Why Are We So Lonely?
据报道，美国人的孤独感和社会孤立率达到了惊人的水平.
Photography by Michael Poehlmann
Stephen Kircher's Wildest Ride
A warming climate. Rising costs. Sophisticated competition. Who’d want to be in the ski business today? Meet Stephen Kircher, MBA’88. His company, Boyne Resorts, owns some of the country’s top ski destinations, and he’s betting big on the industry’s future.
Winter 2024
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Stephen Kircher was in a celebratory mood. 那是12月中旬，基彻飞往蒙大拿州的大天空度假村, 他的公司将其列为北美十大滑雪胜地之一, Boyne Resorts, owns and operates. 1988年MBA毕业的Kircher在那里为Big Sky的最新景点——孤峰缆车剪彩. 这款最先进的缆车是北美滑雪胜地15年来建造的第一辆有轨电车，一次可以搭载75人前往Big Sky的一些最具挑战性的滑雪地形,850 acres.
Even as Kircher, Boyne’s chief executive, 祝贺他的公司对滑雪的未来进行了新的重大投资, 他的手机里到处都是缅因州类似的高价升级是如何以灾难性的开始的消息. 前一天晚上，Sunday River的降雨量超过了7英寸. 就在关键的圣诞滑雪周开始前几天，洪水冲走了博恩最大的东海岸度假胜地的积雪. Key roadways and bridges had been destroyed. Guests in a Boyne-owned hotel were trapped. (Rescuers used a raft for an evacuation.) Sunday River’s new lift, 这家耗资1500多万美元、几天前才开业的餐厅, lay buried in mud. 初步估计损失和业务损失接近1000万美元.
然而，在Big Sky, Kircher尽力保持微笑. “It was really difficult,” Kircher said. “我必须保持乐观和积极的态度，因为新电车的开通是Big Sky历史上最重要的时刻之一, (但)与此同时，缅因州也发生了这种疯狂的事情……. It was tough mental gymnastics.对59岁的Kircher来说，这不会是最后一个艰难的日子. Skiing has boomed since the Covid-19 pandemic. 在2022-23赛季，滑雪者前往美国山区的次数达到6500万次，创下历史纪录. Boyne Resorts, 拥有11,000名员工，年收入6.5亿美元, appears poised to profit from that. But the industry faces significant challenges. 滑雪小镇的房地产短缺使得季节性工人难以居住. Rising lift ticket prices, 哪些顶级度假胜地的一日通票接近300美元, are creating affordability concerns.
Then there’s a more existential challenge: the weather. 在圣诞节后接受Zoom采访时，Kircher闷闷不乐. 通常在12月下旬，博因位于密歇根州北部的公司办公室的温度在20华氏度左右徘徊, but it was in the fifties and rainy. “It’s almost like living in Seattle,” he complained. 天气很暖和，圣诞节那天基彻打了高尔夫球, 由于雪很少，他的团队正在考虑关闭博因山, the company’s original resort, during the holiday week.
滑雪场从缅因州和新罕布什尔州一直延伸到密歇根州, Utah, Montana, Washington State, and British Columbia, 博因得益于出色的地理多样化. 当一个地方的天气很差时，另一个地方通常就会寒冷和下雪. 但随着今年新年的临近，到处都是温暖多雨的天气. That was partly due to the El Niño weather pattern, 但基彻认为，全球气候变化也是罪魁祸首. “这可能是自1966年以来最具挑战性的冬天，”他说.
For Boyne Resorts, it comes at a critical time. Kircher正在斥巨资购买新的升降机和造雪设备, 希望这项技术能让博因领先于竞争对手. 但要想让这些投资获得回报，唯一的办法就是卖出更多的电梯票——而且就是这么做的, it needs to be colder. 这足以让你想知道，像Kircher在BC上的MBA课程，对于一家面临这些挑战的公司来说，会是什么样子. 有人会合理地问:难道就没有更简单的谋生方式吗?
“If you’re in it for the money, probably,” he said. “We’re snow farmers. 有时收成很好，有时收成不好.他说，由于糟糕的天气，Boyne的收入可能会比去年下降. 但他坚持认为，从长远来看，公司在电梯和造雪方面的投资将会得到回报. “我们已经经历了75年的起起落落，”他说.
Stephen Kircher在博因山乘坐新的门徒8号缆车, one of his company’s ten ski resorts.
When Kircher and his three siblings 上世纪70年代，他们在密歇根州长大，他们没有浪费时间思考自己应该从事什么职业. 事情已经决定了:他们要经营家族滑雪生意.
Stephen’s father, Everett Kircher, 在他和另外两个人花1美元买下汽车城以北3个半小时车程的一座不适合耕种的小山之前，他在底特律拥有一家斯图德贝克经销店. They carved out trails, installed a recycled chairlift, 1948年，他们在博因山开设了新的滑雪设施——因其位于博因瀑布镇而得名. Everett soon bought out his partners. Though he died in 2002, he is recalled as a visionary who’s credited with three innovations during the 1960s: His team at Boyne patented a breakthrough snowmaking gun; he installed the industry’s first three- and four-person chairlifts; and he was the first operator to build a golf course adjacent to a ski resort to create a year-round destination.
埃弗雷特不遗余力地让他年幼的孩子们在家族企业中扎根. In 1973, when he was first considering expanding beyond Michigan, he brought Stephen, age nine, to inspect Telluride, the Colorado resort that was for sale. 后来，这位家长召集全家围坐在餐桌旁，让所有15岁以下的孩子们讨论收购事宜. Stephen voted against the deal, in part because his father, a smoker, had needed an oxygen tank at Telluride’s high altitudes. “你都不能呼吸了，还怎么跑呢??” Stephen said. His siblings also voted it down. 在1976年同意收购Big Sky之前，该公司也放弃了收购Jackson Hole的计划, now the second-largest US ski area by acreage.
被挤进一家专注于滑雪的公司并不是什么艰难的任务, 高中和大学期间，斯蒂芬·基彻在暑假期间愉快地为父亲工作. 但当他1986年从密歇根州立大学毕业时，他面临着一个困境. 他父亲向他施压，要他立即加入公司. Kircher resisted. “I don’t think I’ve learned enough,” he told his father. So that fall he enrolled in BC’s MBA program, 周末和休息时间去佛蒙特州和新罕布什尔州滑雪. In a statistics class, 他做了一个回归项目，试图了解不同的变量是如何影响每年滑雪次数的. He found that most economic indicators, such as unemployment and the stock market, didn’t have much impact on skier traffic. 数据显示，最主要的驱动因素是天气.
After graduation, Kircher did join the family company. By the early 2000s, Kircher和他的三个兄弟姐妹都在Boyne度假村工作, just as their father had dreamed. 在很长一段时间里，Kircher负责公司在密歇根州和蒙大拿州的业务. At headquarters, 他努力使这家夫妻店变得专业化, replacing bookkeepers with accountants, investing in technology, and expanding the leadership team. Then, in 2007, 博因买下了缅因州的滑雪胜地Sugarloaf和Sunday River, along with Loon Mountain in New Hampshire, and his empire grew to include the East Coast. In 2017, Kircher took over as president and CEO. 他承认这是一项很棒的生活方式业务:上个赛季他滑雪了48天，成年后的大部分时间都在打刮刮高尔夫. Today, just one of Kircher’s siblings works for Boyne, but the company remains family-owned, 资产已经被委托给基彻的下一代.
Kircher庆祝Big Sky Resort最先进的Lone Peak有轨电车的开业, which can carry seventy-five people. Photo: Kirby Grubaugh
To get a sense of how Kircher 他领导着家族企业，而且他现在正押下几代人的赌注——最好的游览地点是Sunday River.
Just after Christmas, Dana Bullen, the resort’s president since 2002, walked through the South Ridge Lodge, 指出了Kircher在2007年购买后不久所做的改变. Unimpressed by the lodge cafeteria food, Kircher added separate counters for sushi and burritos, and a high-end restaurant. 然后是“Chondola”——一种在欧洲很常见但在美国很少见的缆车和吊椅的混合体. 基彻意识到，布伦以前从未听说过的chondola可以帮助增加收入，让非滑雪爱好者可以在周日河的山间小屋举行婚礼和其他活动. Driving his Yukon around the mammoth property, 布伦指出，在Kircher敦促Boyne制定计划，允许他出售房屋所在地——另一个利润中心之前，没有人想过要开发几十套价值数百万美元的住宅.
在布伦的办公室里，一个书架上放着有关管理的书籍. Kircher不断地把这样的书寄给他的高管们. 员工们形容他是一个谈论“仆人式领导”的人，还能记住自己孩子的名字, but also as someone who watches the numbers carefully. 每年春天，博因旗下十个滑雪胜地的总裁都会向公司董事会汇报, whoever had the worst year goes first, and the leader who had the best year goes last. 布伦说:“你肯定不想连续几年都排在第一位。.
Kircher敦促他的团队寻找方法来克服该行业历史上的繁荣与萧条模式. Some of the changes reflect industry-wide trends. 尽量减少任何特定地区恶劣天气的影响, for example, the ski industry has consolidated, 少数几家公司现在控制着不同地区的多座山脉. (行业巨头Vail Resorts在北美、欧洲和澳大利亚拥有41家酒店.) As these companies have scooped up more mountains, 他们开始提供多地点的季票——最大的两个是Epic和icon——在季票开始前打折出售. (Boyne is part of the Ikon program.这些早期销售有助于为因恶劣天气而导致的门票销售损失提供保险.
Another innovation is dynamic pricing. 而不是在工作日固定电梯票价, weekends, and holidays, ski resorts have mimicked the airlines, constantly moving prices up and down based on demand, weather, and other variables. Boyne, which also operates fourteen golf courses, 第一次使用这种技术是在大约10年前，用来为发球时间定价. 在过去的五年里，它的滑雪胜地一直依靠算法来设定缆车门票的价格. 假设你想在二月的某个星期四去某个度假胜地滑雪. If you buy the ticket in August, you might pay $35; wait until the week of the trip, however, and you could pay $95. Kircher说:“你可以将收益最大化，同时将需求推到非高峰时段。. “动态定价可能是该行业做过的最重要的事情.”
Collectively, Kircher said, 这些发展将帮助博恩持续增长收入，这是他在山上进行巨额投资的关键.
Photo: Brandon Pullen
If you visit an average resort在美国，你可能会遇到上世纪七八十年代的电梯. 但是Kircher相信在最新的电梯技术上进行大量投资. In 2019, he took twenty employees to ski in Europe, 那里的电梯比美国先进得多. European lifts often feature heated seats, automated safety bars, 还有坚硬的塑料屏幕(称为气泡)，可以降低温度，保护滑雪者免受风的伤害.
没过多久，Kircher就把这项技术引进了博因度假村. 自2022年以来，Sunday River推出了两款新的泡泡椅, Jordan 8和Barker 6(数字指的是每把椅子上有多少滑雪者). 新电梯运行速度惊人，但比传统电梯更安静, 而且它们可以在使旧电梯关闭的大风中运行. To ease loading, 它们的特点是像传送带一样的“魔毯”，滑雪者可以踩在上面, avoiding the rushed and awkward shimmy forward to load. 柯舍尔向我保证，骑巴克车和坐在小屋里喝热可可一样暖和. 当我去年12月访问中国时，事实证明这种说法有些夸张，但也不夸张. 令人惊讶的是，挡风泡沫增加了多少舒适感.
That coziness comes at a cost, however. Kircher wouldn’t say what each of the new lifts cost, 但业内人士猜测，它们的价格在1500万美元以上. A less advanced two-seat lift might cost $4 million, 这就解释了为什么美国滑雪胜地迟迟没有采用新的升降机. 没有人像博因那样对高科技椅子押下如此大的赌注, 同时在其他山上建造新的贡多拉和有轨电车. “Stephen is crazy for lifts,” said Kelly Pawlak, head of the National Ski Areas Association, on whose board Kircher sits. Kircher says the costs are justified. 而不是试图通过收购更多的滑雪场来实现增长, 基彻认为，通过提升现有山脉的体验来吸引更多顾客，更好地实现有机增长. 高科技电梯可以使用50年——比便宜的电梯要长得多. 电梯还可以更好地将人员分配到山上，减少瓶颈和电梯线路. Advanced lifts are “a differentiator,” Kircher said. “It’s the future of skiing.”
Peter Landsman, who runs the industry publication Lift Blog, 证实一些滑雪者涌向拥有最新电梯的滑雪场，就像其他人涌向拥有最新过山车的游乐园一样. 他说:“博因在让电梯成为一个景点方面做得很好。.
Of course, 如果没有足够的雪，电梯也不会有太大的区别——周日河在圣诞节期间经历了一些——这解释了博因在造雪能力上的主要投资.
自20世纪50年代第一台造雪枪获得专利以来，造雪的物理原理并没有太大变化. Snowmakers pump water and compressed air through guns, 当温度足够低，湿度足够低时, grassy hills disappear under white flakes. 改变的是这项技术的部署效率如何, the quality of the snow it produces, and the amount of energy it consumes.
Brendan Ryan, 他是一名37岁的工程师，负责监督博因所有10座山脉的造雪工作, skied crisply through the mush at mid-mountain, 平稳地停在两台安装在三脚架上的便携式雪炮前. Guns like these require substantial labor. 工人们需要把它们移到合适的位置，接通水管，并手动打开和关闭它们. 这需要很长时间，所以只有在天气预计会持续寒冷至少12小时的时候，度假村才会打开这种枪.
从那里，Ryan开始讨论Sunday River最新的“风扇枪”.” The $50,000 device sat atop a fifteen-foot tower. Fan guns can make snow at thirty degrees, produce three times as much snow as older technology, and cover nearly three-quarters of an acre. 这些特殊的风扇枪不是便携式的——它们被永久地安装在斜坡的侧面——但它们是高度自动化的, 因为它们可以通过智能手机应用程序远程打开，也可以在温度达到一定阈值时开始喷洒雪. (Each tower has its own mini weather station.) That saves labor and makes them easier to use. 瑞安说，新式火炮“造出的雪质量更高、更均匀”. “它们使速度更快……通过使用更少的压缩空气，它们使用更少的能源，因此成本更低。.自2020年以来，Sunday River已经增加了38支全自动风扇枪.
Ryan estimated that just a few years ago, it took nearly 1,600小时的造雪才能让Sunday River的地形畅通无阻. 今年冬天，尽管雨下得很大，但它只需要不到1225个小时. The goal, he said, is 750 hours. Faster, 提高造雪效率只是博恩为了在竞争中保持领先地位而进行的另一项投资，即使在气候变化意味着自然降雪减少的情况下，也能让人们继续滑雪.
In fact, 博伊恩的高管们并不像你想象的那样担心气候变化会削弱他们的行业. They acknowledge temperatures are rising, 但他们并不认为这是对滑雪的短期生存威胁, particularly in northern, high-altitude resorts such as Boyne’s. “比起滑雪胜地，我更担心的是沿海地区的人口, and droughts and hurricanes,” Kircher said.
和圣诞节那一周星期天河的情况一样悲惨, two nights later, the temperature dropped. 瑞恩的团队把造雪设备调到最大音量. 几天之内，度假村的Instagram上就满是白雪覆盖的山坡的照片. 一周之后，新英格兰遭受了东北风的袭击.
最后，雪农们看到了今年的收成.
博因度假村首席执行官斯蒂芬·基尔彻在密歇根州博因山与门徒8号缆车的线规牛轮合影. 这是中西部地区首个每座椅子可容纳8人的电梯.
Even as Boyne’s ski resorts began looking like they normally do in winter, 但问题依然存在:随着世界迎来有史以来最热的一年, 把全家人的财产都赌在滑雪上真的是个好主意吗? 换句话说:如果基歇尔能回到1948年，悄悄建议他的父亲投资一个利润更好、更稳定的行业, wouldn’t that be wise?
基彻的回答是转述一个老笑话:成为百万富翁最快的方法就是从亿万富翁开始，投资滑雪场. 当被要求认真思考他可能正在做的所有其他事情时, he seemed slightly mystified. 不管这个冬天结束时他的电子数据表显示了什么, he simply can’t imagine being in another industry. “如果你喜欢户外活动，喜欢运动，喜欢滑雪和高尔夫的生活方式, and everything we do, then it’s fantastic,” he said. 他认为，在一个日益肥胖和久坐不动的社会中, outdoor recreation has value beyond profits. So does creating meaningful family vacations. In business school, Kircher recalled, 教授们谈到了制造“小部件”的假想公司,这表明具体的产品并不重要. “We don’t make widgets,” he said. “We make something that people are passionate about.” No one more so than the CEO himself. 
Daniel McGinn ’93 is an executive editor of Harvard Business Review.
