THE RESORT PHOTOGRAPHY REVOLUTION
Vail Resorts (VR) has embraced 21st century technology and social media habits and is changing the business model for on-mountain photography, opting for expanded exposure for its resorts through social media rather than maximizing per-photo profits. “We’re re-imagining how guest photos are taken, stored and shared at our resorts and delivering a groundbreaking way for skiers and riders to capture their experience on the mountains,” CEO Rob Katz gushed last fall. And reality is living up to the hype.

One month into the season, EpicMix 2.0 had already resulted in more than 280,000 posts on Facebook and Twitter, exceeding the total number of social posts from all of last season, with more than half of this year’s posts including photos. Guest activations were up by 40 percent as of mid December, due in part to the added photo capabilities.

Keys to the change are hiring a team of up to 200 VR photographers to replace the incumbent Sharpshooters teams, and making on-hill photos both less expensive and easier to obtain. VR photographers take the photos and upload them to the guests’ EpicMix accounts, where they can view them and share them with friends. Low-res images are free, while hi-res photo files cost $20, compared to the $35 Sharpshooters charges for a print. For $20, guest have unlimited use of their photos.

Other resorts are eyeing VR’s program carefully. So is Sharpshooters, which is trying to balance the desire for photo sharing with the profitable business of selling photo prints. Not everyone wants to print their own photos, says Sharpshooter co-president Dick Roy, nor are resorts eager to give up this profit center. Still, there’s no doubt that guest photo consumption is changing, and Sharpshooters is working on ways to make its photos more widely available. Ultimately, you can’t fight a tidal shift in consumer habits.


SKIING IN OUTER SPACE
Perhaps our long-term global warming worries are over: NASA has located a planet that could support skiing—that is, a planet that may have both snow and a breatheable atmosphere.

Kepler 22b, a planet 600 light years from our North American ski hills, exists in a habitable zone that can potentially support water and thus snow, along with, NASA assumes, suitable temperature and atmosphere to support life. Planet 22b is more than double the size of the Earth and orbits its sun every 290 days, which would mean shorter gaps between ski seasons than here. The planet is named after the Kepler spacecraft, which has been searching for Earth-like planets elsewhere in the universe. Kepler has uncovered 1,000 more potentially skier-friendly planets, but 22b is the first to be confirmed.

Of course, being so far from Earth, it’s not possible to determine if there are suitable ski mountains on 22b, or even that the planet has a solid surface. "We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface, it ought to have a nice temperature," said Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center.


TERRAIN PARKS TO DOMINATE ASTM MEETING
The highly anticipated meeting of the terrain park task force as part of the ASTM F27 Snow Skiing Committee sessions in Denver Jan. 24-25 is sure to draw a crowd. “My sense is there will be quite a few people there,” says task force chair Jake Shealy. “A lot of new people have joined F27 specifically for this reason.” The task force will discuss a variety of issues, including the first draft of a white paper that lists all research to date that’s relevant to parks. The idea is to amass this base of data so that the task force can make informed decisions as it shapes its course.


USTPC SUSPENDS CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
Following a controversy over its credentials and qualifications, the U.S. Terrain Park Council) (USTPC) has suspended its terrain park certification program. The group’s senior member, physicist Jim McNeil, told SAM that the group got a bit ahead of itself when it announced a certification program before it had actually identified what aspects of a park might be certifiable. He said the group still plans to play a role in the ASTM task force, and hopes the USTPC can help resorts incorporate engineering design into the jump-building process in a way that is easy to use and apply, to “control the controllable.” At the same time, he says, perhaps 90 percent of the factors affecting safety are beyond the designers’ control.


LET’S TOAST A GUINNESS RECORD
English skiers created a chain of 60 hand-holding downhillers at the indoor Chill Factore facility in Manchester this fall, earning recognition from Guinness World Records as a result. On its eighth try, the group managed to keep the snaking chain intact for a 100-meter stretch, thus erasing the previous record of 50 skiers. How else are you going to keep yourself excited about skiing on a short, flat indoor slope?

This feat now joins such other on-snow Guinness records as the largest flare run (2,854 skiers and snowboarders carried flares between Riggisalp and Schwarzsee, Switzerland, in 2006) and the longest Arctic unsupported snow-kiting expedition (1,938.67 miles, by adventurers Adrian Hayes, Devon McDiarmid and Derek Crowe, during their crossing of the Greenland ice cap from May 20 to July 25, 2009).


NEW QUAD AT GULMARG MAY TOP BRECK’S
Speaking of records: A new Poma quad chair at Gulmarg, India, this season may be the world’s highest yet. Or maybe not. The exact top elevation of the new chairlift is a bit vague; it is said to be, roughly, between about 4000 and 4300 meters (13,120 and 14,105 feet). The current highest quad chairlift, the Imperial Express Superchair at Breckenridge, has a top station at 12,840 feet. Gulmarg is often said to operate the world’s highest gondola and to be the world’s highest ski area, too, but there are two higher gondolas in China, one of which serves a rudimentary ski area. We’re just sayin’.


WINTER REVIVALS
After years, decades even, during which the number of ski areas steadily declined, it’s encouraging to see the process go into reverse. Increasingly, investors are reviving feeder areas with new or expanded visions for success, and an eye on growing involvement with outdoor sports generally. It’s an inspiring and, we hope, successful strategy.

Clear Fork, Ohio, is one. The resort opened in the 1960s and operated for 40 years, closing in 2006. It’s reopening this season. Roughly equidistant to Cleveland and Columbus, the 300-foot-vertical hill at a base elevation of 1,000 feet has nine trails, 6 lifts (3 chairs, a double, triple, and quad), 60 acres of trails, and 80 percent snowmaking.

At the moment, it’s a ski area and tubing hill with aspirations of becoming a year-round retreat. New owners foresee a $55 million development, fueled by snow sports, concerts, festivals, shows, and sports facilities—mini golf, pool, wave pool, and bike/ATV trails. The master plan includes a range of real estate options, from resort suites and condos to chalets, cabins, and one-room yurts.

Two smaller projects show promise, too. The former Ski Valley, near Bristol, N.Y., is being revived as a year-round recreational facility. The resort closed its doors in 2000; new owner Carl Welte plans to invest $4 million to $5 million to reopen the ski slopes and the 12,000 square-foot lodge, then expand the ski facilities, add a brewery, winery, and RV park, and launch summer activities such as ziplines.

On an even smaller scale, Ingham County, Mich., is building a ski slope at its Hawk Island Park in Lansing. The facility will have two handle tows to serve a tubing hill and a terrain park. More importantly, it brings the mountain experience to an urban area, providing a bridge to the winter world. And you have to admire that.


DOUBLE DUTY
The fine folks at Lib Tech are showing terrain parks some love with this ingenious board. Since the base of this board doubles down as a handy sign, park crews are freed up to carry the more important equipment around, like rakes, shovels and Red Bull.