« tahoe snow update | Home | us ski team documentary: tonight 8PM NBC »
tahoe traffic update
By ccrossen | January 30, 2010
Anyone who lives up here (or visiting for that matter), realizes that it’s been crowded in Tahoe, especially with the influx of weekend and holiday tourists. Recent weekends have seen very crowded roads and lots of traffic. Boosted by a combination of cheaper passes (i.e. Squaw), great snow (best in the country so far this season), perfect storm timing (mid-week vs. weekend) and perfect holiday timing (Christmas/New Year’s double 3-4 day weekends), Tahoe skier-visits are way up this year across the board.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal’s article “As Economy Warms, Resorts Get a Lift,” Tahoe resorts are having their best season in years. “The number of skier visits at the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, for example, has jumped 21% so far this season compared with the prior one, while the resort’s revenue has increased 15% despite discounting. The Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort has seen a 10% rise in skier visits, while Squaw Valley USA said visits have soared 46%, in part because of a steep cut in season-pass prices.” Skier areas have also had record total skier days, i.e. more skiers skiing on any other day before.
The WSJ is a business-focused newspaper, of course, and they write that “Experts say the resurgence could be another indicator that California consumers are coming out their long swoon. At big resorts, lift tickets cost about $80 a day. Some other forms of discretionary spending, including for wine and restaurants, also have been ticking up in recent months in Northern California.
“It’s not clear whom the experts are – unclear from the piece – but as a skier and business writer based in Truckee, I’d say that the increased skier traffic has much, much less to do with an improving economy in California, which is questionable, and more to do with snow and super-deals. Mainly, the ski resorts and businesses in Truckee and Tahoe are doing better, despite the economy and are benefitting from a bit of luck and incentives.
First, we’ve had almost 275-300 inches of snow this season up high, and resorts, media, and word-of-mouth have let everyone know that the snow and skiing has been excellent. We’ve had the best skiing in the country so far this season. We have had absolutely ideal (barring one holiday weekend, MLK) timing of storms. Our big snow cycles have all occurred mid-week, clearing for the most part by the weekend, allowing visitors to actually make it up to Tahoe, get around, and drive back home relatively easily. The first major week-long snow event occurred just before the double-extnsion of Christmas and New Year’s weekends and started things on a great note. This contrasts with the MLK weekend, when the beginning of a five day-long storm cycle that brought 90+ inches hit on Monday, frightening a lot of people away.
Also, primarily because of the bad economy, resorts have offered truly incredible deals this winter, most notably Squaw Valley, which reduced it’s least expensive bronze season pass by about $1,000. This discount has increased the number of pass holders 8-10x, and with that savings generated from a cheap pass, holders are more inclined to spend money elsewhere, namely at restaurants, bars, ski shops, gas, etc. Even if they are unemployed, ideal for some, with a cheap pass, they’re skiing many many more days. I also believe that due to a still-poor economy, people are more likely to drive to ski and recreate, foregoing flights to Utah, Colorado, and Europe to ski in Tahoe, 3-4 hours from home, transferring some of their savings locally.
Despite the recent GDP numbers, unemployment is at 12.4% in California, the entire Bay Area (9.4% unemployment) skier/snowboarder/winter recreation crowd, and for the most part, the entire snow-sports crowd, simply has more money, better jobs, and more dispensable income than the average person. They’re more sheltered from economic factors, and when there’s good snow, they will ski like fiends, especially if, in a struggling economy, skiing is made less expensive by the resorts and the storms hit big with tourist-friendly timing.
In the end, while the rest of the economy may not be improving – perhaps people are less scared or simply want to forget the economy and lose themselves to powder – the Tahoe economy actually is improving.
Topics: Tahoe Snow Report |