A Bright Future!
The after-shocks of the recession, the energy crisis and the Great Eastern Snow Drought of 72-74 continue to be felt. There are many areas still in deep financial trouble, some in various stages of receivership, some just plain not opening again. New area construction is virtually at a standstill, and expansion of existing facilities is spotty. The banks, whose greed got them over-extended in the whole real estate and second-home boom, are wary of the ski area industry to the point of paranoia.
Still, the gloom of the above paragraph notwithstanding, we see lots of light ahead. First of all, the skiers are there. There are more of them than ever. They are buying more clothing and equipment than ever. They are reserving for ski vacations in record numbers. All of the indicators are up.
The direct ski business is there to be had, and by that we mean the business of selling lift tickets. Some extremely good profit figures for last season have shown up from all over the country.
We think it is ultimately healthy that the expansion which must eventually come will probably be based more on an area’s ability to throw off a healthy profit on its lift operations, its ski school and other operational income, than on its value as real estate.
This is how it was in the post-war boom of the 40’s and 50’s. It is good to be getting back to it.
A SAM Editorial
Countersue the bastards!
The September issue of NSAA News painted a bleak but realistic picture of how lawsuits and insurance losses constitute a very real threat to our industry. For the short pull the recommendation given was to handle accidents in a way that minimizes liability exposure (sound advice); and for the long pull to work on certain legislation that would remove some of the burden (also sound advice).
Then we were struck by a news item from the New York Times on September 19. It told of how a Skokie, Ill. radiologist, Dr. Leonard Berlin, countersued the patient who had sued him for malpractice—and won $2,000 in compensatory damages and $6,000 in punitive. He claimed that the patient’s suit against him was “without reasonable cause.” Since the Berlin decision, four other doctors in Chicago’s Cook County have countersued their patients, “and such countersuits are reported spreading,” reports the Times. Significantly, malpractice suits in Cook County dropped 30.9 per cent for the months of June, July and August 1976 over the same period in 1975.
So how about this for our industry? You are sued by the skier who falls and breaks his ankle? Countersue the bastard for skiing out of control to the endangerment of your other customers. Countersue him for having brought a suit “without reasonable cause.”
The legislation pending in the New Hampshire legislature that would impose a $100 fine on a hit-and-run skier is certainly moving in the right direction. But might we not go further and faster if we counterattack as the harassed doctors are doing?
In our Spring issue we advocated some test cases where an area might sue a reckless skier. We still think this idea may have merit. But we like this countersuit idea even better!
A SAM Editorial
No cover-ups, please
The Vail gondola accident provided a beautiful example of how to handle this type of problem with the press. From the very start, the Vail press office kept reporters fully informed. Nothing was hidden, nothing glossed over, nothing smokescreened. The whole ski area industry was the ultimate beneficiary of Vail’s mature and exemplary handling of a very difficult situation.
We are also pleased to note that this public relations maturity extends to our industry at large. Sensing that the average skier would be wondering about how safe the lifts that he rides really are, Ski Magazine very sensibly assigned a writer to research and prepare an article. Not long ago the very thought of such an article would have stampeded the industry into a pull-up-the-drawbridge stance, or into a Nixonian stonewalling. As it was, industry leaders quickly decided that their principal concern was to make sure the writer had access to all the facts. Indeed, this sort of responsible reporting was welcomed, if not by everyone, by everyone who counted.
Our industry has nothing to hide. With only few exceptions, a very responsible job is done in serving the public. Of course there is always room for improvement; of course we should ever be setting our safety standards higher; of course we should ever be doing a better job of policing our own industry, if only to thwart the busybodies outside our industry who would like to do the policing themselves.
But let’s understand that we are moving towards, and not away from, increased consumerism, increased public awareness and increased public interest. This is a broad sociological tide that we are all a part of, and which we cannot swim against. The skiing public is interested in knowing how safe our lifts are. The answers are not going to stop them from skiing; not to give them the answers at all, however, is to invite distrust, suspicion and ultimately outside investigation — and perhaps needless regulation.
A SAM Editorial
The U. S. Ski Team
We very much hope that there will be positive response by ski areas to the Ski Team Day program being organized by NSAA. Considerable funds can be raised in this way, and they should be raised. A strong U. S. team is ultimately good for the growth of the sport, and thus a sound investment for those of us in the ski business.
And while we are on the subject, we record our thanks to Brad Briggs whose tireless leadership got the U. S. Ski Team onto a practical, business-like basis for the first time. After three grueling years at the helm of the U. S. Ski Education Foundation, Briggs has turned the job over to the very able Warren Hellman.
As a general partner of Lehman Bros., Hellman is well versed in money matters, and has every type of top-level contact with the leaders of banking, industry and commerce. Equally important, however, is his involvment in skiing and ski racing. Much of the success of the junior racing program at Stratton can be ascribed to Hellman’s role as the founder of Stratton Mountain Academy.
We are pleased that the job remains in capable and dedicated hands. And again we call on the ski area industry to help in every way possible to get the Ski Team the $1 million-plus it wants.
A SAM Editorial
