Devil’s Thumb Ranch’s snowcat has more room to roam.
In its second season running cat skiing tours, the resort near Winter Park said it now has 400 acres of available terrain for the guided, backcountry skiing experience, according to Zach Fanch, VP of business development.
That area boasts 12 trails and a 1,300 foot vertical drop, up from seven trails and a 600 foot drop last year.
“You get your own private mountain with friends and family, and there are no worries about crowds, lift lines or parking,” said Fanch, whose parents Bob and Suzanne built and own the 6,500-acre property. “I’m confident that our terrain is world class.”
Powderhounds can enjoy the gladed, powdered slopes for $600 per person. The five hour trip includes lunch, drinks and rentals, Fanch said. Compared to other resorts that allow more people to cat ski, Devil’s Thumb only offers the opportunity only to lodge guests – a “luxurious” experience in Fanch’s eyes.
“Those other places are open to the public, which means they get skied a lot more and the snow quality isn’t as good,” he said, noting they got around 325 to 350 inches of powder last year- a number on par with most major ski resorts in the Centennial State.
“But our snow quality is the best,” he said. “We’ve had multiple people say that this has been their best day of skiing ever.”
Though the ranch only had their first tour of the season last week, Fanch said the response from last year’s over a dozen trips has caused them to devote more marketing powers to cat skiing.
Devil’s Thumb also offers nordic skiing, fat tire biking and a spa, among many services, to its overnight guests.
“We look at (cat skiing) as another additional activity to offer our guests,” he said. “We don’t really look at it as a separate business.”
Fanch said they remodeled each of their two PistenBully 100 cats over the summer to have passenger space. That way, if some people in a group don’t want to hop out and ski, they can enjoy the landscape and food from inside the machine.
Last year, Devil’s Thumb outsourced the entire operation to Mountain States Snowcats, but adapting the two snowcats it already had helps streamline the process. The ranch previously used them to give nordic tours, which still run every day.
“We had those two machines sitting there and we had the crew to operate them,” he said, adding they bought them in 2014. “It was just a good business decision.”
Fanch also noted that adding more cat skiing helps with the resort’s fire management plan.
By removing trees to add trails, he said they are helping clean up from a big wind cycle in 2021 that added more potential fuel to the forest floor.
“We’re trying to go for a gladed approach because it serves as fire protection for the ranch and also as trails,” he said.
He also said another area behind existing terrain could be tapped into if the demand for cat skiing continues to grow. He said that that area, which is north facing, goes up to 11,500 feet.
“I think every summer we’ll add at least 6 new runs until the terrain that we have right now is perfectly gladed,” he said.
Story via BusinessDen
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