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Rolling Out The WHITE CARPET Alicia Etcheverry

Private full-mountain rentals are all the rage BY C OLIN BANE

hat skier or rider doesn’t dream of having an entire The full-mountain mid-week rental is the new stadium box
Wmountain set aside for a private adventure with suite for a more active audience, without the boring baseball
family and friends? As demand for mid-week full mountain game on in the background.
rentals increases, the growing market for such an experi- While Turner Mountain markets the private hill rental
ence has been transforming the business for some smaller program on its website—and the rental option at Turner
ski areas previously limited to weekend operations. has had some positive press (including an article in Skiing
Turner Mountain Ski Area near Libby, Mont., was among Magazine a few years ago)—the increased interest is mainly
the first in the country to offer full mountain rentals, nearly due to repeat business and word of mouth, said Zwang.
15 years ago. Requests to rent Turner Mountain exploded this Much of the business is from the same groups that are start-
year, to the point that they actually had to turn people away, ing to come back year after year.
said Bruce Zwang, president of the board of directors for the “They’re just amazed by the mountain and the experi-
Kootenai Winter Sports Ski Education Foundation, which ence of having it available as a private rental,” Zwang said.
operates this smaller 501(c)(3) non-profit ski area. “Sometimes they’re booking for two, three, even four days
“[Full mountain] rentals have really taken us from a at a time, and they’re now booking so far in advance that it’s
three-day-a-week operation to running four, five, six, some- been a godsend in terms of evening out our good years versus
times seven days a week,” Zwang said. “It’s been a real shot bad years, and good days versus bad days.”
in the arm for the mountain and also for our local partners, Exclusive rentals at Turner Mountain start at $3,750 for
hotels, and restaurants. They just love it.” 100 skiers or snowboarders, with equipment rentals, lessons,
And Turner Mountain is a great fit for smaller groups and food service available as additional options to generate more
and events. It has one double chairlift and 22 trails, with revenue. The program has been popular with corporate clients,
about 60 percent of its terrain listed as black diamonds school groups, and wedding groups that rent out the mountain
and more than 2,000 feet of vertical in the rugged Purcell all day, followed by the wedding ceremony at the summit.
Mountains of northwestern Montana, making it an ideal “I think rental customers are mostly just groups of
gem of a mountain for hard-core skiers and boarders. friends looking to have the place to themselves or to host an
Ski areas have long known that “you don’t build a church event,” Zwang said. “In February we had a group of carving
for Easter Sunday.” In other words, you will often max out snowboarders here who booked the place for their Montucky
the number of guests you can squeeze into a mountain lodge Clear CUT event, and this year they extended it to four days.
over lunch, or a parking lot on a powder weekend. These They were in heaven. It snowed every night they were here—
all-mountain rentals are now a clever way to monetize the 24 inches in one week—and they had it all to themselves.
slow days—the early-week periods where retirees used to have They’ve already booked for a four-day event next February.”
the mountain to themselves. Bachelor parties, 50th birthday Other ski areas have developed similar rental programs,
events, and private corporate outings are just a few of the mar- including Pico Mountain in Vermont, with nearly 500 skiable
keting angles many ski areas are embracing for this concept. acres, 57 trails, and 7 chairlifts. According to Rob Megnin,

36 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2019