Let us start off by saying that we love Jackson Hole & we know this is a sore subject, but every year at this time we are blown away by Jackson Hole being closed so early. Jackson just got 10 inches of fresh snow, their base is 84 inches deep, they’ve gotten 383 inches this year and they Closed on April 7th, 2013.
We’ve done the investigative work and found out that they close this time of year because this is when direct flights to Jackson’s airport stop and when the tourists stop coming. It’s completely logical. No tourists means no money. We understand.
Yet, that doesn’t negate the fact that Jackson is one of the best ski resorts on Earth and and arguably the best ski resort in North America.
There has to be a way to put together a bare-bones operational budget that keeps a skeleton crew employed. We just want the Tram, nothing else. Would they make money off this? No. Would it make everyone in the Jackson Hole community love them to death? Yes. And, we think they’d find a decent pilgrimage of media & hardcore skiers from the West who’d be willing to hop in their cars and come check out the Tram only, no B.S., “I’m hardcore” spring operations at Jackson Hole.
Spring tram passes. Suppose the Grand Pass goes void on the normal date – first Sunday after the the first Wednesday in April or whatever they use to determine the current closing date. How much would a new spring pass need to cost to keep the box running? And, how much would locals (and transient ski bums from closed resorts in CO, CA, UT) be willing to pay for the month of April? If the Grand Pass costs $1200 early season for 4 months of skiing, maybe a $300 incremental option would work for April. They’d probably sell 2,000 to 3,000 of them, and maybe produce $1M in additional revenue (when you include JHMR owned real estate and concessions). Now, is $1M enough to run the tram, union pass, maintenance crew and patrol for a month?
I agree. I’d head out there. I think a lot of ski bums would. Jax is the best and definitely has some great untapped spring skiing potential