Editor’s note: The following is a look back at trends gleaned from news sources throughout the West in 2013, written by Allen Best. Think of it as a retrospective “Mountain Exchange” by the numbers. Enjoy!
42 percent living on fire’s edge
That’s how many homes in Vail that are at high risk of wildfire, according to a new map created by fire chief Mark Miller. Vail has never had a big fire in its 50-year existence, nor were there any before in recorded history. But Miller points out that even the best mitigation cannot totally eliminate risk for homes located in what is called the wildland-urban interface, and forests will eventually burn.
With a warming climate and aging forests, that’s a reality that almost all mountain towns are being forced to reckon with.
In Breckenridge, the worry is that a hot fire will sterilize the soil, creating erosion that mucks up municipal reservoirs. The plan calls for creation of check-dams, to contain the erosion.
In Park City, local fire, water and other districts got to work this year on a community plan to address the risk of wildfires.
In the Ketchum-Sun Valley area, the threat of wildfire ceased being theoretical in 2007. That year, fire burned several homes on the edge of Ketchum. In August, another major fire blew up, threatening Hailey, site of the courthouse for Blaine County. Just one house was lost in a rural subdivision, but there are now calls for more measures to mitigate risk.
Fighting such fires is very expensive, and the federal government mostly picks up the tab.
In Jackson Hole recently, the Forest Service issued a bill to a man who let a trash fire spread, leading to a major fire that had hundreds if not thousands of residents of Jackson packing their bags in case of evacuation.
Mountain friends with benefits: $689
That was the price of the Epic Pass, the powerful come-on by Vail Resorts if purchased by Sept. 1. It provides unlimited season passes at 12 U.S. ski areas plus privileges in the Alps, all of what used to be the price of a season pass at just one of the resorts.
It’s been a powerful business device that has upended the ski industry, particularly in the destination resorts of the West.
The idea of discounted ski passes actually originated at a ski area near Duluth, Minn., in the 1980s, was copied in the Tahoe area and then by Idaho’s Bogus Basin before spreading to Colorado. Vail Resorts just upped the ante.
Other ski areas have been forced to respond with what might be called friends-with-benefits packages. Prominent is the Rocky Mountain Collective, which costs $399 and provides two days each at Aspen/Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Whistler-Blackcomb, Mammoth, Alta and Snowbird, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.
Even isolated resorts, such as Sun Valley, have been forced to lower their season pass prices.
Yes, it still costs plenty to ski if you buy a single-day ticket. Between Christmas and New Year’s, the price was $139 at Vail and Beaver Creek. At Aspen, it and Snowmass, it was $124. At Deer Valley, it was $114.
Both sides benefit in this deal. Consumers willing to commit in advance of ski season get skiing cheaper than it’s ever been. Ski area operators get assurances of income even if the snow doesn’t fall and don’t have to wait until winter to get that paycheck.
Non-cheap talk: $3,000
That’s the cost for a full pass to the Aspen Ideas Festival, the annual talkfest held just before the Fourth of July, drawing big-brained folks from Washington, New York and other orbs of the universe to talk about the big issues of the day in the pleasing surroundings of Aspen.
Such talking has always been part of Aspen’s schedule, but now the yakking goes on nearly year round. This is just the biggest talkfest.
Other resorts also chew the fat about big issues of the day. This year, Sun Valley hosted the Dent the Universe conference, while a TED talk session fled southern California for Whistler. Vail hosted the second annual Global Energy Forum, a partnership with Stanford University. Ski towns aren’t all about sweat and thrills.
Splashier summers: 18 percent
That’s the increase in sales tax collections last summer in Mt. Crested Butte. Located 2 miles from the old mining town of the similar name, it was built in the 1960s expressly as a ski town. But like most ski towns, the growth in summer business has been fast outpacing the gains of winter.
Why is this? Perhaps the increasing heat of summer in cities, a trend likely to continue, according to climate change projections.
On-mountain gain: 100 percent
That’s how much additional business Vail Resorts has estimated it can gain in sale of summer passes for activities on its ski mountain at Breckenridge. Congress in 2011 adopted a new law that expanded the uses permissible under special-use permits issued ski area operators on national forest lands. The old law somewhat vaguely limited use of those national forest lands to snow-related activities.
The new law somewhat fuzzily expands uses into summer. Outright carnival rides? No. Water parks? No. But where exactly is that line?
Vail Mountain, followed by Breckenridge, is the test case, but all the ski areas in the United States operating on national forest are paying close attention, many with plans of their own.
Ski growth lagging: 20 vs. 37 percent
Growth in skier days in the United States from 1980 - 2011 was 20 percent, but overall population growth was 37 percent. In other words, growth in the skier business trailed general population growth. But growth of minorities has been even more rapid, and except for Asian-Americas, with high education and income levels, skiing has not attracted strong participation by racial minorities.
It could be worse for the ski industry. Baby boomers remained on the lifts in much larger numbers than their parents, thanks to innovations in skis, improved grooming and medical technology.
Baby boom bulge: 23 percent
A few years ago, Crested Butte’s winter marketing campaign poked fun of the “retirement villages” along I-70. In fact, most ski towns have a decidedly older tilt to them. For example, in Aspen and Pitkin County, people 60 or older now make up 23 percent of the population.
The gains are most eye-opening when expressed in percentage increases. In Vail and Eagle County, the population of the 65+ demographic grew 134 percent during the first decade of this millennium. That demographic is projected to grow another 165 percent this decade.
In Canada as a whole, probably including its resort towns, the influence of the baby boomers is even more dramatic.
The implications are varied and profound. Demands for improved medical care are one aspect. In the last decade, new hospitals have opened in both Summit County, Colo., and Summit County, Utah.
Plans are afoot in many ski towns for new or expanded continuing care facilities.
Perhaps the most novel twist is in Aspen, which has the largest affordable-housing program of any ski community. People in the local workforce have been allowed to retire into deed-restricted affordable housing. Covenants restricted anybody in affordable housing from sub-renting. But the exception has been made to allow the retirees to escape winter and maybe check out a new site for relocation.
Longevity: 81.65 years
The University of Washington this year issued a study about longevity and public health in the United States. The counties in which ski towns are located popped out from most of the top-10 lists. Leading the list among mountain counties was Gunnison (Crested Butte), which was No. 2 in the nation for longevity for men, at 81.65 years.
– Allen Best
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