H-2B, OR NOT TO BE?
The H-2B mess highlights the nation’s ongoing struggle to develop a coherent and practical immigration policy. The failure of Congress to resolve the issues surrounding the H-2B program, which has outgrown its original bounds, created a lot of scrambling this fall. On average, about five percent of U.S. ski area employees have H-2B visas, though the percentage is much higher at some resorts.

While many resort-state Congressmen and women supported the industry’s efforts to obtain an extension of the old rules, one notable exception was Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who linked layoffs at Killington last summer to foreign workers. "I just have a hard time believing that in the state of Vermont there aren't people who are more than qualified to be snowboard or ski instructors," Sanders told the Rutland Herald. "I have a hard time believing that there aren't young people available to be snowmakers or to be ski tow operators." He asked the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration to investigate Killington’s compliance with the H-2B program.

NSAA joined in a broad lobbying effort by seasonal industries to first extend and, later, restore the exemption for returning workers, but Congress has not been in a compromising mood. Sanders, in particular, wants labor protections built into the exemptions. Labor unions have rallied to that idea as well.

The impact of the H-2B confusion is hard to predict. Many resorts had completed the application process prior to October, but some were caught short. Even if the extension is reinstated by Nov. 15, as was widely expected at press time, the backlog of applications would likely delay the arrival of foreign workers past the holiday season. Some affected areas pumped up their local recruiting efforts once the delay occurred, but that is not likely to provide a solution. It is the lack of local candidates that led many to look abroad in the first place.


Welcome to Canada
While U.S. areas were fretting over the H-2B visa problem, Canadian areas were rejoicing over expanded visa programs that allow Australians to stay two years. In addition, the 7,550 cap was lifted. The Whistler Chamber of Commerce had petitioned the House of Commons in Ottawa last spring regarding the changes, in preparation for ramping up foreign hires leading into the 2010 Games.


Do As I Say, Not As I Did
You have to hand it to Bode Miller: he knows how to make headlines. In the November issue of SKIING, he accuses USSA chief Bill Marolt of hypocrisy for criticizing Bode’s partying habits. In the mag, Bode claims that Marolt was arrested for drunken behavior at the 1954 Olympics and missed his slalom start as a result. That’s not quite accurate, but an incident did take place at the 1964 Olympics, as a result of which Marolt spent a few days in jail for disorderly conduct. And what does Marolt say about all this? “The incident was widely publicized in 1964,” a ski team spokesman told SAM. “Bill took responsibility and apologized at the time.” Perhaps Marolt simply wanted to help Bode avoid falling into the same type of trouble.


OK, Maybe it Is Getting Warmer
Speaking at the Mountain Travel Symposium, Paul Goodloe of The Weather Channel reviewed the evidence of global warming and declared it “a fact.” Among his mountain of evidence: “Globally, the last really cold year was 1976, and in 2006, for the first time in 112 years, not a single U.S. state had normal or below normal temperatures. The warm weather is winning out and this is just the beginning of our problems. Most of the warmest years in recorded history have been in the past 10 years and at this point, it is mostly impacting the northern alpine climates.” His conclusion: expect a lot more extreme weather. Weather ridges will increase in size, strength, and duration, leading to wild fluctuations. But, Goodloe concluded, “the mountains will still get cold, there will still be big dumps of snow.”


Getting Greener All the Time
We mention the above because acceptance of climate change has reached a tipping point. From NSAA’s Sustainable Slopes to carbon offsets, there’s a lot of green activity at ski resorts. Sixty-three have signed on to a legislative proposal that calls for reducing CO2 emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050. In this, the areas have joined a slew of Fortune 500 companies, NRDC, and others.

On a more practical level, NSAA is developing a “modest grant program” to encourage energy projects at small and medium-sized areas. The program would expand the scope of Sustainable Slopes. NSAA is currently seeking donors to the fund, and hopes to obtain matching funds from a variety of partners and sponsors: the U.S. Forest Service, Clif Bar, the National Resources Defense Council, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Grants will be for projects that address any of the 21 principles in the Sustainable Slopes charter; applications could be due in spring.


Cool Head
Head Sports has allied itself with a global environmental charity, Cool Earth, to create a worldwide environmental program—the first of its kind for a sporting goods company. Cool Earth combats climate change by protecting endangered rainforests, which play a key role in the global climate by absorbing carbon. Head CEO Johan Eliasch has committed the company to matching ten times its annual carbon emissions with avoided deforestation credits. In cold numbers, this means saving more than 7,000 acres of mature rainforest per year from destruction. Head athletes, including Bode Miller and Austrian superstar Hermann Maier, will help spread the carbon emissions message via an advertising and PR campaign.


Passport Issue Postponed Again
Sometimes, government inaction is a good thing. On passport requirements, for example. The original plan was for the U.S. and Canada to require passports for all travel between the two countries in January 2008. The implementation date for travel by land has now been pushed back to summer 2008 at the earliest, and it’s likely the date will slip further into the future. Passport offices on both sides of the border have been swamped, and they need additional time to study alternative proposals for driver’s license-based ID systems. The postponement should be good news for U.S. border resorts, such as Jay Peak, where the exchange rate is the most favorable in the past 40 years. (See following story.)


Weak Dollar = Strong Destination Visits?
U.S. destination resorts have an extra edge this winter: the shrinking value of the U.S. dollar. Five years ago, the euro was worth just 86¢. Today, it’s more than $1.40, and it could rise higher. This makes even pricier American resorts look cheap to Europeans. Coupled with more reliable snow these past few seasons, the strong euro could fuel even more international visits this year than last—when they accounted for 8 percent of Colorado’s record 12.5 million visits, for example. In addition, the weak exchange rate with Canada (where the looney reached par with the dollar this fall, and kept rising past it) suggests that many Americans will stay home this winter. One sign that the market is moving upscale: early bookers are paying more. Ralf Garrison told his audience at the Mountain Travel Symposium’s Fall Forum in early October that while reservations for the coming season were up just two percent from last year, daily revenue was up 10 percent, and overall revenue up 12 percent. Last year, he added, “even though skier visits were down nationally 6.5 percent . . . lodging revenue, sales tax, and emplanements [were] all up.” On the downside, the steep drop in the Consumer Confidence Index in September and October could signal a consumer cutback, especially among local skiers and riders.


Midwest Conquers the East
Has the irony of small, Midwestern hills taking control of New England’s biggest mountains struck anyone other than us? It was just a few years ago that Peak Resorts bought Crotched Mountain, an abandoned area in southern New Hampshire. Now Peak also operates Mount Snow and Attitash. After making two deals this past summer, Boyne USA runs Sunday River, Sugarloaf and Loon. This puts much of the former American Skiing Company Eastern empire in Midwestern hands. One wag termed this “Bill Riske’s revenge.” Will these pragmatic, operations-oriented managements succeed where their ambitious predecessors failed? Don’t bet against it. If you can make a small hill outside St. Louis a success, how hard can it be to make Mount Snow shine?


Shortswings
Crested Butte reinstated its popular “free skiing” promotion (opening day through Dec. 15) to introduce guests to the newly expanded village core . . . Megève Tourism has earned ISO 14001 certification, making it the first French tourist office, and the second French ski-related business, to do so. Other holders of 14001 certification include Aspen, Jackson Hole, Sun Peaks and Lech, Austria . . . Sign of the times: Vail Resorts has launched an ambitious natural and organic food effort across its five areas, buying 447,000 pounds of naturally raised meat and 185,000 pounds of organic dairy products.