Carving a Niche

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This year's venue at Heavenly, for example, will feature the Feb. 2-4 Her Turn Ski and Snowboard Clinic--baited with multiday family ski packages for as little as $1,300--while Breckenridge's Park & Pipe Camps are expected to draw large crowds to the Colorado town in February and March. Virginia's Wintergreen Resort puts together wine tours in the nearby Charlottesville area. Vermont's Stowe Mountain Resort holds Wednesday ski clinics as part of its For Women, By Women series. And at Keystone, Betty Fest has become the industry's best-known program for women. "We're trying to appeal to a broad audience and be cognizant of today's skier vs. the woman who skied 30 years ago," says Sue Greene, 70, a retired IBM executive who runs Betty Fest.

Another issue involves equipment. About 10 years ago, it dawned on ski- and bootmakers that, because of their build, women need lighter, more flexible skis to carve turns, handle bumps and stave off fatigue, as well as boots that better conform to their soles, heels, ankles and calves. With that, a knot of female designers hit the workbench with one thought: the days of shortening a set of men's skis, slapping some pink paint on them and palming them off on women were over. "We don't design jockstraps, so why should men design women's skis?" jokes Alison Gannett, a Head representative and ski designer in Crested Butte, Colo.

Proving that function and style can go hand in hand, Head, Rossignol and Dynastar have developed women's skis (some with rhinestones and other flourishes) that run from a few hundred dollars up to $1,000. Today they account for about 10% of the total ski market. But manufacturers say that could very well jump to 50% in the next five years, considering two points: sales of women's ski equipment climbed from $159 million during the 2004-05 season to $175 million last year--a 10% increase--while overall women's ski-related sales jumped an impressive 18%, from $513.3 million to $605.2 million in the same period, according to the Leisure Trends Group. "We see all this happening because of women's spending power," says Julia Day, an analyst with the firm. "It's not some blip on the retail radar screen. It's a complete mind shift."

The drive to draw more women hasn't generated a blizzard of downhillers, resort executives admit. Rather, as marketing director Myra Foster at Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont points out, "it's more of an incremental push" complemented by initiatives like investing in bigger, faster chairlifts; refurbishing lodges and condos; and adding more luxurious amenities.

That makes sense to Harsch, who sells real estate when she's not skiing: "It may have taken it a long time to figure it out, but I think the ski industry knows that if women go out on the hill and don't like it, they'll go ice skating or go to the beach or find something else to do."