Once the red-haired stepchild of the ski and ride world, rental equipment has become the family’s blossoming honor roll student. Rental equipment is a key factor in the important quest to recruit and retain newcomers to riding and skiing. Suppliers and resorts are both taking steps to improve the first-time experience, as well as the return-visit experience.

When it comes to marketing or selling anything, you should never underestimate the power of women. A Nielsen consumer study from 2013 revealed women in America spend between $5 trillion and $15 trillion annually. The November 2013 issue of Businessweek reported 46 percent of viewers who watched the Super Bowl that year were female; that’s higher than the female audience for The Oscars. So, whether you’re running a resort, a rental shop, or even a ski school, you need to pay close attention to your female customers.

The editors of SAM, along with a number of ski area operators, attended the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Expo in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 17-20, looking for both specific products and general inspiration. We spied representatives from Bristol, Camelback, Jiminy Peak, Holiday Valley, Mont Saint-Sauveur, Nashoba Valley, and Breckenridge among the thousands perusing the half-million square feet of summer fun.

After working together for 16 years, Greg Goddard and Claire Humber have forged a productive and fun working relationship. In 1999, Goddard, general manager for Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford, N.H., hired SE Group to conduct a concept study for Greg’s first master plan for the resort. Humber, SE Group director of resort planning and design, worked on the project. Since then, Gunstock has gone from a winter resort that needed attention to a four-season attraction in the popular Lakes Region of New Hampshire.

When your dad is a pro event racer and your mom is an event organizer, your birthday parties are bound to rock.

If you are going to start a major development project, it sure helps to have more than half of the build-out cost in your pocket well before the project is anywhere near completion. When the folks at Stowe determined about five years ago that there was a pressing need for a new kids activity and learning center (the Adventure Center), the first thing they did was start to figure out how to pay for it.

Resorts have become increasingly discerning about their investments in lifts—which, along with snowmaking, comprise the essential elements of a ski and snowboard resort. So a jump to 23 new lifts, from last year’s all-time low of 16, is a positive sign.

SUMMER BUSINESS: A SHARED EXPERIENCE The Assembly, conceived and run by Denver-based DestiMetrics, has quickly become a staple of the annual mountain tourism seminar cycle. Held Jan. 29 in Denver during the SIA Snow Show, this year’s summer-focused symposium, “Balancing the Peaks and Valleys of Mountain Tourism,” highlighted the community-wide nature of summer visits and the impact of the sharing economy on the traditional lodging business.

SCENIC CHAIR “We decided to start to run our Stevenson Express for scenic chairlift rides, but it only had a ramp for winter use. So we had to design and build an unload/loading deck. We decided to go with a traditional- looking deck with railings that we stained. We dug 24 footers around 60” deep. With winter in mind, we had custom brackets made in key locations, and had a custom-made hinge fabricated. With the brackets we can remove two small deck sections and hinge the rest down, instantly transforming it back into our winter ramp. The downhill deck stays year-round, helping downloading employees and patrollers assist guests who might find themselves above their ability to get back to the bottom safely.” —Tim Bayer, Lift Maintenance Supervisor, Camelback, Pa.

The urge to slide down slippery slopes seems to be primal, embedded in the human DNA. For centuries, people have been coming up with all sorts of devices to satisfy that urge: skis, snowboards, sleds, toboggans, inner tubes, snurfers, snow bikes, skiboards, sit-skis. Now, you can add one more device to the list: airboards. These could become the latest in the expanding options available at winter resorts.