As we begin to prepare for the 2004-05 season, we have once again looked to a previous SAMMY winner to offer insight, opinion and observation on the contents of this issue. This time, we tapped the expertise of Bill Benneyan, marketing director at Mountain Creek, N.J. Those of you who are familiar with Mountain Creek, know that it is one of the most vibrant hip places in the snow world, due in large part to Benneyan’s creativity and enthusiasm. We hope you enjoy his comments as much as we do and stay tuned for our next SAMMY guest editor in the November issue.
We hope that you will enjoy the contents that our full-time editor, Rick Kahl, has put together. From F&B to employee training and from risk management to better lesson programs, there is a lot of material that every department will find useful.
And we have so much more on tap. Our November issue, besides featuring the Product and Supplier Directory, will cover the ever-growing world of freestyle terrain, handling difficult customers, accident investigation, and one of the biggest hot button issues today—ethnic diversity. We’re like kids in a candy store—there is so much we want to cover, but only so much room. But we can assure you that we will get to all of it throughout the season. And we welcome your ideas. This magazine is designed and edited for you, so let us know what looms large on your radar screens these days.
Lastly, we would like to extend our well wishes to Ski Utah’s Kip Pitou, who in June, suffered a stroke while doing yardwork (yes, we’re sure he wished it were schussing down the Wasatch backcountry, too). Pitou was hospitalized for 5 weeks and returned to the office in late July. Thankfully, he expects to make a full recovery.
