The season has ended... Boo...! But to recycle a joke from last year... Only 183 days until season starts! Yay! Actually I have already commenced training for next season - two heavy snow days at Biggie equates to two treks up the mountain... I tell you the lifts are easier.Lets talk about lifts and lift passes for a minute.
At Big White there are what 12 chair lifts including t-bar and gondola? Not counting the various carpets and tube park lifts. And what does a chair lift cost? Well lets think for a second about what is included...
Site Planning.
- Where will it go.
- What is the likely demand.
- How long will it be.
- What land prep will be required.
- Tree considerations.
- Tower placements.
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| I know, let's add a lift... should be easy. |
Design and Engineering.
- How many seats per chair.
- How many chairs... or gondolas...
- Express or fixed.
- How long.
- Stress loads on cable.
- How big a drive motor/bullwheel.
- Electric powered with back up diesel? How do we get power to the site.
- Tower design - each one is specific to the site location and calculated loads.
Build.
- Construction window. Remember this is a ski resort, in the mountains, with very challenging access. Pouring concrete is not like grabbing a bag of cement from Home Depot. Helicopters...? Yes, commonly know to be cheap... not.
- Weather conditions - did I say ski resort? Snow? Flying helicopters... carrying the light fluffy concrete stuff...?
- Labor costs? This is specialist stuff, flying guys in from Europe or wherever...
And they are just the items off the top of my head (and as you know it is not an intelligent head). I have read ballpark figures ranging from $300k (really...? maybe a magic carpet) to $20m. I imagine most at Big White are in the range of $2m - $8m. And we have 12, go on do the math, I will wait...
Oh... you're back? Well done.
So you come to Biggie, sit on one of 12 major lifts and you pay what $700+ for a season's pass? 125 days of lift rides - $5.60 per day? And how many times per day? 10... 20... 30... more? Potentially, at 6 minutes per ride over a 11.5 hour day (including night skiing) and 6 minute ski down you could do 57.5 runs a day. Fatigue may play at some point...
So the extreme maximum potential is about 10 cents per ride, on a $5m piece of equipment. Not too bad eh? Do you know how far I can go in my big diesel truck on 10 cents? About 200m... and I have to drive it... and it did not cost $5m. But I can take it anywhere... but I don't have a choice of 12... not sure where I am going with this... better stop.
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| Look how cute... |
But wait, there's more (they should use this on tv commercials...) what about operating costs?
- Liftys? Three minimum per lift, 8-12 hours per day?
- Power costs?
- Maintenance?
- Replacement costs?
- Insurance?
And the snow? It does not groom itself. How many machines? At how much each? Running how many hours per day? A Piston Bully 600 to buy - $600k? Then maintenance, operator, fuel...
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| $600k... also available in red. |
As you can see, your 10 cents per ride is pretty good value for money. And is cheaper than any other major Canadian resort. I made that last bit up... well some of it, Whistler's cheapest season pass is $1400... "really Mr Pickles?" why yes, yes it is.
So, if you are coming to Canada for a season and want the best conditions and be able to ride the chairlift for just $.10c a pop... Big White is a pretty darn tooting good choice (no, I am not American, I just felt the 'darn tooting' was a good phrase... not that I know what tooting means... if anyone can enlighten my four readers...
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| Worse tenant than my dogs... |
Sólido Properties occasionally writes drivel... well, on a good day anyway... We (poorly) manage numerous properties at Big White and our principal (me) has been described as having 'questionable morals' by Lucy Gilbert who was once my second best tenant... but, was recently downgraded... by everyone... and both my dogs... who incidentally don't even pay rent.
