Ski Resorts As Year Round Destinations?
What’s this place like in the Summertime? I get this question all the time and it’s a good one, especially for people thinking about purchasing a ski resort property. Although we still have plenty of ski season left, I wanted to address this question now, rather than in the middle of July. Ski resorts are keenly aware of Tahoe’s summer rewards and many are pursuing efforts to optimize year round recreation to generate sustained income and to capitalize on the summer vacation market. Recent data from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) indicates that “average summer visitation has grown 37% over the past five summers, as resorts begin to cater to the leisure customer as well as tried-and-true slope enthusiasts.”
Northstar in particular has been ramping up their summer operations year after year and are great at keeping the Village lively throughout the Summer. There are festivals, lift-served mountain bike park and hiking, weddings, star gazing tours, 18-hole golf course, and a ton of Village activities. With the summer season in Tahoe seeing more than 3 times as many tourists coming through than in the winter, the lake can be a bit hectic to say the least. Even more reason why resorts are expanding their summer offerings with incentives of less crowds and easy parking, but still those same beautiful views and experiences that a summer in Tahoe is all about – sunshine, fresh mountain air and outdoor living.
With kids out of school and people able to easily access the area without weather interruptions, it makes sense for them to tap into this opportunity. Also, having robust Summer visitation numbers can act as the counter balance in the event there’s a lack-luster winter.
Bottom line, your investment in a ski resort property may not be as seasonal as you think.
Here is a quick overview of the North Tahoe resort happenings this Summer:
Northstar
All Summer long – Mountain Bike Park, 18-hole Golf Course, Lift-Served Hiking, Kids Adventure Camps, Specialized Bike Academy & Tahoe Star Tours
Kids Adventure Games – June
Beerfest & Bluegrass – July
Enduro World Series – Aug
Autumn Food & Wine Festival – Sept
Brewmaster’s Dinner Series – July – Sept
Squaw/Alpine
Hiking, Disc Golf, Climbing Wall
Outdoor Summer Movie Series
Bluesdays Tuesdays
Made in Tahoe Festival – May
Art, Wine & Music Festival – July
Wanderlust – July
Brews, Jazz & Funk Fest – Aug
Foam Fest – Sept
Guitar Strings & Chicken Wings – Sept
Alpen Wine Fest – Sept
Oktoberfest – Sept
Spartan – Sept
And of course there is always Woodward at Boreal open all year long and Epic Discovery down at Heavenly featuring zip lines, ropes courses and a mountain coaster all summer long.
