runs Wolf Creek with his wife, Roseanne, has never really been a follower. “I think we have an advantage in that we don’t have all these pass products attached to the mountain to surprise the locals and surprise the day-use skier who is paying a premium,” Pitcher said. That has led to record traffic on big weekends as pass holders explore independent partner resorts like Aspen, Jackson Hole, Snowbird and Big Sky. ![]() The growth of Alterra Mountain Co.’s Ikon Pass as a rival to Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass has spurred dozens of independent ski areas to pick a side in partnerships that offer limited skiing to hundreds of thousands of pass holders. Wolf Creek ski area owner Davey Pitcher on the site of a new chairlift under construction at the southwest Colorado resort on July 2, 2018. The midrange pass will be more affordable and the weekday pass - with some blackout dates during spring break - will be cheaper than anything he sold last season. While he hasn’t set pricing just yet, Pitcher estimates that a premium pass will cost around $1,500, up from $780 last year. ”īuyers of the Wolf Creek premium pass must reserve their ski day 12 hours ahead of time to guarantee a spot. “It’s a year to try to hold on to your existing clientele, in my opinion. “This isn’t the year to increase skier visits,” Pitcher said. Pitcher hopes his capacity limit and reservation system will keep masses of Front Range skiers from traveling to his southern Colorado mountain when they can’t access the big, Interstate 70 hills that will be limiting numbers. Jared Polis shut down skiing at all Colorado resorts on March 14, the thinking was that closing only the big resorts would push skiers into more remote, smaller communities. A midtier pass that has some blackout days and a discount pass that pretty much limits access to weekdays. He’s offering a premium pass without any blackout days. MORE: Want to ski at a Vail Resorts mountain during coronavirus? You’ll need a reservation. Unlike Vail Resorts, which last week announced a reservation system that requires pass holders to book high-season ski days well in advance, Pitcher is adjusting his pricing. Later this month he will release his season passes, carefully designed to help control traffic at Wolf Creek. On very busy days over the Christmas holiday, he can see 5,500 skiers. The parking lot pretty much limits his busiest-ever days to 6,300, a peak he has seen fewer than a dozen times in the 43 years his family has run Wolf Creek. Pitcher last week submitted an operating plan to his local public health department proposing a self-imposed cap of 5,000 skiers a day at the 1,600-acre ski area. “It’s encouraging they were willing to modify their behavior this winter,” Pitcher said.Īnd a majority said they would use a reservation system.
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