RED LODGE — The Red Lodge hospitality industry is feeling the effects of a half-open Red Lodge Mountain, following the death of 37-year-old snowboarder Jeff Zinne, who fell from the Triple Chair due to erratic winds last week that caused a chair malfunction.
The mountain confirmed Tuesday that the winds knocked the cable off the tower, although the chair never was removed from the cable.
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Zinne's death has left a lasting impact on the entire community.
"It's never something you want to hear," said Red Lodge resident Chelsea Toupin. "Our hearts and everything goes to that family right now."
"It doesn't seem real, you know, like that's not going to happen here," said another resident, AJ Christinson. "When it actually happens, you just feel for the family."
But both Toupin and Christinson are feeling the effects in other ways. Toupin runs Red Lodge Reservations — a short-term rental company with 28 Red Lodge properties — and Christinson is the new owner of the Yodeler Motel.
Since the accident, the Triple Chair has remained closed as the mountain investigates the cause. A second lift, Willow Creek, has been closed for weeks for an unrelated chair failure, meaning only roughly half the mountain is accessible for recreation.
Both said the half-open mountain has affected their businesses greatly.
"Since the incident, we've basically seen our bookings fall off," Toupin said. "That's hard to swallow. When you're going from the phone constantly ringing to quit, that's really hard."
Toupin said the year always begins slow because her business relies heavily on the snowfall, but it has really picked up from late January on.
"We had really started to have a good year as the snow fell," Toupin said. "Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of things to do up here, but our business operations relies on the mountain."
Over at the Yodeler, it's a similar story. Christinson said that 10 groups have canceled their multi-night reservations, which is a huge hit for a motel that only offers 13 rooms.
"We've got people driving 10 to 14 hours and not coming because they don't know if the mountain is open," Christinson said. "I wouldn't want to come either if there's so much uncertainty."
Christinson said it does hurt to lose reservations during the spring skiing season, which is typically their busiest part of the ski season.
"This is our time of year for the winter to rally up and get some business, so you do have that in the back of your head," Christinson said.
However, both are doing their best to remain positive. Toupin remains hopeful that the last month of the ski season can still be profitable.
"Looking out the window and seeing the snow isn't awesome for today, but it does show for a strong finish to the year," Toupin said.
And Christinson is doing his best to keep his economic struggles in perspective, keeping Zinne's family in his thoughts.
"For me, it's just a couple of weeks," Christinson said. "I'll be all right. We'll survive. You can't replace someone who's gone."
