Numbers…Reality…Energy

21%. 18%. 10%.

Let’s start with something positive, and the above numbers are not positive. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
Positive: Big Air on Elk, baby! It was a great event that was held downtown last Saturday. And the Al Johnson is coming this weekend up on the hill. Both are—umm—“odd” events that reflect this place. They fit the niche: quirky, fun, challenging, a bit extreme. They’re fun for us and fun for those who visit. Good energy helps this place. Thank you. It’s all about the energy.

Okay. Some reality on this unbelievably beautiful spring day. And let’s not forget this place is indeed one of the most beautiful places on the earth and it is a blessed place in which to live. And hey, this past week has been busy.

News flash: Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) announced this week that its 22 member ski areas saw a small dip in skier visitation for the second period of the 2009-10 season—from January 1 through February 28, 2010—as compared to the same period of the year prior. Skier visits at CSCUSA resorts were down 4 percent during the second period, and off by 2 percent season-to-date compared to the same time last season.

In a proposed “State of the Butte” document meant to shine a happy spotlight on town, a bar napkin draft notes that being down 10 percent in revenues for 2009 is good. While that rings true compared to most other ski resorts in Colorado, is it really good? What’s good is the fiscal responsibility shown by the town staff over the last decade when it would have been easy to spend, spend, spend. If being down 10 percent is good, the council must be ecstatic that January sales tax revenues are off 18 percent from 2009.
18 percent. That’s the amount the town is off in its primary revenue source the first month of the year. 2009 was no banner year either, with the town being off 9 percent from 2008 in January.
21 percent. That’s the Mt. Crested Butte decline in January sales tax revenue compared to 2009. It’s 31 percent if you look back two years. That’s not a decline—that’s time to buy a parachute.
10 percent. That’s the county’s sales tax disparity in January 2010 compared to ‘09. From 2008 to 2009 it saw a decline of 7 percent.

Such numbers are a splash of cold water to the face. Such numbers cannot be ignored for long. Not much is doing well in this national economy, but those numbers compared to the rest of the ski resorts in the Colorado Ski Country USA equation really don’t bode well.
And so I will ask what has been asked before. I’ve put the question out to the ski area several times since the Forest Service’s initial “no lifts on Snodgrass” decision. If expansion is not in the immediate future, what is Plan B? Norton had the notion to ask the town of Crested Butte in his column last week: If not the ski industry, what is Plan B?

What does the overall picture look like with or without a Plan B? Look at last week’s front page of the newspaper and it starts to become more clear. While we are building a sweet new school, the economic downturn here and across the state is making it difficult to purchase textbooks. That eats at me.
While a ton of time is being spent debating and arguing about condemning land to build a Crested Butte South Park-and-Ride, is there honestly the money to do it? The RTA is funded through countywide sales tax that is weighted at the north end of the valley. The organization’s January revenue was down 19 percent this year, and that is based off a 17 percent decline from 2008 to 2009. It’s off well over a third in two years. At this rate, we might be lucky to see two buses running each day next winter, and any expansion of the air program might not get off the ground.
If overall sales tax revenues are consistently down 15 percent to 20 percent, will that mean that many businesses may be forced to close and that many people may leave the area to look for other opportunities? Are we heading back to population numbers, sales tax and number of businesses reminiscent of the early 1990s?

While the resort might not like all of the respectful suggestions seen in the paper the last three weeks, they might consider some of them and begin working toward bringing some good energy to their business. And to give some credit, they are doing that with the Yonder Mountain concert on the 27th. That’s great for a weekend and it’s a step in the right direction, but the fun energy of a ski area needs to be out there 20 weeks a winter.
If the average for all Colorado resorts is down 4 percent and if CBMR is tracking closer to local sales tax numbers, something is broken. And if they are broken, those dependent on the local economy will feel the pain.
Look, while the super-early season pass price is essentially the same as last year, which is nice, I’d love it if CBMR lowered their season pass prices—both for the thoughtful reasons stated last week by Michael Blunck and for my shrinking wallet. I would love to see them embrace the energy of “extreme” and “comfortable” and “different” in their long-term plans and not rely primarily on the hope of the intermediate. Market what you got and deliver over-the-top value when people try us.
I’d love it if the town of Mt. Crested Butte and its Downtown Development Authority challenged the company store more when they come for money. I like the direction of a top-flight Performing Arts Center in the town but am uncomfortable with growing tension with their buddies on the Crested Butte council.
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I wish the town of Crested Butte would reach out to the ski area and find someplace solid to support the economic engine up at this end of the valley. Skiing is the main draw here and the town is a gem when people get here. So the council could find ways to be supportive of CBMR without rolling over. All the entities need to partner. Like it or not, they are interdependent.

Again on the positive side… Mt. Crested Butte businessman Gabe Martin partnered with the town of Crested Butte and a lot of people from the private sector to put on a great spectacle last weekend at Big Air on Elk. That, like the Al Johnson this Sunday, is CB-centric and will attract people to the town.
“We are all pumped and pleased with how it turned out,” Martin said. “Once we build it up, people will come back for the event.”
That’s the spirit. And this place is full of spirit for which we should all be thankful.
Despite arguments of yield over volume, I am believer that in a changing world (and the world has changed dramatically and quickly since the financial crash of a year ago), nimble adjustments to the best-laid plans are sometimes needed. It’s sort of like skiing Staircase… sometimes it’s best to change lines in the middle of the run to avoid a rock.
Reality, my friends. Focus on tapping into the unique, authentic energy of a sweet niche ski resort with quirky, comfortable but challenging events that match the terrain and people. It’s there. It’s all about the energy.

21. 18. 10. Bad.
Big Air. Yonder Mountain. Al Johnson. Good. But they’re small parts of a larger successful equation that needs to run more than a few weekends.