Skiing is in many ways an easy sport to describe — you find the snow, strap on skis and head downhill — yet the overall skiing experience is quite different depending on whether you’re hitting the slopes in North America or Europe.
While Europeans dance on the tables of La Folie Douce in their ski boots, across the Atlantic skiers are more likely to be toasting their s’mores around the family fireplace. Europeans have quaint mountain restaurants, ideal for frequent vin chaud stops, while Americans focus on the “verticals”, boasting of the peaks and powder they’ve skied. And don’t even think about how American skiers, accustomed to orderly lift lines, react to the “each skier for themselves” ruckus of an Italian queue.
“US resorts have always been incredibly well organised, getting skiers out of their cars and up the mountain without the car park chaos you see in Europe,” says Charlie McKee of Alpine Property Intelligence, a buying agency. In Courchevel, a recent addition borrowed their concept: in Le Praz village, the Alpinium service centre comes with a multistorey car park linked to a gondola taking skiers to Courchevel 1850 in six minutes.
That’s not the only North American ski practice heading to Europe. Condo-hotels, subscription services and US ski operators themselves are all on the rise.
Condo-hotels, also known as apart-hotels, are individual residences that are fully serviced and managed by an attached hotel. They normally come with an obligation to let the property for certain periods while it’s empty, something that appeals to many owners, says Giles Gale, founder of Alpine Property Finders.
“Resorts want to avoid cold beds, homes left empty and unused, and the condo-hotel model does that,” he says. “Austria was one of the first in Europe to employ the model, often in family-run hotels that were developed into apart-hotels. The hotelier gets a redeveloped hotel, the developer can help finance costs by selling apartments and owners get a fully-serviced holiday home and someone to manage rentals when not using their property.”
Switzerland has entered the market, with projects in Grimentz priced from SFr659,000 ($750,000) through Alpine Property Finders. The latest Swiss condo-hotel project, announced here for the first time, is in the resort of Andermatt. The Alpinist will be a five-star, 66-room hotel with 164 residences, with studios starting from SFr595,000. The waiting list for off-plan purchases opens next month. “Andermatt already has two condo-hotels,” says Russell Collins, chief commercial officer at Andermatt Swiss Alps, but “The Alpinist follows the US model more closely,” he says, promising an approach “based around a strong community and shared passion for the Alps.” Designed by Norwegian practice Snohetta, The Alpinist will have Andermatt’s largest spa and a three-storey gym.
Subscription services — whereby skiers pay a fee for unlimited access to a company’s resorts around the world — is another US-inspired concept that aims to build a community, and is encouraging Americans to ski in Europe in increasing numbers. Vail Resorts owns and manages 37 North American resorts, including the giants of Vail and Whistler Blackcomb, and three in Australia. In 2022 it bought a controlling interest in Andermatt-Sedrun and this year added Crans-Montana to its books. Its annual Epic Pass allows unlimited ski access to all Vail-owned resorts, and also to partner resorts including Verbier, France’s Three Valleys and Ski Arlberg in Austria.
Vail Resorts plans to invest around SFr30mn in Crans-Montana in the next five years, expanding snow-making capabilities and improving restaurants. Its aim is to “allow the resort to make more snow with less energy and water and support an earlier opening each season,” says Laura Bonfiglio from Vail Resorts. Over the past 10 years, the company has invested more than $2bn in its mountain resorts, she says.
This planned investment in Crans-Montana is already having an impact on international arrivals says local resident Cassandra Levene, managing director at Alpine Homes International. “Crans needed something new. This winter will be the first season under Vail Resorts and the impetus it has given already is exciting, with new fashion brands and restaurants like La Ferme Saint-Amour opening and the arrival of Six Senses,” says Levene, who has clients from Singapore and the US making a permanent move to the resort.
Vail Resorts’ investment in Crans has not been without its critics, notes McKee, with charges of “McSki” thrown about, but for both the resort and local homeowners, he sees it as a much needed shot in the arm. “It’s a prime opportunity to bring Crans, which had an ageing demographic, to a new audience,” he says. Prices in Crans-Montana are at least 40 per cent lower than Verbier, its peer in Valais, according to UBS 2023 figures.
High costs are one characteristic of North American resorts that skiers might prefer were not imported. This season, skiers will pay up to US$179 for a day lift pass in Aspen compared with €79 in France’s Three Valleys, but Giles Gale argues that this extra revenue is used for improvements to infrastructure.
“In smaller European resorts it can be hard to get new investment because of the historic way the resorts developed,” he says. “Apart from the purpose-built French resorts, many resorts are on land originally owned by farming families, in villages that have evolved over centuries. In North America, resorts grew less organically, mostly master planned. That provides huge convenience for skiers but often without the charm of the Alps, one reason why many Americans come to ski in Europe. It’s as much a cultural experience as a sporting one.”
Europe’s piecemeal evolution also means that ownership of ski lifts, hotels and local businesses is often fragmented. In North America, the owners and operators of the lift system often have a stake in hotels and accommodation, giving them an incentive to keep the slopes open for as long a season as possible. Vail Resorts’ investment in Crans-Montana includes majority ownership of the ski infrastructure as well as a ski school, real estate company and 11 restaurants.
“For home buyers, there’s often more surety and confidence in a destination where there’s a common interest in operating the resort smoothly for everyone,” says Collins.
For Gale, a life-long skier with a family property in the Austrian Alps, where would he choose to ski? “If you can afford it, the skiing in North America is exceptional, slick and professionally done,” he says. “If forced to choose, I would head to North America for a week of hardcore, thrash-the-slopes skiing, but if I wanted a fun skiing holiday, mixing time on and off the piste with friends and family, I’d definitely go to Europe.”
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