Andrew’s 2023-24 Season in Review
A few weeks ago our board of directors held their Annual Business Meeting (which can be viewed here). Here is my annual General Manager’s report on the past year:
2023-2024 Season in Review
We had a great fall last year preparing for the season, including our staff orientation before Thanksgiving and the Winter Kick-Off Party in early December. But, after a frustrating cycle of snow-rain-warm temps in December, the mountain finally opened for the winter season on Thursday, January 11. The loss of our holiday season amounted to 26 lost days of operation during the most critical period for our revenues- that’s 29% of our season. When we did open, we had 34” on the lower stake and had a very busy first day with 2,548 visitors. Opening day did bring some challenges when the hydraulic tension system on the Windsor chairlift failed the night before opening. After only 25” of snow falling in December and no snow on the ground on December 31, we only received an additional 25” in January and ended January with only a 34” base on the lower mountain.
In total, we were open for 60 days and 20 nights, and we opened for night skiing on Saturdays in January and February for the first time in many years. Total skier visits were 95,944, only 5% below the 5-year average despite losing the entire holiday period. The busiest day of the winter was February 17, which was Bavarian Night, with 2,744 day and 2,468 night visits. We were closed 2 days for wind, compared to 4 days last winter; Ariel did not operate on 5 additional days, compared to 5 in 18/19 and 22/23 and 6 in 16/17.
The total snowfall for the year was 215”. The first snow fell on October 25 with just 2”. It snowed an additional 37” through the end of November but melted during warm cycles. The largest snowfalls were on January 10 and March 2 with 11” on each day. The largest storm cycle was February 29- March 4, during which 34” of snow fell.
Guest response to grooming was very high, a result of new equipment and improved staff training. Our mountain operations team placed a greater emphasis on quality grooming on a variety of terrain, including adding Pistol and Bottom into the schedule more frequently.
Ski Patrol performed well this season, even when operations were hectic. However, patrol continued to see increased violation of avalanche closures and infractions of the uphill policy and reported increased guest behavior issues. This is unfortunately an industry-wide phenomenon, but exacerbated for us given our expert terrain and very small footprint.
We did launch a new shuttle service late in the season, thanks to a grant from Travel Oregon. It was not heavily utilized, possibly due to the late launch, but it will be available at the start of the upcoming season. Our shuttles appear to have a high demand but low usage, so this season we will be evaluating the viability of operating this internally.
Lift Operations and Maintenance did an excellent job. This team continues to gain experience and work through challenges with rime ice, drifting snow, and high winds, all with older infrastructure. Winds exceeding 100 mph were recorded in storms this season. Total downtime was minimal, with Sonnet closed 1 day, Comer 1 day, and Windsor 1 day for repairs. The entire ski area was closed 1 day due to a Pacific Power outage, and also forced to close early the day prior when we lost power in the middle of operations. All chairlift passengers were unloaded within 15 minutes during that power outage.
We hosted 1,177 school children and provided them with 4,708 lessons and we awarded 187 youth scholarships.
We closed for the winter on Sunday, April 14, which was our initially scheduled closing date, The last day was determined as attendance began to drop and expenses exceeded revenues consistently.
The total regional economic impact of Mt. Asland for the past year is $7.3 million, which includes hotel stays, restaurant visits, and purchases.
Our guest survey feedback for the winter was very positive, rating all categories as Good, Great, or Excellent. The top-rated items were safety and overall experience, and Chairlifts, Terrain Parks, Food, and Lessons were rated lowest as Good.
The new Recreation & Events department resurrected former events, including the Rail Jam, Winter Kick-Off Party, and Pond Skim, for our winter season.
A primary focus over the past year has been the well-being and care of our employees. We invested a great deal in increasing the wages of our team—the average wage per employee was 7.96% higher this year than the year before. We also created a new Human Resources & Employee Wellness Specialist to serve our staff better and established a benefits plan for our seasonal managers and supervisors. We have also focused on establishing a strong staff infrastructure for our growth, creating new Marketing Manager and Finance & Administration Manager positions.
This season we began to manage uphill access in response to the increased conflicts with our ability to operate. We developed a plan that allowed us to continue offering uphill access, in cooperation with our attorneys, insurance, and the US Forest Service. The specific geography of our mountain does make uphill access more impractical than at many other mountains. Although this plan was not a one-size-fits-all solution, our focus is on providing access for beginning touring skiers looking to learn in a familiar environment and endurance athletes looking for a winter workout venue, with focus on designated routes during the early morning hours. Our uphill access program does not focus on powder or backcountry access due to the very limited acreage in the ski area, type of terrain in it, and availability of true backcountry that is accessed from our back parking lot. The uphill access program had 143 passholders for the season.
The total number of season passholders for lift operations last season was 4,463, and the spring sale for the upcoming 24-25 season has been the largest in the mountain’s history.
Our renewed focus on Philanthropy and Partnerships has provided growth in sponsorships and charitable gifts. Our donor retention has also improved from 15% to over 57% in the past year.
We opened again this summer for 12 weekends starting on June 14. Summer operations were successful, consisting of modest family events, music, and kids programming to drive our café operation. New this year, we launched Alpine Adventure Camps, which are day camps for kids ages 8-13, and we had 31 youth participate in those camps.
This month, we are launching a new Halloween-themed event called the Haunting on Mt. Ashland, which will have both kids trick-or-treat and a more mature scary option. The more frightening program has already sold out. For next year we are looking at more events, including an Oktoberfest celebration.
This fall, we will resurrect the 7,500’ Crew and Youth Summer Service programs as a new Exploring Post, which will serve as a hands-on job shadowing experience for students ages 16-20, and the open house for that program will be on November 5.
This year, we began working with the Forest Service and Eppley Center for Parks & Public Lands in a pilot program to develop accessibility standards for ski areas. This program should help us identify possible solutions to make our winter and summer operations more accessible to the public, and the National Ski Areas Association is interested in using this study to create national best practices for the industry.
This off-season has been one of the biggest summers of projects in the history of the mountain. We are nearing the completion of the Lithia Chairlift, which will reopen the Poma and Lupine slopes as easily skiable intermediate terrain. The addition of this new chairlift will improve the beginner and family experience, as well as skier flow and congestion—plus, this adds another more wind-resistent chair to our fleet. The Lithia Chair is anticipated to open to the public in January. We have also widened Aisle 2 to twice its previous width, which will improve the accessibility to the base area for novice skiers and snowboarders. Both of these projects were funded entirely by gifts.
We are also replacing our entire night lighting system, a project that will be completed for the winter, and have plans to add new trails to our terrain that is lit at night. Our crew has been busy on many other projects, including rebuilding the bar deck, installing ice melt systems on the lodge roof, replacing carpet, electrical upgrades, a new kitchen exhaust fan, permanent doors on First Act, and a new communication line on Sonnet. During these projects, we are also working to upgrade our network and connectivity on the mountain and launch a new mobile app to replace our antiquated text messaging system. We have also replaced two older trucks and have 2 new snowmobiles to add to the fleet.
We have begun planning for a comprehensive rebuild of the locker lodge, that will include improvements to ski patrol facilities, additional food & beverage, and improved inside space for guests. We have also started the process to think about replacing the Ariel and Windsor chairlifts, as their operating expenses increase and more modern technology is available. These projects are part of a much larger 10-year capital vision with our Master Development Plan to revitalize infrastructure, improve guest service capacity, and modernize operations, without impeding the soul and vibe of Mt. Ashland. This is the initiative that we’ve been referring to publicly as Elevate Mt. Ashland.
Hiring has begun for our winter season, and all of our manager roles have been filled. We are ready for employee orientation in November and our target opening day is currently December 14, but we will open as soon as the snow allows. For the upcoming season we will be open daily during the December holidays, and then Thursday-Monday until the end of March, and long weekends in April until closing day. We will also open on Wednesday, March 5 while we are hosting the Oregon high school alpine championships. We are studying options for operating schedules in the future, keeping in mind our responsibilities in fiscal stewardship.
We are excited about our continued growth, with the past two years being the first time in our history that we have had 5-year averages of more than 100,000 skiers. We owe a great deal of gratitude to our passholders, sponsors, donors, volunteers, employees, community, and everyone who has been part of the success in our vision to make Mt. Ashland the year-round hub for alpine recreation in Southern Oregon.