Travel: Going green on global travels
Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
November 15, 2007
As more vacationers have begun to contemplate the impact of their travels on the planet, from the greenhouse-gas emissions of their flights to the litter they leave behind in scenic areas, mainstream travel publishers have devised a new category of books to address their concerns.

DIA likely to have busy holiday travel season
Staff Report, Denver Business Journal
November 14, 2007
Denver International Airport is expected to be even busier this Thanksgiving than it was last year. That's according to online travel agency Orbitz, which said Wednesday DIA is likely to be the third-busiest domestic airport during Thanksgiving. The expectation is up from No. 5 in 2006. Orbitz bases its findings on ticket sales booked on its website with departures between Nov. 21 and Nov. 25. The Chicago and Los Angeles airports are the only domestic airports expected to be busier than Denver's.

Local Ski Biz Bets It'll Beat Global Warming
Brian Miller, Seattle Weekly
November 14, 2007
La Niña is coming with her bountiful promise of snow in the Cascades, if the forecasts prove correct. But one good season won't change the underlying--and rather discouraging--facts facing local ski areas and skiers. First, the baby boom only has so much cartilage left in its knees.

Tourism WW to roll out survey results
Vicki Hillhouse, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
November 13, 2007
Is it the wine? The art? The historic culture and renovated downtown? With more visitors making Walla Walla a vacation destination each year, local officials set out last summer to find out exactly what in the world is the big draw for this Southeastern Washington town.

How Do You Ski if There Is No Snow?
ELISABETH ROSENTHAL, New York Times
November 1, 2007
Global warming’s foes rarely cite ski resorts and golf courses among its victims. But, though they may be less adorable than penguins and less gripping than melting ice caps, resort owners and tour operators will be directly and strongly affected by climate change. Indeed, few livelihoods are more dependent on the weather, other than farmers’.

Haunted ski resorts
Charles Leocha, msnbc.com
October 31, 2007
At first ponder, ski and snowboard resorts seem strange places to find ghosts. But when you consider that many of our winter snow resorts are built in areas that once had wild and sometimes grisly histories, then the occasional appearance of an unsettled soul is perhaps not so surprising. New England, for example, has a long history of hauntings, and its tales and apparitions have spread into the trails, woods and villages surrounding the region's ski and snowboard resorts.

Orbitz Insider Index Highlights the Most Popular Ski Destinations in the U.S.
press release, Orbitz.com
October 31, 2007
The crisp mountain air is calling and fresh powder is already falling. After a long, hot summer, the winter sport season is upon us and skiers everywhere will soon flock to their favorite destinations. Whether it's a winter trip out west or waiting until spring for that rare opportunity to ski and golf in the same day, Orbitz (http://www.orbitz.com), is keeping travelers 'A Step Ahead(TM)' by highlighting the most popular ski destinations -- as well as great alternatives to the traditional ski vacation.

Vail goes natural with its cuisine
Alicia Wallace, Boulder Daily Camera
October 11, 2007
In the past year, Vail Resorts Inc. has taken strides to become more energy-efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly. On Wednesday, it made another. Under the initiative, called Good Food on a Grand Scale, Vail this ski season will purchase 90 percent of its meats from Denver-based Coleman Natural Meats and 87 percent of its dairy products from Broomfield's WhiteWave Foods, which sells the Horizon Organic and Silk soy milk brands. Vail said it plans to work with all of its vendors to increase the amount of natural and organic foods offered for future seasons.

Extreme ski makeover
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
October 7, 2007
Colorado's ski areas are going to extremes to outdo each other again this season. Collectively, resort operators and investors are sinking $3 billion - a conservative estimate at that - into ambitious makeovers that involve everything from slopeside real estate development to mountain upgrades.

To sustain growth, tourism sector must take action against climate change
, UN News Centre
October 3, 2007
The tourism industry must meet the challenges posed by climate change if it is to continue its growth, a United Nations-backed conference announced today. According to the Davos Declaration, reached at the conclusion of a three-day meeting in the Swiss town, the tourism sector must rapidly respond to climate change, within the evolving UN framework, if it is to grow in a sustainable manner.

Snowmass residents pan development
Catherine Lutz, Aspen Daily News
October 1, 2007
Surprise, surprise -- the biggest issues facing Snowmass Village relate to growth, development and construction, according to a recent community survey. Consultant Chris Cares with RRC Associates, who did the survey, told the council at its meeting last night that while the town is currently addressing some of the issues, there's enough division that you're going to have to work your way through some of these things.

Study Indicates Ski Industry is Retaining Older Participants
Troy Hawks, NSAA
September 14, 2007
Among the most prominent trends noted in the 2007 NSAA National Demographic Study is the continued aging of the visitor base, with strong growth in skiers and riders aged 45 and older. The fact that older participants are being retained in the sport in significant numbers is a welcome plus for the industry.

SKI Magazine ranks Deer Valley at No. 1
Ray Grass, Deseret Morning News
September 8, 2007
For the third time in seven years, skiers have picked Deer Valley as the resort they like to ski best. In SKI Magazine\'s annual list of top 50 resorts in North America (conducted by RRC Associates of Boulder, CO), Deer Valley was picked No. 1 this year. It also received the top billing in 2001 and 2005. In those seven years, the resort has never been rated lower than third.

Vail slips from top spot in SKI poll
Edward Stoner, The Vail Daily (free registration required)
September 7, 2007
Buzz Schleper got a good laugh when he heard that Deer Valley had supplanted Vail as the No. 1 ski resort in North America in the vaunted SKI magazine poll. “You can’t even put Deer Valley on the same page as Vail,” said Schleper, owner of Buzz’s Ski Shop in Vail. “Not even the same chapter.”

Colorado Ski Resorts Invest in Capital Improvements for 2007-08 Winter Season
Staff Report, First Tracks!
August 20, 2007
Denver, CO - Colorado ski resorts are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvements and guest enhancements for the 2007-08 winter ski and snowboard season.

Traveling in green circles: Ski resort builds windmill
April Yee, Boston Globe
August 15, 2007
Brian Fairbank looks at the windmill -- with three blades each as long as a 12-story building atop a white base near the summit of the tree-covered mountain -- and sees a beacon of hope for his Western Massachusetts ski resort. The $3.9 million 378-foot-high windmill, which is taller than the Statue of Liberty and is the first owned by an American ski resort, can produce 4.6 million kilowatt hours of energy a year, enough to power 1,200 homes from Pittsfield to Williamstown.

Off to Resorts, and Carrying Their Careers
JOHN LELAND, New York Times (free login required)
August 13, 2007
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Time was you could tell the urban refugees in places like this: corporate achievers who quit the rat race to open a bed and breakfast or a candle shoppe. Jim Moylan, a lawyer, moved from Chicago and runs his business from Steamboat Springs. Mr. Moylan, 59, is a lawyer who specializes in securities and commodities work. When he moved from Chicago in 2003, he did not downscale his career for the small town, keeping his secretary and associates in Chicago and his clients around the country. He conducts his practice by fax and e-mail, just as he did in Chicago.

How to stop travel’s sad customer-service slide
Christopher Elliott, MSNBC.com
August 13, 2007
It isn’t your imagination. The service is getting worse. Almost every measure of performance, from the federal government’s numbers to independent surveys by the likes of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, suggests that when it comes to travel, customer service is circling the drain.

Final Report Indicates 55.1 Million Visits in 2006/07
Troy Hawks, NSAA
August 9, 2007
The final 2006/07 Kottke End of Season Survey indicates that the U.S. ski industry recorded 55.1 million visits for the 2006/07 season, up 0.4 percent from the preliminary estimate of 54.82 million, and down 6.5 percent from the record 2005/06 season.

Cheaper housing tops Vail’s concerns
Edward Stoner, Vail Daily
August 7, 2007
Affordable housing is on Vailites' minds. As for construction, they perhaps increasingly wish it was out of sight. According to Vail's biennial community survey released this summer, employee housing was the biggest issue facing the town.

Aspen vs. Vail: The War Turns Green
RITA HEALY, Time Magazine
August 6, 2007
The Aspen Skiing Company recently announced a daily lift ticket price of $87 for the 2007-2008 season, believed to be the most expensive in U.S. history. Colorado ski enthusiasts are awaiting the response of arch-rival Vail, which is likely to match if not exceed it. But in another key area of competition between the two resort towns, Vail claims to have the upper hand. It says it is greener than Aspen.

Troopers Offer Tips For Driving I-70 In Mountains
Andrea Lopez, cbs4denver.com
August 3, 2007
During the last ski season, accidents closed portions Interstate 70 for nearly 163 hours. That included one or two lane closures. The mountain corridor is a challenging drive with its steep grades, winding curves, wildlife, and often intimidating tunnels. Complicating weather events can happen along that stretch of road during most months of the year.

An Old Ski Town Faces the March of the Wine Bar
Dan White, New York Times
August 3, 2007
NOT long ago, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., was the kind of place where night life might involve hanging out in the condo-village game room and pumping quarters into the Elvira-Mistress of the Dark pinball machine. Its sleepy assemblage of shingled mini-malls, bait and tackle shops and Alpine-style motels was clustered in a small downtown, and a few cabins and vacation houses were on the outskirts. At 7,800 feet near the Sierra Nevada’s eastern edge, it drew visitors mostly for the skiing — Mammoth Mountain averages close to 400 inches of snow a year.

Ski resorts seeking to become 'year round attraction'
Staff Report, Assetz Property News Service
August 3, 2007
Last year, ski resorts in Switzerland, like many other places in Europe, had a dramatic wake-up call. The unusually mild winter meant that many of the lower-lying Alpine resorts suffered from a lack of snow, which in turn resulted in a lack of business. Concerns that global warming could lead to such winters occurring with ever greater frequency, particularly in low-lying resorts, has raised the possibility that such resorts may have to provide more than just winter sports to ensure their continued popularity.

Alta Ski Area Steps Up Environmental Commitment
Staff Report, First Tracks Online
August 3, 2007
Utah's Alta Ski Area is committed to its second year as a Visionary Partner with Rocky Mountain Power through the Blue Sky program. The Wasatch Mountains ski area's choice to participate in clean, renewable wind power is a promise to purchase 900,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) for the next 12-month period, offsetting over 23% of Alta’s energy consumption. The environmental impact is equivalent to avoiding 900 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Breckenridge businesses, revenues continue to set records
Kimberly Nicoletti, High Country Business Review
July 24, 2007
For nearly two years — 23 months in a row — Breckenridge sales tax revenues have set records across all sectors. The ski resort posted 1.65 million skier visits, which is the most skier visits of any ski area in the country, and the Breckenridge economy surpassed $300 million for the first time in 2006, topping out at $323 million, according to Corry Mihm, executive director of the Breckenridge Resort Chamber. ...Nationally, the 2005-06 ski season set records with skier/ snowboarder visits and the industry showed consistent growth until last season, when it dipped about 6 percent because of poor snow conditions, said Chris Cares of RRC Associates.

Outdoors Is the Way Up in Ogden, Utah
Wendy Knight, NYT (subscription required)
June 22, 2007
Despite the lingering rough-town image, development continues. The mayor is seeking to build a gondola that would connect downtown to a proposed ski and resort community that would occupy nearly 1,800 acres and include Malan\'s Basin, 1,440 acres of mountainside land owned by a Salt Lake developer, Chris Peterson, who is championing the idea.

Snow Canada
Julie Dunn, Denver Post
May 18, 2007
Denver businessman Donald Simpson spent his career developing apartment projects but dedicated much of his free time to extreme skiing. Simpson is now combining his two passions in the creation of Revelstoke Mountain Resort, a ski resort in British Columbia's Selkirk Range.

Vail playing summertime catch-up
Edward Stoner, Aspen Times
May 17, 2007
The town of Vail does 71 percent of its business from November to April. Rayla Kundolf said her Vail Village art gallery, Masters Gallery, isn’t quite that unbalanced — it does about 60 percent of its business in those winter months. But she’d like to see Vail business be more sustained through the year, she said. “We need to go to a year-round resort,” she said. “People have to get out of the mindset of ‘mud season,’” she said. Compared to other mountain resorts, Vail’s disparity between winter and non-winter business seems more pronounced.

City plans talks on area's affordable housing gaps
Staff, The New Mexican
May 10, 2007
A recently completed study of Santa Fe housing needs provides a picture of a town whose homes increasingly are becoming more expensive and owned by out-of-towners. The city's Office of Affordable Housing will present findings tonight at a public meeting intended to kick off development of a plan to address gaps in the Santa Fe housing situation. Data compiled by RRC Associates Inc. of Boulder Colo. was acquired during the past few months through surveys of employers and workers.

NSAA Gets Green in Palm Springs
Ski Press staff, Ski Press
April 9, 2007
Palm Springs, Calif. (Ski Press)-The 2007 NSAA National Convention and Tradeshow is being powered by 100 percent renewable energy....Renewable Choice Energy, Boulder, Colo., has donated green power, in the form of renewable energy credits (RECs), to offset the energy consumed during this year's convention being held at La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs, Calif. ... Scheduled for May 6 - 9, the annual convention features a host of educational sessions focusing on the growth of the sport, risk management and insurance issues, resort marketing technology, customer relations, environmental issues and more. Research firm RRC Associates will present this season's national visitation data.

Housing more and less than others
Steve Lynn, Vail Daily (free registration required)
March 29, 2007
MINTURN — The Ginn Development Co., which wants to build a private ski resort in Minturn, has underestimated the number of permanent employees and construction workers it will need, states a $1,200 review of Ginn’s plan by RRC Associates of Boulder.

Ski-resort crowds are soaring
Julie Dunn, Denver Post
March 25, 2007
The wait for a table in Eric Mamula's dark basement pizza joint was 25 minutes one recent sunny Friday afternoon. Vacationers craving something sweet were cramming into Rachel Hahn's tiny cookie store for a 'Cookie Dough Delight.' A few blocks away, about 15 people waited in line at Alex LaMarca's outdoor crepe stand. ...With spring-breakers crowding the slopes and just weeks left before the end of the season, Colorado's 26 ski resorts are on pace to meet - if not beat - last year's record of 12.53 million skier visits....The state's snow conditions have also been reliable, while other regions have suffered in recent winters, said Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates. 'The weather factor is hard to ignore in this industry,' he said. 'Colorado's high elevation and much more consistent snow gives us a strong competitive advantage.'

Village has values, Vail Resorts says
Edward Stoner, Glenwood Springs Post Independent
March 6, 2007
BROOMFIELD - 'Largest green resort in North America' is how Vail Resorts is describing its plans for a gondola, hotel, condos and shops in West Lionshead. Vail Resorts chief Rob Katz announced Monday the company is rebuilding West Lionshead into a 'green' neighborhood, saying that reflects the values of local residents, visitors and his employees....Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates, a Boulder market-research company that studies the ski industry, noted that going green is a trend that goes well beyond ski resorts. 'This is part of a much broader trend of awareness of impacts of development,' he said. 'It's certainly good from many perspectives to see ski resorts embracing a lot of those principles.' But sustainability extends beyond just green building, Rosall said. Sustainability includes other issues like worker housing and transportation....

Steamboat set to host black skiers summit
Julie Dunn, Denver Post
February 23, 2007
More than 2,000 African-American skiers are expected at Steamboat Ski Resort this weekend for the National Brotherhood of Skiers' annual summit. Black skiers represented about 2 percent of the 58.9 million visits to ski resorts during the 2005-06 season, according to Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates, a Boulder market-research firm that does work for the ski industry.

People-watching good for biz
Richard Valenty, Colorado Daily
February 13, 2007
Perhaps just sitting around really is good for business. Downtown Boulder does an annual user survey to track pros and cons of its business and social climate, and in 2006 the category of “hanging out/enjoying the ambiance/people watching” topped the list as respondents' biggest motivator for visiting. The “hanging out” category, listed as number one by 29 percent of respondents, beat the more tangible business-related categories of “eating a meal” (20 percent) and “shopping” (18 percent) ...

Grant to fund housing needs assessment
Bob Berwyn, Summit Daily News (free registration required)
February 11, 2007
A $20,000 federal grant, administered via state channels, should help local officials pinpoint housing needs throughout Summit County, said housing authority director Bonnie Osborn. The grant was awarded under the auspices of the Colorado Governor's Smart Growth office. Boulder-based RRC Associates has already started working on the study. Osborn said she expects results in about two months. The goal is to find specific information on the desired number and configuration of affordable housing units and where they where they needed.

Talking the Walk...Walking the Talk
Glenn Walsh, Pagosa Daily Post
February 1, 2007
On Friday, January 19, the Pagosa Springs Town Council and Town staff no doubt pleased the Town Tourism Committee by convening their annual retreat in beautiful downtown Pagosa Springs.... A brief roundtable discussion was moderated by Chris Cares of RRC Associates, the conference facilitator. Cares suggested that Pagosa Springs, having spent $450,000 on planning since 2003, needed to “apply the planning to reality” and that he wanted to place “an emphasis on implementation.”

Carving a Niche
BOB DIDDLEBOCK, Time Magazine
January 26, 2007
The U.S. ski industry should send a couple of season passes to downhiller Karen Harsch--gratis. The 38-year-old mother and ex--U.S. Ski Team member slaps on her sticks 50 times a season in Summit County, Colo., often bopping from Arapahoe Basin and Keystone to Copper Mountain and Breckenridge in a single week. Chances are her 6-year-old daughter will follow in her mother's boot steps.

A slippery slope for ski resorts
Tim Reiterman, Los Angeles Times
January 24, 2007
Beneath a steely sky and icy snow flurries, cross-country skiers glide over a 130-acre alpine meadow that Kirkwood Mountain Resort has preserved for wildlife and recreation. In nearby restaurants, diners use plates and utensils that are reusable or made with recycled materials. And employees receive financial rewards for carpooling to work. ... The resorts 'have had a tarnished image in the past of commercializing what are really wilderness areas,' said industry analyst Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates in Boulder, Colo. 'So there's an effort to change the image to being really sensitive about the environment.';

Skier days are on the rise here, and across Colorado
Matthew Beaudin, Telluride Daily Planet
January 19, 2007
When they come, they come in droves. Collectively, Colorado’s 26 ski resorts racked up 3.29 million skier visits since the hills opened for business this season, up 7 percent from last year at this time. It’s been much of the same here, as resort officials estimated increased visitors. The increase has meant a boon to checkbooks, too: the total visitors thus far have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Dave Belin, director of Boulder-based RRC Associates, said it’s estimated that guests spend $210 for every skier day.

Early lift puts ski record in reach
Julie Dunn, Denver Post
January 16, 2007
A record 3.29 million skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes in Colorado between Oct. 13 and Dec. 31, according to data released Tuesday by Colorado Ski Country USA. That translates into more than $690 million in direct spending, according to RRC Associates. The Boulder-based research firm found that the average Colorado skier spent $210 per day during the last ski season, including lift tickets, lodging, food and drink. Visits to the state's 26 ski resorts were up 6.74 percent compared with the same October-December period in 2005. That puts Colorado on pace to eclipse last season's record 12.53 million skiers.

Avon confronts housing problems
News Staff, Vail Daily (free registration required)
January 11, 2007
Houses are unaffordable, and rent rates are crippling. The workforce, for the most part, lives elsewhere. First-time home buyers and seasonal employees alike are having a hard time finding a reasonable place to live. Avon, in short, needs a lot of work to meet its housing needs, according to an assessment done by RRC Associates, a Boulder consulting firm hired by the town. Avon leaders say they will use the above findings to build policies that will hopefully help potential Avon residents stay in town.

Urge to ski? Brace yourself
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
January 11, 2007
A spontaneous day on the slopes means plunking down more than $80 for a lift ticket at a growing number of Colorado's winter playgrounds ... 'The trend has become fairly consistent among the large destination resorts,' said Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates, a Boulder-based research firm. 'Even the smaller ski areas are inflating their prices because the bigger ones are pushing $80 a day.'

CEO: Vail Resorts shopping for properties
Associated Press, Vail Daily (free resistration required)
January 4, 2007
Vail Resorts Inc. continues to shop for new properties amid an industry consolidation, although the timing of any purchase is critical, the chief executive of the nation's largest ski area operator said Thursday ... Nolan Rosall, president of Boulder-based consulting firm RRC Associates, said he believes resort companies are evolving again by pushing to build year-round businesses with skiing, golfing and beach properties.

Newsmakers of the Year: Bonnie Osborn
Bob Berwyn, Summit Daily News (free registration required)
January 1, 2007
Looking back 10 years from now, when CDOT likely still be trying to figure out what to do with I-70, and Breckenridge will still be trying to resolve parking questions, there’s one area where Summit County will have made some real measurable progress — affordable housing.... Osborn was only a little daunted in 2005, when an RRC Associates study showed the true width of the housing gap.

Big deal for Steamboat
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
December 20, 2006
With plentiful cash from its new private equity owner, Canadian giant Intrawest has expanded its influence in Colorado with Tuesday's $265 million deal to buy Steamboat Ski Resort ... 'It obviously makes sense to do that, and Steamboat has a positive brand image among Front Range skiers,' said Dave Belin, an industry consultant with Boulder-based RRC Associates.

Breck council to focus on housing
Staff Report, Summit Daily News (free registration required)
December 17, 2006
With Summit County's affordable housing measure set to take effect in just a few days, the Breckenridge Town Council has scheduled a Dec. 19 work session to hone in on the issue... The agenda includes a review of a recent housing tour, a McCain property master plan update, a review of a recent housing needs assessment by RRC Associates, and a look at the town's affordable housing strategy.

Six Months On the Job, McQuade Reports Marketing Initiatives
Peter Kenworthy, The Telluride Watch
May 12, 2006
Six months into his tenure as CEO of Telluride Marketing, Inc., Scott McQuade is pleased with the company’s progress.... Not caring to reinvent the wheel, he immediately enlisted the service of RRC Associates, a research and consulting firm based in Boulder whom McQuade calls “one of the most renowned data collection companies in the industry.”

New England's $1 Bln Ski Industry Squeezed by Fuel, Warm Winter
Danielle Kost, Bloomberg.com
March 23, 2006
On a February Friday, Cannon Mountain braced for the three-day President's Day weekend, usually one of the busiest for New England ski resorts. The weather had other plans. Rain and sleet pelted skiers' faces as they navigated hard snow, ice and, in some spots, grass at the Franconia, New Hampshire, resort. By 3:30 p.m., there were no skiers left and the mountain closed early. "Energy costs combined with lower visitation made it a tougher season for many," says Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates, a Boulder, Colorado, consulting firm. Resorts will probably report attendance figures at least 10 percent below last year, he says.

Analysts: Katz brings Wall Street know-how
Edward Stoner, Vail Daily (free login required)
February 28, 2006
VAIL — Industry experts say Rob Katz, Vail Resorts’ new chief executive, will keep the company focused on its Wall Street well-being. “He’s young and enthusiastic, and I bet he’ll add something to the operation,” he said. Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates, a marketing and consulting company that specializes in the ski industry, said Katz has a good mix of Wall Street and ski industry knowledge.

Even Vail doesn't want to live in Vail
Alex Miller, The Aspen Times (free login required)
March 1, 2006
AVON - Vail Resorts will move its corporate headquarters - along with about 100 employees - to Denver, the company announced Tuesday. Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates - a marketing and research firm that specializes in the ski and tourism industry - said he thought relocating the company's headquarters to Denver was a good thing. 'I think it's a good move for the organization,' Rosall said. 'Denver is a major metro area with access to a lot of infrastructure and a central location. A lot of their operations will extend beyond Colorado, so it probably makes sense.'

Colorado ski areas set record for visits
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
June 15, 2006
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS - Colorado ski resorts notched a record 12.53 million visits in the 2005-2006 season, according to Colorado Ski Country USA documents obtained by the Rocky Mountain News. The results, scheduled to be released today, shatter the previous record of 11.98 million set in the 1997-1998 season.... 'You can't build an entire industry out of getting increased levels of participation from a diminishing pool,' said Nate Fristoe, director at Boulder-based research firm RRC Associates, which compiled the report published recently by the national ski industry trade group.

Monarch smooths some rough edges
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
January 20, 2006
MONARCH MOUNTAIN - Latte's in. Linoleum's out. But don't look for this underdog ski area to glom onto glitz anytime soon. While a feisty new investor group has brought in a Starbucks and spruced up the dated lodge, the tiny Monarch Mountain base area has grown so little over the years it practically makes the rustic Wolf Creek Ski Area to the south look developed. Smaller ski areas such as Monarch offer a 'more pure, wilderness kind of experience,' said Nolan Rosall, president of Boulder-based ski industry research group RRC Associates.

Skier visits up in U.S., but fall in Northeast
Julie Dunn, Denver Post
May 25, 2006
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — A record-breaking 58.8 million skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes across the U.S. this winter, up 3.3 percent over last season, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by the Lakewood-based National Ski Areas Association. However, in the Northeast, skier visits fell, likely due to light snowfall amounts.

US Skier Visits Set New Record!
Staff, Ski Press World
May 23, 2006
Marco Island, Fla. (Ski Press)-Heavy snows in the Northwest and record seasons for Colorado and Utah helped contribute to a new record 58.8 million skier visits in the US this year....“We feel what we’re forecasting is very solid,” said Nolan Rosall of RRC Associates, the company that compiles the information for the Kottke Report each year.

Study makes case for redevelopment at the 'Y'
Susan Wood, Tahoe Daily Tribune (free registration required)
January 4, 2006
Justifying further redevelopment in town, the South Lake Tahoe City Council heard a grim picture Tuesday outlining a loss in sales tax dollars with shoppers leaving the area to buy an assortment of goods.When all was said and done, Nolan Rosall of RRC Associates suggested the city quickly pursue options to establish retail centers - such as a strip center or a building like Heavenly Village - with a mix of shops. The idea is to at least make a dent in the $219 million the study figures the city loses every year in sales. In a barrage of statistics, Rosall concluded that South Shore consumers and visitors are seeking more of a selection in apparel and general merchandise shops.

Council to hear results of South Shore retail study
Susan Wood, Tahoe Daily Tribune (free registration required)
January 3, 2006
The city is losing retail sales amounting to $219 million a year or 60 percent of the retail demand, according to a consultant's study to be presented today at the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting. The retail analysis by RRC Associates provides some findings for planning purposes.

Ski Resorts Focus on Kids as Key to Business
Brian E. Clark, WisBusiness.com
December 16, 2005
From Trollhaugen in northwest Wisconsin to Tyrol Basin in the south, Badger State ski and snowboard areas are focusing on children as a way to stoke business now and create it in the future. They are doing it by offering free lift tickets, beefing up programs for kids, improving terrain parks for the younger set and making their resorts more family friendly. For the 2003-2004 season, the state had 1.86 million skier visits, which ranked second in the Midwest -- behind Michigan, but ahead of Minnesota -- according to an economic impact report prepared by the Colorado firm RRC Associates.

$81 for a lift at Vail
David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News
December 8, 2005
A single-day adult lift ticket will crack the $80 mark at Vail and Beaver Creek this year, Vail Resorts said Wednesday. According to the Kottke End of Season Survey, prepared by the National Ski Areas Association in conjunction with RRC Associates Inc. of Boulder, the Rocky Mountain ski region had the highest average weekend adult lift- ticket price last season at $64.54. The national average was $57.82.