Mike Reitzell is the National Ski Areas Associations’ new president and CEO. We had questions. Photo: Courtesy NSAA
The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) recently appointed Mike Reitzell as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Why is this leadership change significant? In simplest terms, the NSAA provides resources for “mountain-inspired recreation,” so if you ski or ride, the NSAA affects you. As the trade association for ski area owners and operators, the NSAA represents over 300 alpine resorts that account for more than 90 percent of the skier and snowboarder visits in the United States.
As the NSAA’s new President and CEO, Reitzell will be responsible for the NSAA’s operations, including providing educational programs and employee training materials, maintaining environmental laws and regulations, state regulatory requirements, aerial tramway safety regulations, resort operations, and guest service operations. Reitzell will also spearhead the organization’s future direction.
Reitzell has over 20 years of experience in the ski industry including the last nine as President of Ski California. During his time there, Reitzell led the creation of the popular Mountain Safety Guide, which features an extensive series of safety education videos widely used by member resorts. Reitzell was also instrumental in launching and expanding the annual Ski California Lift Maintenance and Operations Education (LMOE) conference.
What tangible changes can skiers and riders expect to see when Reitzell moves into this new position at the NSAA? I spoke with him to find out.
Unfortunately, everyday consumers are growing weary of rising lift ticket prices, mega-passes taking over independent resorts, long lift lines, overcrowded hills, and paid parking implementations.
First, we asked Reitzell about the issue on everyone’s mind: North American resort pricing becoming so expensive, it risks pricing out the everyday skier and rider. Look at the numbers: a quality analysis conducted by Bryant University using logistic regression found that “in 39 years, the price of a lift ticket has appreciated 546 percent.” Since the analysis was conducted in 2021, prices have only increased. This season, a one-day adult (13+) lift ticket purchased in advance at Vail Resorts is $295.
My first question for Reitzell was about these expenses. Reitzell didn’t acknowledge the problem directly, pointing out that “lift ticket and season pass pricing varies greatly by region and ski area size. Typically, the lowest-priced lift tickets can be found at small ski areas.”
Reitzell is pointing to the price scale of lift tickets depending on the resort. This is valid to an extent, but doesn’t answer the question of what measures can be taken to reduce costs across the board. Even at “smaller ski areas,” like on the East Coast, tickets at places like Sugarbush range from $75 to $175. Typically, price scales make days that are undesirable cheaper, and weekends and holidays (which working class people have off to ski) more expensive. At Palisades Tahoe, for example, a single-day lift ticket ranges from $75 to $260 depending on the date. Delegating those who can’t afford to shell out hundreds of dollars on a single lift ticket to smaller resorts, or undesirable days they may have to take work off to ride (and hence, lose money to spend money) doesn’t seem like a valid solution.
Reitzell then pointed to the discounts offered on multi-day tickets or advance purchases. Keep in mind that the above prices were the advance prices. But if one has difficulty affording a single-day ticket, why would they be even more easily able to afford multiple days of tickets which also involves paying the associated costs: overnight lodging, ski rentals, food in expensive resort towns, and more?
Reitzell suggested that beginners can make use of bundles to save money. “For beginners, resorts often bundle lift tickets, rentals and a group lesson, and some resorts offer programs that feature unlimited lessons, or a season pass after completing a certain number of lessons,” he said.
Furthermore, Reitzell explained that “the industry pricing model is designed to make buying season passes far more attractive than day tickets. More participants are using season passes and frequency products than ever before.” This checks out, considering an IKON Base Pass is around $1,000, which, if one skis or rides more than three days, is a more affordable option. However, is this really a solution to expensive lift tickets, or just a further incentive for people to shell out large sums of money for a few days of skiing per season?
As the head of an industry organization that works for resorts, it’s Reitzell’s job to protect them. “The cost of running a ski resort has gone up as resorts spend to maintain terrain and create compelling benefits for employees,” he said. “Revenues generated from lift access, lessons and other lines of business are what is reinvested in employees — from labor and benefits, to training, to the purchase of workforce housing in the region — plus resort infrastructure and maintenance, investments in initiatives like parking management that can improve the experience in the resort and general operations.”
However, many resorts, such as Palisades Tahoe in California, Powder Mountain in Utah, and Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington, are implementing paid parking programs, so, oftentimes, these programs pay for themselves. Furthermore, even though Vail Resorts upped its starting pay to $20 an hour (likely due to understaffing in prior seasons) this is hardly enough to sustain living in expensive resort towns. Vail Daily also dubbed the compensation from Vail Resorts to opt out of a class-action lawsuit it was fighting on wages as “grossly insufficient.”
In fact, when asked about Vail, Reitzell responded that “Vail Resorts is a valued NSAA member, an industry leader and an award-winning operator. When Vail Resorts announced a $20 minimum wage for ALL staff in 2022, it drove an industry-wide increase in pay. Vail Resorts is also an industry leader in affordable housing. Their introduction of the Epic Pass and the movement that has followed has redefined skiing – more participants are using season passes and frequency products than ever before.”
I also asked Reitzell about diversity and inclusion, and what ski area, supplier and outdoor industry initiatives will be supported under his new leadership? Reitzell took a lot of accountability. “We know we have a long way to go, but the industry is committed to making everyone feel at home at ski resorts whether they are guests or employees.”
Specifically, Reitzell pointed to the fact that the NSAA is increasing DE&I training, conducting regular discussions around the topics of DE&I, providing education and resources to members, featuring DE&I content in its educational programming and supporting ski area and outdoor industry initiatives focused on DE&I in snowsports.
Furthermore, Reitzell said that “many NSAA members participated in a survey to assess organizational climate, understand diversities, and establish benchmarks.” Reitzell also mentioned that several ski areas, such as Loveland, Massanutten, and Vail Resorts were celebrated for their work and were highlighted with the 2023 NSAA “Mountains Are for Everyone” awards.”
Perhaps the other big issue on skiers’ minds today is the overcrowding seen at resorts across the country. Lift lines at resorts like Mammoth, Mt. Bachelor, and Whistler Blackcomb, have gotten outrageously long. We asked Reitzell if there are plans to address this crowding problem. The solution provided by NSAA right now is for ski areas to invest in new lifts. While this may be one part of solving the problem, it doesn’t solve it completely.
Passes have helped access. But created chaos at some lifts. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Reitzell said that lift lines aren’t normal and that videos that surface of long waits and huge crowds are nothing but flukes. “The majority of days that ski areas operate during the season offer close to ski-on conditions, with under five minutes average wait time,” he said. “Approximately 20 days a year, on average, ski areas have what are considered peak days (normally weekends and holidays, especially after new snow).”
One fair point made by Reitzell was that “wind delay[s] or mechanical issue[s] can also cause the lines to back up on occasion.” Certainly, on storm days, things can get crowded due to dig-outs or de-icing up of wheels to run lifts. But a lot of skiers in the U.S. would disagree with the assumption that “long lift lines are… not the norm.”
Reitzell said, “the great news is that ski areas are investing in new lifts at unprecedented rates. Over 350 new and upgraded lifts were installed in the U.S. in the last three years. When planning a new lift installation, ski areas carefully consider user flow and how to best disperse skiers at peak times. All three ski areas you mentioned (Mammoth, Bachelor, Whistler) have invested in new lifts and Vail Resorts and Alterra both have extensive capital plans for the future with much of the focus on lifts.”
Reitzell even gave specifics here, noting that Mammoth has a new high-speed six-seat lift opening this season, and another that opened last season. Mt. Bachelor opened a new six-seater last season, and Whistler Blackcomb opened a high-speed, eight-person lift last season.
Reitzell says it’s up to the consumer to plan their day out to avoid crowds. “Another tip when thinking about lunch is to eat early or late and ski high noon (lots of laps can be made while everyone else is taking a lunch break),” he said.
There is hope for the ski industry to keep skiers happy even in an era of unprecedented growth. But failing to address issues near and dear to skiers and snowboarders hearts, namely pricing and overcrowding, seems a risky proposition. Time will tell.
