Top Five Fridays - February 17, 2017 // Ski Industry News
#1: Looking to Carpool to the Mountain? There's an App for That:
Image via ShareLift on Facebook
Remember those days in college when it was a struggle to find a ride to the mountain? How about that time you got up late and had to drive yourself to the resort solo? Or, maybe you're new to town, want to cut down on gas, don't have a car, and/or just want to make some new ski friends. Regardless of the circumstances, I think most of us can agree that there have been times where we wish we could've carpooled to the local resort. Aidan Welter and Sam Kern, students at Montana State University and co-founders of ShareLift, have also felt that way and so they decided to do something about it. This year, the team (along with a number of other players and investors) launched the ShareLift app in an effort to make carpooling to the resort more streamlined and practical. Users of this app who plan to drive to a resort can make a post with information such as where they're going, when they expect to arrive and depart from the resort, and how many empty seats their vehicle has. Potential riders can then scroll through a list of drivers going where they'd like to ski, select an option that works, and even chip in for gas money. The idea seems particularly useful for college ski towns such as Burlington, VT where there are more skiers commuting to the resorts on the weekends than there are cars on campus. Currently, ShareLift is being tested for skiers at Bridger Bowl, Big Sky, and a selection o ski areas near Salt Lake City, with more locations coming soon. If you're interested in checking the app out, you can head on over to their website and sign yourself up.
#2: X-Games Real Ski Competition is ON!
Sure, this year's X-Games events at Aspen, CO have come to pass, but that doesn't mean this year's games are over. This week, the X-Games Real Ski 2017 contest launched with 6 top skiers competing for the gold medal in the world of street skiing. So how does it work? Well, six of the best urban skiers in the world have put together a highlight reels comprised of their best footage from the previous year. This year's competitors are Will Wesson, Tom Wallisch, Henrik Harlaut, LJ Strenio, Khai Krepela, and Magnus Graner. Sound like a heavy roster? It is, and all of the edits are absolutely mind blowing. They're currently being hosted on the X-Games website where anyone with an internet connection can watch them and place a daily vote for their favorite edit. The winner of the contest will be decided by who has the most votes by 2/16/17 at 11:59 PM, and will be announced the following day. You can also catch these edits on TV during and hour long "World of X Games" special that will premier on ABC on Saturday, February 25th. With such a high level of talent amongst these skiers, there's really no clear choice and we wish all of the athletes the best of luck. That said, we've gotta pull for LJ Strenio, our hometown hero.
#3: Outdoor Retailer Tradeshow Looks to Leave Utah :
Image: OR Press Release
Just a week removed from the news that Patagonia had pulled out of the OR Show in Salt Lake City, comes word that the event itself will be looking to take its business elsewhere as well. According to a press release directly from OR, event organizer along with representatives from the Outdoor Industry Association, Patagonia, The North Face, and REI held a teleconference yesterday with Utah Governor Herbert. Presumably, this call was in regards to Herbert's desire to revoke Bear Ears National Monument's status as protected land as well as his broader environmental protection policies. Judging by the OR press release, one would have to determine that Herbert didn't offer any olive branches, resulting in the OR Show's decision to take its business elsewhere in future years.
This is pretty big news for a lot of reasons. First, it's pretty incredible that some of the outdoor industries largest brands joined together to send a message regarding the outdoor industry's collective view regarding the protection of the environment and natural resources. At a time when environmental protections are likely to be peeled back, having an entire industry unified in opposition could be huge. Second, the message sent by this is, "if you're not going to protect national parks, we're not giving you our business," is a statement that will be hard by more than just Utah's governor. As the OR Show looks for new venues, you can bet that potential suitors will look to keep their environmental policies clean and make decisions that promote environmental protections. That brings us to the third major point here: Salt Lake City just lost out on an estimated $45 million annual revenue that results from the show and the 40,000 visitors that flock to the city for it. That's a pretty big chunk of change, and a big reason for suitor cities to do their best to host the OR Show.
Click here to read the press release from the OR Show. To find out more about how the departure will directly impact Salt Lake City, check out this excellent article from the Salt Lake Tribune.
#4: Red Mountain Crowdfunding Effort Proves Successful:
We first shared the story of RED Mountain's crowd funding effort back in August when they'd just launched their campaign and were mostly just gauging interest as to whether or not they could successfully share $10 million worth of shares. The campaign itself is a pretty ingenious way to "outsmart" the trend of conglomeration within the ski industry. Seeing the writing on the wall, the owners of RED Mountain decided this Fall that they'd try to sell their resort to their own customers by selling off chunks of equity, rather than wait for the all but certain buyout from a larger company like Vail or Intrawest. Now, just under a half year later, RED Mountain has successfully hit the 10 mill mark and is poised to proceed to phase 2 which is the official equity offering. Before that happens, the company has to get all of their legal and accounting documents in order, a process that they expect to be completed by Fall 2017. In the meantime, RED Mountain is still accepting equity reservations right up until phase 2 is initiated. For more information about the RED Mountain campaign, check out their page on Startengine.com.
#5: And Now, Your Edit of the Week:
Bonus: