Diamond Peak
Diamond Peak shatters last January's numbers!
It wasn’t long after the turn of the new year when Diamond Peak staff stopped making snow in anticipation of getting a very favorable snowpack from the early January winter storm.
Little did they know it was just the beginning of a promising 2008.
Diamond Peak officials said this week that skier visits, snowfall numbers and revenue skyrocketed in January, and in some cases, those statistics were higher than ever before.
“I’ve never seen this much snowfall this early,” said Ed Youmans, general manager at Diamond Peak. “I mean, we shut down our snowmaking machines after Jan.1, and as far as I know, that’s never happened that early at Diamond Peak before, ever.”
After a few early-to-mid-January storms pelted Incline with several feet of snow, the resort sat with a base depth of 50 inches, and a peak depth of 85 inches. Those numbers were as of Jan. 17.
Now, a little more than a half-month later, the numbers have increase by a combined 39 percent, as current depth numbers, as of Tuesday, are 85 inches at the base and 135 inches at the peak.
Compared to last year, the mountain is doing almost three times as better in terms of snowfall. As of Feb. 5, 2007, Diamond Peak had just 29 inches at its base and 51 inches at the peak.
The increased snowpack also has done wonders for the mountain’s population, said Kayla Anderson, Incline Village General Improvement District marketing coordinator. As of Sunday, the resort saw 61,682 skier/rider visits, a number up 23 percent from 2006-2007(47,513 visits), and 38 percent from 2005-2006 (38,548 visits).
Much of that increase is because of all the snow, Anderson said. But some of it could contributed to the fact many Tahoe resorts closer to Diamond Peak, such as Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley and Northstar-at-Tahoe, have had to shut down during or after storms because of wind advisories.
“We’ve had a lot of skier visits, and I think some of that has to do with the fact we’ve been in operation every day since we opened (Dec. 13),” Anderson said. “When other resorts are on wind hold and can’t open, we’re still open. I think we’re a lot more protected than some other resorts. We don’t experience the kinds of windfall that other resorts do, and I think that helps with skier visits.”
Of course, with all this snow and all the people, comes money, Youmans said.
The resort made a gross revenue of $1.32 million in January, Youmans said, a statistic directly related to this year’s white winter.
“Absolutely it’s due to the snowfall; I don’t even think we tapped a million dollars at this time last year,” said Youmans, who has lived in Incline for almost 12 years and has been GM of the mountain the past 10. “It may be, and I’m not totally sure, but it may be the most revenue we’ve ever generated in January.”
That money, along with all revenue generated from the mountain, gets put into IVGID’s general fund to be budgeted for the next fiscal year. Since the resort did so poorly last year, Youmans said this year’s revenue will make up for last year’s shortfall.
While weather reports indicate a break from snowfall for the next week or so, Youmans said Diamond Peak already has more than enough snow stay open through March and into mid-April.
And he still has all of February yet to which to look forward.
February typically is the snowiest month of the season, Youmans said, which was evident in 1998, when the mountain saw about 200 inches of snow during the calendar’s shortest month.
But to have the resort’s snowfall totals already approaching 140 inches at February’s beginning this year is pretty rare — and exciting — Youmans said.
“We certainly don’t have to worry about needing any more snow, that’s for sure,” he said.
Skiable Terrain: 655 Acres
Runs: 30
Summit: 8,540'
Base: 6,700'
Lifts: 1 high-speed quad, 2 quads, 3 doubles
Terrain: 18% Beginner, 46% Intermediate, 36% Advanced
