Vermont Ski Resort Investing $7M In Improvements Ahead Of Next Season

Ian Greenwood
·2 min read

Stratton Mountain, Vermont, announced yesterday that it plans to invest $6.9 million in improving the "guest and employee experience."

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Here are the improvements associated with the $6.9 million in capital expenditures.

First, Stratton has begun installing RFID gates on all of its major lifts. These RFID gates will be compatible with Season Passes, Day Tickets, and Ikon Passes.

In addition to the new RFID gates, Stratton is upgrading its Learning Zone, a portion of the mountain dedicated to beginner skiers. The resort plans to add three new surface carpet lifts and has begun regarding beginner terrain to provide "new levels of tiered progression for new skiers and snowboarders to start, learn, progress, and graduate from."

Other enhancements include new freestyle terrain park locations, a new Coca-Cola Snack Shack in the Tube Area, upgrades to the grooming fleet, fresh investments in snowmaking technology, and the construction of a climbing gym at Stratton's base. The climbing gym, aptly titled CLIMB, is slated for completion this summer.

I don't know if an internal memo went out between ski areas, but it seems like every ski resort in North America is throwing serious cash at guest experience improvements.

While it's easy to dog on resort owners and conglomerates -- are you a skier if you haven't complained about the management of your local ski area? Or at least called them greedy? -- I'm here for all the investments, particularly the new chairlifts many resorts are constructing.

Skiing, it seems, is only getting busier, and without infrastructure improvements, I imagine hitting the resort could become more traffic jam than enjoyable weekend activity.

To learn more about Stratton's recently announced investments, check out the resort's July 5th press release.

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