I got the Singletracks headline in my feed Monday morning and stopped scrolling: “One of Colorado’s iconic bike parks just canceled its entire summer season, and locals aren’t buying the official story.”
I’ve seen resorts pause seasons before. But the timing here is particularly awkward. Three weeks ago, Colorado Public Radio covered a new Forest Service rule giving ski resorts expanded year-round adaptability on their permitted land. The same week, Kananaskis in Alberta announced year-round operations planned for 2027. The industry narrative is all about four-season revenue. And then a Colorado bike park folds for the summer.
The Gap Between “We Have a Bike Park” and “We Run a Bike Park”
Building a bike park is a capital project. Running a bike park is an operations commitment. I think resorts conflate these constantly, and the gap between them is where seasons quietly fall apart.
The skiing model is relatively predictable: you know the season window, you staff up, you run when conditions are right. Mountain biking in summer is a different animal. Trail maintenance is constant, staffing requirements skew toward technical skill sets you may not already have, and the guest demographic doesn’t perfectly overlap with your winter skier base. I’ve talked to enough resort GMs to know the first year of a bike park operation is usually the most expensive — and the most humbling.
That doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. Winter Park Resort’s mountain biking operation opens in May and draws a dedicated riding community year over year. Multiple Canadian resorts are building toward year-round operations for exactly the right strategic reasons. But execution has to match vision.
The Marketing Fallout Is the Hard Part
Here’s what hits me hardest about this story: the marketing implications of a canceled season are brutal. You’ve already promoted the bike park to your email list. Your social channels have been teasing summer content. Trail map PDFs are probably live on your website right now.
Trust is expensive to rebuild. Canceling a season you’ve already marketed ranks right next to sending the wrong email twice on the list of resort marketing setbacks I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And according to Singletracks Mountain Bike News, locals aren’t buying the official story — which compounds the reputational hit significantly. That community doesn’t forget easily.
I covered the lessons from Powder Mountain’s capital project marketing earlier this season — the thesis was that capital investment is a marketing story, not just an ops decision. The flip side is just as true: ops failures become marketing crises fast. And they always happen at the worst possible time for your calendar.
The Question Worth Asking Before You Build
The push toward four-season operations is real and mostly healthy for the industry. More revenue streams, less weather dependency, stronger community ties year-round. I’m not arguing against bike parks — I’m arguing for honesty about what running one actually requires.
Before your resort commits to a summer bike operation — or expands an existing one — the right question isn’t “can we build the trails?” It’s “can we staff, maintain, and market this with the same operational discipline we bring to ski season?” That’s the hill that matters. Is your resort actually there yet? Worth exploring — especially before you promote it.
