Just before I moved to Colorado back in 2011, I remember reading a line written about Copper Mountain that went something like this:

“Located in the most competitive ski market in the United States, and likely the world…”

You could make arguments for a few markets these days, but the fact is that the I-70 stretch through Colorado is a fascinating hub of Epic, Icon, and indie that results is a massive share of our industry’s annual skier visits.

Yet despite all that choice, skiers sometimes have funny habits.

Breck, Vail, etc.

I remember having a conversation with a friend who came out to visit and ski when we lived in Edwards, CO. I was telling him about all the great mountains we could check out, but he was dead set on Vail. Interestingly, I did eventually convince him to ski at one other resort and it was that mountain, not Vail, that was the highlight of his trip.

Skiers know these resorts exist, but sometimes you’ve just gotta experience it yourself to figure it out. And that’s exactly what Arapahoe Basin did with the help of Gus Kenworthy and a branded bus to get skiers from here to there.

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A post shared by Arapahoe Basin Ski Area (@arapahoe_basin)

Together with Olympic Medalist, Gus Kenworthy, we showed up at the Dino lots on a busy Saturday and found folks planning to visit other mountains and gave them a choice – continue with your plan, or join us for a legendary adventure. #AbasinAmbush #Legendaryforareason #Abasin pic.twitter.com/ppfkVaSYPe

— Arapahoe Basin (@Arapahoe_Basin) March 23, 2023

Now of course, A-Basin could never scale this project to give everyone a taste of their experience, but the next best thing would be giving skiers a little vicarious experience through the eyes of people that are very similar to themselves.

So using a popular park-and-ride lot used by Summit County skiers as the setting? Brilliant.

Subtle

We’ve seen more direct messages to Summit County skiers in the past, but I love that the subtle confidence of this campaign.

They didn’t throw any one resort under the bus, they just gave people a chance to try something new to remind them – and everyone they’d show this edit to – that there are options.

Really clever idea from the team at The Legend.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.