Ski resorts already have many assets that will benefit them when working to grow their summer business: beautiful scenery, infrastructure at the base, a pool of potential employees, and name recognition. These assets mean ski area managers are one step ahead when trying to create a summer mountain destination that will draw the winter crowd back to them and draw new summer visitors as well.

What can you do at your to enhance your ski resort summer operations and increase your return on investment? Head Rush, a leading manufacturer of adventure devices, has some summer business ideas for small ski areas and large ski resorts alike. Our adventure products will help create excitement and be a draw for kids, adults, families, and even thrill-seekers.

Business Ideas for Ski Resort Summer Operations

Climbing Challenges

Offer your visitors a glimpse into alpine summer activities with a climbing challenge at your mountain’s base area. Heavenly Ski Resort and Crested Butte Mountain Resort both have outdoor climbing walls that mimic the natural surroundings. Stowe Mountain Resort created an indoor climbing area that includes both auto belay and roped climbing lanes.

Climbing walls are among the top 10 most profitable summer amenities according to the NSAA National Summer Survey of Ski Operators. With TRUBLUE Auto Belays in place, you’ll enjoy high throughput, low staffing costs, and the reliability of the most trusted auto belay in the world. Learn more about the benefits of a climbing wall, see examples, and estimate the ROI for a climbing wall at your ski resort.

Free Fall Adventures

Want to help your ski area’s summer operations stand out? Want to create an exciting, thrilling activity that draws in crowds, is fun to watch, and encourages social sharing? Add a free fall adventure to your ski resort! If you already have a platform, this is an easy addition. If you don’t have a platform, consider building a new structure; it can be a tower, zip line platform, decks, or other structure with height.

Head Rush created the QUICKflight and FlightLine Free Fall Rides to create a thrill ride unlike any other. Participants take the leap into thin air and enjoy a free fall before the devices provide a soft catch and lower them to the ground. The FlightLine is our most adventurous free fall and will even challenge thrill-seekers; the free fall distance is up to 36 feet! These free fall devices have higher throughput compared to bungee systems, provide a soft catch, and are lower maintenance than competing systems.

High-Speed Zip Lines

Ski areas are ready-made for great zip lining. The elevation gain is there and transportation to the top is handled by the lifts. Multiple zip lines can create a half-day adventure that everyone in the family can enjoy.

Zip lines should be fun, fast, and easy for the rider. No one wants to be worrying about what they have to do to brake when they could be enjoying the views. The Head Rush zipSTOP Zip Line Brake allows higher speeds for a more exciting ride while also engaging without any input from the rider. Automatic reset of this brake also makes it easy on your guides.

Complete Adventure Tower

Want to create a standout attraction at your ski resort that has it all? Add multiple adventure elements in one small footprint with a complete adventure tower. Participants can scale the climbing wall, jump off various levels of platforms, and zip down a unique high-angle line. Offer pay-per-jump options or bundle packages to cater to kids, families, and thrill-seekers. These jump towers offer a standout attraction for your ski area that will attract a wide range of visitors.

Check out two adventure towers in action:

• The Epic Adventure Tower at Castle Rock Zip Line Tours in Colorado, USA is one of the highlights at this recreation complex.
• The new Gravity Tower at the Salt Ayre Leisure Centre in Lancaster, UK is the first of its kind in Europe.

What Goals Will Head Rush Products Help You Achieve?

Create New Revenue Streams

The summer is no longer off-season at ski resorts, and some mountains are seeing incredible growth in their summer operations. Creating new revenue streams during warm months helps bolster the overall business and make it more resilient to variable weather. Plus, there is potential for increasing overall visitation by encouraging summer visitors to come back for winter activities and vice versa.

Set Your Resort Apart

Why should your mountain be the place people choose to spend their leisure time? What sets you apart from other attractions or recreational opportunities? If you already have something that sets you apart, build upon that. If you don’t have something unique to offer yet, it’s time to get to work. Head Rush devices offer climbing, jumping, and zip-lining thrills that can be scaled for all ages and abilities and will help you create unique, fun adventure to set your resort apart.

Maximizing ROI

Head Rush devices are made to give you the best return on investment. You will enjoy high throughput, low maintenance, and a low cost of ownership with our devices. See an example of the amazing ROI of QUICKflight when charging just $10 per jump.

Creating a Memorable Experience

You want to create exciting summer activities at your ski resort that will be attractive to a wide range of ages and abilities. It should also be a memorable experience that participants will recommend to others and maybe come back to do again. Bonus points if the activities are fun to watch, will draw in a crowd, and photos or video shareable on social media.