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DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020 BCBUSINESS 41
Introducing then–Whistler Black-
comb chief operating officer Pete Sonntag
at last February's The View From Here
business and investment forum, emcee
Maureen (Mo) Douglas was ready with
a zinger. "Since Pete's been here in Can-
ada, he's learned the versatile use of
the term 'sorry,'" Douglas told the Whis-
tler crowd.
Sorry for the lousy snow conditions in
November. Sorry for the delays in opening
the alpine on stormy days. Sorry for those
lift ticket snafus back in 2017.
But U.S. parent Vail Resorts Manage-
ment Co. wasn't worried. In Whistler and
elsewhere, its Epic strategy, which locks
in pre-season ticket sales across its exten-
sive network of ski resorts throughout
North America, provides a reliable hedge
against the whims of Mother Nature. And
compared to its rivals, the company's skill
at gathering and deploying customer data
makes it look like the Amazon or Facebook
of the ski world.
Until Vail's surprise acquisition of
Whistler Blackcomb in 2016, most Cana-
dian skiers probably thought an "epic"
day on the slopes consisted of knee-
deep powder, bluebird skies, short lines
and cold beer. Ski Canada editor Iain
MacMillan was introduced to Vail's new
spin on this much-overused adjective
eight years earlier. In 2008, he attended a
press junket where
CEO Rob Katz officially
launched its new Epic Pass.
"Most of the writers were making lazy
puns about what 'epic' might mean,"
MacMillan says. "But I asked Katz when
they were going to buy Whistler Black-
comb." It was treated as a joke at the time,
yet MacMillan recalls a sidelong glance
from Katz that said, Anything is possible.
One thing was for sure: skiers were
going to be able to take advantage of some
MOUNTAIN MAN
Vail Resorts' Pete
Sonntag (above)
spent an eventful
two years as COO of
Whistler Blackcomb
RIGHT: WHISTLER BLACKCOMB
