Inspiration
Four creative opening day countdowns from Alta, Vail, Ikon, and Angel Fire.
BLANCHARD
Nothing fancy today, just a simple collection of design inspiration as resorts start to approach smaller, round numbers as the march to opening day continues.
Countdowns are a fun way to keep building the stoke as winter approaches. And every year there are a handful of creative ways that resorts combine countdown graphics with their usual imagery or dips into the asset library to build the stoke, but this year I noticed a few that applied just a little bit more depth to the mix.
Let’s count ’em off.
1. Alta’s Natural Numbers
What do you do when you’re famous for powder and there are 88 days until your 88th season? Find some lovely powder 8s in your b-roll, of course. Well, I probably wouldn’t thought of that, but Alta did. Nice work, Alta team.
2. Ikon’s Animations
The majority of countdown graphics I see are static images, so the first thing I love is that they turned this into an animation. The combination of counting up first to mark their countdown moment was clever. The fall weather showing behind until they reached opening day and that image turned to winter was a nice touch too.
3. Vail’s Photo / Number Concept
I really like what the Vail team has done with this year’s countdown. They’re taking classic images of the mountain, overlaying a large countdown graphic, and then (often) hiding one little portion of the number to integrate it smoothly into the image in a fun, eye-catching way. They aren’t doing this for every day, but it’s been a nice addition to their usual content lineup without having to put too much work into any one specific post.
4. Angel Fire’s Carousel
Angel Fire took a very similar approach in terms of design concept but instead of creating just one image for their 100 day mark, they created 10 featuring a variety of views, people, and moments from around the resort that represent all the things their audience is likely looking forward to. Instead of doing this for multiple days, they put a bit more work into making their 100 day mark something that’d get a little extra attention.
Is your team doing something clever with countdowns this year? Let me know.
—
Update: Sep 25
I’ve heard of or seen a few more since I published this…
Mammoth, with a clever collage / number combination.
Sipapu, with a similar style to Vail’s overlap graphic.
Purgatory, with a nice season transition concept behind their number.
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.
Get the weekly digest.
New stories, ideas, and jobs delivered to your inbox every Friday morning.