Eaglecrest Ski Area’s General Manager Matt Lillard gave an overview of Juneau’s latest ski season to the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.
“We are really starting to make inroads with the Southeast area,” Lillard said.
In response to an increase in almost every user group, Eaglecrest is seeking $6.8 million for a new learning center and renovation to its main lodge.
“We saw a great increase in our key revenue streams,” Lillard said.
Lift ticket sales increased from the previous season and season pass sales went up $75,000.
“We’ve increased the number of people who use it regularly,“ Lillard said. “But also the people who may just want to give it a try.”
Lillard gave credit for the increase in traffic to last winter’s bucketloads of snow and the recent addition of two new chair lifts, Black Bear and Porcupine.
The infrastructure investment is “really starting to reap its rewards,” Lillard said. “People are using and enjoying the new editions.”
Eaglecrest staff taught more than 4,500 lessons, Lillard said. Its rental center revenue increased revenue 37 percent over last winter.
“A huge increase in the amount of rental gear,” Lillard said.
Cross country skiers also used the Eaglecrest area more, Lillard said. Eaglecrest sold 500 Nordic day tickets, “a doubling over the year before,” Lillard said. The resort plans to make small strides into renting that equipment in 2012 and 2013, he said.
With this growth, Eaglecrest was able to recover 70 percent of its costs, Lillard said. The resort’s goal is to offer snow sports at a affordable price to Juneau residents and visitors.
Eaglecrest supported 100 students in its Books to Boards program. Certain students receive free lessons, skiing or snowboarding, and free bus rides up to the mountain.
“These students visit the mountain a thousand times, he said.” “It can really be a transitional program,” he added.
Fifth-grade students can look forward to free Nordic and downhill lift tickets in the upcoming 2012-2013 season, and this summer Black Bear will get new lift chairs, he said.
“We’re getting away from the center pole,” Lillard said. “So you can all look the same way and not get hit in the head.”
The Hooter Chair Lift will lose its diesel engine for an electric motor, reducing noise and operation costs, Lillard said.
Lillard said Eaglecrest is looking for funds to expand to meet growing demand.
“We are simply running out of space,” Lillard said.
Eaglecrest’s base lodge was built in 1976 and renovated in the 1990s.
One potential source of funds to build a new facility at the ski area is from the City and Borough of Juneau’s 1 percent sales tax.
The proposed Learning Center would house Eaglecrest’s snow sport rental department, retail and repair shop, ticket window, classroom, staff offices, restrooms and adaptive learning facilities.
“We want it to serve as the go-to location,” Lillard said.
Lillard said the new facility would allow youth direct access to the nearest lift without having to walk up a hill.
“Hauling kids and gear up a hill tires them out and doesn’t start off to having a great day,” Lillard said.
In the second phase of construction at Eaglecrest, space vacated by the rental shop and store will be renovated to improve the lodge for hosting events.
It will also give 5-year-olds in the Wee Ski program a place to relax.
“They need a place to go inside and have a hot chocolate,” Lillard said. “We are looking forward to more space for the kids.”
Room will also open up for the ski school with a new building, he said.
“They’ve been stuck in a small closet for some time,” Lillard said.
And the resort will have space for more rental lockers.
“We can get that waiting list down to next to nothing,” Lillard said.
A third phase would expand the upper level of the base lodge, increase the food area and food offerings and improve space for events such as weddings.
“We want to get more events up to the mountain,” Lillard said.
Lillard said Eaglecrest could take in $151,000 in additional revenue with the new learning center.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (24)
Add commentI like it
Forward thinking by the manager. Well done.
What a great resource for Juneau. Eaglecrest sets Juneau apart. But it's always bothered me that this resource sits pretty much unused all summer. If the lodge was upgraded, it could host events like conferences, training, and off-site retreats.
Loss
Still operating at a significant loss every year. Not saying the it isn't good for the city, but at what cost? $500k? $750k a year?
They've already done some
They've already done some events up there, but the facility, as it currently is configured, doesn't work very well for private events. It also has a very industrail (maybe the wrong word) feel to it. More like a cafeteria than a meeting space. But I think a lot of what is coming from Eaglecrest management these days is fantastic. The mountain has never been so user friendly for first-timers. The new Black Bear chair is probalby the best investment Eaglecrest has made that I can think of in the past 25 years, and their beginner programs are doing a great job of keeping kids excited about skiing. That old Platter lift was horrible.
Kudos to Matt and the gang!
Dystopian Rants To Come
The local dystopians must not be up yet to write their rants about a jewel of Juneau getting public money.
Great with snow..otherwise not
The lodge is old-school but it functions as a lodge. It would be nice to take a chair up in summer and hike a few ridge trails.
Lat, the staff up there doesn't want activities or usage off-season! They get paid to ride a desk and plan, think etc. Why would they add to their work load?
We went up with Gastineau Elementary kids to pick blueberries a few years ago and the staff was not happy or particularly nice, snapped at kids, asked them not to stomp in the stairs because it was "loud in their offices" (as if a 7 year old kid is louder than an adult clomping in ski boots?) and generally gave bad customer/community service.
I got the feeling when the area closes they just want folks to stay away.
But we buy passes every year! We love to ski.
Summer Rental @ EC
I attended a function @ EC recently.
The cost was $750 for three hours. The avilable room for rental is the first room-it does not even have a view of the mountain.
Cost/Benefit Analysis
If they can quantify the benefits and they outweigh the costs (and the residents of the CBJ want to pay the costs) then I say go for the improvements. A well rounded facility is good for Juneau. A venue that capitalizes on Juneau's beauty and "isolation" should be something shared responsibly. It would be great if the JCVB would promote EC as a year round facility thereby promoting capital improvements that would serve this purpose. Even a B&B or some sort of lodging within walking distance of the lodge would be fantastic!
Great winter activity. The
Great winter activity. The season passes are a steal/deal.
With massive tourism, find a way to monetize the resources in the summer (biking trails, hiking, sightseeing, world's longest zip line, chairlift rides or something).
Really strong top line growth in rentals (likely due to great equipment and good staff, too).
Be careful.
I like to ski, too, but let's remember we have a declining population here in Southeast.
How long will it REALLY take to recoup a certain percentage of the new Learning Center?
Sometimes sticking with the basics is the way to go.
I'm just wary of going luxurious in today's economy.
30year...I was in Seattle
30year...I was in Seattle back in February and saw a commercial on TV that was a winter ski promotion for Juneau/Eaglecrest that I think was done by JCVB. Nice ad, but the reality is that Juneau is a really hard sell to people in the northwest, who are going to have the most affordable means of getting here. With so many other resort destinations in the Northwest, our little community has a lot of competition. I know we do get a handful of the true, hardcorp skier/snowboarder bum types, and virtually every magazing and ski snowboard video production crew sends athletes up here for filming each year.
Luxury? When was the last
Luxury? When was the last time the CBJ did anything that would be considered luxury? I think the closest thing we have to luxury that is a CBJ project is the new swimming pool.
Fisher, did the EC staff know
Fisher, did the EC staff know that you guys were bringing a group of kids to the mountain? Jeffra and the crew up there are generally pretty easy to work with, but there are often a number of work projects happening on the mountain and they need to know if they're going to have to keep an eye out for a gaggle of munchkins.
@guru
Yes, it was prearranged. They are just used to a certain type of crowd - and it's not 90 kids ages 5-8. There was just not a lot of pre-planning that went into it. They were welcoming beforehand and told the teachers we were all welcome.
But when we all got up there, we could feel the regret as the three adults up there stalked around frowning and snapped at the kids, who were being very well-behaved and respectful.
Changing the lodge to a user-friendly place for the community would require training the staff on how to pre-arrange areas, how to specify rules beforehand instead of stalking around telling users, "Don't go there. Don't sit there. Walk quietly on the stairs." It was just not a positive experience for the school and as far as I know, the school hasn't returned.
Also, the DZ kids are no longer going up for ski days, which was a long tradition. I don't know why.
Guru...thanks for the confirmation.
Glad to know that JCVB is marketing winter activities, but summer time promotion, if there was something to promote, could be a target market. The JCVB has focused a lot of their marketing efforts to the independent traveler. Perhaps an RV Park (in that huge parking lot that is empty all summer) or other revenue producing opportunity could be taken advantage of, rather than having this facility sit dormant for the majority of the year. The JCVB could start out by hosting a round table discussion with their partnering public facility - EC. BTW, do any of you recall the attempt to bid for the Arctic Winter Games? I don't think EC would cut the mustard.
Best Instructors !
In my and my child's experience, the instructors at Eaglecrest are second to none. I have been so impressed by their passion for skiing and boarding as well as their professionalism.
It would be nice for the rental shop and ski school to have a separate and much larger space - those spots get super crowded (although not with me now that I finally have my own gear!).
It sounds like a "build it and they will come" scenario they're proposing. I hope so as I really enjoy Eaglecrest in both winter and summer.
Underutilized
They really need to have more summer activities up there. Run a chairlift so mountain bikers can take their bikes up and ride down. This has worked well for Crystal Mt. in Washington. Let in some other activities like the guy who wanted to have ATV tours up the mountain. Yes the greenies sneer at the thought of motorized activities, but lets get some revenue coming in so the place isn't such a liability.
Resort?
I saw the term "resort" being used...
I don't think the Eaglecrest Ski Area is a resort is it???
Don't you need a few more amenities before you can call yourself a "resort"???
30.....Regarding Arctic
30.....Regarding Arctic Winter Games....Juneau doesn't have the facilities needed to host an event of that size yet. If I recall correctly, one of the issues was lack of ice for ice skating, hockey and other events requiring a clean ice sheet. I think hotel capacity was another issue, among a long list of shortcoming for an event of that size.
Bandit...there have been talks in the past of ways to keep a lift running in the summer. There are a number of issues that need to be resolved before they can run the chair without snow. Right now, anybody wanting to get to the top of the mountain would have to make their way up to the bottom of the Ptarmagin chair, which can be quite a hike for a lot of people. The chairs aren't detachable, so they would either have to run it very slow or stop everytime somebody wanted to get on or off. They would also need heavy traffic numbers on the mountain to keep rates reasonable. We're already paying $47/day (I think that's what I paid last year) in the winter when you might have more than a thousand people on the chair. Maybe more sustainable hydro power on the mountain could be a source of affordable electricity to run the new chair lift motors.
Form a Co-op
Skiing is an elitist sport that many people can't afford. It should not be supported by tax dollars. Only 5% of the population of Juneau uses it regularly and 75% never ski at Eaglecrest.
The regular loyal users should have to cover any loss from the previous year or they shouldn't open. Also there should be no year round employees at any business that is open only 90 days a year.
Big Picture
Eaglecrest is an AMAZING winter sports resource for an isolated community of this size. When you think of how much it means to everyone who gets to enjoy it, and the ones yet to enjoy it....well it seems to me it is one of the best winter options we have in Juneau. I love how _any_ fifth grader can apply & get a free season pass. Hopefully 2012 will produce many elite skiers & boarders.
Ba, ha, ha......
Juneau has a never ending money problem.....
As you may remember....
Eaglecrest did try a summer chairlift operation, hooked into the cruise ship market - for one, maybe two years. Anyone remember the bubble chairs? It wasn't lucrative.
Eaglecrest is the only CBJ activity-based operation that pays over 70% of it's own operating costs. The rest of Parks and Rec (ice rink, valley pool, etc.) doesn't even come close.
So for those pushing summer activities, remember that those come at great cost, including insurance, staff, emergency crews, etc. etc.
NO
Not a cent until multiple use is implemented, meaningfully.
Swimmergirl
The privately owned zipline company at Eaglecrest is doing very well, operating with a nice profit margin. Multi-use can thrive, it just needs to be well planned.