Colorado’s mountain resorts roll out the fun carpet during the summer, especially for families with children. Base areas abound with entertainment for the younger set, while most resorts put kids on the mountain for outdoors activities, like mountain biking and tubing.
Managing Steamboat under ASC wasn’t fun, but reviving it under Intrawest worked out. (Steamboat/Facebook)
So what’s it like to have chased the dream of a job in the ski industry?
Having worked for North America’s first-three major ski conglomerates, Chris Diamond was in a unique position to share his experiences and insights. So after retiring in 2015, he penned his 44-year ski-industry memoir, he told SnoCountry.com.
SKI INC. is a fast and fascinating read which describes not only players who shaped modern ski history but also the challenges resorts face, mistakes made, and keys to success and profitability. Add observations as to the future of skiing and how Vail Resorts came to have a dominant role as the world’s largest ski company and the insights are as instructive as they are surprisingly optimistic for skiing’s future.
From ski bum to career
A part-time bartender in Killington during college, Diamond had a short but effective stint in Killington’s marketing department working under the legendary Foster T. Chandler before service in Vietnam. In 1972, he continued his ski career as assistant to Killington Resort founder Pres Smith, which enabled him to be part of the tremendous growth of the ski area and its parent company’s acquisitions.
At the helm of Mount Snow from 1977 to 1994, Diamond then became vice president for Business Development and president of the Vermont resorts for S-K-I Ltd. He was part of the team that saw S-K-I become the first successful ski industry giant after going public in 1985.
Diamond shows how companies become successful but also notes missteps, writing: “Looking back at these early experiences at Killington and Mount Snow, there is one clear regret I have relative to their status today as regional resorts versus ‘what might have been.’ While the outside perception of the ski business insists that the core financial driver is real estate, nothing could be further from the truth. Well-run resorts make money on operations. That said, real estate is very important for destination ski resorts in that it can support or enable the strategic vision.”
His explication of being at a competitive disadvantage without a modern bed base is intriguing and his observation that “in Vermont, government is the enemy” is only part of his answer as what happened.
In 1999, Diamond became president of Steamboat under the American Skiing Company, which had purchased S-K-I to become the new largest ski company. Diamond praises founder Les Otten for his many contributions to skiing while denouncing the spending spree that cost him his company.
Steamboat’s revival under new owner Intrawest provides a look at what was then North America’s largest ski conglomerate until the bottom fell out of real estate.
The most intriguing chapter explores Vail Resorts’ amazing success. While he never worked for Vail, Diamond knew the players and offers an astute analysis that includes the ramifications of the Epic Pass and his opinion that “it’s just a matter of time” before Vail enters the Northeastern market.
SKI INC. is must reading for anyone interested in snow sports and is now available from skidiamondconsulting.com and from Amazon in January.
Steamboat Resort in Colorado has begun work on a soup-to-nuts, decade-long improvement plan that is aimed at becoming more efficient in moving its core market of families and novice-intermediate visitors around the mountain.
Along with a class of nine others, New Hampshire resident Joe Cushing was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Steamboat April 11.
In what has become a major ritual of spring, winter resorts have started rolling out discounts on season passes for next year – either to keep the current buzz going or give hope for a better season ahead.
Winter’s cold is loosening its grip on the Rockies as the sun stays in the sky longer, and skiers and snowboarders begin to shed a few layers of clothing. The coming of March also means it’s time to party in the out-of-doors at Colorado resorts.
Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation announced that Chris Diamond, president and chief operating officer, will step down from his current role in June, 2015, the end of the company’s fiscal year.
The urge to go beyond the ropes and track up virgin powder often plagues the skier or snowboarder. So one of the best ways to satisfy an off-piste jones is snowcat powder skiing.
In these days of high-speed quads, heated seats and WiFi in gondolas, it’s heartening for traditionalists to know that the ritual of climbing up to ski down is still quite popular.
After rolling across Tahoe and the southern tier of the Rockies, the weather is expected to take a break across the West for this weekend before another round arrives just before Christmas.The best bet for upcoming powder days will be along and north of I-70 in Colorado next week, meaning skiers and snowboarders at Steamboat , and Summit and Eagle county resorts might get those powder boards in shape.
