Musical Chairs, Washington Style
Right now, eyes are on key appointments. Here is the morning line on some of these. For Forest Service Chief (and remember, there is no rule that says a change has to take place, though the assumption is that it will), the race seems to be between Lyle Laverty, a prototypical insider FS type, bureaucratically savvy, well-known to the ski industry, knowledgeable and cautious; and Lynn Sprague, another Forest Service insider, currently working with the giant environmental firm, Foster-Wheeler. Sprague’s career got sideways to the priorities of Forest Service Chief Dombeck and Jim Lyons, the Undersecretary of Agriculture. Sprague is close to Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), a key figure in all public lands matters. He’s also an insider with administration kingmaker Dick Cheney. How much difference between them? Probably not all that much. While each is pledged to environmental good deeds, there is no question that both insiders are from the school that interprets the Forest Service mandate for “multiple use” very differently from the way the Clinton administration did.
At presstime, there was no clear leader for the important post of Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and the Environment (read Forest Service) that was held in the last administration by Jim Lyons. For the past few years, the ski industry has been championed and courted by Lyons to form “partnerships” for the greater glory of the Forest Service brand of recreational use of public lands. At times the embrace has been as embarrassing as it has been unproductive. Based on the names currently being mentioned, would there be a change? How about from black to white? Look for a seasoned professional with traditional Forest Service priorities, but with recreation factored in as a powerful modern-day political reality.
For the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), there are some Cheney cronies being mentioned, but more importantly, will this administration feel it needs an agency like CEQ to monitor environmental quality issues on behalf of the White House, or will it find non-monitoring more compatible?
Almost sure to find a top spot at the Department of Interior is Patty MacDonald, according to NSAA’s government affairs expert, Geraldine Hughes. MacDonald was once retained as NSAA’s knowledgeable eyes and ears inside the Beltway.
Overall, the ski industry feels very comfortable with the emerging shape of public lands administration under Bush. Not that we anticipate radical change—just a newly level playing field. And that will be something.
Our Exported Politesse Takes Root
Friendly customer service has long been a hallmark of American ski areas. Over the years, study groups from ski areas around the world have come to our shores to see what they could learn, especially in the art of liftline management. So, it was interesting to hear from veteran ski editor, John Fry, that he was “truly impressed” on a recent visit to Val d’Isère in France—that the scene was positively apple-pie American, with attractive young men and women graciously and expertly coaxing skiers to load efficiently. That’s tampering with the inalienable Gallic right to ride single on a quad. And when Fry commented on the change to his hosts, the French officials cheerfully identified it as an American import. Sacré bleu, what is happening?
Not to worry, I was assured by a veteran French ski area industry executive who prefers to remain unidentified. “What John saw is so, but it was at a major international resort where the expectations are high. Go to one that caters to the French and you will find the Gallic spirit of independence is alive and well. Besides, French law doesn’t permit us to fire a lift attendant just because he’s not good at his job.”
Midwest Areas Form Rental Buying Group
The significance of rental equipment for profitability and for industry growth continues to gather recognition. The Midwest Ski Areas Association program for group buying is just one example. For the program director, Phil Peterson, it’s more than just squeezing suppliers for better terms. He wants to build working partnerships with the suppliers. He wants to help bring about improvements in the basic design of entry-level rentals. “Manufacturers have tended to provide models of their retail products as rental equipment. This approach seldom provides a product best suited to rental use.”
For the second year in a row, the SIA show in Las Vegas will feature Rental Alley, hosted by SAM, where ski area rental operators can quickly and efficiently find what’s available and deal with the key suppliers.
Terrain Parks: Opportunity or Threat
Reality is catching up with the ski area industry over terrain parks: they have reenergized our sport over the past two or three years, have recreated excitement, have been a magnet for the young; they have also created problems, most especially in disturbing incidences of catastrophic accidents.
Responding to this, NSAA recently prepared and issued its Terrain Park Resource Guide, intended as guidelines for the design, placement and management of such parks. Essential as this is, it cannot answer the economic equation when risk and reward get out of balance. Ski and boarding operations in the future almost certainly are going to have to factor insurance costs into their future decision-making. With a terrain park or parks, an area will be competitive by meeting a certain level of demand; but it will pay for the added risk exposure with perhaps costly insurance riders.
It’s too early to know the numbers, but anecdotal evidence points to both increased use of terrain parks and increased catastrophic accidents. It’s too early to tell whether these increases are mutually proportionate.
The French Weep a Tear at Squaw Valley
As so often happens, people outlive the relevancy of their legends. So it was with Jo Marillac, World War II French resistance hero, known in France as a great mountaineer and one of the founders of the French ski instruction establishment. He played a pivotal role in the early days of Squaw Valley as Emile Allais’ successor as ski school director. More importantly, his European contacts and hero stature in France were critical to Alex Cushing in his improbable, but ultimately successful, effort to secure the 1960 Olympics for Squaw Valley.
However, few of his friends and neighbors in Olympic Valley knew this background. They just knew Jo as the warm-hearted, active businessman and realtor. As his friend, Alain Lazard commented, “Ironically, he was better known in France as a war hero and as a pioneer in building the organizational structure for French alpinism and ski instruction. Here, he was best known as a friend and neighbor.”
On February 14, Olympic Valley honored Jo at a memorial service, just a few days short of what would have been his 80th birthday.
Short Turns
Effective April 1 (no April Fools jokes, please,) Aspen is finally welcoming snowboarders to Ajax. . .whoops, no, they’re calling it Aspen Mountain again. It’s not happening quietly, either: Aspen Skiing Co. is staging a media blitz during the SIA Show, including the rental of the Luxor I-MAX theater, to make sure the ski press gets the word. They’re also renting floor space at the Convention Center for the four days of the show. . .At Vail, the buzz is over a book, “Powder Burn,” which delves into the background of the 1998 ecoterrorist fires. Vail CEO, Adam Aron, is not amused by the author’s negative take on the company. The author is Dan Glick, a former Newsweek correspondent. . .SIA Retail Audit for August to December comes up roses: specialty stores were up 18 percent in sales, chain stores 16 percent. In specific categories, snowboard equipment was up a robust 23 percent, with alpine equipment up 10 percent and Nordic up 14 percent. Twin tips zoomed as interest grows in skiing in terrain parks. . .A Canadian ski magazine, Ski Press, enters the U.S. market next September with 700,000 free distribution of five issues, extra-large tabloid format, of 40 to 60 pages each. Editor-in-Chief of the U.S. publication is Jules Older. “We will be distributed at ski areas all over the U.S.,” Older says, “and wherever snow lovers hang out.” Huffed Allen Crolius, associate publisher of The Skiing Co., as quoted in The Denver Post, “I just don’t know how an upstart magazine of whatever quality it is will be able to crack that marketplace, especially when they aren’t charging for it.” Each of the issues will be themed, e.g. adventure, travel, performance. Publisher Jean Marc Blais thinks big: next year may be the U.S., but his future plans call for distribution in Europe and Japan.
