Interview did not really change my perceptions of Steamboat. Or what it will be in the future.
The references to trade-marked "Champagne Powder" are just cringe worthy. What do you call the slush and crud of warm Steamboat days starting March 1st? #LowestMajorCOMountain
The expansion is quite lackluster. A Wild Blue Gondola that you cannot really lap - just to get low intermediates to/from Sunshine lift? Bunch of expensive movement of lifts - from gondolas to magic carpets. Not even a high-speed lift for beginners for easy on/off?
Steamboat still lacks expert terrain. The Chutes are maybe 500-600 vertical feet into flatness. Closet/Shadows maybe a 1000 vert feet of mild trees. No timetable to another Pioneer Ridge lift.
Steamboat is the definition of a mediocre large Western mountain. It ambience is a Walmart at its base. Almost any other CO resort is better, more scenic and more unique.
I like Steamboat but I found Rob responses to be "exhibit one" for the downside of corporate skiing. Platitudes and a deeply unsatisfactory response to your challenge on lift ticket pricing. I think there is a missed segment that perhaps can't plan far ahead (for the mega pass) and is priced out by the intentionally putative daily rate. I think this is the marginal skier who isn't yet dedicated but still enjoys the sport.
One of my favorite places on the planet. My wife still talks about the awesome sit down filet mignon lunch we had there while skiing on Valentines Day. Sure as hell beat greasy chicken fingers or overpriced burgers. Sometimes you just have to live.
Phew, it was painful listening to all that corporate feel-good talk. I get it, everyone should be proud of their ski area. But it seemed like he just went on and on about how special Steamboat and corporate are when you really just want to hear what they've actually got going on. But of course I listened to the whole thing because eventually he got to explaining some of the specifics of their projects.
I still think you are totally justified to call out the outrageous lift ticket prices. The problem is that everyone you interview seems to think that everyone is a dedicated skier. Since I am a dedicated skier, I will use golf as an example because I am not a dedicated golfer now, but it's something I might get into more at some point in life. The golf courses around me cost about $15-60 for a round depending on the number of holes, though time of day, and the season. And that's probably about what I'm willing to pay, though I might pay more if I was with a friend and the friend picked the course. If the golf course charged $269, I wouldn't do it. Even if they offered an annual pass for $1 more that included unlimited access to 40 other golf courses including the best course in Scotland, I still wouldn't do it because I'm just a casual non-routine golfer. Even if the golf course didn't charge $269, you can still forget it if you have to buy days in advance or navigate airline-style pricing dynamics. Which a terrible example by the way. What kind of business likes to compare themselves to the airline industry? Fortunately most businesses in leisure industries know to treat their customers better than airlines treat their passengers, at least for now. Because people spend money for leisure because they want to, not because they have to.
Devil's advocate of course would be that a place like Steamboat has no casual skiers. If you're in Steamboat, you're there because your a dedicated skier. But as you always say, there are still some people, maybe dragged along by passholder friends and maybe they even know skiing is expensive, but perhaps thought they were going to pay $100, and instead end up paying a third the cost of a season pass just for one day.
It's amazing how many businesses seemed focused on making it harder for their customers to visit and providing worse experiences, all for the sake of current trendy business strategies like pricing psychology and extracting customer behavior data.
Deb Armstrong is my self-described patron saint of skiing. And, if she chooses to live in Steamboat Springs, then there must be something there. But, it's admittedly becoming harder for me to listen to the corporate speak ubiquitously coming out of these big-mountain operators. Skiing is a physical activity, done in the mountains, that produces enormous adrenaline rushes. I'm getting too old to find pleasure in thinking about skiing in terms of "ledger sheets," "consumer satisfaction," "quarterly earnings," and "ROIs" or listening to someone extol the virtues of being in a place that still conducts "business via a handshake" while charging walk up fees of $265 to such "salt of the earth" people. Marketing propaganda has become too pervasive and if I wasn't 75 pounds overweight and over the proverbial hill, I too would jump on the back-country bandwagon.
Great job Stuart, you covered a lot of ground in 75 minutes. If you still have a direct line to anyone at Steamboat, I haven't been able to get answers to these questions:
What type of chairlift is going in at Greenhorn Ranch and when will it be installed?
Where is the Christie Peak Express base terminal moving to next summer?
Is the lower section of Wild Blue opening in 2022 and the upper in 2023?
Interview did not really change my perceptions of Steamboat. Or what it will be in the future.
The references to trade-marked "Champagne Powder" are just cringe worthy. What do you call the slush and crud of warm Steamboat days starting March 1st? #LowestMajorCOMountain
The expansion is quite lackluster. A Wild Blue Gondola that you cannot really lap - just to get low intermediates to/from Sunshine lift? Bunch of expensive movement of lifts - from gondolas to magic carpets. Not even a high-speed lift for beginners for easy on/off?
Steamboat still lacks expert terrain. The Chutes are maybe 500-600 vertical feet into flatness. Closet/Shadows maybe a 1000 vert feet of mild trees. No timetable to another Pioneer Ridge lift.
Steamboat is the definition of a mediocre large Western mountain. It ambience is a Walmart at its base. Almost any other CO resort is better, more scenic and more unique.
I like Steamboat but I found Rob responses to be "exhibit one" for the downside of corporate skiing. Platitudes and a deeply unsatisfactory response to your challenge on lift ticket pricing. I think there is a missed segment that perhaps can't plan far ahead (for the mega pass) and is priced out by the intentionally putative daily rate. I think this is the marginal skier who isn't yet dedicated but still enjoys the sport.
One of my favorite places on the planet. My wife still talks about the awesome sit down filet mignon lunch we had there while skiing on Valentines Day. Sure as hell beat greasy chicken fingers or overpriced burgers. Sometimes you just have to live.
Phew, it was painful listening to all that corporate feel-good talk. I get it, everyone should be proud of their ski area. But it seemed like he just went on and on about how special Steamboat and corporate are when you really just want to hear what they've actually got going on. But of course I listened to the whole thing because eventually he got to explaining some of the specifics of their projects.
I still think you are totally justified to call out the outrageous lift ticket prices. The problem is that everyone you interview seems to think that everyone is a dedicated skier. Since I am a dedicated skier, I will use golf as an example because I am not a dedicated golfer now, but it's something I might get into more at some point in life. The golf courses around me cost about $15-60 for a round depending on the number of holes, though time of day, and the season. And that's probably about what I'm willing to pay, though I might pay more if I was with a friend and the friend picked the course. If the golf course charged $269, I wouldn't do it. Even if they offered an annual pass for $1 more that included unlimited access to 40 other golf courses including the best course in Scotland, I still wouldn't do it because I'm just a casual non-routine golfer. Even if the golf course didn't charge $269, you can still forget it if you have to buy days in advance or navigate airline-style pricing dynamics. Which a terrible example by the way. What kind of business likes to compare themselves to the airline industry? Fortunately most businesses in leisure industries know to treat their customers better than airlines treat their passengers, at least for now. Because people spend money for leisure because they want to, not because they have to.
Devil's advocate of course would be that a place like Steamboat has no casual skiers. If you're in Steamboat, you're there because your a dedicated skier. But as you always say, there are still some people, maybe dragged along by passholder friends and maybe they even know skiing is expensive, but perhaps thought they were going to pay $100, and instead end up paying a third the cost of a season pass just for one day.
It's amazing how many businesses seemed focused on making it harder for their customers to visit and providing worse experiences, all for the sake of current trendy business strategies like pricing psychology and extracting customer behavior data.
Deb Armstrong is my self-described patron saint of skiing. And, if she chooses to live in Steamboat Springs, then there must be something there. But, it's admittedly becoming harder for me to listen to the corporate speak ubiquitously coming out of these big-mountain operators. Skiing is a physical activity, done in the mountains, that produces enormous adrenaline rushes. I'm getting too old to find pleasure in thinking about skiing in terms of "ledger sheets," "consumer satisfaction," "quarterly earnings," and "ROIs" or listening to someone extol the virtues of being in a place that still conducts "business via a handshake" while charging walk up fees of $265 to such "salt of the earth" people. Marketing propaganda has become too pervasive and if I wasn't 75 pounds overweight and over the proverbial hill, I too would jump on the back-country bandwagon.
Stuart, at times it seemed like he was hard to pin down on lift upgrades. Also did you want to tell him stop saying champagne powder?? Lol
Great job Stuart, you covered a lot of ground in 75 minutes. If you still have a direct line to anyone at Steamboat, I haven't been able to get answers to these questions:
What type of chairlift is going in at Greenhorn Ranch and when will it be installed?
Where is the Christie Peak Express base terminal moving to next summer?
Is the lower section of Wild Blue opening in 2022 and the upper in 2023?
Are Preview and Christie III staying or going?