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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Brushing Off Bad News? Skiers, Riders Are A Resilient LotBy Roger Leo 
The response from several industry sources leads to the conclusion that skiers and riders are a forward-looking bunch, more concerned with the quality of snow than yesterday's headlines. A Dec. 14 avalanche at Snowbird killed 27-year-old Heather Gross, a skier from Salt Lake City, Utah. A tower holding up the Excalibur gondola at Whistler Blackcomb partially collapsed on Dec. 16 stranding 53 people and injuring 12 of them. A Christmas Day avalanche at Squaw Valley killed Randall Davis, a 21-year-old competitive freestyle skier from Tahoe City, Calif. A slab avalanche Dec. 27 at Jackson Hole killed 31-year-old snowboarder David Nodine from Wilson, Wyo. A slide two days later slammed into a mid-mountain restaurant at Jackson Hole, forcing partial closure of the resort for the day. Steven Clark, 37, of Whistler died Dec. 31 in an avalanche in the Ruby Bowl area on Blackcomb Mountain. Aaron Fauchon, 26, of North Battleford, Sask., died Jan. 1 in an avalanche while snowboarding on Whistler Mountain. Reports are that, in both cases, the men were in areas marked off-limits. Similar weather events – heavy precipitation, rain, cold, and subsequent heavy snowfall often with high wind conditions – have occurred widely this winter across the West and Pacific Northwest, including last week when much of the face of little Summit East at Washington's Hyak slid down the mountain. There is certainly some collateral damage from unpleasant weather. Central Oregon ski areas had so much howling wind, ice, and low visibility over the holidays, it led to a drop of 10-30 percent in lodging occupancy, according to the Bend Bulletin. Mt. Bachelor's Web site went so far as to suggest skiers stay home and watch football on New Year's Day. The newspaper did carry a wonderful photo of skiers on a chairlift in the rain wearing plastic bags over their parkas. The message on the bags: "Good to the last drop." Non-weather news, not normally found at happy-time mountain resorts, also reared its head. Eldora General Manager Brian Mahon was shot to death Dec. 30 during a staff meeting. A bitter former Aspen resident planted bombs in banks causing the town to literally close down on lucrative New Year's Eve. The man was found dead in an apparent suicide. Jared Ishkanian, public relations director at Snowbird, where local skier Heather Gross was killed in an avalanche, told The Industry Report, “The loss was definitely felt very strongly by our community. She was a local, known by our employees and lots of skiers at the mountain, so there’s a lot of sadness. By the same token, people are here day in and day out wanting to ski. They know the dangers of the sport. “Our core group of skiers are continuing to ski and when the snow comes they’re as enthusiastic as ever. If I see one major change in terms of behavior, a lot more people are wearing beacons inbounds. That’s probably the only thing I can say in all honesty that’s changed out of all of this,” Ishkanian said. Lisa Watson, communications manager at Jackson Hole, where Nodine was killed by the inbounds avalanche and where another swept through a mid-mountain restaurant two days later, said, “It’s too soon to notice any major differences in numbers. It was Christmas week, and as long as the mountain was open people were skiing. We had to close portions of the mountain for those few days, and we offered people refunds depending on how many lifts were closed and for how long. “From a communication standpoint we’ve been really proactive with information on our Web site, and we have had the occasional call from a guest asking should they come or not. All we’re doing is providing them with absolute factual information and letting them decide. We offered to refund money or let people use their tickets at a different time.” A Web site that tracks weather from the point of view of avalanche risk - jhavalanche.org - showed the Teton snowpack experienced two weather events in November that created a strong hard surface onto which heavy snow subsequently fell in high wind conditions, leading to high risk of slab avalanches. Jeff McDonald, manager of corporate communications for Whistler Blackcomb, which experienced the gondola tower failure Dec. 16 and the two avalanche fatalities over New Year’s, offered anecdotal reaction from skiers and riders. “The gondola tower failure was a tragic event, but it could have been much worse. There were no deaths, only a few injuries. We’re seeing that skiers and snowboarders are a resilient group. More common than not the response was, ‘We’ll be right back at it as soon as we can.’ That’s the response even from people in the four gondola cars affected. Almost all of the people interviewed said they would be back next day if they could. “What affects people’s appetite for the hill is not questions about the gondola, it’s how much snow there is. If there’s snow, they’ll come. Last night we got 27 or 34 cm of beautiful fresh light power, and as a result the number of people lined up to be first up the mountain was pretty astonishing,” McDonald said Wednesday, Jan. 8. “We’ve seen no negative response to the gondola failure, we’ve seen positive response to some really great recent snowfalls we’ve had. With the avalanches, it’s the same thing. “The response we’d like to see is skiers and snowboarders take to heart more the safety guidelines. Whistler Blackcomb has always taken safety seriously. Skiers and snowboarders have to obey the safety regulations as they’re outlined. When they don’t they’re risking a lot. “We’re happy we haven’t seen any negative response in terms of numbers in respect to the avalanches, but we’d like them, as enthusiastic they are in embracing the skiing and riding experience, to embrace the safety aspect as well. “The danger is so clear, yet there are skiers and riders who don’t do their part. We wish they would,” McDonald said. What It Means: The bad news has been unrelenting. Mountain News' consumer Web site (OnTheSnow.com) seemed to be changing its new Breaking News ticker by the hour over the holidays and into the new year. But, for now, and at least anecdotally, the lure of great snow outweighs most feelings of risk. Anybody for a few bluebird days? « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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