The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - As winter ath- letes prepare for the snowy sea- son, Ski Bluewood is preparing itself for another year in a tough economy by reducing its operat- ing schedule to compensate for a lack of patrons on certain days in prior years.

The new schedule for this year's season will be Friday through Sunday, as opposed to Wednesday through Sunday as the schedule had been in the past.

The daily operating hours will remain the same, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the resort will open for the Christmas holiday period and holiday Mondays including President's Day and Martin Luther King Day, Ski Bluewood General Manager Travis Ste- phenson said.

"Ski visits midweek have been such that they put the entire operation in jeopardy," Stephen- son said.

He said the new shorter schedule is necessary to protect the resort in the long term. Low turnout during the week caused pressure on higher turnout days as well as financial stress for the resort and the cuts will allow significant cost savings for the resort, Stephenson said.

Stephenson said preseason passes are already on sale and are sold with the disclaimer that dates and scheduling are not guaranteed. The passes are generally non-refundable, but because of the late schedule changes, Bluewood will be offer- ing a 30-day window for refunds, which will end on Nov. 25.

"If anyone who holds a pass has a conflict, we are offering a refund in full for the season pass if they're unhappy," Stephenson said.

But many local skiers aren't ready to give up local resort ac- cess because of the changes to the new operating hours.

Local skier and Dayton resi- dent Lisa Naylor said she likes to ski during the week, especially on Wednesdays and Thursdays, because there is less of a crowd on the mountain.

"The place never gets that crowded," Naylor said. "But on a weekday, you kind of have the place to yourself hellip; It's a treat to ski there in the middle of the week."

But Naylor said her family will keep its season passes be- cause her family members are involved in competitive skiing.

Skier and Milton-Freewater, Ore., native Allen Davis said he is happy the resort is staying open at all.

"I'm disappointed (about the schedule change), but I'm mostly thrilled because it's going to be open, period," Davis said. "Any day they're open is a good day for me."

Davis said running a ski resort is like snow farming, and being an orchard operator, he knows there are many factors to take into consideration to be success- ful. Primarily, ski areas rely on the weather. Skiers won't be the only ones changing their mind- set about the resort's schedule. Schedule cuts will also have some impact on local hiring, Stephenson said, but key members of staff will see minimal impact.

"Obviously, we've cut rough- ly 30 percent of our operating days so it'll certainly have an impact (on staff)," Stephenson said. "We'll have to hire people interested in two to three days per week (of work) and not three to five."

The resort's new schedule will also likely impact the com- munity and local businesses as people who want to ski on a weekday will have to take their business somewhere other than Dayton.

Naylor said there are groups of skiers from the Tri-Cities and Lewiston who would normally come out to Bluewood to ski, but will not be visiting Dayton dur- ing weekdays now that the resort is closed.

"Any reduction in service is going to have an impact," Naylor said.

Dayton Chamber of Commerce Director Brad McMasters said the chamber respects Bluewood's business decision to reduce its schedule and the chamber will do whatever it can to work with Bluewood to maximize business on the three remaining days.

"We also plan to work with local businesses to lessen the fi- nancial impact by leveraging the traffic on those days," McMas- ters said. "We are very optimistic that Ski Bluewood will be able to restore service on one or both of those days this season or next."

Stephenson said the schedule will stick through the season but if this year brings enough pro- grams and group sales to support another day, the resort will con- sider reopening for Thursdays next year.

"The next six to eight months will be the determining time frame," Stephenson said.