Ski-area expansions and the bottom line: resort developments yield mixed reactions.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: RESORT REPORT

There are few touchier subjects in the Colorado business world than expansions at the state's ski areas. Many in the industry would rather stay mum on the dollar-and-cents decisions that go into an expansion of skiable terrain. but those Who will talk about it see tangible benefits.

Breckenridge Ski Resort, owned by Broomfield-based. Vail Resorts, is expanding by 550 acres on Peak 6 for 2013-14, and Monarch, Eldora, Wolf Creek and Crested Butte all have development plans on the drawing board, awaiting costly environmental studies and stamps of approval from the U.S. Forest Service. These moves of course all come along with multi-million dollar chairlift installations, glading and earthmoving operations, in the process stoking some serious environmental passions; let us not forget one of the last times Vail Resorts expanded in Colorado resulting in a high-profile arson by members of the Earth Liberation Front.

And if you manage to navigate this thorny labyrinth of politics and public opinion, you then need to sell a whole bunch of lift tickets, hotel rooms and cheeseburgers before there's a meaningful return on investment.

In his scathing 2002 critique of the corporate ski industry, "Downhill Slide," writer Hal Clifford posited that expansions were almost always follies from a business perspective. Expansions do nothing to grow the market--the number of skiers and snowboarders remains relatively static so resorts that expand are doing nothing but fighting for a bigger piece of the same size pie.

It's no surprise Vail Resorts declined an interview for this story. So did Hal Clifford, now a filmmaker in Boulder. Industry association Colorado 'Ski Country USA did not want to talk, either.

In most of the country, this is not even a story. The National Ski Areas Association says its most recent data pegged the average acreage of a ski area in the U.S. at 960 acres in 2011-12, up from 946 acres in 2008-09. Rocky Mountain West resorts in Colorado, Utah. Idaho. Wyoming and Montana edged up from 1,822 acres in 2U08-09 to 1,838 acres in 2011-12.

Of course, this data doesn't include expansions at Telluride, A-Basin, Breckenridge and Vail in the 2000s, or anything For the 70-plus years of the industry's history in the state. Cumulatively, Colorado has undoubtedly seen more ski-area expansions than anywhere else, not surprising given that the state dominates all others in terms of skier-days. The state's usual II million annual skier-days, give or take...