Construction was generally down this summer in all regions of the country, with summer grading the project of choice, as U.S. ski areas tightened their belts in the wake of a so-so season and a slowing national economy. The environment continued to be the dominant issue across the country and also in Canada. Meanwhile, in the courtroom, a few states reported small victories here and there for the industry. Overall, it was a busy and diverse summer across the many ski states and regions of the U.S. and Canada.
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association has a new member — Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho. The area is an expansion of the former Silver Horn resort. The new and improved Silver Mountain features the world’s longest gondola (3.1 miles) and four new chairs, all Von Rolls.
Despite last winter’s horrendous snow year that cut into skier visits by 25 to 50 percent, several ski areas spent big bucks over the summer on major expansion programs — something that hasn’t happened around here in some time. Scweitzer Basin in Sandpoint, Idaho, for instance, built a new lodge and put in a Von Roll detachable quad, while Brundage Mt. in McCall, put in a new CTEC triple chair, and north of Boise, a major new four-season resort called Valbois is in environmental hearings.
Meanwhile, Washington and Oregon are trying to organize all facets of their respective ski industries under one umbrella in each state.
In Idaho, ski operators are upset about a law enacted last session that exempts the sales tax on goods that are used to sell a product, such as chairlifts, snowmaking equipment, snowcats, etc. The bill sounds like a good idea, except the exemption applies only to municipally owned ski areas — of which there is a grand total of one in Idaho. The exemption was made retroactive for two years.
“It was obviously political,” said Mary Reichman, president of the Intermountain Ski Areas Association. Reichman said irate Idaho ski operators want to get the exemption extended to all ski areas rather than giving just one an unfair advantage.
Far West
The furor over the northern spotted owl — declared a threatened species by the Forest Service — so far has been mainly confined to Washington and Oregon where the ruling will have a major impact on the timber and recreation industries in those states. Now, however, there’s evidence the spotted owl battleground is shifting to California. The southern spotted owl makes its home in that state, and environmental groups there are mobilizing to get that species also protected.
If the environmental battlefield in California is getting more heated, the legal arena at least has been somewhat more friendly to the state’s ski operators. Bob Roberts, executive director of the Sierra Ski Areas Association, said that the California Supreme Court recently agreed to revisit the issue of assumption of risk. In California, assumption of risk has not been a legal doctrine. But prompted by a horseback riding case and a waterskiing case, the Supreme Court will take another look at the doctrine. The state ski areas association plans to file a brief in the case. A recent appellate court decision on assumption of risk was decided in favor of ski areas. “We’ve won a couple,” said Roberts. “We feel pretty good about that.”
On other fronts, the “Ski the Californias” marketing program is moving into its fifth year with more sponsors, more players and more bucks. The Sierra Ski Areas Association is negotiating with the Stanford B School to hold a seminar for ski executives. Business professors from Stanford and Harvard will be recruited to discuss cases from the ski industry and related industries. The first seminar is planned for June 1991, and would be open to anyone in the ski industry.
Rockies
When you’re set a record for skier visits eight years in a row, what do you do for an encore? If you’re Colorado Ski Country USA, you build a mountain people can ski on in the summer. MidSlope, a $400,000 artificial ski mountain opened at the Children’s Museum in downtown Denver in September. The artificial hill is designed to introduce kids to skiing, and will also provide programs to prepare and place young adults interested in careers in the ski industry. Money came from CSCUSA, the Children’s Museum and the city of Denver. If the concept is successful, CSCUSA wants to take it on the road.
Also in Colorado, Senate Bill 80 was passed and signed into law, extending the skier’s responsibility code and placing the inherent dangers and risks of skiing upon the skier.
CSCUSA is also conducting an environmental audit of the state’s 26 ski areas (down one from last year after the decision by Ski Estes Park at the entrance to Rocky Mt. Park to close). The goal of the audit is to make ski areas more environmentally conscious about their operations, and to offer suggestions for improvement.
In other news, two ski areas that received expansion permits from the Forest Service (Grand Targhee in Wyoming and Snow Basin in Utah) are being tied up by environmental challenges. “In both cases, relatively small well-organized groups are protesting any use of U.S. Forest land for private means,” said Mary Reichman of Intermountain.
Midwest
The last major ski region of the U.S. with no state ski associations is trying to get its act together, organize by state and grab a bigger share of state tourism dollars.
In the past, the Midwest Ski Areas Association operated state committees. “None of them were very active or did much,” admitted Stuart Campbell, president of the Midwest Ski Areas Association. This year, urged on by the USIA, midwest ski operators are trying to organize all parts of the ski industry in each of their states.
So far, state ski industry associations have been formed in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. Indiana formed last year, and Ohio is targeted for later this year. Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Missouri are on the agenda for next year. “A lot of legislation has not been updated in these states, and a lot of tourism dollars are not being utilized,” said Julann Velvin, USIA midwest marketing rep. “We want to access some of those dollars.”
Southeast
Laurel Creek, a new ski area being built near Marlington, W.V., is the newest member of the Southeast Ski Areas Association.
Also in the southeast, members reported that five new ski areas have joined the seven from last year to participate in the “Ski It To Believe It” marketing program. New officers elected for two-year terms include, President: D. Grady Moretz, Appalachian Ski Mtn., N.C.; Vice-President: Danny Seme, Snowshoe, W. Va.; Secretary: Susan Head, Scaly Mtn., N.C.; Treasurer: Reba S. Moretz, Appalachian Ski Mtn., N.C.
Northeast
The Ski Areas of New York are working on an amendment to a new child labor bill passed last session. The bill restricts 16- and 17-year-olds to working only four hours on non-school days preceding a school day, such as a Sunday or a holiday. Previously, youths were allowed to work eight hours on those days. SANY wants an amendment allowing 16- and 17-year-olds the option of working up to eight hours on these days.
An issue that began with the railroads, has the Vermont ski industry holding its breath. The Vermont Supreme Court recently overturned a Superior Court ruling allowing railroads to sell land they had filled in for their own purposes as long as the land was used for public purposes. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the courts cannot decide what “public purpose” is, and instead ruled that the land should revert to the state for the legislature to decide public purpose.
In its ruling, the court went beyond just the railroads’ rights of way and mentioned hydro dams, the damming of waterways and streams, and the like, leading the Conservation Law Foundation to interpret the ruling to mean that ski areas could not take water from streams and ponds for snowmaking.
Right now, the issue of public trust is a bit of a mess. A legislative committee was appointed to study the matter and come up with proposed rules and regulations. By late July, the committee had yet to meet. Meanwhile, the Water Resources Board is reluctant to issue any permits until the public trust issue is cleared up. The Vermont Ski Areas Association plans to actively participate in the legislative study and hearings. As VSAA executive director Joe Parkinson said: “We not only have to win in the first sense — that snowmaking is a permissible use. We then have to develop criteria that makes it viable.” Stay tuned.
In other Vermont news, the state’s ski areas have a new advertising agency and a new campaign. Instead of the old, image and position-oriented “Ski Vermont” campaign of the past, the new campaign — thought up by a Providence ad firm — will be a direct sales pitch. The goal of the campaign is to sell mid-week skiing, and is called the “Vermont Sunday Takeoff Package.” The idea is for each area to be able to work the umbrella campaign into its own advertising — “The Pico Sunday Takeoff,” “The Killington Sunday Takeoff,” etc. The only criterion is that each area have a mid-week package starting on Sunday.
Elsewhere, a lot of building is going on. Sugarbush — an area that’s been left behind by major expansions all around it — has joined the big boys once again. The central Vermont resort is retrofitting three double chairs into quads, including one Poma detachable. Meanwhile, Mt. Snow is adding yet another quad, a CTEC, that will open up its Sunbrook area on the south side of the mountain.
Canada
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but the Canadian Ski Council will need to spend more than $300,000 if it wants to match USIA’s “Ski It To Believe It” program in the Great White North.
Nevertheless, that’s how much Canada will be spending to launch its version of the marketing program. The Canadians hope to have the program ready for at least one test market by this winter.
Also the seven percent national goods and sales tax goes into effect in January and will have some influence on pricing this season. Foreign visitors, however, shouldn’t see too much difference since the tax does not apply to items such as accommodations.
In the western provinces, at least, Jimmie Spencer, president of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, says recycling will be one of the major issues of the 90s for Canadian ski resorts. “We are not getting any pressure to do it at all,” he said. “We just feel it is our duty.”
Canadian ski operators are also trying to get a skier safety act passed. After being rebuffed on three previous occasions, operators believe recent court cases against them make it imperative to get a skier’s responsibility code enacted as soon as possible.
“In our opinion, the courts ignored the responsibility of the skier,” said Spencer. “As a result of those cases, it is placing an undue responsibility on operators.”
