Test-tracking at Snowbird
Says NSAA Executive Director Dick Garis, “This kind of examination will result in more valuable data for the area operator’s comparative judgment.”
Operators, after test-driving the machines, will be given an evaluation card on which they will be asked to judge warning systems, driver comfort, power, noise, mechanical response, traction and other features.
“Suppliers are continuously trying to improve their equipment,” says Garis. “Given the kind of readings they will get from operator reactions, they will be better able to make improvements. As for the area operator, he’ll have a chance to test-drive that vehicle he’s been thinking about, to ask questions of the suppliers and compare notes with other operators.”
Zeroing on the small fry
NSAA’s smaller ski areas, according to a survey last summer, have been getting short shrift, particularly in terms of lecture/seminar fare at the NSAA Annual Convention. A questionnaire distributed following the NSAA convention at Sun Valley last spring brought this typical comment: “The convention seminars are large-area oriented. We want seminars for areas where the general manager, bookkeeper, accountant and mountain manager are the same man. And these seminars should be conducted by people from small areas.”
Accordingly, says NSAA’s Dick Garis, the format for future meetings (beginning with the 1973 convention at the Playboy Club, Great Gorge, N.J.) will include seminars specifically tailored to the smaller area. “We’ll also be including a small-area column in the NSAA Newsletter,” says Garis. “NSAA is structured so that even its smallest area member’s vote is equal to that of its largest member. If the small-area operator will only let us know what he thinks, he’ll find NSAA ready to help.
“Small areas are the spawning grounds for new skiers. They are a vital part of the ski industry. The better the job they do, the more likely newcomers to the sport are to become enthusiastic skiers. It’s NSAA’s aim to help them do a better job—to help them foster, stimulate and promote skiing.”
OSHA resolution drafted
The NSAA Board of Directors has moved on an association-sponsored resolution calling for relief under the controversial Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) adopted last year. Specifically, NSAA has asked for allowing advice and assistance in compliance with the act, before penalties are imposed on U.S. ski areas.
The resolution points to NSAA’s long-time “devotion to the promotion of safety in the operation of ski lifts and tows” and asks association members to press their Congressmen to have the act amended so as to eliminate requirements for first-time penalties and the prohibition against Department of Labor assistance and compliance.
