Even in recent years, there’s an annual round of speculation that circulates through the social circles of casual or weekend skiers when they see a resort that has enough snow to be open but isn’t spinning he lifts.

“The forest service won’t let them.”

“It’s all an insurance thing, man, they literally can’t change.”

“People stop skiing, they won’t make any money.”

“There’s wildlife management issues they have to account for.”

And while, in some cases, certain rumors that swirl may actually be correct, I appreciate that more resorts are starting to just say why they’re not extended or why they’re closing or whatever and controlling the conversation a bit more than they have in the past.

Three Examples

For example, Hiram at Bridger Bowl explained why and made it clear this was a decision that involved many voices from the resort to make sure they got it right.

We are looking forward to a great closing weekend! Last day is Sunday, April 9. Please read the following from our GM, Hiram. pic.twitter.com/hykApOKLRr

— Bridger Bowl (@BridgerBowl) April 3, 2023

Nordic Valley’s lift broke down. They wanted to extend and had been hinting at it, so they just explained the situation.

On a slightly different note, I appreciate that Little Switz didn’t just say, “we regret that the bike will no longer be open,” they added some detail around their insurance company no longer covering it and all the option they explored preventing the park from actually making money.

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A post shared by Little Switzerland (@littleswitz)

Trend? Or not?

There have certainly been exactly of details being shared around closures in the past and most of these rumors were mostly innocuous, but we’re in an era of transparency that most industry’s, including ours, are still getting used to.

I feel like these are likely part of one more collective step in that direction.

Either way, I appreciate these examples of trying to get ahead of rumors, taking control of the conversation, and adding a little bit more transparency to this annual conversation.

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.