There’s a road climb I used to ride every week back in Utah that was one of my favorites. Partly because I know how to pace myself to perfect, but partly because it was popular and I always could find someone to chase down or ride with. One day, I found myself starting the climb with a group of riders decked out in some serious cycling gear.

We took turns pulling until about 2 miles from the top when I looked back, saw the pain in their faces as they started to slow, and which point I dropped them like a bag of moldy tangerines. This rarely happens, so I have to gloat while I can, but right when these riders couldn’t do a thing about it, I accelerated.

Crystal Drops the Pack
That’s the vibe I get from a push I’m seeing from the marketing crew at Crystal Mountain. Resorts in the East started closing in quick succession in March while April 15th seemed to be the magic number in the West for stopping the lifts. Then, out of the blue, I start seeing banner ads, promos, and even a Groupon for Cyrstal mountain.

Very few resorts can answer this acceleration because, if they haven’t closed already, Crystal is counting on them closing long before they do with their “longest ski season in the state” claim. The Groupon offer – a $55 pass for $27 – sold more than 1,000 lift tickets and is good anytime, even weekends, from April 20, 2012 – May 28, 2012.

Their Spring pass offer gives skiers unlimited skiing from April 1, 2012 until May 28, 2012 (or longer if the season is extended). I’m seeing banner ads pop up all over the web for this offer.

It’s a clever move to count on many skiers wanting to continue their season despite the warming weather and money they might have already spent on a pass at another mountain.

It doesn’t take long for me to start missing the snow and begin wishing my resort resort was still open. A pass that’s good until the end of May for $99 is attractive, timely, and likely to turn a few heads and coax a few credit cards out of skiers’ wallets.

Only Time?
As I brainstorm other times of year this could happen, I can’t help but think this may be one of the only ones. Early season you could try, but it usually only requires a wait of 2-3 weeks (rather than 6-7 months in the summer) before other mountains start to open.

Perhaps something like a “Fall Buffer” pass could work, if you open early, that would allow skiers with passes to other mountains to ski on the cheap until their mountain opens. However, when the only other option is to wait 6 months for winter to come again, Crystal’s push becomes a clever little move.

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.