It has been a while since we posted anything from the Fairbank Group. It is not as though there is nothing to report on, or we have not done anything newsworthy, or that we think this is a blog….quite frankly we have just had our head down and have been running hard. The season is now over and in the spirit of communicating, I have prepared this message to make sure we inform and provide an update to anyone who cares enough about our world to pay attention.
This past ski season in the Northeast was poor, at best. No surprise. It was warmer than expected, it rained quite a bit and the amount of natural snow we received left a lot to be desired. That being said, we live to fight another day. We skied north of 100 days at each mountain, and we really put our snowmaking prowess to the test. The March snow was bit too little too late, but it certainly didn’t hurt the northern resorts. Bromley and Cranmore did a bit better than Jiminy (from a business perspective). The Fairbank Lodge at Cranmore came online and made a huge difference for our guests experiencing that resort. We were delighted to have that accomplished and building 4, The Lookout, will be completed before next season.
We are already deep in planning for next season and plan to have our three-mountain summit in June again this cycle. This process is super important for us as it allows our teams not only to learn from each other but to also share their “big ideas” and get feedback from the entire group. This process has been priceless over the years. Our resorts have been in existence for 70-80 years, and we do not envision any major change in our approach, but the annual business plans for each mountain are full of incremental ideas that help us to continuously improve our operations. Sadly, our long-time partner Joe O’Donnell passed away in January….a giant redwood fell. He is sorely missed, and we are very fortunate that Belmont Capital is still strong and our partner for the future. Bill Cairns has retired at Bromley and Josh Witkin has spent the past year understudying Bill is now at the helm. Yes, there are changes in the air, and we are good at adapting to change looking to what is next.
We have busy months in front of us from a summer operations perspective and we are looking forward to that as well. We will be in touch again over the next several months and wish you all the very best.
Be well.
Tyler
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