“We had an ‘aha’ moment about two years ago,” says Russ Coloton, president of Hunter Mountain. “We committed to stocking some really good skis and boards for beginners from Rossignol and Burton. Then we saw that when you have 2,000 pairs of skis and 1,000 boards, you don’t really have time to do a 45-minute retail tune on them.” Coloton saw a danger that the investment in beginner-specific gear was at risk.
A year ago he hired, as rental shop manager, an experienced ski school supervisor. Eric Johnson had taught skiing and snowboarding in the Hunter ski school for six seasons, and watched his beginning students struggle on trashed boards and oversized boots. He pitched in to improve the tuning rotation on the entire stock. “We work late nights before holidays to make sure that everything gets run,” he says. “For instance, we probably put three-quarters of the inventory over the grinder before Presidents’ Day weekend this year. That means patching the base, stone grinding, edge bevel, polish and wax. It’s a lot of work for the staff but it pays off in a better experience for our customers.”
Last March, Johnson had a chance to show off his stuff—and convert some visiting resort managers—during the first Plus One Showcase at Hunter.
The purpose of the Plus One event is to swap best practices regarding the Growth Model—the name refers to adding one percent to the beginner retention rate. Coordinator Kim Seevers, then with PSIA-E, asked Hunter’s rental department to do a demonstration of how the modern gear can help to improve a beginner’s first-day experience—or ruin it. “As teachers most of us haven’t skied the new 130cm shaped entry level skis,” she points out. “We wanted instructors and rental shop buyers to compare the gear and exchange views. And we wanted to see how maintenance, or lack of it, affects the experience.”
Johnson obliged with several sets of skis and snowboards. Over two days, he sent the gear out with about 50 attendees, split more or less evenly among ski school personnel, resort managers, rental managers and media.
The skis and boards were prepared in a variety of ways: Hunter’s nominal rental tune, designed to make a beginner ski or snowboard glide and turn easily under a never-ever; a similar tune, with super-cold wax; railed gear.; convex gear; bashed and gouged as if walked across the parking lot; race-tuned, flat and sharp to the ends.
The good stuff performed as advertised. The trick stuff, Johnson says, was a challenge. “These guys are used to skiing on their own perfectly-tuned stuff,” he notes. “It made them think about how their new skiers have to struggle.”
One of those skiers was Wes Kryger, general manager at Greek Peak. “It was a great program,” he said. “I came away understanding that maintenance is needed more often than most shops do it. The systems have to be checked out and fixed as soon as they’re returned, and having a trained eye do it is valuable. I’ve talked to our ski school about it, so our coaches are now keeping an eye on the rental skis. The rental shop is close to the beginner area, so if we have a bad pair we can make a quick swap.”
As a result of exposure to the Plus One program, Kryger has instituted some other changes. His rental operation has adopted Burton’s boot-sizing floor mat, and improved the signage that directs skiers on how to size their boots. “We’ll do additional training for all rental and ski school personnel to make sure these issues are followed up,” he says.
Hunter’s Coloton hopes there’ll be more changes on the rental front. “I don’t see the manufacturers taking the initiative in equipment maintenance, and they should be part of this,” he notes. “It would be great to see them come in and establish a best practices manual we could use.”
Bill Irwin, who manages rental sales for Elan and Dolomite, says the event was a revelation for everyone who participated. “It was the first demo event for rental skis, and almost no one had ever bothered to test the products back-to-back,” he said. “That includes resort buyers who buy hundreds of pairs every year.” It was also a learning experience for the manufacturers present, he said. “I came away with a very clear idea of where we want to go with product development,” he says.
Irwin points out that at most smaller resorts, “Rental shops seem convinced that it takes too long and is too expensive to tune the skis.” But with a modern $3,000 grinder, purchased or leased, Irwin suggests, a good crew can run a pair of skis, from grind to wax, in five to ten minutes—which means two guys could repair and tune 100 pairs of skis in a workday. “It simply improves the return on investment,” he says.
Clearly, there’s more to improving the first-time experience than tweaking instruction or providing a more human touch. It also requires a maintenance touch in the back room.
Next year’s Plus One event will take place at Hunter Mountain Mar. 17-18, 2005. Check out www.saminfo.com for more info.
