3-Phase "Renaissance Long Term Strategic Plan" Announced by Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc
On April 5th, 2016 Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc, the company that owns and operates Whistler Blackcomb Resort, announced their "long-term" strategic plan. Â We put quotes on that as their timeline is actually fairly aggressive.
The plan will be rolled out in 3-phases, with an emphasis on maintaining revenue as funding, and weather-proofing the resort.  While this sounds more like news relevants to investors, these key focuses matter to us as skiers as well.  Whistler is a world level ski facility, ranked number on in the west, so it's a place that we need to stick around.  The reality is, skiing is a business, so the health of the company matters in ensure the operations and conditions on the mountains are maintained for our enjoyment.
Also important to skiers, part of the investment is directly related to ski operations.
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Play Comes First
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The 4-Season Approach
A solid trend in the ski resort business is the focus on operating year-round. Â Many ski resorts around the world focus on being four-season destinations, ensuring that they have business year-round. Â A little known fact (at least within the ski community), Whistler is actually busier in the summer as a resort than they are in the winter. Â However, to date, beyond nature hikes and mountain biking, they have very limited revenue generating activities during the summer. Â This plan focuses a great deal on generating more off-season revenue.
Phase One: Better Skiing, New Waterpark, Mountain Coaster, Enhanced Summer Trails
The first phase of the plan sees the most dramatic and exciting enhancement of activities to enjoy.
New Chair Lift, Night Skiing & Snowmaking
Focused on the lower part of Blackcomb Mountain, in the beginners area, they want to make significant improvements to the area.
It starts with replacing Magic Chair with high-speed lift, allowing more people to upload faster, and also better connecting the upper and lower bases of Blackcomb Mountain.
This will also come with lights in this area to allow night skiing. Â It's both a significant challenge and danger to light a true mountain ski area. Â Besides the sheer amount of area to cover making it nearly impossible to do, extending ski operation hours also limits the amount of time groomers have to maintain trails. Â However, this one smaller controlled area, while not the full mountain experience, is still a better ski area on it's own than many ski resorts have at all.
They also want to invest significantly in snowmaking on Blackcomb Mountain. Â Being a two-mountain resort, Blackcomb is the one that has the extended ski season, while Whistler side shuts down early to make the switch to summer activities such as mountain biking.
However, weather still plays an important role, with the bottom 1/3rd or so of the mountain running out of snow and having to close earlier. Â So investing in more snowmaking on Blackcomb will allow for better and deeper bases near the bottom, extending the season for the lower third of the mountain.
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Watershed Waterpark
What appears to be the crown jewel of the first phase of the plan is the construction of "Watershed", a band new waterpark on the mountain. Â The Municipality of Whistler already has an amazing pool at the Meadowlands Community Centre. Â But that's meant more for residents of the area, and is about a 15 minute drive away from the resort. Â Every year during the Whistler Pride & Ski Festival, the facility hosts the very popular "Splash" pool party. Â The party so popular it sells out every year, and in 2014 festival organizers actually launched a new event in the village that runs at the same time to accommodate all participants who couldn't get into the pool party. Â (Side note: into pool parties or not, the second event is a total blast).
The Watershed project though is envisioned to be a legit waterpark, featuring slides, a 163,000 square foot facility featuring activities like waterslides, the latest deep water surf simulator technology, cliff jumping and rock climbing experiences, a wave pool, hot and cold pools, bowling, food & beverage facilities and retail amenities, as well as other weather-independent activities.  With no other facility of it's kind in the area, tt will on its own become a destination and reason to visit Whistler.
It's our secret hope that upon completion, the Whistler Pride & Ski Festival will move it's Splash party here.
Related: Epic Fail at Jay
Catch OUTSLOPES President Ian Watson's EPIC fail while trying the Wave Rider during the Big Gay Jay Weekend Waterpark Party at Jay Peak Resort.
There's Video!! Watch it [Â HEREÂ ].
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Mountain Activities
The views in Whistler are nothing short of spectacular. Â Why not enjoy them while doing something? Â Becoming a very popular trend (including a couple of good old fashioned April Fool's Jokes)
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE. Get ready for a wild ride!
Posted by RED Mountain Resort on Friday, April 1, 2016
Whistler's plans for a mountain coaster are REAL. Â The "Canopy Coaster" would be located at Upper Base II on Blackcomb mountain, wizzing through the glades above, with opportunities for spectacular views on the way down. Â This is bound to be a killer year-round experience.
There's also plans for a tree-tops ropes course, and keeping with the resort's commitment to the environment, electric powered (as opposed to gas powered) ATVs and Snowmobiles for kids.
To round out Phase One of the plan, Major improvements will be made to existing sightseeing, hiking and mountain biking experiences, with the addition of a suspension bridge and viewing platforms at the peak of Whistler Mountain, and an expansion of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park into the Creekside zone, including 50 kilometers of new downhill mountain biking trails.
Phase One is expected to cost around $100 million, and expected to generate significant additional revenue for the resort to not only cover those costs, but also kick-start funding for the other two Phases.
Phase Two: The Boring Stuff to prepare for Phase Three
Blackcomb Mountain is a bit unique in that it actually has two base levels.  Base 2, or Upper Base, provides a second stop for the Excalibur Gondola to pickup more passengers.  Also the proposed general location for Watershed, Phase 2 includes a bunch of upgrades and enhancements to the Upper Base area including a new day-lodge and ski school to be build into the Watershed project, and additional (much needed) parking with the construction of a 2 storey parking structure.
Real Estate & Accommodations
As part of this phase, there's also plans to build 60 high-end ski-in/out townhomes. Â With the existing real estate market in the Whistler area having been highly criticised for being overly inflated price wise, pricing a number of local residents and employees out of the market, the addition of more high-end real estate could be a challenging sell. Â However, it's clear the market is there, and this provides a much needed cash infusion to help spur the rest of the project along. Â Also, the addition of more high-end real estate could help ease or slow the market in other areas by increasing inventory to those looking for their resort get-away property. Â Or it could continue to make Whistler a high-end destination, making it more difficult for middle-low income people to survive in the area.
Something To Watch
Conspicuously missing from he proposed plan is the addition of significant hotel inventory.  Which leads us to be somewhat concerned about prices for travelers.
Part of the Phase 3 "Luxury Real Estate" plans do include a new botique hotel, but "boutique"Â generally translates to expensive, smaller, and exclusive.
Key periods (such as holidays and special events) already see hotel accommodations across the resort sold out. Â It's not uncomon for every property to be sold out during the week of Whistler Pride for example.
With all the improvements to infrastructure and additional destination activities, with the intent to further increase travel to the resort, basic business concepts of supply and demand come into play, and we could see a significant increase to hotel rates at the resort, making a trip to Whistler out of reach for many travelers.
Further to this, there appears to be a very deliberate general shift to becoming a more "luxury" destination. Â Which is great for those traveling with money, but limits the market, and restricts more normal people from visiting the world-class resort.
It will be of interest to watch hotel rates over the next few years as "Renaissance" unfolds.
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Phase 3: Revitalizing the Upper Village Base Area
As the final phase of Renaissance is many years off, the needs are likely to change somewhat by the time it starts to be implemented.  But the focus of this phase is a major estimated $140 - $150 million investment in revitalizing the Blackcomb base area in the Upper Village.
Currently this is expected to include an upgraded day lodge and skiers’ plaza, and a new snow school facility.  Already home to the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, one of the Resort's most luxury brand hotels, there are also plans to develop more luxury real estate in that upper village area.
The primary motivation for phase three is to transform Blackcomb’s base area into "a vibrant, upscale village community."
It's also anticipated that phase three will include major on-mountain improvements such as lift upgrades.  There's also talk of the development of an indoor action sports training facility which would be designed to expand the Company’s youth development programs in skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking.
Learn More
Visit Whistler Blackcomb's Renaissance Project Website for more details about the plan.
Title photo credit: Water Park via photopin (license)