If you’re read SlopeFillers for a while, you’ve probably seen me talk a few times about not just the ROI of some marketing-related thing, but the opportunity cost. Could that “investment” (even if it’s time or hustle) earn even bigger rewards if sliced and diced differently?

Usually this in the context of content marketing, but it’s also why I’ve balked at huge terrain parks (at least for most resorts).

The concept of the parks is awesome, but my question was whether the snow used for a single, massive jump line could create more value if it had been blown and shaped and designed based on what the other 99.9% of skiers on the mountain could enjoy.

One Other Thing
So smaller parks? Man, I dig those. And not just as a concept. I honestly enjoy sneaking a couple runs through them from time-to-time and pretending I didn’t completely miss the whole rail-sliding movement. Nordic Valley even groomed out some gentle rollers and banks last year and my kids begged to take that run virtually every night we visited the mountain.

And I say “night” for a very important reason: that’s when we ski 9/10 times.

You see, I have this pesky thing called a job. And my kids have this pesky thing called school. I shift my work day to be more aligned with my fellow Inntopians on ET, but even still the soonest we can make it to the mountain as a family is 4pm.

And what time does virtually every resort close at?

Ironic, no?

Makin’ Magic
Combine these two things – a) small parks and b) things being open when people are actually able to come – and what do you get?

This, which is pulled from Magic’s recent Alpine Update in response to their decision to move the terrain park’s handle tow to the beginner area:

“Okay, Geoff, but you just lost a fun little terrain park. Well, one of the things we wanted to do was expand our little terrain park and have it, like our beginner area, in a more protected, less trafficked spot. Our answer: move it right into the snow tubing park which already has a handle tow lift. While it is tough financially to see the tubing park discontinued, our mission is to create a better ski and ride experience at Magic first and foremost. The old tubing park is perfect as it is set off away from the main trail, is viewable from the base lodge, and…has lights! The new terrain park will have more room for more lanes, features and moderate level jumps. The handle tow makes lapping it quick and easy. And, the existing lights allow Magic to be the only park in the area skiing into darkness. Kids from other resorts can be somewhere else all day and hit us up after their lifts close from 4p-7p. Plus we can do a bunch of evening rail jam comps. I don’t know about you, but this is all going to be fun to watch from the BLT deck and lodge.”

Financially, I don’t know how it will pencil out because, yeah, tubing can be a big moneymaker. But I love the idea of creating a small, low-investment park that can be open when kids (and adults) are out of school (or work).

If our market is evolving (spoiler, it is) then our product must as well. This is a great example of the stuff I think we need to start trying.

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.