If you accept that snowboarding saved the small to midsize ski area from economic extinction in the 1990, then I propose Snow Tubing has enabled it to return to economic viability.

Then again give the recent market swings.....all bets are off

you know what? I think your right. Tubing is such a low capitol investment compared to the rate of return and even in marginal conditions it's fun as hell. Haven't tubed in a while but it is a good time.

tuber?
tuber?

How are the french fries at the varous resorts?

Make sure to hug that snow tuber also because he/she most likely can't ski and is staying off of the slopes out of our way and not sliding into the sides of our knees.

OE's asking some interesting questions.

Tubing: what I've heard from ski area operators is that snow tubing brings in some pretty good bucks. This is why one of the first places they blow snow in Dec is the tubing areas. They want them open by Xmas for all the non/casual skier guests.

Discount 2 day tics: there are some places (eg,Wildcat, NH) that offer a big discount if you come back for a second consecutive day or show up late one day and come back for a full second day (Black? and Cranmore?, NH). But around here I believe the ski areas think they have this covered by offering multiday ski&stay deals.

Cheap season passes: there are some local areas like Wintergreen and Bryce that offer <$200 Sunday noon to Fri PM season passes. Hidden Valley had a cheap M-F pass. I'm pretty sure there are many more. However, Denver area skiers seem to get the best full pass deals in the US, with the competition around Summit County ski areas. New England had some cheap ones, but things appear to be going up now that ASC went out of business and is not pushing pass prices down.

I don't like snow tubers- they took out all the expansion terrain at the local ski lump (which would have been the longest vertical drop run on the little nub) and turned it into a snotube park. Yes, I'm bitter. It's not like the skiing around here was epic... or even serious... to begin with. Grrrrr...

Apart from that, yes, the season pass deals are ridonkulous in CO. You could get a seasons pass and it essentially pays for itself after about five days of skiing. One of my co-workers in the Denver office has the Super Summit pass or whatever it's called- unlimited (actually, all but the holiday weekends) skiing at Breck, A-Basin, and Keystone, plus 10 days at Beaver Creek or Vail, all for the princely sum of $449. You can get a seasons pass to Winter Park for under $400, and I'm pretty sure Loveland is at or below $300.

On the flip side, there are fewer and fewer resorts offering two day discount passes in CO. Most places require at least a three day pass to give you a discount. They're looking for the captive audience. Every butt on a chair is one more chance to sell a $4 Gatorade at lunch (seriously- at Breck I got a Gatorade and a Cliff Bar- $7).

Affordability is almost certainly correlated with popularity. I am still amazed that local hills back east don't get that. They don't get it, or the home price boom made it irrelevant to their business model (attract the Beltway Bandits and milk 'em).

<In best Jim Mora voice> Cheap season passes? Cheap season passes!!! Go to Whitetail, Liberty or Roundtop's websites look up season pass rates then come back and still say that.

With the relatively small area needed for a tubing park, I wonder if it would make sense for some of the local ski areas to open a satellite park near the city? Snowmaking costs would be greater (and a bit unreliable), but you'd be attracting a much larger customer base. Use/reinforce the brand name of the ski area. Plus the cross-site marketing possibilities could be very beneficial for the main ski area. Hmmmmmmm.......

We have a golf course near my house and right off I-83 that has a tubing operation (lift, snowmaking, etc). That place is always packed.