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1980s the first commercially produced mountain bikes   providing the activity but only 7 percent of Midwestern ski
              became widely available and the popularity exploded. Born   resorts offering it (figure 1). Overall only about 7 percent of
              out of the popularity of cross-country mountain biking, ski   Canadian ski resorts have lift-accessed downhill mountain
              resorts began offering lift-accessed downhill mountain bik-  biking. Clearly, the potential remains high for expansion of
              ing in the early 1990s. At first only a few ski areas had the   downhill mountain biking at North American ski resorts.
              activity. These early pioneers had to invent and refine trail   In terms of revenue, downhill mountain biking can rep-
              design, park features, operating procedures, and instruc-  resent an important component of total summer revenue.
              tion techniques. Each of these elements also needed to keep   Currently, the average share of summer revenue attributable
              up with rapidly evolving consumer preferences and bike   to downhill mountain biking is only 3 percent, though it is
              technology.                                            more than 20 percent of summer revenue at a few ski areas.
                 Today downhill mountain biking has become more      From these numbers, it is clear that the opportunity exists
              common, but its period of greatest growth undoubtedly   to increase revenue and margin contribution from moun-
              lies ahead. As of the summer of 2017, only about 17 per-  tain biking.
              cent of US ski resorts offered lift-accessed downhill moun-  One significant positive for increasing participa-
              tain biking. However, significant regional variation exists,   tion in downhill mountain biking is that lift ticket pric-
              with almost 39 percent of Rocky Mountain ski resorts   ing for the sport is variable enough to provide admission

                FIGURE 1
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                FIGURE 1
                PERCENT OF SKI AREAS OFFERING DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKING BY KOTTKE REGION,
                FOR CANADA & NORTH AMERICA, SUMMER 2017
                      45%
                      40%                                                   OVERALL, 16.7% INCIDENCE OF
                                                                            OFFERING IN THE U.S.
                      35%
                      30%
                      25%
                      20%
                      15%
                      10%
                      5%      1 2%       17%          7%         39%         19%         1 1%        7%         14%
                      0%
                           N O RTH E AST  SOUTH E AST  M I DWEST  ROC KY MTN  PAC I FIC  PAC I FIC  CANADA     N O RTH
                                                                          SOUTHWEST   N O RTHWEST             AM E RICA
                     Source: Summer 2017, mtbparks.com and individual resort’s publically accessible websites
               FIGURE 2
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                FIGURE 2
                PRICE OF SINGLE DAY OF LIFT ACCESS FOR DOWNHILL BIKING, SUMMER 2017
                    $60                                                                                           $60
                    $50                                                                                           $50
                    $40                                                                                           $40
                    $30                                                                                           $30
                    $20                          $7 MIN         $36 AVG        $56 MAX                            $20
                    $10                                                                                           $10
                    $0                                                                                            $0
                    Source: Summer 2017, mtbparks.com and individual resort’s publically accessible websites
              28  |  NSAA JOURNAL  |  SUMMER 2018
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