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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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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
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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