Score: Vail, $9 Million, Investors, 0
Vail Resorts won a victory in October when it reached an out-of-court settlement with some of Keystone’s original investors. As was common practice, those investors received free lifetime season’s passes. Some investors, being investors, sold those passes, and the buyers then rented them out, earning millions over the decades. In 2006, VR declared it would not allow that practice to continue, as it put passholders in competition with Keystone’s own ticket-sales efforts. The investors sued, seeking $9 million in damages.

The case went to trial in September, but was settled before the jury rendered a verdict. In a clear defeat for the plaintiffs, VR made no payment, and the plaintiffs agreed to an order that bars future commercial use of the passes. They also agreed they would not appeal.


Want more Kids? Get Out!
Eastern resorts have a great opportunity to get a foot in the door at schools across the region, thanks to the SIA-sponsored national winter Get Out! Conference, Dec. 3-5 at Gunstock Resort, N.H. The conference will show physical education teachers and recreation professionals cost-effective ways they can incorporate snow sports into school and community activity programs. Topics include how to organize trips to the slopes (or Nordic trails), how to start a snow sports club, and risk management and insurance. Approximately 150 professionals are expected to attend, with the power to make or influence purchasing decisions for 75,000 students. Can you say networking? It’s not too late to take part, either--you can find the essential info online at www.winterfeelsgood.com or www.aahperd.org.


Helmets for all on-snow employees?
Will all resorts soon be requiring employees to wear helmets while skiing and riding? Vail Resorts is making it mandatory this season, select Intrawest employees by 2010-11, and OSHA might compel everyone else to follow suit. Last March, Jackson Hole ski patroller Kathryn Miller, who was not wearing a helmet, died after she fell while patrolling in a steep, rock-lined couloir and incurred multiple injuries, including head injuries. An investigation by the Wyoming occupational safety and health agency (OSHA) concluded the resort was negligent for not requiring use of a helmet in this instance and cited Jackson Hole for a safety violation. Jackson is appealing the decision, saying that helmet use is a personal decision while skiing and riding. If it loses its appeal, most areas--not just Jackson--may be compelled to provide helmets for at least some on-snow employees.


Bolton Valley Taps the Wind
Bolton Valley, Vt., is the second area in the U.S. to erect a wind turbine to generate electricity, and it has taken a much different approach from the first, Jiminy Peak, Mass. Bolton’s 100 kilowatt turbine, which went up in early October, is much smaller, and may eventually be part of a nine-turbine wind garden. The tower itself is 121 feet high, with 33-foot blades. The footprint is just 10 feet, and it emits only 55 decibels when spinning; all this makes it relatively unobtrusive. Its small size helped speed the approval process and made the project easier to implement than Jiminy’s 1.5 megawatt Zephyr.

Built by Northern Power Systems in Barre, Vt., the direct-drive turbine (it has no gearbox) will generate about 350,000 kWh a year, roughly an eighth of Bolton’s total use, and the resort’s $250,000 annual power bill should drop by around 15 percent ($37,500). Grants and rebates on the $800,000 cost bring the ROI to about five years. Additional turbines in the future would be less expensive to install, as Bolton absorbed some start-up costs this time around.


HEALTH CARE REFORM AND YOU
While nobody can predict just what form health care will take, change is surely coming. Winter resorts, along with small businesses of all stripes, could be in for increased responsibilities. And the industry is one of the smaller players in the game.

Not that winter resorts are powerless. NSAA has been working behind the scenes, along with other seasonal industries, to exempt seasonal businesses from any possible employee mandates for health care coverage. The justification: resorts provide winter employment in rural areas. An employer mandate might force resorts to hire fewer people and/or reduce the pay of those it does hire. Congress is at least listening to these arguments; one proposal being considered in October would exempt businesses that operate 120 days or less; NSAA would like to see that period extended to 180 days, or even 150.

Most observers believe health care legislation will be passed by Christmas. Assuming that’s the case, NSAA will be addressing the ramifications of the reforms at its winter shows. NSAA also plans to conduct a webinar in tandem with Aon Insurance to educate members once reform becomes law.


SHERMAN Knows Winter Sports
Harris Sherman, a longtime friend of the winter sports industry, was confirmed as Under Secretary of Natural Resources and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in October. Sherman knows a great deal more about winter sports than anyone who’s ever held such a position of power, and he’s now the guy to whom the head of the Forest Service reports. Sherman has a long record of involvement in natural resource management, and represented ski areas on related issues while at the law firm of Arnold & Porter. Perhaps most telling, throughout the 1990s Sherman was a regular contributor to SAM, covering topics such as NEPA, forest planning, water quality, water rights, and wildlife issues. Most recently, he has been director of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources.


Yes, there’s an app for that
On a happier note from Jackson Hole, the resort and Resorts Tapped LLC are launching JH Tapped, a GPS iPhone application developed exclusively for the resort. JH Tapped uses the iPhone’s built-in GPS to locate the user and his or her friends on the official Jackson Hole trail map, and to log the user’s runs and vertical feet travelled. Using the trail map is the key, as it’s easier to read than a topo or satellite map. JH Tapped also provides such useful information as weather and snow conditions, resort webcams, current lift status info, enhanced location capabilities, and a directory of services and amenities in the village. Locals and resort employees Dan and Ingrid Miller developed the program. And what are your employee-app developers doing in their spare time?


H2B Not 2B 4 NOW
As if the limit on the number of H2B visas wasn’t enough of a deterrent, a Labor Department rule change last August, requiring employers to reimburse foreign workers for their travel costs, has drastically reduced resorts’ reliance on employees from far away. The ruling affects dozens of resorts that brought in key employees from the Southern Hemisphere. Aspen, for instance, abandoned the use of foreign instructors this year entirely, after hiring 109 in 2008. The rule change didn’t hurt as much as it might have: Aspen had been planning to hire just 57 H2B teachers for 2009 before the rule change, due to the visa restrictions and the local labor market.

What can be done? NSAA is working with golf, landscaping, and restaurant/hotel associations to change the rules back. But given the pro-labor bent of the Obama Administration, the effort faces headwinds.


Mountain Sports + Living...it’s back
Under the leadership of Jamie Pentz,formerly the head at Mountain Sports Media--which includes Ski, Skiing and Warren Miller Entertainment--Mountain Sports + Living relaunched in October. Unfortunately, the debut magazine contained nothing new: a resort guide, a gear guide, a photo gallery...nothing setting it apart there. Indeed, its mission to be different was further hampered by the fact that both Ski and Mountain Sports + Living carried a profile of Alison Gannett, founder of Save Our Snow. Oops. But Mountain Sports + Living was launched with the idea of creating an on-line members-only community, where deals on travel and equipment would entice readers to ante up $30 for membership, which includes the quarterly mag. There’s one problem: At presstime, the website (www.mtnaccess.com) was far from finished. Most pages carried the line, “Woops, this page isn’t finished yet. We thought it would be by this time too, but unfortunately it’s not. Sorry.” Woops?


PSIA-AASI does the monster mash
In an ad in the PSIA/AASI magazine, 32 Degrees, the organization takes a shot at Snow Monsters. The text reads, “If you think teaching kids requires outrageous gimmicks, over-the-top fanfare, and sweaty synthetic fur, think again. Trade in your costume collection for a copy of the revised ‘Children’s Instruction Manual’ and get some guidance on delivering creative and inspirational, yet totally pro lessons for the kiddos.” Sheesh, as any kid will tell you, it’s not nice to make fun of other people, even if they are furry. But we totally see how cute animals couldn’t possibly compete with an “Instruction Manual...”