In This Issue
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Oitaf Congress In Barcelona Disappoints; “Heavy Metal Tour” Following Does Not.
In the first week of June, the 7th International OITAF Congress brought together tramway experts and authorities from 25 countries in Barcelona,…
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Sports Marketing, The Industry And The Ski Consumer
What has sports marketing got to do with the ski consumer and the ski industry? What do Franz Heinzer, Kjetil Aamodt, Tomas…
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Needed: Environmental Action
by John Fry, Editor, Snow Country In the Speak-Out column in its last issue, Ski Area Management correctly pointed out that a…
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Last Year’s “Ethics Problem” Has Become “What Ethics Problem?”
Area flyovers, trail counts increasing overnight, exaggerated ski report conditions, stuffed ballot boxes … Does the U.S. ski industry have an ethics…
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Who Manages The Ski School?
Who is responsible for the ski school staff relative to: hiring, training, work schedules, work assignments, setting performance standards, performance evaluation, motivation,…
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Feeding The Hungry Skier: Condiment Counters
One of the hidden costs of food service is condiments — ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and sweet relish. Most food-service managers hand out…
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The Marketplace – Press Kits: Looking Better, But Still Overweight.
Congratulations! As a whole, ski area press kits are definitely better than they were when I wrote a jaundiced review of them…
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Widening The Window
Whether it’s health care, financial services, electronics or any other business, a manager’s ability to get information quickly from all aspects of…
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Filling 2,800 Jobs
Every Fall since 1962, Vail Associates has faced an annual challenge of hiring employees for the coming ski season. For the 1993-94…
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Mighty Moves Toward Aspen Consolidation
People could hardly believe it was actually going to happen, but the announcement from the Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) was of a…
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Small Areas As Breeders: Myth Or Reality?
Are small ski areas truly the “breeding grounds” of new skiers, or is this assumption an unchallenged myth? The editor of this…
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Mining Mountains Of Ideas
Using a program called “Mountains of Ideas,” last season Vail Associates gave out merchandise valued at more than $300,000 to employees. But…
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Upkeep Prevents Downtime
Ski area managers would be hard pressed to find a piece of equipment that runs harder than a grooming vehicle. Operating 16…
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The Trouble With Detachables
Detachable quad chairlifts are great for passengers, but they have created access and evacuation problems for ski area rescuers. And, as they…
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Switching To Natural Gas
Once considered the fuel of the future, over the past five years, natural gas has become the transportation fuel of the present.…
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Recyclers’ Revenge
There were plenty of skeptics when Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming began its base area environmental awareness efforts in 1990. Some questioned…
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Ski Area Insurance Programs
The ski resort operator is in the unusual situation of having a choice of the largest number of insurance suppliers in years.…
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Keeping Cars Clean
As hazardous waste disposal becomes a bigger problem for everyone, the ski industry, especially the vehicle maintenance segment of the industry, is…
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My Life As An Audit Spy
This past winter, I conducted quality and service audits at 15 ski areas throughout the United States and Japan. For each visit,…
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Bob Bugg–A Portfolio
Artist, illustrator, cartoonist Bob Bugg, who died August 9 at the age of 73, arrived on the ski scene with the front…
