Snow biz: Colorado's topsy-turvy ski industry proved this year that there's no business like snow business.

• Author: McMillan, John

Envy Colorado's $1.7 billion-a-year ski and snowboard business. Already it sets the "gold standard of the industry," John Frew, president of the industry organization Colorado Ski Country USA declares. Colorado's resorts are five times larger, on average, than the typical U.S. ski area. Each year, Colorado gains national market share. Next, the industry anticipates new demographic gains after years of stagnant statistics.

But fear exists for the downhill industry, too, as it negotiates the gnarly business terrain of 1998-99.

As the fine print on the back of every lift ticket warns, "skiing and snowboarding can be HAZARDOUS." Likewise with the business side of the business. The standard lift-ticket disclaimer warns of "the inherent risks of skiing, including..."

"... existing and changing conditions..."

This season's surprises began when a band of renegades put the torch to one of the ski industry's most time-honored traditions - premium pricing. Winter Park slashed the price of its season tickets by two-thirds, and the result was a new competitive paradigm. "It commoditized the ski industry," says Frew, who opposed the new $200-a-person "buddy pass" prices that spread to several other big resorts. "We had built up the perception for decades that the price is worth it."

"...collision with natural objects and man-made objects..."

Soon afterward, other fires burned atop the mountain, when Colorado's flagship resort, Vail, became the target of eco-terrorism. Soon plans were made to rebuild the Two Elks Lodge exactly as before, says Paul Witt, communications director for Vail Resorts.

Introducing a totally bogus idea...

Spokeswoman Joan Cristensen says Winter Park's new "buddy pass" was designed for a family of four, but it became too hard to define just what a family was. So any four people became eligible for the $800 season ticket. "We never anticipated the excitement that generated," she says.

Skiing magazine credited Idaho's Bogus Basin for inventing the $200 pass, but the bargain made a bigger splash when it landed in Colorado. "Winter Park really pulled the rug out from under the marketplace," says Breckenridge's spokesman, Jim Felton. Winter Park reportedly signed up 40,000 pass holders, up from 3,000 the previous year. Kevin Wright, of Loveland Ski Area, says, "We're waiting with bated breath to see how the buddy pass thing shakes out."

So far, area operators are keeping mum, waiting for rivals to show their hands. Frew predicts, "Next year, I believe they'll racket up the price, but offer gimmicks like new gear with a season ticket purchase." Christy...