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• Terrain Park
• New Ideas

It’s remarkable that this is the twelfth year we’ve put out the call for entries to our annual terrain park contest. We received numerous submissions from all corners of the earth, and the creativity continues to be next-level. We hope these interesting and elaborate ideas will once again inspire terrain park crews to keep pushing the envelope ...

• Internet
• Social Media
• Customer Service

As social media become customer service channels, resorts must step up efforts to stay abreast of comments and requests. Add a comment   Social media started with people. People sharing, people talking, people with eyes wide at the prospect of broadcasting one message to hundreds of people in an instant. Sites grew, individuals...

• Terrain
• Safety
• Risk Management

Improvements to gear are fueling continued interest in the backcountry. How resorts are responding depends on a number of local considerations. Add a comment It’s been called “slackcountry” or “sidecountry” or, given the frustrations of patrollers with rope-ducking miscreants, “a damn headache.” Most call it backcountry....

• Personnel Issues
• Management

Resorts have long known that employees can greatly impact business performance. Here’s a look at how to ensure that impact is positive. Add a comment Many companies express their aspirations through their values, a set of core beliefs that drive behavior and decision-making. Values define not only the explicit ground rules for how e...

• Environment
• Energy

As climate change becomes an accepted notion, how will Americans decide what uses of energy are acceptable? A carbon tax can providce the answer. Add a comment Boreal Mountain Resort’s adventure in snowmaking last summer, using technology that can produce snow at 90 degrees, provoked a sharp response from Chris Steinkamp, director o...

• Construction
• Snowmaking
• Buildings & Grounds

We highlight snowmaking improvements and, especially, new lodges. Add a comment  SUN VALLEY, IDAHO In a development that impacts two Mountain Collective members, Aspen Skiing Company is building a new hotel one mile from Sun Valley’s River Run Base Area. SkiCo broke ground on the $62 million, 175,000 sq. ft. Limelight Hotel Ke...

• New Ideas

Smart ways to move groomer tillers, dispense sidewalk grit, and enable guests to charge their mobile devices. Add a comment   GRIT DISPENSER “Not sure who originated the idea, but we have been making these dispensers in-house for quite some time. We have modified the construction a little over the years to make them more rugg...

• Conferences / Trade Shows
• People
• News
• NSAA
• SIA
• Miscellaneous

New England Summit Sunday River, ME, Sept. 13-15... MSAA ANNUAL TRADE SHOW Shanty Creek, MI, Aug. 21-24... Summer Ops Camp  Canyons, UT, Sept. 14-16... SANY-PSAA Expo Holiday Valley, NY, Sept. 19-21 Add a comment   NEW ENGLAND SUMMIT, SUNDAY RIVER, ME, SEPT. 13-15 This year’s New England Summit attracted nearly 420 ski ...

• Industry Reports
• News
• People

YouTube Star Buys Pebble Creek... Coleman Group Acquires Hesperus... Tamarack Homeowners Now Own the Resort... People... Awards... Suppliers Add a comment   YouTube Star Buys Pebble CreekShay Butler, the man behind a popular YouTube channel called “Shaytards,” has acquired little known Pebble Creek Ski Area in Inkhom, Idaho....

• People
• Activities
• Opinion

Zipline line builders and pioneers, brake system Inventors. Add a comment From the beginning, Eric and Sarah Cylvick have been pioneers in the adventure zip line business. The automatic braking system in the original ZipRider and the dynamic braking system of the newer ZipTour make steep, long, single- and multi-zip lines possible. Th...

• Marketing
• Ticketing
• Business

Pass sales are up in the West, and middling elsewhere. Add a comment Halo or hangover? Following a bad season two years ago, Stevens Pass, Wash., could hardly give away a season pass. After last season’s return to normal snowfall (460 inches), the resort sold more passes during three days in March 2016 than during all of its spring...

• Customer Service
• Mountain Spy
• Guest Services
• Conversion

Arriving at a ski area for the first time can be intimidating for those who have never, ever even pulled into the parking lot of a ski area before and have no idea where to go, what to do, or what “rentals” and “lift tickets” are. How do resorts handle a call from such a guest? Add a comment   THE QUESTION: I’D LIKE TO...

• Human Resources
• Personnel Issues
• Management

If your people are good, policies and procedures can help them be great. Add a comment A resort’s staff is the heart of the organization. Your staff are the feeling, emotion, driving force, and personality behind the business. To continue the analogy, the policies and procedures we have in place to guide our staff are the backbone. ...

• Rental
• Customer Service
• SIA

Rental bootfitting is an opportunity to educate guests—and provide a fit that will set them up for success. Add a comment During the rental seminar at the SIA Snow Show last January, bootfit guru Jack Rafferty, an instructor with Masterfit University, gave the audience his five-minute bootfit spiel. It aims to get renters accustomed...

• Opinion
• News
• Business

QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS) ABOUT LIFT SAFETY... VAIL RESORTS: HOW BIG CAN IT BECOME?... WARREN MILLER: THE FREEDOM OF SKIING... JAY LOOKS AHEAD DESPITE EB-5 WOES... CHANGES IN STORE FOR SIA SNOW SHOW Add a comment QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS) ABOUT LIFT SAFETYLast spring, ski industry experts received phone calls from a writer doing a story a...

• Vehicle Maintenance
• Grooming
• Maintenance

A SAM roundtable discussion explores the practical, confounding, and sometimes comical world of vehicle maintenance. Add a comment Snowcats are funny creatures. They meow, hum, purr, hack up a snowball now and then. Sometimes they shut down and take a nap. Sometimes a cat will dart left or right with no warning at all. It is the snowc...