Did Snowshoe just move their closing date up?
March 21, 2007
It has been listed as April 8 (and they even made a big deal about 39 days of good skiing left starting March 1). But their latest e-mail lists the "last hurrah" weekend as March 30 - April 1, and the snow report mentions just two weekends to go. I think they did something similar last year or the year before: promised a later date and then backed off (not weather related -- there was plenty of snow on the trails). I wonder if advance reservations tapered off and they decided to close early? I was considering going the April 8 weekend -- booo!!
Maybe we can do a post-season hike/ski at Snowshoe sooner than anticipated...
I just copied this from the Snowshoe website.
One would think that the resort would a least indicate a change of plans. Unless this is just a case of confusion...I'm confused!!??
"Last Day for Skiing and Riding
Weather permitting, Snowshoe Mountain is planning on staying open for the 2006 - 2007 Winter Season through Sunday, April 1. Be sure to get your fill of skiing and riding before the 1st rolls around.
Sign up for special offers, event updates and snow reports."
The Colonel
Quote:
.....Maybe we can do a post-season hike/ski at Snowshoe sooner than anticipated...
You can truck shuttle Cupp & Shay's. You can actually drive up the lift access road (or it's a pretty short walk to the road) to get picked up and get dropped off at the top of the Western Territory for another run. We use to do it did a long time ago. I'm not sure if Intrawest would have issues with it thou.
Snowshoe had been advertising an April 8 closing date until very recently. The first I heard of the change was yesterday afternoon. I guess it's a "chicken and egg" problem: if you don't advertise that you'll stay open late in the season, people might not book late in the season, but if people don't end up booking late in the season after all, then you can't stay open late in the season.
But Snowshoe had been proclaiming an Easter closing date for most of March, and I think if a resort is going to use that as a marketing point, the resort should stick with it if there's still plenty of snow left. Otherwise there's no sense in announcing closing dates that far in advance.
SS did the same false advertising last year. The only way they are going attract more people to the mtn in April is to reduce their rates.
I checked on a five night stay at SS starting on Sunday, April 1, 2007. For $1,900, Snowshoe's package included 5 nights in a 2 bedroom at Mountain Lodge and lift tickets. I checked pricing at Okemo. Okemo was charging $1,300 for the same five nights and lift tickets. The condo at Okemo is newer, larger, and you can ski in/out of your back door. Plus at Okemo you've got more vertical and more trails.
SS is way over priced for such a small mtn.
Also their season pass prices continue to go up. For 07-08 an adult unlimited pass with tax is now $425.
I think they looked at the forecast and saw a week of rain and 60 degrees and made the decision to back off the April 8th close. The funny thing is they are still promoting the "39 days" of skiing (31 days in March + 8 days in April). Personally, I would stay open until April 8th - no matter what - with a couple lifts anyway. It seems to me that being able to say that "we were open until April 8th" is a valuable marketing tool, and would help future March business. Folks would say, "hey if they were open until April 8th - then March 25th must be good conditions".
I don't know exactly when they changed the date but I read about it about 2 weeks ago. They posted it in the snow report comments section as a one liner while their home page still stated 39 days (which would have been April 8).
From what I saw of the base, they would have no problem keeping many of the trails open through April 8. In fact, I think they made too much snow on some trails, which will still be melting away in piles way beyond April 8.
