A very interesting observation as winter approaches North America is in watching reactions to forecasts of snow. When watching the news stations or weather channel I have noticed that when snow is forecast for most cities in North America or the US, it comes with a warning for travel and usually with advice for residents to avoid traveling outside and to stay at home. It does not seem to matter whether the forecast is for an inch of snow or several. Ski resort towns, on the other hand, not only do not panic with the forecast of snow, but instead celebrate it. The ski resorts in the western US really don't even take notice or start to get excited unless the forecast is for at least a foot. Then the excitement is not for concerns of traveling around town (we all know how to drive in snow) but rather the prospect of excellent skiing the next day. Just another example of how ski country people are just a little different from the rest of the country.
This past weekend we had a fairly decent storm with 8-10 inches of snow on the Park City side and between 1 and 2 feet in the Alta/Snowbird area. Unfortunately the combination of new snow and early season enthusiasm is a recipe for disaster. Over the weekend and mostly on Sunday, there were around a dozen skier/boarder-triggered avalanches in the Wasatch Range. And most unfortunately, pro-skier, Jamie Pierre was killed in an avalanche at Snowbird Resort. Prior to the opening of the resorts--Snowbird and Alta don't open until this Friday--the resorts aren't doing avalanche control work and early season enthusiasts forget that while skiing at these resorts, one must take the same precautions as backcountry skiing. This is a lesson that is all too often learned too late.
The third quarter statistics for all of the resorts of the Western Mountain Resort Alliance have just come out and are pretty interesting. The statistics are for most of the major resorts in the western US: Whistler in British Columbia; Park City, Utah; Steamboat, Vail, and Crested Butte in Colorado; Sun Valley, Idaho; Big Sky, Montana; Lake Tahoe, California; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Pretty interesting that what I've been reporting for Park City all year is quite similar to what's happening at the other resorts. All year I've been reporting that the number of listings has been down (and for Park City it's down 6% over last year) and likewise, the other resorts are down anywhere from 2% in Whistler to 16% in Big Sky. Only Lake Tahoe is up at 6% and Jackson Hole is even from last year. Over this past year I've been saying the number of units sold has been up in Park City (which it has by 18%) and every resort except for Crested Butte is also showing number of sales up over last year. Vail is basically even, up only 1%. Big Sky, Montana has had the biggest increase at 40% in number of sales of last year, and Crested Butte is the anomaly down 45% in number of sales last year. I have been following these statistics since 1996 and pretty consistently, Vail has always sold about twice as much as we have in Park City. However last year and again this year, total dollar volume sold in Park City has surpassed Vail. Through September, Park City has sold just over $853,000,000 for a 7% increase over 2010. Vail, on the other hand, has sold just under $725,000,000, which is a 24% decrease over 2010. In looking at all of the resorts, four are up this year and five are down. Whistler, Park City, Steamboat and Big Sky are all showing increases in dollar volume over 2010. While Sun Valley, Vail, Lake Tahoe, Jackson and Crested Butte are all showing a decrease. Jackson Hole continues to have the highest average sales price of all resorts with the average sales price for all property types for the entire county of $1,225,000. By contrast, Vail, which we always assume is very expensive, is showing an average for all property types of $898,000 and Park City at $676,000. Jackson Hole has always been expensive because of the scarcity of developable land. Only 3% of all the land in and around Jackson is available for development. This is one of the big contrasts that we have here in Park City where one of our main issues is actually that there is too much land that can be developed. Please feel free to contact me for detailed or more specific information for any of these resorts.
The snow is piling up, the resorts are opening, Park City, Alta, and Snowbird open this weekend, so it's definitely time to find where your ski gear hid itself over the summer and get the ski legs in shape.
