Tough Sledding in California : Ski Industry Here in Fight With Out-of-State Areas That Aim to Siphon Off Its Growth

Leo D. Handfelt, a 34-year-old Los Angeles geotechnical engineer, has been skiing since he was about 9 years old. He and his wife, Mary, who works in video marketing, have been averaging three ski trips a year, but they probably won’t keep the same pace in the coming year. “We’re pregnant,” he said. “I think we will be grounded for a while.”

The couple expect to eventually return to the slopes, but “we may have to take turns going out,” Handfelt said. Child care rather than family finances will be the main issue, he figures, but, “If you ask me again next year, I may say I can never afford to go skiing again.”

With their peers in the “thirtysomething” generation, the Handfelts flocked to ski resorts in the 1960s and 1970s, fueling an explosive growth in the industry. But now that they are older, family concerns and other interests are competing for their time and money.

In recent years, the industry has virtually stopped growing nationally--in part because its traditional base of young adults is a smaller pool in the post-baby boom era.

Now in the middle of its crucial Christmas period, ski industry representatives in California are elated with the generous coating of powder on the mountains from recent snowstorms. But they are also deeply concerned about the future.

The growth of skiing in California has also slowed considerably since the 1970s, but the rate of growth is nevertheless slightly higher than the national average in terms of the increases in the number of Californians who ski.

One problem for the California industry, said Bob Roberts, executive director of the Sierra Ski Areas Assn., is that out-of-state ski areas are vigorously trying to siphon off California’s growth. As a result, California operators find themselves in a marketing war for the loyalty of the nation’s strongest skiing customer base.

“All of the areas are really out there marketing,” Roberts said. “They are asking themselves, ‘What do I have to do to broaden the market?’ They weren’t marketing people 10 years ago. If we had snow and Caltrans kept the roads open, millions of people would show up every weekend. That’s all changed.”

Pam Murphy, marketing manager for California’s Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, said one necessary change is to put more effort into getting women, children and senior citizens on the slopes. “That’s where the growth is,” she said. Although men still make up the majority of skiers, she added, the marketing campaign that focuses solely on the “single, 25-year-old male having a hot time skiing is a thing of the past.”

Nationally, ski visits in the 1980s have hovered between 51 million and 54 million a year, Roberts said. As the representative of California’s 38 ski areas, he serves on a task force put together by the National Ski Areas Assn. and Ski Industries of America to study and propose solutions to the industry’s slow growth. Together the two associations represent an industry worth about $3 billion a year.

A 1982 A. C. Nielsen skiing survey found that 8.4% of the U.S. population were skiers. Most industry officials say that base has grown only about 1% a year.

A study of the industry’s growth trend over the past nine years shows “an average annual growth rate of around 3%,” said Kathe Dillman, the national ski areas association marketing and public relations director. Year-to-year comparisons are misleading, Dillman said, because of weather variations that affect year-to-year attendance.

One reason the current growth rate looks unimpressive is that it is a comparison to double-digit growth in the boom years, when expansion of air access to ski resorts, advancement in snow-making technology and better highways spurred growth, she said.

Roberts estimated that the growth of the number of skiers in California is 4% to 6% a year. The state is also unique, he explained, in that 85% of skiers arriving at the state’s resorts come by automobile. “Colorado attracts people from places like Atlanta and Dallas who are dependent upon air transportation. If something happens to the economy in Dallas and Atlanta, they feel it in Colorado,” he said.

The critical mass of millions of people within driving distance of ski areas is a major reason that California is the nation’s largest ski market. The strong economy is another factor, Roberts added.

That also helps California skiers to be extremely mobile, prompting a good response for out-of-state resorts that have launched cut-rate ski packages with the airlines to entice California skiers. Utah and British Columbia are advertising heavily in California this season, and Steamboat Springs, Colo., is trying to tempt Californians with promises of ice-driving lessons, hot-air ballooning and backcountry treks on a snow tractor, as well as skiing.

And California ski area operators are fighting back, Roberts said. As in other states, making skiing economical for the customer is a major issue. The U.S. golfing industry went through a similar experience of slow growth and concluded that it needed to build more golf courses, he added. “In our case, we probably need to devise a more economical way to get people to the mountain.”

For a limited time this winter, Californians who test-drive a Chrysler Jeep Eagle are eligible for a discount booklet with over “$1,000 of ski savings,” he said, explaining that the joint promotion with Chrysler is part of an ongoing “Ski California” campaign launched by the trade association. California resorts are also promoting learn-to-ski packages at discount prices for lessons, equipment rentals and lift tickets. Several other areas have joint promotions with major supermarkets offering discount lift tickets.

While concerned about long-term prospects, the California industry has high hopes for the current season. If Christmas week meets expectations, attendance at the state’s resorts will approach the industry’s record 7 million during the 1984-85 season, Roberts said. A lack of snow hurt attendance during the past three years.

This year most of the state’s areas reported strong Thanksgiving attendance, he said. Though not expected to break records, “this year is shaping up nicely.”