Natalie Kretlow

March 25, 2015

MKT 430
SMB Write Up
I. Introduction:
Crystal Mountain is an area of multi land use in the Mt. Rainier
National Park area located within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National
Forest. Crystal Mountain is the largest ski resort area in the state of
Washington with 9 chairlifts, a surface lift for kids, and over 50 named
runs all for skiing and snowboarding. There is also a gondola for sight
seeing. The highest elevation is 7,012 feet with 2,300 acres available
with lift access and 2,600 total acres.
December 8, 1962 Crystal Mountain opened with two chair lifts,
seven towropes, a T-bar, and a day lodge. The business seemed to be
doing well because the next year another double chair lift was added.
In 1964, overnight lodging became available such as, Alpine Inn,
Snorting Elk, Crystal Inn, Silver Skis Chalet started the first
condominium developments in Washington, and a restaurant opened.
A warming hut at the top of one of the lifts was also made available. In
the mid 1960s collegiate ski events and National Alpine Championships
were held at the mountain as well.
In the 1970s, more lifts were built, and even a triple chair,
making 6 total chair lifts. The last of the ski clubs to be established
started in 1972 called the Tacoma Teachers Ski Club. Bathrooms were
finally constructed in the day lodge. The T-bar and the towrope were
replaced in the 1980s with triple chair lifts. In addition, a high-speed
quad lift and shuttle were added.
Boyne Resorts from Michigan owns and operates Crystal
Mountain. Boyne Resorts is the largest ski resort operator in North
America accommodating for 3.8 million visitors annually. Big Sky,
Brighton, Crystal Mountain, The Summit at Snoqualmie, Cypress
Mountain, Boyne Mountain and Mountain Grand Lodge and Spa, The
Inn at Bay Harbor, Crooked Tree Golf Club, Gatlinburg Skylift, Loon
Mountain, Sugarloaf, and Sunday River are all owned by Boyne Resorts.
The first of the mountains started in Boyne, Michigan in 1947. The area
was bought for $1 because it was too steep to farm on. Everett Kircher,
Jim Christianson, and John Norton bought a chairlift from Sun Valley to
put on the land. After about 10 years, Boyne built and opened the
Gatlinburg Skylift, and then continued to purchase other mountains.
The Kircher family owns Brighton, Utah and Crystal Mountain,
Washington. Crystal Mountain was not purchased by Boyne until 1997,
and John Kircher became general manager. He started making changes
immediately by adding a six passenger high-speed detachable lift, and
heated pavers installed in the ticket area.

In the 2000s, more high-speed lifts were established, and many

replaced the old two-seater chairlifts. In 2004, the Forest Service
approved the Master Development Plan initiated back in 1995. The
plan included six redevelopment proposals and an environmental
impact study to further stress why changes should be made to the
mountain. The business is on federal land so there is a lot of protocol
and paperwork before any changes can be made. In the Crystal
Mountain business plan, management expects to invest $40 million on
an aerial tram, new chairlifts, chairlift upgrades, facility renovations,
and waste water facilities.
The area of Crystal Mountain is designated is not just for skiing
and snowboarding. The mountain provides a variety of services such as
a ski patrol in case of emergencies, activities such as live music,
snowshoe tours, movie nights, Frisbee golf, mountain yoga, horseback
riding, and happy hour, provides an equipment and rental shop,
equipment service center, has a market, taco truck, and a few other
food service varieties, lodging, snow sport lessons, camps, and clinics,
gondola tours, education classes/seminars, RDL test center, camping,
bike trails, host corporate events and weddings, and provide
backcountry tours.
I am an outdoor recreation major and love skiing. Skiing is a big
passion of mine and am interested in working for a mountain
developing programs and activities. I chose to research Crystal
Mountain ski area so I could learn more about marketing recreational
services and know different aspects of the service industry.
II. Performance Analysis
Since the first season, Crystal Mountain began expanding the
facilities, and added more lifts. In 1995, the owners began a business
plan for the mountain. Every five and fifteen years, plans must be
reevaluated especially when dealing with protected areas on federal
and state lands. In 1997, Boyne Mountain bought Crystal Mountain and
added to the overall business plan. It takes many years for the plans to
be approved, but in the early 2000s, the plan was approved, and more
amenities and services were to be added. More programs and activities
were added, due to the mountain expansions. Crystal Mountain has
been on the rise since it first opened, and has continued to expand the
area and services.
Crystal Mountain is one of many mountains owned by Michigans
own Boyne Resorts. New initiatives, called the MAX Pass, are being
made to get people to travel to different ski resort areas. There are 22
participating resorts in the United States and Canada, and for one price
of $699, the customer gets 5 days at each mountain totaling to 110
days of skiing and snowboarding. Season passes have three tiers of
prices starting at $850, then $975, and $1,200. Pass holders get 50%

off lift tickets at five of the nearby sister mountains, ride the gondola
30 minutes early, fix edges before the season starts, free ski and board
waxes, summer gondola tickets, a free hat, and a chance to add MAX
Pass for $249. Day passes are $68, $65, $76, and $73 depending on
how much access to the mountain an individual chooses. Youth passes
are $46-$51, senior rates range from $38-$49, and beginner lift tickets
are $39. The mountain gets about 300,000 visits annually. If there are
300,000 visits, and tickets are priced at $73, the maximum amount the
mountain could make off ticket sales is $21,900,000. Crystal Mountain
has approximately $5 million in assets, the total revenue generated
was $91,765, and the functional expenses were $82,961 last year.
Boyne Resorts is the second largest ski resort company in the
United States. Boyne owns 10 ski resort properties, and generates $3
billion in revenue, employs 87,105 people, and grows annually by
2.5%. The ski and snowboard industry has seen a slight growth in the
past five years. Due to The Great Recession, most recreational
services have been in decline because people were trying to pay the
bills and did not have money left over for vacations nor the time for
recreation. This last season, the Rockies had 21.1 million visits, 8.5
million visits in the Pacific region, and 56.5 million visits in the United
States total. The past few seasons have been difficult for some regions
due to climate change, so the industry has seen a slight decrease in
opened resorts, but the demand for the service is increasing. Many
companies are investing in non-snow sport activities for the mountain
because of the climate change, and it is a good way to attract people
during the off seasons.
Crystal Mountain has a reloadable Go-Card. Discounted tickets
are offered, and one can type in their information to buy day passes or
renew a season pass. Typically, all sales are final, but the 2014-2015
season had some unfortunate weather, and there was little snowfall.
The business recognized an issue and compensated the customer to
hopefully not discourage from snow sports due to climate change and
other factors. This year, Crystal Mountain is offering roll over days. One
must go online, log in, and request to roll over mountain days for next
season by a certain date. The customer also has the option to put the
unused ticket money towards a season pass for the following year,
which is a great service recovery tactic due to poor weather.
Crystal Mountain has a mobile app that is essentially the perfect
mountain guide. The app is GPS enabled and provides detailed trail
maps, live weather conditions, live webcams, and lift and resort
conditions. Notifications alert the user when snowfalls more than 6
inches overnight, lift times, and upcoming events. One can record runs,
and log distances to keep track of individual performance. The user can
look up lessons, events, programs, social media posts, and amenities,
check out deals, contact staff and access the mountain directory, and
can reload Go Cards all from ones phone.

In 2004, Crystal Mountain was approved by the US Forest Service

to start implementing the environmentally friendly Master
Development Plan. Knowing that Crystal mountain is green and
makes efforts to be sustainable is attractive because many people who
participate in outdoor recreation activities want to make sure the
activity can be sustainable for future generations to come. For
example, if people found out the mountain were dumping waste in
near by rivers, many people would probably stop attending the
mountain. Over 3.2 million is to be spent on green initiatives, cleanup,
and sustainability. A wastewater treatment plant was constructed in
2013 that replaced the plant built in 1965. One can donate to
Bonneville Environmental Foundation to help produce clean renewable
energy. Crystal Mountain is able to offset their carbon footprint by 150
pounds. Food and Beverage materials are mostly recyclable, and the
mountain is using non-disposable items such as reusable plates. The
kitchen saves cooking oil to be turned into Biodiesel. Staff members
work year round to ensure water quality in the surrounding rivers.
There is a vegetation management program to fix erosion and
damages from grooming equipment and other machinery. Workers also
plant native plant and grass seeds.
Crystal Mountain wanted to expand the amenities and services
provided, so all people can be accommodated for. A gondola was
opened in 2010 so everyone can access and enjoy the sites Mt. Rainier
and Crystal Mountain has to offer. The sites make Crystal Mountain a
tourist attraction, and Crystal Mountain keeps adding things to do,
restaurants, and development attracting more people to the mountain.
Over $40 million is going to be spent on expansions. In 1997, Crystal
Mountain won the Silver Eagle Award for Fish and Wildlife Habitat
Protection. Boyne also holds patents on snow making technologies.
Safety and Risk Management is a big concert when operating an
extreme sport facility. Ski resorts measure how safe their resort is,
compared to others. Crystal Mountain is quite safe and has spent a lot
of money into investing and upgrading equipment in the last decade.
The mountain has over 100 paid employees and volunteer ski patrol
staff to ensure safety. The ski patrol updates the website and mobile
app with weather and safety alerts to warn people on the hill and
prospective patrons. In 2014, an avalanche destroyed one of the lifts at
Crystal Mountain, and only few were injured because the mountain was
closed that day. Another avalanche buried a girl. She was able to
escape, and a team of rescuers arrived in minutes after the incident.
Crystal Mountain does not have too much of a competition
because all the big mountains in the area are owned by Boyne. The
biggest competition Crystal was facing was The Summit at Snoqualmie,
but Boyne bought them out in 2007. White Pass Washington is a
smaller, nearby mountain resort, located in the Gifford Pinchot National
Forest. Night skiing, ride times listed, cross-country skiing, skating,

snow sport lessons, and snowshoeing are available. Farther down the
road is Mt. Hood, which is measurable in size, with six high-speed quad
lifts, and 2,150 acres of snow sport terrain. Mt. Hood is not as
technologically advanced, and there is not much on the website as to
local events, special services, and amenities. Mt. Hood has longer
hours, which is good because that helps control the service as a whole
because then customers can steadily trail in throughout the day
instead of having peak busy periods at opening because Crystal
Mountain is only opened from 9-4 everyday, even on the weekends.
Part III: Services Model Applications
Service recovery is important when dealing with the service
industry because mistakes can happen, and depending how the
company deals with the problems can make or break the company. To
compensate for mistakes, it is important to measure the costs and
weigh in the customer value. The rollover initiative was a great way to
compensate for unfortunate weather. Though not having snow was not
the fault of the company, the mountain is still in the snow business, so
offering discounts was a great way to get people back next season.
The business responded quickly to let customers know about the deals.
E-mails were sent, there was something in the paper, and the initiative
was stated on the website. The mountain anticipated needs for
recovery by offering discounts and roll over days. The business
assumed people would be upset the mountain was not open as often
as it should have been due to weather, so the business offered a
recovery before there was anything to recover from. Anticipating needs
for service recovery helped the company increase service quality
because the company was empathetic and delivery response time was
done quickly. The strategy can reduce Gap 5, Zone of Tolerance.
Crystal Mountain also will offer refunds if there is documented: injury or
medical condition, pregnancy, job relocation, or military deployment.
By applying service recovery, the business is more likely to keep
customers, and happy customers will return, and hopefully spread the
good word.
Having a mobile app and website helps lessen problems or
confusion from the customer to the end result and can increase
productivity. Many of the blogs state that Crystal Mountain did not
have enough signage, so the mountain developed an app with a trail
map that has detailed directions, and is GPS enabled. By having this
mobile app, a lot of control is given to the end user, which can help
reduce Gap 4, service delivery communications, because the consumer
have trail maps in the palm of the hand so patrons do not get lost or
have to look around to find directions. The app is a good back up so
there is not as much for the frontline employees. The app also reduces
Gap 3, service delivery. The company researched, and found a need for

extra signage on the trail. Testing and designing systems to increase

productivity and quality of the service is beneficial to stay in business.
The Pacific region had two difficult seasons in a row due to
weather. Crystal Mountain is owned by Boyne Resorts, which has
locations all over the USA. In order to generate revenue for the
business, and still give people the opportunity to ski even though
conditions were unfavorable, the MAX Pass was created. People can ski
for 5 days at 21 different locations. Crystal Mountain was not
generating enough money, but there was still a demand for skiing, so
Boyne jumped on the opportunity to still make money and give the
people what they wanted.
Part IV: Strategic Recommendations
1.

A problem with having a large facility outdoors is

customer navigation of the facility. After reading various blog
sites and comment threads, there is a need for better signage
at Crystal Mountain. There is a mobile app with trail maps, but
there are still people who do not have a smartphone. Not
everyone likes to be on the phone while being active
outdoors. Personally, I find it difficult to be on the phone while
skiing. For the people who do not want to be on their smart
phones for an outdoor experience, there should still be proper
signage located around the facility. There are many trails to
choose from, so the routes can become confusing. There are
many backcountry routes, and many lay close to restricted
areas, so having trail markers can be helpful for navigation
and safety.
Adding signage can be costly depending on the sizes of the
signs. Genesis Graphics, located in Escanaba, designs signage
throughout the United States. They specialize in interpretive
signage and maps for outdoor facilities. The biggest signs are
36x48 and cost $295. The biggest signs should be located at
the tops of lifts, at trail crossings, and at the bottom of the lift.
Trail maps, trail names, and difficulty levels should be printed
on the big signs. Smaller signs, 18x24 and 24x36 cost $90
and $182. Crystal Mountain needs at least 15 large signs, and
that totals to $4,425. Small trail markers can be purchased
through Ben Meadows online in bulk. 100 colored trail markers
with arrows cost $121.50. The facility would need at least 5
packages to cover the backcountry areas. Developing an
application for electronic devices can be more costly than
having tangible objects because there are many stages in
developing apps such as, planning, designing, infrastructure,
and testing. The average cost to develop an application is
about $50,000 20%. However, the average cost for geo

location apps is $23,041. Crystal Mountain spent a lot on the

mobile app and online delivery systems, but not enough on
physical objects. Inter-Mtn. Sign & Design is another company
that is local to Washington and specializes in ski resort
signage. The company charges $65 per hour for graphic
designers if needed, but willing to work with preexisting
artwork provided by the customer. The cost for a 4ftx8ft sign
is about $600 for high quality printed images and anti graffiti
protection, without shipping. These huge signs should be
centrally located and easily accessible at the top and bottom
of the lifts.
2.

At most ski and snowboard facilities, the biggest

complaint is the terrain park. People who attend the park for
the extreme thrills of a terrain park enjoy a wide variety of
jumps varying in sizes, different types of rails and boxes, and
having different areas to explore. For as large as Crystal
Mountain is, there is only one terrain park area. There are not
any different shaped boxes, or C-rails. The area consists of a
bowl, a half pipe, a few jumps, rails, and boxes. The Mountain
has one terrain park called the Sasquatch Jib Park. The new
terrain park cost about $250,000 to build.
Building additions to the mountain take time, money, and
patience. Nice terrain park areas are quite costly, and need to
be planned and submitted to the USFS and NPS because the
land is government owned for multi-use. Cheaper alternatives
would be to have jumps and rails elsewhere on the mountain
and not just at the one location. On some of the intermediate
and easy trails, there should be small areas with terrain park
set-ups so people can get a balance of cruising down the
mountain and catching some air. Also, people from all over
the country go to Crystal Mountain everyday, so only having
one terrain park area can get extremely crowded. Building
smaller jumps on one of the intermediate trails would require
snow, grooming materials and machines, and a few workers. It
costs about $160 to purchase all the materials needed to
build a box rail. This could be quite cost effective.

3.

A huge complaint with Crystal Mountain is there are long

lines and wait times for lifts. Crystal Mountain is highly
publicized and the Mt. Rainier Gondola is a huge tourist
attraction, which makes Crystal Mountain quite busy.
Customers complained of a 2 hour wait for rentals and long
wait times to enter the area and purchase tickets. Crystal
Mountain added more lifts, and added a user friendly mobile

app and website where customers could preorder lift tickets to

make the wait times less painful.
The rental process still has not improved, especially on the
weekends. The company could hire more employees during
peak hours, which would cost $9.47 per hour (minimum
wage). A more expensive idea would to have two rental
centers, one for beginners and one for more advanced skiers.
The center for beginners could be more interactive with the
customer, and the center for the advanced skiers would be
quick in and out rental because it is not the first rodeo.
4. Dining at the facility seems to be an issue. There are a few
typical fry and burger places on the mountain. The only
restaurant a top the mountain is fancy and high class, yet
everyone is sweaty and in gear from boarding all day. There
are also people who take the gondola up to the top of the
mountain for a fancy dining experience, so there is a strange
mix of target markets. The mountain needs to add a cheaper
option for food with healthy choice options a top the mountain
as well. The cheapest option would to have a dress code at
the one atop the mountain and add cheap and healthy options
to the already existing restaurants. If some items are
excluded from the menu, and new items are added, it should
not cost the mountain any extra money. It would only require
a reworking of budget, inventory, and training employees to
cook the new recipes.
5. Nightlife is highly slacking at Crystal Mountain. The mountain
is only opened from 9-4 so the hours would need to be
extended, at the very least, on the weekends. There are many
resorts and chalets to stay at onsite, but there is nothing for
the people to do after about 4pm. Crystal Mountain is about 2
hours from Seattle and Olympia so the Mountain is pretty
secluded, and shuts down at 4pm, which is nice for a private
getaway, not so much for a family ski trip, or a college spring
break trip. The mountain has began investing in nightlife and
other activities, but is highly costly because new programs
would need to be developed and possibly more facilities would
be needed for night restaurants, bars, etc. The Mountain
already has program designers, and programs can be held at
current facilities such as warming lodges, so that portion is
already calculated into the budget. Starting new bars and
facilities cost anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000. Crystal
started to have movie nights, which only a giant room,
projector, screen, and money to rent/purchase movies that
are needed.

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