Hi Everyone,

We would like to start by thanking everyone for their engagement in our announcement to increase our reciprocal agreement to pass holders of closed ski areas.

We have received numerous messages and emails thanking us and applauding us for this initiative. We have also received some concerns. We understand that the optics might not look great, as 3 weeks ago, we were asking for support and people to show up. This was followed by offering free skiing to kids, and now free skiing to pass holders from shut down hills. Following the comment exchange we saw on social media, we clearly noticed that more information was needed.

It is natural for folks to be worrying about our approach in what is obviously a difficult season. We all care about this hill. We would like to take the time to clarify a few questions and comments and address the two main points of concern have emerged:

1. Can we afford it?
2. What are we doing for owners and pass holders?

Regarding initiative questions and comments:

• How many free tickets are we giving per person?
  • We have not put any cap on this program currently.
  • If we start to see abuse, loopholes, we will add restrictions, caps or whatever is necessary.   
• Have we always offered a 50% reciprocal agreement?
  • Yes, this has been our policy for the last 13 seasons.
  • On the average weekend we sell 5 reciprocal tickets
  • On the average weekday we sell 2 reciprocal tickets
• Our Membership needs to be   included in decisions:
  • We certainly try to communicate all our plans to our Membership. We acknowledge there is still lots of room for improvements.
  • Our Membership does not get polled or involved in every decision.
  • We have an experienced General Manager and Management team.
  • This season has required several rapid pivots and decisions. We believe our management and operations teams have done an incredible job in salvaging and making the best out of this ski season.
  • Our Coop elects a Board of Directors annually. They approve and guide the decisions and recommendations of the management team.
  • We have created several committees that look at different aspects of our business and make recommendations to Board of Directors and management.
• Who is Paying for these reciprocal tickets?
  • There is no one directly sponsoring this program.
  • We do see this as an extension of our Library Ticket Program, to make up for the wasted Library Tickets because of various weather closures.    

Two main points of concern:

1. Can we afford it?

This initiative is not costing us anything besides the time it is taking to promote it and, respond to concerns, and properly communicate the program. The simple answer is: Yes, as this does not cost us anything. We have spent more in the past by advertising our 50% reciprocal in tourism magazines then what we are spending now.

This season’s budget hinged on reducing expenses, increasing the number of value-added activities and events, having our events and programs sponsored by our corporate community, and maintaining similar visitation to last season. We have succeeded almost in every way. The graphs below show our efforts since the beginning of winter with, and without our Best Friends sponsoring our events and programs.

This winter’s weather has not been conducive to maintaining previous visitation levels. Between closed days and adverse weather conditions our visitation is down considerably. Our events, bands and entertainment are not enough to entice people to come without fresh snow. To increase the visitation of our locals and regulars, we announced that Juniors were now skiing for free using sponsorship money. The only hard cost in this initiative was the partial refund of Junior season passes into resort credits, which of course keep the funds within the business. The visitation is much more than the value of the lift ticket. Another distinct fact is that our visiting guests, spend more than our regular local visitors. They are here to experience the place. They try our different food and drinks, buy souvenirs, and during regular winter, they often rent powder skis or boards after realizing they need more floatation.  

2. What about our Members and Pass Holders?

This question has come up a few times. Our members and pass holders are feeling that many of our new activities, events and even our new installations are “not for them”. Some feel that many of our ideas have been about creating new skiers, and not about increasing the services and offerings to our existing ones.  We are happy to announce that March 2^nd and 3^rd will be Member and Pass Holder Appreciation weekend. We are still working out details of the event, but the goal will be to make our pass holders and Members feel more appreciated.

As Members/Owners of a business that does not issue dividends, we are rewarded, with a ski area that will survive, grow, and thrive. The order of these will interchange over the years. For this season, it is quite clear that grow is not happening. The ski area is however surviving and is working towards thriving. We are now investing in our future. Creating the new skiers and destination visits that will sustain us in the future. 

As pass holders, we are pre-purchasing our skiing for the year. We have no guarantees on the weather. We have a minimum operating day policy of providing 50 operating days a season. Currently we are still on schedule to make these without having to add days to the season.  

The first and most important thing we are and have been doing for our members and pass holders, is to keep the mountain open. At the end of January, it was a big decision to either shut down for the season or find a way to keep operating while maximizing the subsidiary revenue (food and beverage, retail, ski school/rentals).

Following last year’s town hall meetings and surveys we:

• Reduced operating days and expenses instead of increasing pass and ticket prices.
• More events bands and entertainment than ever before
• Created a Junior Menu in Panhandler Café
• Allowing brown bag food back in Panhandler Café.
• Improved communication through MailChimp
  • CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP OR UPDATE PREFFERENCES

Other things we have done over the last few years:

• Bought more equipment to provide a better product.
• Built a new ski in ski out parking lot.
• Built and improved new terrain.
• Brought back webcams.

We want to take the time to thank everyone who participated in this conversation. This is a challenging and dynamic season. It has forced lots of rapid decision making. We strongly believe in this initiative, beyond it being the right thing to do. We have heard and listened to people’s concerns and objections. It now time for everyone to get behind this initiative together. Let’s welcome our struggling neighbors with open arms and share the happiness that comes from sliding on snow.

Sincerely,

Christian Théberge

General Manager

My Recreational Mountain Cooperative, Shames Mountain