My closest area for comparison is Crystal. After being sold to Alterra, there's been a pretty significant increase in skier days and some pretty difficult parking situations, from what I understand. People leaving Seattle at 4:30 in the morning so they can get a parking spot, for example. It all sounds not inviting and there's a lot of online complaining going on regarding Alterra. We already have a parking problem at Schweitzer that will be exacerbated by the addition of Ikon, I would imagine. They are taking steps to alleviate some of the problem but adding 100 car parks is a drop in the bucket from what I see. To that end, I'm walk/ski in and out so that's not as big a concern.
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ETA: After reading the article comparing Crystal to Stevens Pass (Alterra/Ikon versus VailResorts/Epic), I'm very relieved that Schweitzer didn't hook up with Epic, at least. Their model of further reducing the Epic pass and without an eye toward improving capacity and times at Stevens sounds like a much worse situation than what my fears are of Ikon. So, there's that...
@Willy as Crystal "local" I can appreciate your apprehension, but I don't think that the dynamic of Crystal (or even worse Stevens) is even remotely similar in the near-term to Schweitzer. First of all, the Puget Sound metro area (Seattle/Tacoma/Everett/+Oly) dwarfs Spokane and northern Idaho combined. It isn't all that comparable. And although many of us look at that region longingly (per your anecdotes). . . obligations keep us in the Seattle metro area for the foreseeable future. And I doubt that the Covid work remote in a mountain town thing is really going to be all that prevalent and impactful going forward. Things change. Also, "smart" Seattle skiers already know Schweitzer and work in a trip each season. We have been a number of times, we like it a lot. I would think that our contribution to crowding and out of town visits is already "priced into" your calculations re the current quality of the experience. Ikon will drive a bit more long weekend traffic from across the Cascades - that wouldn't surprise me a bit - but I think Schweitzer has more than enough infrastructure to absorb it and weekdays should not see a significant change.
And the rationale for Ikon is entirely different for Schweitzer than it is for Crystal. In the case of Crystal (or Stevens for Epic), it is about creating incentives for the local skiing population in a major metro area to preference Ikon destinations for travel. Ikon and Epic have effectively divided the Puget Sound market. In the case of Schweitzer, it is about encouraging those with Ikon passes to consider visiting (or continue visiting) Schweitzer. Very different purpose so the comparison with Crystal doesn't really hold. The better comparison would be Taos or Jackson or Big Sky. But Jackson is unique. It is a legendary, bucket list place for most serious skiers - Ikon created an incentive to take on the hassle of access to just do it. I am a perfect example - year one of Ikon I made a trip to Jackson. I used miles for a plane ticket. Of course, Ikon was the driver of that visit.
With respect to our local hills, I think that Alterra has done a pretty good job at Crystal all considered (I also think that the Kirschers did a pretty good job as well). Crystal's core problem is base infrastructure. The last real expansion of facilities came in the 80s and early 90s and the volume assumptions are simply dated. The challenge is that infrastructure like parking and lodge capacity are really only taxed on the weekends (and in the case of lodges 2 hours each weekend day). But Crystal makes its money on the weekends and they need a plan to absorb that. These issues pre-date Ikon. From what I see, Alterra are pretty good operators of mountains with that sort of weekday/weekend delta (I think about Squaw/Alpine), so I think they can figure it out. Some of what they have been doing in Covid - pre-ordering food with an app, table reservations, food trucks, temporary shelters utilizing outdoor space, additional plumbed bathrooms, should stay post-Covid. Mountain capacity is adequate to absorb the crowds, it is a pretty big space if you can ski the whole mountain (of course there are lines in North for an hour or two on a powder day on the weekend - this isn't a heli operation). But if you are a reasonably strong skier and have a bit of local knowledge about how to navigate the mountain, over the course of even a busy Saturday you can generally avoid horrible lines most of the time (which I think is fair for a day hop mountain less than 2 hours from a growing population center). Further on the plus side, Alterra seem to appreciate the culture of the area and respects long time guests. It doesn't seem all that different or like it is being homogenized into something Crystal isn't.
On the negative side, full access under Ikon substantially drove up weekend volume even before Covid, and parking had become a mess. That was exacerbated in early winter 19-20 by a set of storm cycles that came through on weekends (something I usually appreciate as a "weekend warrior"). This was NEVER a thing at Crystal - in fact, Crystal used to beat on Stevens on this point by offering a free ticket to anyone turned away on account of parking. It usually happened once a season. They need to address this, and maybe pulling full Crystal access up to a more premium tier of Ikon will help. I appreciated that the letter from the CEO addressed this and transparently admitted that the issues were not all about "Covid." And the pressure had absolutely nothing to do with destination visitors. Only the loony fringe would make Crystal a destination trip (when there are so many other options with more reliable conditions). My guess (and I am sure Alterra has data) is that the issues were about a larger share of the Seattle market saying, "WTF, I'll by a local Ikon pass and hit Crystal on weekend powder days when Alpental is structurally tapped out and stupid." So maybe the changes will work. I'm optimistic, why not be?
Stevens is a whole other discussion. Stevens has borne the impact of regional growth much more obviously. The natural growth of the area to being fully built out to Monroe, plus growth in the towns along the Highway 2 corridor have played the biggest role in the challenges at Stevens. They just can't absorb the capacity and the drive home, through the Highway 2 lights and roundabouts is misery. I loath it on weekends which is why I rarely ski Stevens anymore (although I like the mountain, grew up skiing it and still consider it "home"). I also hear that Vail hasn't done a great job getting terrain open, respecting local culture and the like. But I haven't been to Stevens since the Vail acquisition, so that is just what I hear. In my mind, the structural problems pre-date Vail. Ironically, I am thinking of adding an Epic pass this year thanks to the pricing because I miss Stevens (the mountain part) and having Epic makes skiing Whistler semi-rational again. So in that respect, I supposed I'd be "part of the problem."
Anyway, it is not all doom and gloom over here and I think that the addition of Schweitzer to Ikon is a benefit to Seattle skiers but not likely enough to drive significant, detrimental visitation. And the local dynamic just isn't anything like Seattle (yet!), so I wouldn't worry too much,
@Willy. Your real problem is when "we" move to Sandpoint and become "you" - not when "we" book a room for a few nights at the La Quinta (which is already inside the current capacity footprint).