The three ski areas that still remain closed to snowboarders were joined
by a fourth not too long ago, Taos ski valley in New Mexico. Taos was a
notorious skier-only ski area, which residents felt was hurting the
economy of Taos as a whole. Shops were suffering and the ski area was
not making the profit that they wanted. With a growing number of
snowboarders, these three ski areas that do not allow snowboarders are
going to take a huge hit when the market becomes snowboarder dominated.
Other ski areas that only allow skiers should look at the numbers that
Taos put up after the decision to allow snowboarders. Once Taos was open
to snowboarders, they immediately reaped the benefits. They saw the
largest number of visitors between Christmas and New Year's, since 1997.
Taos also had the biggest number of visitors during Martin Luther King
Jr. weekend, since 1994. Adriana Blake, Taos ski Valleys marketing
director and granddaughter of the founder of Taos, said, "Without
snowboarding, we'd be down about 10 percent overall." Everyone enjoyed
Taos opening up to snowboarders, the economic impact from this event was
huge, and Taos was getting more families visiting the ski area, who all
bought stuff from local shops, had to pay to spend the night in a
hotel, and directly assisted in Taos from hitting the depression.
The addition of snowboarders at Taos made it so families who had a child
that snowboarded could go as a family now. With more guests visiting
the mountain, it meant more money for Taos, and helped Taos stay strong
and not be affected by the depression. Even though we are out of the
depression, it would still be ludicrous in my opinion to turn down what
is almost certainly a larger revenue stream with the addition of
snowboarders. From the example of Taos and the instant boost they saw in
their income, I believe that all other ski areas that don't allow
snowboarders should open up, for the sake of their own profit,
especially with the number of people snowboarding on the rise.
Patrick O'Hern
Albuquerque, NM
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