SAM Magazine—Lake Placid, NY, September 29, 2023—New York Ski Areas and the Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association held their annual joint NY-SKIPA SKI Expo in Lake Placid, September 25-27, with more than 350 ski areas. staff, vendor partners and experts available to learn, network and have a little fun at the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. In total, 45 ski areas and 78 companies were represented.
The expo was held at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid and included approximately two dozen educational sessions and a trade show, as well as networking opportunities including a rock ‘n roll themed party on the final evening.
The debates began with several awards. The Ronald B. Stafford Ski Safety Award was presented to Cindy Dady of ORDA, Kate Rauber (Eshbaugh) of Holiday Valley and Steve Fuller of Bristol Mountain for their contributions, particularly in developing procedures to ski areas to operate during the Covid pandemic. Recently retired MountainGuard leader Bo Adams received the SKI NY Hall of Fame Award in recognition of his service to the sport and the ski and snowboard industry.
NSAA President and CEO Kelly Pawlak reviewed key industry data and shared some of the wins from the 2022-23 winter season, including a record number of visits (65.4 million visits of skiers) and the most active participants in the United States (11.6 million) ever reported by the NSAA. . The Northeast region, which includes New York and Pennsylvania, saw an increase of 4.3% year-over-year. She reminded operators of the importance of the experiences they deliver to their customers and staff of the impact they have on the experience.
She also pointed out that the United States had the highest number of skier visits in the world last season and is one of the few major ski countries seeing an upward trend in visits.
In addition to NSAA’s fall educational seminars on risk management and liability, other sessions covered everything from technology and marketing to snowmaking and personnel.
Artificial intelligence was a popular topic. Two presentations focused on the latest technologies, and AI was mentioned in at least two other presentations related to marketing and technology. Lindsay DesLauriers of Bolton Valley described how the station uses AI to develop a wide variety of printed materials, from grant proposals to training manuals and legal documents.
The GM roundtable – always fertile ground for a roundup of the most pressing issues and interesting solutions facing ski areas – began with each panelist sharing what keeps them up at night when it comes to their work at the head of the ski areas. Weather conditions, operational issues and, of course, personnel were the main concerns.
Big Bear, Pa., executive director Lori Phillips, the only female executive director on the five-person panel, said the mental health of staff was her biggest concern and she was always trying to think of ways to help the staff to be more resilient.
On the operations side, Ayden Wilber, vice president of operations from Greek Peak, NY, led the “Snowmaking Tech Updates” session. It featured a panel of snowmaking company representatives, who encouraged a room full of snowmaking and operational staff, many from small ski areas, to embrace technology, including automated snowmaking systems . This led to a colorful debate within the group – including among the representatives themselves – about the value of the human element in snowmaking operations and how technologies such as artificial intelligence could start to play a more important role.
Throughout the show, numerous discussions took place among operators about rising costs, particularly for ski lift infrastructure and snowmaking equipment. While the U.S. ski industry spent a record amount on capital improvements last year, and will likely exceed that figure this year, many small ski resorts are unable to invest in major projects.
Concerns about shorter, milder winters have been shared by many operators, leading to discussions about sustainability and efficiency being of utmost importance.
The next edition of SKI NY-SKIPA EXPO will take place from September 16 to 18, 2024. The location has yet to be determined.
