JACKSON, N.H. (AP) — Thomas Brennick, a skier since he was 4 years old, now enjoys skiing at Black Mountain in New Hampshire with his two grandchildren.
“It’s back to the old days,” Brennick said while riding the Summit Double chairlift on a recent sunny Friday. “It’s just good, old-time skiing at its best.”
Behind the scenes, Black Mountain is adopting cutting-edge technology to improve efficiency at the state’s oldest ski area.
While smaller, independent resorts may struggle to compete with large conglomerates like Vail, which owns nearby Attitash Mountain Resort among other properties, one entrepreneur believes technology can level the playing field.
That entrepreneur is Erik Mogensen, who purchased Black Mountain last year and turned it into a test site for his ski resort consultancy, Entabeni Systems. His company develops systems that move lift ticket sales, lesson reservations, and equipment rentals online, while gathering detailed data to help make key decisions—like where to make more snow and how much to make.
“A lot of general managers will look at the number of cars parked in the lot to gauge how busy they are,” Mogensen explained. “We want to go deeper and analyze transactional data at the most detailed level.”
This includes tracking everything from the best time to sell hot dogs in the lodge to how many runs season pass holders take during a visit.
“The larger resorts have the advantage of scale. They can buy 20 snow cats or 10 chairlifts at once, which we can’t do,” Mogensen acknowledged. “But we’re nimble. We can quickly change how we groom the slopes, adjust trail openings, or even update our food menu mid-day.”