If you’ve ever tried to learn to ski, you pretty much know the drill. You go to a ski resort, pay to take a lesson, and then, after about two tiresome hours of learning new skills and drills (and falling down plenty of times) you s-l-o-w-l-y make your way down a beginner “bunny slope.” Chances are the experience was so frustrating and unpleasant that you don’t make a return trip to that or any other ski resort, ever — never mind, deal with the nuances of buying skis and bindings.
According to the National Ski Areas Association (nsaa.org), 83 percent of people who try to ski don’t return. They find the process scary, frustrating, painful and cold, when all they wanted to do was zip down a beginner slope, and enjoy some new-found entertainment and excitement.
What’s missing? Fun.
Well, many ski resorts around the country have found a way to make skiing Fun — with a capital F — so that newbies on the slopes are practically guaranteed to return and hopefully, become lifelong skiers and customers.
Many ski resorts have adopted “terrain-based learning.” (Powder Ridge was closed in 2005 and had a soft opening last year, making this season, which starts on Nov. 28, its first full season since.)
Here’s how it works. Instead of the traditional way of sending a novice down the slopes, when they don’t feel confident enough to turn, stop and go, terrain-based learning uses technology to create specially carved shapes in the snow. These shapes replicate what you would find on the slopes —– but in a controlled environment — so that participants actually feel the sensation of skiing — without having to know how to turn or stop. It promotes gliding along, and feeling the sensation of skiing — and not fear —- as you learn in the process. “Instead of going down a big long hill, terrain-based learning helps people get moving quicker. There are no drills. You literally learn by moving,” says Joe Hession, the CEO of Snow Operating in Colorado, which has pioneered the technology and signed up Powder Ridge. Four years ago two resorts in the country used this technology, but this year 22 resorts nationwide have instituted it.
The first stop on the mini slope is a flat area, where you can learn balance and range of motion, if it’s your first time on skis. Next is a mini-pipe or trough. “You get the sensation of skiing without having to know how to turn or stop,” says Hession. “You start to feel confident.” The way that the terrain is set up, you automatically come to a halt. Third is gentle, rolling terrain on a low-grade hill, which also automatically stops you at the right time, as there’s nowhere else to go. At this point, you will have mastered proper body position, so you can move to the area for making banked turns, which has traditionally inspired fear and anxiety in beginners. “The terrain makes your turns for you,” says Hession. Last is the perfect slope, which you can practice over and over again until you’re practically a professional.
The result? At the end of about one or two hours of skiing on this special terrain —– depending on your skill and athletic ability — you’re ready — and confident enough to — gulp — use the chairlift. But by this time you’ve had fun, you probably haven’t fallen, and have developed the confidence to feel that you’re capable of going down a beginner slope.
At Vermont’s Killington, this is the first year that the ski resort is offering terrain-based learning, and “It will be the largest terrain-based learning system in the United States,” says Michael Joseph, communications manager. “Other resorts have used it with great success, and we watched that,” he says. The goal, Joseph says, “is to bring people of all ages into the sport, to have fun from Day One…it will alleviate frustration and people will have fun sooner.”
Skis? FREE. Whee-ee!
The ski industry has also instituted other advancements to try to make lessons rewarding.
“Resorts are linking their purchasing process with a learning process,” says Greg Ditrinco, editor of Ski Magazine based in Boulder, Colo. For example, if you purchase, say, a four-day, $250 “Learn To Ski” program, after the last lesson, you’re given a free, new pair of skis and bindings, or a brand new snowboard, all your own, reflecting hundreds of dollars in savings.
“It’s a smart move for the industry and for beginners,” says Ditrinco. “It’s breaks down the barriers.”
Ditrinco says that Killington has the lead in this respect, along with Cranmore in North Conway, N.H., and Bromley ski resort also in Vermont, and that the concept successfully creates a high retention rate among new skiers.
Last year, Killington launched its “Discovery” program: $249 for four lessons after which novices received a free pair of Elan skis and bindings. They sold 200 such packages in 2013. “Ninety-seven percent of the folks who signed up for the four lessons completed them and received their free skis,” says Joseph, the marketing manager. This year Killington has upped the price to $299, still offering free Elan skis and bindings to adults 18 years and older, but now the program also includes free Burton snowboards and bindings. Joseph says that the barriers to entry in the ski world are fear of failure and lack of equipment, but that the Discovery program is designed to remedy that, and to offer novices the skills and the proper equipment.
At Bromley Mountain Ski Resort, there’s a new “Super Duper Ski Package” for kids ages 5-14 that offers just about everything but the kitchen sink.
When parents spend $599 on a package of six ski lessons for their kids, right afterwards, the newbies receive a free pair of Elan skis and bindings that they can use right away on the slopes, in the “Kidsrule” mountain camps program. When all is said and done, afterwards, kids also receive a season’s pass to the mountain for the rest of the season. It’s a huge financial incentive to attract new skiers — and may eventually make these kids (and their parents and siblings) season-pass-buyers for life.
“Equipment for kids tends to be expensive, and so we take it out as a financial barrier,” says Michael van Eyck, assistant general manager and marketing director at Bromley. “We’re trying to cultivate lifelong skiers…It’s a great way for us to cultivate business and loyalty.”
This year, Cranmore in North Conway, N.H., is also offering a similar package to attract newbies. Beginners can pay $299 to receive three lessons, and after that, get a free pair of Rossignol Experience 74 skis and bindings, along with discounts on ski boots at the ski shop. “We’ll see how it goes,” says Rebecca Deschenes, marketing manager. “We only have 100 packages available.”
College Kids Get Their 4.0
Nowadays, students also can be a Big Man or Big Woman on campus, and on the slopes.
Ditrinco says that there’s also another industry-wide trend that is taking the ski world by storm. “The season pass has blown up, and it’s no longer ‘one size fits all,'” says Ditrinco.
He says that many ski resorts now sell ski passes for the weekend, for mid-week, for half-days, and also to attract senior citizens and kids.
Another major demographic many resorts now cater to is college students, as the ski industry acknowledges and recognizes that college kids are plagued with heavy student-loan debt and a shrinking job market, lessening their ability to afford expensive season ski passes. Ditrinco says that often ski resorts offer discounts of up to 50 percent off the season pass to college students, and that “There can be 10-15 variations of pricing at the bigger resorts.” He adds, “Many resorts are extending the youth pass to kids who are college-aged, whereas the youth pass typically only applied to kids up to age 18.”
The college discount program is also alive and well. Powder Ridge is offering 20 percent discounts to college students on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
At Ski Butternut in Great Barrington, Mass., Matt Sawyer, director of marketing, says that the resort’s college program offers a $20 online coupon off the price of a lift ticket, good any weekend and most holidays of the season.
Add it all up, and today’s downhillers will have a lot more to talk about during the apres ski in the lodge. It bodes well for all the Bode Miller wannabees out there.
