"A Collective Effort of Many"

But Rotarun Ski Area doesn’t need the trappings of a typical ski resort to flourish. In fact, it’s the utter lack of such apparently superfluous extras that reveals what leaders of the nonprofit community ski hill recently described as its greatest strengths: purity and nostalgia. Rotarun, which has recently run on a grand total of about $300,000 in annual operating income, has been on a simple mission since 1948 to stoke within the snow-sports pupils who flock to its slopes the fundamental joy of skiing and snowboarding.

“It’s like the anti-resort,” Rotarun Ski Area Executive Director Scott McGrew said. “This place belongs to all of us.”

Rotarun unlocks the thrill of skiing and snowboarding through its accessibility. Its most expensive day pass is $15. A season pass covering a family of up to five people is $300. It boasts a free ski school for kids ages 5-11, as well as multiple other programs. Kids under 5 ski free at all times. Everyone skis free—yes, free—on Wednesday nights. During the 2020-21 ski season, Rotarun gifted 3,688 tickets to kids and logged 11,195 skier days, according to its annual report for the year. During the 2021-22 season, Rotarun gifted 3,782 lift tickets to kids and logged 12,073 skier days.

“We’ve removed all the barriers to entry,” Rotarun Mountain Manager Julian Tyo said. “There’s so much ski equipment here. … If you’re cold, we’ve got some extra coats. We’ll keep you warm.”

Yet Rotarun’s success is far from guaranteed. It’s a member of what McGrew calls “an endangered species” in the winter recreation industry. More than 160 “mom and pop” U.S. ski areas similar to Rotarun have shut down in the last 30 years, according to Rotarun, driven out of business by industry consolidation and the climate change-driven decrease in the likelihood of consistent snowfall.

“They’ve got the boot on their necks,” McGrew said. “It’s really too bad, so we’re trying to do it differently.”

A series of snowmaking infrastructure developments on the mountain in recent years has been key to Rotarun’s sustainability in this challenging climate, ski area leaders said. Now, Rotarun is in a transition between mountain managers who steward its slopes. It’s welcoming a new mountain manager, Tyo, and saluting former Mountain Manager Riley Berman, who helped shepherd Rotarun through its snowmaking evolution. In Rotarun’s moment of transition, these ski area leaders during interviews with the Express reflected on Rotarun’s development and looked to the future.

“[Berman] pulled together family and friends and people who have a really strong heartbeat for this small ski hill thing,” McGrew said. “It just felt like you were part of something bigger.”