Safety can be an elusive goal for winter resorts. If there’s a total solution to safety, it entails never leaving home, and using only spoons for utensils. But resorts can take practical measures to reduce risks to guests.

Many resorts have indoctrinated safety cultures among their staff, complete with 100-point checklists and job descriptions that include guest interaction and positive safety messaging.

Much of that messaging stems from Your Responsibility Code. Snowsports have evolved drastically since the Code was written in 1965, but the Code has remained virtually unchanged. Do those seven points of safety still hold merit? Is the risk of runaway equipment still one of the top concerns of skiers and riders?

Word-for-word, the Code plays only a token role today. Most ski areas have advanced their efforts to better connect with guests, often in creative ways. For example, Aspen’s “Relax, it’s Aspen” banners, which are placed in high traffic on-slope areas. Wicker chairs sit in front of the signs, and guests stop unsolicited to take and share photos.

With the industry focusing on safety and etiquette in other ways, it’s fair to ask if it’s time to take a renewed look at the Code and how it’s communicated.


How Big Is the Issue?
Poor slope etiquette happens at some ski areas more than others, but it always comes at a price. One of the greatest costs, says Rob Megnin, marketing director at Killington, Vt., is the risk of alienating new skiers and riders.

“I cannot tell you how many days I’ve seen a racer, snowboarder, or free rider go by a relative newbie at Mach 9 and scare the hell out of them. This is how we lose some folks,” says Megnin. “If we’re trying to reach a demo that is youthful and hip, we need to constantly update our messaging to ensure it’s cool enough to be engaging and effective.”

Molly Mahar, marketing director at Loon Mountain, N.H., says the Code remains important, but it doesn’t address speed and how it impacts one’s ability to stop or change direction. “A low-intermediate skier or rider can travel much faster today than they could even five years ago. The equipment, grooming techniques, and trail design have all contributed to increases in speed,” she says. She adds that skiers and snowboarders just learning the sport also must learn the Code and the points of slope etiquette.


Positive Signs
Not everyone sees poor etiquette on the rise. Alex Kaufman, sales manager and editor for Ski The East, a media, events, and retail firm, says instances of poor etiquette are easily shared online, which can sometimes make the problem seem worse than it actually is. In fact, he says, slope etiquette has improved in some areas. “Smoking in lift lines is almost gone, and terrain parks self-govern far better than 10 years ago,” he says.

Most agree that parks are fairly self-policing. If you mess up, other users will likely let you know. It’s the most organic and, arguably, most effective form of messaging.

“When the first terrain parks were built, people didn’t know how to treat a terrain park. That’s really changed,” says Dave Amirault, marketing director at Sierra-at-Tahoe, Calif. “It’s adopted a board-sport mentality like you see in skate parks, with people waiting their turn and being respectful. Everyone is friendly, but also willing to call out mistakes that other users may have made.”

Generally, resort guests understand the basics of slope etiquette. Okemo Mountain, Vt., produced a Safety Month video (posted on YouTube) where skiers and riders were asked to name any of the seven points of the Code.

“Surprisingly—to me anyway—most had a basic understanding of the concepts, but verbalizing them with our video host was difficult, at best,” says Bonnie MacPherson, public relations director. She suggested the Code should be condensed, more like Smart Style.


Communication Strategies
Many have ideas for improving the Code. “I think the Code is still relevant, but what we’re looking at is how you educate it,” says Rick Burkley, VP of mountain ops at Aspen Snowmass. “A code is not effective unless it’s making a point.”

Here’s how to make it so.

Keep the message fresh. Jimmy Lawrence, VP of loss control for Willis and a former patroller, has been leading discussions on ski area safety and education for decades. He, too, emphasizes the need to keep safety messaging fresh.

“The information at the bottom of the hill is great, but delivering the information in a timely manner out on the hill makes more sense. We have to step out of the tried-and-true messaging and come up with something that catches people’s attention,” he says.

The on-hill message could be high-tech, such as a mobile app that sends verbal cues or vibrates when a skier or rider approaches a slow zone. But low-tech on-hill messages can also be effective. Lawrence cites a sign some areas are employing that uses two cartoon eyeballs within the word “Look” with an arrow pointing toward a merging trail.

Another example: Five years ago, Loon created its Park Etiquette and Educational Program (PEEPs), which urges skiers and riders to earn a PEEPs Pass by viewing an online program and taking a quiz. Guests don’t need a PEEPs Pass to use Loon’s parks, but passholders are incentivized by prize drawings, special prices for event registrations, appreciation days, and retail discounts.

Mahar says programs like this reflect changes in society. “Skiers and riders today seem to be more unaware of their own personal risk,” she says. “As society becomes faster paced, messages of tolerance and patience need to be reinforced. The Code should be more concise and messaged in a more positive way—the ‘why’ isn’t emphasized enough.”

Focus on merge zones. Slope etiquette issues most often occur in areas where different ability types converge. What might feel slow to an expert might look like 90 mph to a beginner—as Megnin points out. Often, better skiers are not aware of their impact on lesser beings, or that etiquette extends beyond keeping clear of slower skiers and riders.

At Aspen Snowmass, “We identified the zones where there was the most likelihood that these two demographics would meet, and then focused on educating in those zones,” says Burkley.

Buttermilk is home to one such zone. About 75 percent of Buttermilk’s trails are easy or intermediate, but Aspen’s largest terrain park is also located there. When skiers and riders exit the park, they end up on Panda Peak, a beginner slope. Aspen has targeted this zone with new signage and messaging.

“What we really worked to do was get an extremely educated core of local skiers, to help make them aware of what we’re looking at from a guest perspective on a resort-wide basis,” says Burkley.

While it’s difficult to gauge the effectiveness of signs, experts agree that overuse tends to overwhelm, and as signs become commonplace, they lose impact.

Burkley saw that at Aspen. “Some of our existing signs had been up for decades, and had basically become part of the landscape. So we tried to create something that wasn’t, but also wasn’t phrased as a command,” he says.

Aspen Snowmass created a safety theme for each mountain, with an integrated marketing plan in addition to on-mountain signage (think “Relax, It’s Aspen”). This is bolstered with an active patrol and senior staff presence to help control skier and snowboarder traffic.

Make it entertaining. Sierra-at-Tahoe focuses on making sure people respect slow zones and are courteous around the base area by making the message notable, says Amirault.

“The Code serves a purpose, but it needs to be broken down in a way where people are going to be entertained and relate to it in some way, and at least come away with knowing a couple bullet points off of it,” he says.

For example, Sierra illustrated its Smart Style sign with a snowboarder crashing midway down a down-up-down rail, with the words, “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.” It resonated: One park rider shared a photo of this and Tweeted, “Sierra has the best park signs.”

Highlight both good and bad examples. Kaufman says that publicizing instances of poor etiquette can be a powerful tool for connecting with skiers and riders and conveying what not to do.

“How to not be ‘that guy’ writes itself and resonates. There is always an opportunity for quick ‘that guy’ videos and sign­­age,” Kaufman says. Positive messages can have an impact, too.

The key, he says, is to understand the on-hill experience from the guest perspective, and package safety messaging in a consumable, shareable language. “Make it worth taking pictures of and interesting, then the signage is not only consumed on-hill, but at desks nationwide. This means less copy, but more pointedly truthful copy.”

Enlist guests in the effort. Do resorts survey guests about slope etiquette and messaging? Why not ask: How courteous were other skiers and riders? Which safety signs did you notice? Do you share safety and slope etiquette tips with your friends and family?


Code Read?
Killington’s Megnin sees opportunity for an industry-wide collaboration between areas, retail suppliers and stores, and ski associations to build a renewed national safety campaign.

“I believe part of the reason the Code gets little traction is it has to be fresher and made relevant every few years. It’s a very fickle group we’re trying to reach,” he says. “I would rather see things like videos and bringing in pro athletes to resorts to explain the virtues of the Code and help kids understand the consequences of their actions and how they can impact others.”

Social media might seem like a good vehicle for this, and some areas actively promote National Safety Month this way. But Amirault says social media isn’t particularly well suited for communicating safety.

“It’s not a bite-sized, stackable item, which is what social media is all about. People have a limited amount of time and interest, so hitting them with something that’s kind of long and drawn out isn’t friendly for social,” he says.

Amirault says it’s more effective to create copy that guests will read and process, and hit them with a broader safety message within that. “You can’t make the mountain a giant billboard, but at the same time you have to inform people,” he says. “There are always new ways to do creative messaging that people are going to look at, read and process, and associate with an item of safety.”