OK, so what does a ski area’s lift system have to do with snow? In this day and age of time deprivation, there is a rush to do more things in less time – and that extends to skiing. After all, vacation time is precious, and lift tickets are expensive. The more we have to either wait in line, or wait on the chairlift until we can start the next run, the less skiing time we get. Hence, ski areas – always looking to improve the on-mountain skiing experience of the paying public – are continually investing in their infrastructure to accommodate a greater volume of skiers, especially at peak times during the season. This includes faster lifts. Let’s take the Winter Park example. (more…)

The knees (aside from the head) are arguably the most important parts of the body when it comes to proficiency on skis or snowboard. For skiers, they are the most injured parts of the body and often cause the injured party to give up altogether, suffer months of painful rehabilitation, and/or undergo surgery.

As coach John Whitmore says on the Peak Performance website: “A skier’s legs are his suspension, and flexible knees with sufficient free movement up or down would seem advisable. The most frequent technical instruction ski instructors give is ‘bend zee knees’, in response to which skiers tend to adopt a fixed bent position, which gives rise to stiff suspension and poor ski grip. The instruction was technically correct, but the effect of giving it was counterproductive. This paradox is often unrecognised by conventional sports coaches, who repeat their commands ever more fervently. The most effective way to achieve the desired soft suspension effect is to ask awareness-raising coaching questions, such as: how much do your knees bend; when do they bend most in a turn; what happens when they are most bent, etc?” (more…)

Without casting the net too widely to incorporate all jobs within the ski resort industry, “Snow Jobs” basically fall into two categories: on the snow jobs, and service.

On the snow jobs cover a wide variety of positions and with them differing degrees of expertise and qualifications. Ski patrol, and ski and snowboard instructors come top of the list in terms of experience, and there are likely “pecking orders” at each and every resort when it comes to trying to break in to either category. At Winter Park Resort, opportunities exist for involvement with the Competition Center (gate marshalling, course preparation, etc), the National Sports Center for the Disabled SCD (voluntary, but ski passes are traded out for hours orked), Mountains Hosts, etc. Operations cover all manner of technical disciplines, such as snowmaking, snowgrooming, ski technicians, lift operators, and maintenance, etc. (more…)

Snowfall is really a matter of inches. Yes, size does matter, so let’s get that over with. During the season, every single inch of accumulation is totaled to give a daily running total and, when it’s all over, a season final total. That final total is added to the previous 9 years, which is then divided by 10 to give – of course – a 10-year average. This 10-year average is where bragging rights set in, and right now (which has been the case for as long as I can remember), Winter Park can boast that it gets more snow, on average, than any other major Colorado Ski Resort – currently 359 inches. (more…)

Headlines to some extent are a double-edged sword, in so far as stories about no snow, or lack of snow and poor conditions, will obviously negatively impact bookings into ski resorts, whereas headlines about major snowstorms and fantastic skiing are a boon to our industry.

Fortunately, there is nothing really newsworthy about the fact that it didn’t snow last night. However, catch a major storm that dumps 2 feet on the mountains overnight and causes widespread disruption elsewhere, and you have ski industry officials rubbing their hands in glee.

Heavy snowfalls that causes the grounding of flights, closes highways and schools, knocks out electricity, and causes meteorologists to jump out of their observation closets and wax lyrical about “what this means” for the ski season, is all good stuff. Blizzard warnings, avalanches and rockslides also give out loud messages that the snow is falling – or has fallen – in abundance, and of course that means great skiing conditions.

Disruptions cause inconvenience, and inconvenience is news. Whether it’s the TV, internet, domestic or even international newspapers, headlines are probably the most effective free form of advertising the ski industry can get. Couple this with photos of bumper-to-bumper lines of semi-stranded motorists on I-70 as the head into the hills (or home from work), and it doesn’t get much better!