A big part of our plans for Big Ridge Mountain Club involve creating a delightful place to return to on a regular basis; that’s why it’s set up as a club rather than a vacation rental or a hotel. I’m glad to see that playing out in how our pioneering members are using the place.
Below are some stats we’ve accumulated since opening about ten months ago. To learn about becoming a member, see the membership details here or just reach out to me directly.
- The average member visits Big Ridge every 75 days (ranging from the least frequent of every 95 days to the most frequent of every 34 days). That works out to 4.8 visits per year per member (ranging from 3.8 visits per year to 10.7 visits per year).
- The average visit is 3.12 nights.
- Members are using an average of 61 room nights** per year (ranging from 32 to 74).
- A whopping 90 Big Ridge Mountain Club teeshirts*** have left the pantry and are parading around the world on people’s backs. Six or seven shirts in our least popular sizes remain in the pantry in a sad little pile, longing to be taken home and lovingly worn on adventures.
- We’ve planted 24 trees since the club opened: Two dwarf spruce, 15 American beech, five heritage apple, and two giant sequoia****. So far 100% have survived.
Notes:
* I calculated these numbers by looking at members’ usage beginning on their join dates along with the reservations they have on the books through September, so usage will likely go up a smidge as people add more visits over this summer. These stats do not include my family’s usage (which, between my solo trips up to check on things and the entire Graham brood visiting, is about 3x that of the average members’ usage) or guest visits (member referrals, prospective members, nights gifted to friends, etc).
** A “room night” is a room reserved for a night. If a member reserved just the upper level of the Spring House for three nights, that counts as 6 room nights (2 bedrooms x 3 nights = 6 room nights). If they reserved both levels of the Spring House and the Writer’s Hut for two nights, that counts as 10 room nights (5 bedrooms x 2 nights = 10 room nights).
*** These green shirts are about to become collector’s items, as we have a new design in the works. In the meantime, to satisfy the enormous demand, a limited run of blue shirts (with white ink!) will arrive shortly. As with Masters paraphernalia, Big Ridge merch is only available to people who visit Big Ridge.
**** The sequoias are a bit of an experiment and I’m hopeful they’ll make it. Please do give them some encouragement when you visit; I think they’ll need it. Here’s a picture of my dad with a sequoia planted in the Scottish Highlands 170 years ago. If all goes well, next year we’ll add some young European chestnuts and beech trees. I’m reporting on their progress in this tweet thread.
Posted on April 14, 2023 by Geoff Graham