I love skiing. And so do many other Michiganders. So having the chance to sit and talk with Pete Meyer, Co-Owner of Caberfae Peaks, was a real treat. Learning the history and philosophy behind this wonderful Michigan Ski Resort was a real blessing. I do believe that culture flows downhill. And listening to Pete, I now understand why Caberfae Peaks is such a wonderful place to enjoy the day!
In this episode, Pete shares:
- The history of Caberfae Peaks
- The unique approach Caberfae Peaks takes to Families
- What the future holds for Caberfae Peaks
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Transcript
And during the winter months, we do stay laser
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:focused on skiing and snowboarding.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:There's a lot of other resorts that put in other attractions like zip lines
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and alpine slides and mountain biking.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Things like that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We don't.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We refer to those as distractions.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We want to be the best skiing, snowboard resort that we can possibly be.
Cliff Duvernois:Hello everyone.
Cliff Duvernois:Welcome back to Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things.
Cliff Duvernois:I am your host Cliff Duvernois.
Cliff Duvernois:Right now it is ski season and I love to ski.
Cliff Duvernois:So imagine my surprise to find a ski resort in Northern part of the lower
Cliff Duvernois:Peninsula that's got a real focus on being the family affordable option.
Cliff Duvernois:And I'm talking about Caberfae Peaks.
Cliff Duvernois:Today I'm joined with one of the co-owners of Caberfae Peaks.
Cliff Duvernois:And that would be Pete Meyer.
Cliff Duvernois:Pete, how are you?
Cliff Duvernois:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks: I'm doing very well, thank you.
Cliff Duvernois:And I didn't know that, I didn't know that was the name of the podcast, but
Cliff Duvernois:I'm definitely a very ordinary person.
Cliff Duvernois:So this, this will fit well.
Cliff Duvernois:Great.
Cliff Duvernois:Why don't you tell us a little bit about where you're from and where you grew up.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So I grew up in the town of Cadillac here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I'm currently employed in at Caberfae Ski Resort.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It's a family business.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:My dad and my uncle got into it back in the early eighties.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:There's a tremendous amount of history with Caberfae.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Caberfae was one of the first ski resorts to open in not only the
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Midwest, but the entire nation.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So there's a tremendous amount of history.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It opened in, uh, 19 37, 38.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And operated for a long time as a non-profit entity.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Um, and it started under the combination of the Civilian Conservation Corps,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the, uh, US Forest Service and the local Chamber of Commerce.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So they opened it, cut the first ski trails in, put the first rope toes
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:in, and then ran it for a long time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then in the seventies, they, I should say the late, the mid to late
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:sixties, they wanted to raise some funds to put in a couple chairlifts.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And, and they did that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They sold stock to some individual members and ski club members and
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:ended up buying the chairlifts and weren't able to, uh, pay for it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So it ultimately ended up filing for bankruptcy.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So that's when it went from public to private.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then my family got involved after that point in time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So they, they had ended up buying it from the bank in the early eighties.
Cliff Duvernois:So this was your, this was your father
Cliff Duvernois:and your uncle who bought it?
Cliff Duvernois:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks: That's correct, yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:You grew up practically in the ski business?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I did, I grew up, as, you know, grew
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:up on the, on the hill skiing.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I grew up, uh, working here pretty much every department helping wherever
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I could, just because I had to.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then when I graduate, yeah, exactly.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:When you grew up in it, you can't really get away from it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So then when I, when I graduated high school, I couldn't get to,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I couldn't wait to get away.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, not only from here, but the town of Cadillac as well.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And, uh, is the last thing on my mind was coming back here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But as you move away, I went to, went to school at University of Notre Dame
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and, uh, head of accounting degree.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So I'm a certified public accountant.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Practiced public accounting for three years in Chicago and then a couple
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:years out in Denver after that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So that was great experience.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I got exposed to a lot of different businesses in a very short period of time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:After that point in time, I just started communicating with my dad
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and he was recruiting me pretty heavily to come back and ended up,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:uh, moving back here in, in:Cliff Duvernois:So what was it that made you move back?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:My dad actually was going through some,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:some health problems at that time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:He was having a knee replacement.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They had, uh, a couple of key personnel leave here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And so he just wanted to look into some kind of transition or exit strategy
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:for him and, and was recruiting.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Recruiting pretty hard.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I ended up, had a lot of discussions with my wife and we.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We ended up coming back.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And subsequently had a lot of conversations with my cousin Tim, who
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:at that time was uh, working at Winter Park, Colorado as a ski patroller.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And he had been out there for 10 years.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And I knew it would be a little bit better if we, we came back and did it together.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So, in communications with him, he ended up moving back.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Six months after, after I came back here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And so he now runs the mountain operations, everything on the hill.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:He'll, he overlooks the, uh, snow making, the grooming, the ski patrol the
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:maintenance of, of, of all that as well.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:The chair lifts and I pretty much have everything else or the more the base
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:area and the business end of things.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So I'll oversee the, the ticket office the rental operations, the ski shop,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:all the food and beverage outlets, the hotel, the housekeeping accounting,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and all the marketing and HR.
Cliff Duvernois:Now, one of the things that initially attracted me to come to
Cliff Duvernois:Caberfae was the fact that you guys have the tallest hill in the lower peninsula.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We do.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We do.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we actually have the highest lifts serve peak in the in, in all of Michigan.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So there are higher points in Michigan, but they don't
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:have a, a lift on top of 'em.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And there's also some ski resorts with more vertical.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But our top is higher than, than those other elevations.
Cliff Duvernois:One of the things I would like to explore with you is
Cliff Duvernois:this family affordability that you have with your particular ski result.
Cliff Duvernois:And, and I say that because what brought really brought it to my
Cliff Duvernois:attention was when I took a break from skiing and I went over to grab a meal.
Cliff Duvernois:I was shocked that I could get burger fries and a soda for $10, which,
Cliff Duvernois:put you on competition with the king, the clown, and the colonel.
Cliff Duvernois:You know?
Cliff Duvernois:Right.
Cliff Duvernois:It's like going to McDonald's, you know.
Cliff Duvernois:So talk to us a little bit about, keeping those prices that way.
Cliff Duvernois:Cuz on, and I ask that question because a lot of ski resorts are expensive.
Cliff Duvernois:But it seems like you are a very family affordable option.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You hit the nail on the head right there for us.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And that kind of defines who we are and what we wanna be.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:A we want to provide value.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We want people to come here and walk away from here saying, Hey, that was, that was
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:a really good time and that was worth it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I, I want to do that again.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we do that in a number of different ways.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:One, we try to provide a good on hill experience with the
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:snow making and the grooming.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Two, we try to provide value with the, with the food and
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:other things when we're here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But more importantly, we started with some of the lift ticket value.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:hat, that we started doing in:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's a little bit higher now.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But it really created value for families.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So you could have a family of four could spend less than $400 and then
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:they can recreate all winter long on weekends, Saturdays, and Sundays
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and days that they can recreate.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, it really made it a family friendly place.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:On top of that, we I think are one of the best ski resorts in
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the area that allow people to bring in their own picnic lunches.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we have quite a, a crockpot scene here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It's pretty neat.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We used to allow them into our main lodge, the big red building here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We had crockpots on the lower level and then the cafeteria on the upper level.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Two summers ago we renovated an, an old dilapidated lodge
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:called the Skyview Lodge.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:That was built in the early sixties and had a lot of had
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:a lot of issues structurally.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It had been leaking ever since I could remember.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:The roof always leaked since, ever since I've been alive.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we, we had a structural engineer come out and assessed that and
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:then ended up renovating that extensively, uh, last summer.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And now that whole lodge and that entire square footage is, is dedicated
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:to, uh, to crockpots or, or those families packing picnic lunches.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So now to this day, you know, we wanna be very family friendly.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We want to be very welcoming.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We want to know your name.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We have a lot of longtime employees that, that know a lot of the customers and
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:it's, and it's neat to build that rapport and welcome 'em back year after year
Cliff Duvernois:So with running a ski resort, what would you say are some of the
Cliff Duvernois:biggest challenges that you have to face?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Well, I think number one is, is weather.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, we, we battle the ever-changing weather in, in
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Michigan and Northern Michigan.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And number two is staff.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, we have over almost 225 to 230 employees here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it, it is just a lot to manage with, with the staff.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:A lot of 'em are part-time seasonal.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:A lot of 'em are high school kids, college kids.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So between those two things, those are probably the most aspects
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:of, of operating a ski resort.
Cliff Duvernois:And I know as far as the weather goes, you can kind
Cliff Duvernois:of stack the deck a little bit in your favor cuz like you said before,
Cliff Duvernois:you've got the snow machines out there on the mountain to produce snow.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We, we did, and we didn't always have that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:When Tim and I moved back, it was, we had a lot of deferred maintenance.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, my dad and my uncle had just done a phenomenal job of, of
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:redeveloping the ski ski resort.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They had put in a couple chairlifts, redeveloped the hills, added vertical
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:to the hills built a big day lodge, added the golf course, built a rental,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:rental, building this ticket office, the pool out in front of the hotel.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So they did a lot of just really good things.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then we just, you know, we became very focused on um, just refining those things.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And also,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We had one year, it was:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Tim and I still talk about it to this day.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It's it was a really marginal year and we barely could make enough snow to get open.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we had one run open during the whole holiday week and we survived on one run.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we're looking at each other afterwards, and we're thinking,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:you know, that's, that's a little too close for, for comfort.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So really since that year, we have invested very heavily in
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:snow making year and year out.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And, uh, right now we have a completely different snow making than we did snow
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:making system than we did 15 years ago.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So now we can make a tremendous amount of snow in a very short period of time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We're going through more freeze thaw cycles, where we have good weather
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and then it, and then it warms up 40 degrees or it might, rain,
Cliff Duvernois:Which we just went through.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Right?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then the temperature dropped.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And thankfully today we received five inches of natural snow overnight.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So that does the same thing that our snow making will do, is it will
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:refresh that snow service and bring it back to a good skiing condition.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But had we not got that, we would've been making snow to do the same
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:thing that that natural snow did.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we, and we have snow gun towers, fixed towers everywhere throughout the hill.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Uh, so we can turn on, turn the guns on, run 'em, run 'em at night.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Mix it in to the existing base and then ski on it the next day.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's and it's been good.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It's been a nice process.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And with that I think our customers are learning to be
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:more confident in ski conditions.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, not just with us, but other, other resorts in
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:northern Michigan as well.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They, they also have very good snowmaking systems and it's, and it's
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:been a good thing for the industry.
Cliff Duvernois:Yeah, cuz sometimes you gotta help mother Nature along.
Cliff Duvernois:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks: We absolutely do.
Cliff Duvernois:When you're talking about installing like all
Cliff Duvernois:these machines and, and everything in else that's, that's in there.
Cliff Duvernois:The question I'm, I'm kind of curious about is the recovery of that cost.
Cliff Duvernois:Cause I know that it's not cheap to get those machines.
Cliff Duvernois:And it's, it's, got 'em all up and down the mountainside cuz it's not,
Cliff Duvernois:you just can't put snow in one area.
Cliff Duvernois:You gotta have it from the top of the hill all the way down to the bottom.
Cliff Duvernois:So what kind of balance do you do between, yeah, we've gotta get
Cliff Duvernois:some new equipment in here versus keeping this family affordable?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So it's a great question cuz cuz the answer to
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the snowmaking question isn't, isn't just about buying some snow guns.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, it's way more complicated than that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So not only do you need the, the snow guns, but you also need the the source
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:water capacity, which would be the wells the coming, the pumping capacity, which is
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the pumps from the pumphouse, the piping capacity, which is make sure your, your
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:pipe's not undersized and you have enough piping underground to, to handle the flow.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then the, the electrical capacity, cuz you, you have an underground
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:of, you know, electrical web of all, 440 volts run into each snow gun.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Water lines running into each snow gun.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You gotta keep everything in a balance and it's not just an easy
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:answer of buying a couple snow guns and putting 'em here, right.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:For us, you know, we only had a a very few number of portable guns back then.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And now, , we have over 150 snow guns and a lot of 'em are on fixed towers.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Which, which makes it, it makes it a lot easier cuz with the portable,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:you have to, the nice thing about portable is you can use it to make snow
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:in, in several different locations.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But you al you also have to, you know, manually dig out that gun,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:move that gun, get it outta the way, push the snow, groom it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So with towers, it makes it quite a bit easier to do that process.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You just need more of 'em.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But so we continue to.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:That process and, and you know, we can't really put a price on, on snow making.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It's just so important.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Without getting the snow made and some runs open.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We, we can't sell a lift ticket.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We can't sell a cheeseburger, can't rent any equipment, can't sell any lessons.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So everything starts with the snow.
Cliff Duvernois:And with that, we are going to take a quick
Cliff Duvernois:break to thank our sponsors.
Cliff Duvernois:When we come back, Pete's gonna share with us how Caberfae wants you to keep enjoying
Cliff Duvernois:the ski sport, how parents can overcome that sting of always buying new equipment
Cliff Duvernois:for growing children, and what the future holds for all of us at Caberfae Peaks.
Cliff Duvernois:See you after the break.
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Cliff Duvernois:Welcome back to Ordinary People, extraordinary Things.
Cliff Duvernois:Today I'm chatting with Pete Meyer, co-owner of Caberfae Peaks.
Cliff Duvernois:Pete, you mentioned before that you have a ski school.
Cliff Duvernois:If you would share with us why beginners, and actually almost
Cliff Duvernois:anyone for that matter, should attend ski school at least once.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, ski school is such an important
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:part of, of every ski resort, cuz a, when people come here, uh, we want
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:'em to learn and have a good time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:If they can learn the fundamentals and learn how to stop and learn how
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:to turn and ski under control, this sport becomes really, really enjoyable.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:it does.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Right.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's also about safety too.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You don't want to go up there when you can't do that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we put in a large emphasis on that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Our ski school does a great job of teaching.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They teach all kinds of of levels, but the majority of which are beginner levels.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's great to continue to introduce people to the sport
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:of skiing and snowboarding.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And the ultimate goal with these instructors is to have
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:this person want to come back.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Right?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I always tell the instructors they're the only employee that gets to spend a
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:whole hour with one customer at a time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, customer might call, you get a phone call, you get the quick interaction
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:at the ticket window or quick interaction in the cafeteria and the rental.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But get they get a whole one hour or maybe two or whatever
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:they've booked with this person.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So they'll have the most significant impact, whether that person's gonna
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:come back and ski, you know, not just at Caberfae but anywhere to convert
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:them into more of a, a skier for life instead of a one-time skier.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So they can have a profound impact.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's very, very, important.
Cliff Duvernois:What do ,What do you look for in a ski instructor?
Cliff Duvernois:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks: You know, it's, it's, uh, it's
Cliff Duvernois:interesting cuz we can our staff will teach them how to teach.
Cliff Duvernois:They really just need to be able to identify and relate with the person.
Cliff Duvernois:They have to understand what they wanna get out of the lesson.
Cliff Duvernois:Uh, cuz once you get beyond a beginner level, lesson.
Cliff Duvernois:They, people want different things.
Cliff Duvernois:You have to be able to understand that and give it to 'em.
Cliff Duvernois:And you have to be able to identify with them and, and give 'em what they want.
Cliff Duvernois:Make 'em feel comfortable, and at ease, and ultimately be safe.
Cliff Duvernois:And have a good time.
Cliff Duvernois:And have fun.
Cliff Duvernois:It's all about the, it's all.
Cliff Duvernois:about fun.
Cliff Duvernois:It definitely is.
Cliff Duvernois:And then another aspect of your business that you have is actually
Cliff Duvernois:selling the ski equipment as well.
Cliff Duvernois:What are some things that people should think about if they're
Cliff Duvernois:saying, you know what, I'd like to get this season pass to Caberfae.
Cliff Duvernois:And equipment rental is a part of that equation as well.
Cliff Duvernois:You could, you definitely rent equipment here, but I know it's, for
Cliff Duvernois:some people out there, it's a little bit better to buy their own equipment.
Cliff Duvernois:So what are some things that people should be thinking about
Cliff Duvernois:if they're looking at equipment?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, it's always better to buy it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It's just easier to have it every day so you don't have to
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:go through the rental process.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Our pass prices were so low.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We did have a lot of pass holders that would come and rent.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Uh, you know, just trying that out each time they came up.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Um, and then ultimately once they get into their own equipment, it's better,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:it's better for them and it's better for us and their experience here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We don't have a retail ski shop, but we do have a, a demo center in shop
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:where we'll buy some of the brand new and latest and greatest skis from
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:some of the leading manufacturers.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And what's neat about our, our program is, is skiers can try before they buy.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So that's one thing you can't do in a retail ski shop.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Cuz different, all ski, ski different ways.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Uh, some one person might really like this ski.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Who's a really good skier and not like another ski.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And the other person would come in and have the exact opposite
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:opinion just because they feel different underneath your, your foot.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So it's nice to be able to, to go out and try it and then they
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:can, and then they can buy it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And so we'll sell off that demo fleet at the end of the season.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Uh, they're on sale now and then, uh, we'll buy another,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:another set next season.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But a lot of times, we'll, we'll partner with other retail ski
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:shops cuz we'll carry the same skis that they have in the shop.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So early season, if they would come out, Hey, I really like to ski.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Okay, hey, you can head into, head into town at the local
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:ski shop and, and get it there.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Or, or other ski shops in areas like Grand Rapids or in other popular areas.
Cliff Duvernois:And with regards to the ski equipment, from what you're saying
Cliff Duvernois:is it's better to actually try the skiing first before you get the equipment?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Well, I think so for two different
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:way, two different reasons.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:One, at the beginner level, you, somebody might not wanna make the
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:investment in ski equipment, right?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And they'll come out and they can rent.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Okay?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Once you know you like it and you wanna buy a pair and you don't,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and you're looking to buy a new pair, it's really nice to be
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:able to try it before you buy it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Absolutely.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Just because you, you're gonna pick the right ski for you.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You're not gonna walk outta the store with one that looks nice,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:but then you don't, don't really like it when you're on the hill.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And if you're looking for affordable options there's a list
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:of ski swaps, around the entire state that all happen pre-season.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They usually happen September, October, and November.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Uh, we always have a list of those that we refer out to
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:people looking for equipment too.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Cuz that's a way to get it a little bit more economic.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Um, you're looking for used equipment and that just at least gets you in your
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:own, your own boots and your own skis.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:That really helps.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:There's also ski shops that have some really good kids trade-in programs like
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Bill and Paul's down in Grand Rapids has a great program where kids grow outta
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:their boots pretty quickly and they grow outta their skis pretty quickly.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So not all families wanna make an investment in that when they're
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:gonna have to, buy a new pair in the next year or two years later.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So these are really nice programs that allow you to to K get your kid outfitted
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:throughout the growing years and not have to buy a new pair every year.
Cliff Duvernois:You've also made a really heavy investment
Cliff Duvernois:into leveraging social media to connect with your online community.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It's part of the industry here, like, one thing
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:that's neat is we get different weather than even where our main market comes
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:from, which is the greater Grand Rapids area or the Lansing area or
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the Midland, Bay City, Saginaw area where people are driving up from.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It might not be snowing there, right?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But we're getting snow.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's really important to be able to, to show them that
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and show 'em the updates.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Also, it's important to be able to show that our ability to
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:make snow and hey, we have snow.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Cuz there's a lot of cases they're sitting in their home downstate
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and there's no snow on the ground.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They're not thinking about it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's important to hey, to let them know.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Yes, yes, we're open.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Two, we have plenty of snow.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And three, the conditions are pretty good.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So come on up and, uh, and here's some looks into our social media to see.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then we also work with, you know, we'll do a lot of posts locally here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Just a lot of the timely stuff.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But then we have a, a guy by the name of Jeff Boss, who
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:owns and runs Montage Media.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And he does some of the higher end videos and some of that work.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we have a nice relationship with him.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:He started out just dabbling in some videos.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:This is a great story too.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:He was, he was, selling cars here in town and always had an interest
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:in doing some video production.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we had a Facebook contest way back then.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And he actually won it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Okay.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:It was a one minute video and he put together this really neat video just
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:with his iPhone and, and it was neat.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And so we started communicating.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I'm like, Hey Jeff, we should do a little bit more of this.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then, so I, we hired him to do a few more videos and he really, it
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:was his passion, it was his love.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then he, and he came in and sat down.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We worked out an arrangement to, for the whole winter to work.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then that gave him enough to quit his job.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And then he had enough business booked in the summer.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And so now, now he's blown up and doing fantastic and doing
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:a really good job on his own.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And probably doesn't need cabret as much as he did back then,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:but we certainly sure need him.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And hopefully hopefully he sticks around.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Uh, I hope he does too because your guys' facebook page is,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:first off, it's really active.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:A lot of people engage with it.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And second off, I gotta give you compliments cuz your, your content
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:on there is just extraordinary.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:I mean, I find myself evangelizing
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Well, well thank you.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Thank you.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Thank you.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Appreciate that.
Cliff Duvernois:As far as like activities go, i, is it just
Cliff Duvernois:wintertime for Caberfae Peaks?
Cliff Duvernois:Are, is it also open in the summertime?
Cliff Duvernois:Do you do biking?
Cliff Duvernois:Cause I know some places do that.
Cliff Duvernois:Like they, they take the bikes up to the top of the hill and bikes down.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we're, we are yes, we are a year-round business.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But at the same time we're very seasonal.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Probably, um, 85% of our business in the winter months.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Okay.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And during the winter months, we do stay laser focused on skiing and snowboarding.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:There's a lot of other resorts that put in other attractions like
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:zip lines and alpine slides and mountain biking, Things like that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We don't.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We refer to those as distractions.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We want to be the best skiing, snowboard resort that we can possibly be.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And those take resources away from that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we're gonna continue to do that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We're gonna continue to expand our skiing, continue to improve
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the base area, continue to improve the lift infrastructure.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:we put in a new chair lift in:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We just put one in, in in:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We have plans to do even more.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we just want to continue to stay focused on that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:As far as the off season we have a nine hole golf course.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We have a 39 room hotel, and our main summer business
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:is, is the banquet business.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we'll do a significant number of weddings from mid-April
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:through early November.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And those are really neat because we have such a unique setting.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:You know, since we're primarily a ski resort there's not much
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:happening in the summer other than some walk up golf traffic.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So a bride and groom could come and book the lodge.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But not only that, they could book the entire hotel.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They can do their rehearsal dinner here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They can have a gift opening brunch.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They can do the wedding ceremony here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So really, we have a lot of drive to destination weddings.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And a lot of our bride and grooms come from downstate just to get away.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And it's kind of neat cuz they can take over the entire resort and have a really
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:intimate setting and not have to leave.
Cliff Duvernois:Was the hotel original to this property, or was that something
Cliff Duvernois:that your dad and uncle added?
Cliff Duvernois:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks: No, that was original.
Cliff Duvernois:That, that was built in the late sixties.
Cliff Duvernois:So it was built in:Cliff Duvernois:And that too was in really rough shape.
Cliff Duvernois:So we've completely renovated the inside, renovated the exterior.
Cliff Duvernois:got here, we had dial when I:Cliff Duvernois:We had no phones in the rooms.
Cliff Duvernois:And we had duct tape on carpet.
Cliff Duvernois:I mean, it was, it was not a place that many people wanted to stay.
Cliff Duvernois:Believe it or not, we've we've outlived the need for phones in the rooms.
Cliff Duvernois:Now.
Cliff Duvernois:We don't even, before it was a big deal and now, now it doesn't even matter.
Cliff Duvernois:So we are ahead of our time, I like to say.
Cliff Duvernois:I gotta give you credit for that because if you,
Cliff Duvernois:me that these buildings were:Cliff Duvernois:I would've told you you were crazy.
Cliff Duvernois:Cuz that I asked about the hotel because that over there seems like it's maybe
Cliff Duvernois:built like within the last 10 years.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Yeah.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Thanks.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Thanks for saying that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we, we had, like I said, we had really focused on all of the, um, like
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the deferred maintenance and snow making for the first 15 years we are here.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So those are things that you really can't put in the cover of the brochure.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Nobody really cares if you fix plumbing leaks in the hotel
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:or you're fixing snow making.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Basically they just expect it to work and they want it to work.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we got to about:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:is the big red building in:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We added in:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We completely redid the hotel, built new balconies and, and changed the,
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:the facade of that while working on the inside the whole time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:2017, we renovated the courtyard.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:There used to be a broken down parking lot in between the two buildings.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Now it's a really nice outdoor wedding site and a nice ski to drop off.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we mentioned the, the Skyview Lodge a couple years ago.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So we just continue to, to do the things that, that, that are much more noticeable
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:to the skier when they drive in.
Cliff Duvernois:What's next for Caberfae?
Cliff Duvernois:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks: It's a great question.
Cliff Duvernois:We have some good plans this summer.
Cliff Duvernois:We're gonna continue some renovations on the backside of the Skyview Lodge.
Cliff Duvernois:We didn't get to that.
Cliff Duvernois:We ran out of time.
Cliff Duvernois:So we're gonna extend that, make that a little bit larger.
Cliff Duvernois:And then we're gonna add over a hundred seasonal lockers as part of that.
Cliff Duvernois:So we have a huge demand for that, uh, with skiers that
Cliff Duvernois:are seasoned pass holders, but hauling their gear back and forth.
Cliff Duvernois:This will give 'em a place to store their lockers and not
Cliff Duvernois:have to haul it back and forth.
Cliff Duvernois:So that's on the docket.
Cliff Duvernois:We're gonna continue with some hotel renovations, and we're gonna continue to
Cliff Duvernois:expand our skiing and work on that slowly.
Cliff Duvernois:And I also noticed tier two that you have
Cliff Duvernois:a building for ski club members.
Cliff Duvernois:Talk to us a little bit about that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So that's a, that's a private ski club.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We don't own that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:That's, uh, that's owned by the members, so.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Oh, okay.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They're landlocked around us.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They have, obviously have access through us but they're all pass holders.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They all support cab.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:They're our greatest fans and sometimes also our greatest critics at the time.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:But we have a great relationship with them.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We enjoy them and, uh, a lot of 'em are personal friends of Tim and mine
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:and, and And it's a, and it's a, a really nice benefit to this resort.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:There's a waiting list to get in.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So, you know, it's, it's a, there's a parking lot right there.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:There's lockers in there, there's a, a little cafeteria in there.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So it's a really nice benefit for those people that are members.
Cliff Duvernois:If somebody's listening to this broadcast and they want to
Cliff Duvernois:check you out, maybe come on up here.
Cliff Duvernois:What would be the best way for them to find you online?
Cliff Duvernois:What would be the best way for them to go?
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Oh, no doubt.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:Just Google Caberfae or Caberfae Peaks.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And we should be the number one search result and click on that.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And I think the website's the best source of information.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:We have a lot of information on there.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And as far as looking into pricing, we have a lot of, we do use dynamic
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:pricing for our lift tickets.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:So generally the further you book in advance, the greater the savings.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:If you buy a couple weeks in advance, you can get, you know, as
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:much as 40% off your lift ticket.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:If you're gonna commit to us that far in advance where we don't know
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:what the weather's gonna be like, we're gonna give you a good deal
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:for committing that far in advance.
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:And so that tends to work pretty well for us as well, and a way
Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks:for people to continue to ski affordably and get a good deal.
Cliff Duvernois:Pete, it's been awesome having you on the show today.
Cliff Duvernois:Thank you very much.
Cliff Duvernois:Pete Meyer, Caberfae Peaks: I appreciate your interest.
Cliff Duvernois:Thank you.
Cliff Duvernois:And for our audience, you can go to total michigan.com,
Cliff Duvernois:click on Pete's interview and see all the links for this show.
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