Tahoe area resorts roll out improvements

Responding to dry winters and lackluster visitor numbers, Lake Tahoe ski areas opened this season with an array of new features designed to attract new audiences and enhance the experience for existing snowsports fans. They rolled out things like faster lifts, smartphone apps, greener grooming machines, upgraded cross country ski facilities and expanded leisure activities.

Then Mother Nature kicked in with snow that has blanketed the Sierra Nevada ever since, drawing tens of thousands of holiday visitors for cold-weather activities most haven’t been able to enjoy fully for several years.

As it turns out, snow is the real lure - big, fat flakes added several feet of fresh powder to the base over the past few weeks. With snowfall-to-date already exceeding last year’s total at most locations, the season opened with a bang, buoying spirits among consumers and those in the industry.

“Already you can hear it in the tone of people’s voice,” said Michael Berry, president of the Denver-area-based National Ski Areas Association. “It’s night and day, and snow makes all the difference in the world.”

California’s $1.3 billion ski and winter sports industry, already suffering from the setbacks of recession, was cut by more than 20 percent during four years of declining snowfall. The NSAA reports that statewide resorts welcomed about 4.5 million visitors during the 2014-15 season, down from more than 8 million in 2009-10 and 2010-11, Berry said.

Mountain resorts endured with sophisticated snow-making technology, especially the larger ones, according to Michael Reitzell, president of the Mill Valley-based California Ski Industry Association. But diversification and carefully focused upgrades also helped them survive.

The most extensive change was extending their appeal with family programming, culinary exploration, spa and leisure activities, and summer-time adventures, adding everything from hiking and mountain biking to canopy tours, climbing walls, scenic chairlift rides, even children’s camps.

“You have this beautiful place up on a mountain, and for so many years, resorts were using it for maybe a third or a half of the year,” Reitzell said. “And now I think they’re realizing that people want to come visit in the summer, and there are activities that they can do.”

The approach reflects a desire to provide amenities to a larger client base as well as consumer demand for fuller, more multi-faceted vacation experiences, said Christine Horvath, marketing director for Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows.

“The whole quality of the vacation experience has been ratcheted up over the last decade or so in spite of some of the tough snow years,” said Berry, former president of Kirkwood Mountain Resort in Tahoe, “and part of the reason we can afford to do that is we’ve expanded our summer activities.”

Consolidation of what were once mom-and-pop style operations has brought in corporate dollars, as well. Kirkwood, Northstar and Heavenly are now owned by Vail Resorts. Mammoth Mountain Resorts now owns Bear Mountain, Squaw Valley and nearby Alpine Meadows.

Where ruffled ski bums might once have shambled up to a wooden shack to buy a lift ticket for the day, today they are more likely to be met with luxury hotels and restaurants; premier shopping; snow activities such as tubing, terrain parks and kite skiing; and integrated facilities for boarding, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing and training.

Resort operators also tout a host of new offerings, including:

A newly designed terrain park at Sugar Bowl;

Improved Wi-Fi connectivity at Sierra-at-Tahoe;

A new backcountry terrain and skill-training program at Kirkwood;

A new high-speed, six-passenger chair lift at Squaw Valley;

Four new beginner slopes and a chairlift at Mt. Rose - Ski Tahoe, part of a reported $1.2 million investment over the summer;

And mobile apps developed by Sierra-at-Tahoe, Kirkwood, Heavenly, Northstar Village, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, offering an array of features that include distance, speed and vertical feet tracking, as well as weather updates, lift status and the like.

Squaw Valley/Alpine spokeswoman Horvath said real-time information is critical in the mountains, where conditions change frequently but also reflective of a culture that’s increasingly dependent on interactive communication.

But the big draw remains what so far appears to be solid Sierra snowfall.

“We’ve had almost 200 inches of snow up here, so we have the best conditions we’ve had in several years,” said Shaydar Edelmann, operations director at Boreal Mountain Resort.

“If you laid off of skiing the last few years, it’s really time to get back in.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.