COVER FEATURE
“It’s been phenomenal. It really is a source of pride for us,
especially on Mondays when we hear the
While the resort’s Rocky Mountain
Coaster has only been running a few
months, Copper Mountain is already
seeing significant benefits.
“We were surprised to see a lot of
guests coming up solely to ride the
coaster,” Prather said, adding that it’s
also proved popular with guests looking
for an ancillary activity to do after
a day of skiing or who just want to try
something different while at the resort.
Copper Mountain’s Rocky Mountain
Coaster was installed by Aquatic
Development Group (ADG), the leading
water park design and construction
company that expanded into the
alpine coaster and slide business back
in 2012. ADG’s owner, Ken Ellis, is also
the co-owner of Camelback Mountain
Resort, a popular all-season ski resort
in Pennsylvania that boasts both a
mountain coaster and an alpine slide
as key attractions.
To date, ADG has installed seven
mountain coasters and 25 alpine slides
at resorts in the United States. An
eighth coaster is on tap to open at Purgatory
Mountain in Colorado in late
spring/early summer this year.
“We’d like to see even more of these
in the Northeast and around North
America because when the tide rises
all the boats float,” said Bill Farrell,
marketing director for Berkshire East
Resort in Massachusetts, which has
been profiting from an ADG-installed
mountain coaster since 2014.
“It’s been phenomenal. It really is
a source of pride for us, especially on
Mondays when we hear the revenue
figures for the weekend,” Farrell said.
“It’s probably been one of the most
successful investment decisions that
we’ve made.”
Farrell says Berkshire East is able to
leverage its mountain coaster in several
important ways. The coaster is often
included in packages with offerings
such as white water rafting and other
adventure activities at the resort, increasing
profitability, and groups like
the boy scouts and wedding parties
love it.
All this has enabled Berkshire East
to broaden its customer base considerably.
“As soon as the coaster opened,
we discovered there was a whole new
group of demographics that were visiting
the mountain, and this was people
who weren’t skiing.”
$2 million price tag
Jessica Mahoney, ADG’s director of
marketing, says their coaster systems
typically cost about $2 million to design
and build, adding that resorts can
expect to recoup their investment in as
little as two years. Because ADG mountain
coasters are designed to operate
year-round, she says this enhances
their appeal as an investment.
Continued on page 32
revenue figures for the weekend.”
– Bill Farrell, Berkshire East Resort
COURTESY OF CAMELBACK RESORT 30 April 2018 | snowopsmag.com