Is it me, or is the cadence of the ski season accelerating? Recent calls around the west suggest it is. There does not appear to be just one specific reason for the pace, and all welcome the surge of consumer demand for outdoor activity and especially value first time participation. But operators are dealing with more than ever and collectively cite increased intensity.
While ski areas are executing operationally, it is exciting to highlight some of the successes within our snowsports eco-system. Mark McMorris’s X Games gold, and Laurence St-Germain and Jack Crawford wins at the World Championships are worthy of high praise. Congratulations to the athletes and also the coaches, PTSO’s, parents and support systems around them. This includes the local ski clubs and local areas that support competition and the CWSAA Competitor Pass.
In addition to supporting athletes, the Competitor Pass is also the primary funding mechanism of CWSAA. Many people are surprised to learn that CWSAA is self-funded by its members and programs and does not operate on grants. It does mean that CWSAA resources must match the demands of the organisation. Increased safety and risk education, advocacy work on files ranging from land tenures to tax have been prioritised by the Association’s Board of Directors. To fulfill these objectives the Association has also approved an increase in dues for this year. See memo for details.
The organisation prides itself in being fluid, responsive, and scalable and has not increased fees since 2015. That said, over the last eight years, new challenges now face industry. The recent distribution of the CWSAA Responsible Stewardship playbook and took kit is an example of assisting industry with practical solutions. It also illustrates that elevating our industry and advancing the interests of the ski areas in a quickly evolving social and political landscape takes effort, expertise and resources.
April’s spring conference in Whistler provides industry with opportunity to learn and action our future. Innumerable industry volunteers have put significant time into creating a robust schedule of topics for delegates. In addition to thanking these contributors, we are constantly appreciative of their selfless giving and leadership that guides this industry and embodies The Canada West Way.
Cheers
– Christopher Nicolson
CWSAA Spring Conference & Trade Show
April 25-27, 2023
Whistler Conference Centre
Early Bird Pricing Ends soon!
Early Bird Full Conference Registration Rate is $575 until February 25.
The Draft Agenda is now posted on the Conference website.
Trade Show Booths Sold Out!
The excitement for the 2023 Spring Conference and Trade Show has been incredible. All 58 booths for the Trade Show are now sold out, and a waitlist has been formed. Any members who are still interested in a Trade Show booth, should contact Dawn Sleiman at office@cwsaa.org to request to be added to the waitlist. We would like to thank the CWSAA membership for the extraordinary support for this year's conference.
We would also like to thank the Conference Sponsors. As of February 21, 37 CWSAA members have committed to sponsorship. View all the sponsors
HERE.Early Bird Deadline Nears
- February 25 is the last day to receive Early Bird conference pricing. Save $50 on Full Conference Package!
- The conference will take place over 3 full days (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday) plus a pre-conference social on Monday.
- The draft agenda has now been published on our website HERE which includes over 45 sessions.
Accommodations
- Limited options remain. Book now, they will sell out soon.
- If you have booked a room that you no longer require, please consider cancelling the reservation, so others can reserve.
- Best Value - A 2-bedroom unit at the Delta for $299 plus taxes -- for 2 staff sharing this is unit is just $150 per person a night, or 3 staff only $100 per person per night. These suites are similar to condos with 2 separate bedrooms and 2 washrooms, with a living room (and sofabed) and full kitchen
- Learn more & book HERE.
Safety on the Slopes
Safety is the leading priority for our industry and communication with staff and guests is constant. Below are tools and examples ski areas can use:
Guest Safety
Ski Areas have been actively communicating with guests really great information about various safety topics. Some recent examples:
Big White
Alpine Responsibility Code
The team has posted some "Reels" on social media (click images below to view) featuring ski patrollers discussing important Safety Topics and features on their website.
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Fernie Alpine Resort
Avalanche Forecaster Reports
The Ski Patrol team post regular educational Reels educating guests on current conditions, pre-cautions such as cornices and tree wells, as well as how the snow safety team conducts their important safety procedures.
Check out the Fernie Reels on Instagram HERE.
SkiSafety.ca
The industry safety website has a number of great tools developed nationally to support safety messaging for ski areas.
On this website you will find tools such as:
- Gravity video series from the Canadian Ski Council
- Lift Safety Posters and Information
- CWSAA info the Alpine Responsibility Code & Exclusion of Liability
Employee Safety
Did you know that there are a number of tools available to help facilitate Safety Talk meetings. There are topics for many different departments and roles at Ski Areas, such as Snow Sports, Lift Operations, slips/trips/falls, shovelings and much more. These tools were made possible through go2HR, and can be found HERE on the go2HR ski area portal.
Selkirk College Ski Area Courses...Not too late to join the Winter Programs!
Ski areas are reminded of the following important courses available online through Selkirk College.
Passenger Ropeways Mechanics: The Lift 151, Lift 152 and Lift 153 are all online self-directed programs. The Winter intake for Lift 151, 152 & 153 is now underway, but it is not to late start. The winter courses run until April 17, 2023. Learn More & Register HERE
!! Did you know that Small Ski Areas can enroll in these courses at 50% discounted rate. There are limited discounted spots each semester, and a few spots remain for the Winter Semester.
Train the Trainer - LIFT 150: Ski Lift Operations Train-the-Trainer is designed to help ski lift supervisors or managers, develop a comprehensive program for training ski lift operators. This program is an online self-directed program, and has a continuous intake until March 1. Participants can start anytime and have 3 weeks to complete the content, and the exam. More information can be found HERE.
Learn More about what the SROAM students have been up to this year in their monthly newsletter: Sroam February 2023 Newsletter
Alert: Lift Ticket Scams
Some CWSAA ski area members have reported new or increasing instances of fraudulent transactions involving online lift ticket purchases.
Many of these schemes involve a suspected fraudster selling discounted lift tickets through online marketplaces such as Kijiji, WeChat and Facebook Marketplace. Some of these scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated and guests may arrive at a ski resort thinking they have a valid lift ticket.
Ski areas may wish to communicate with consumers that they should only purchase online lift tickets directly from the resort's website or their authorized ticket retailer. Purchasing lift tickets from online marketplaces like Kijiji may seem attractive (too good to be true) but has a high probability of being fraudulent.
Recruitment
A number of opportunities related to recruitment of foreign workers are noted below.
Virtual Learning Series for Employers
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will be offering a virtual learning series for employers. These virtual information sessions are free and are held by an IRCC outreach officer. This 8-week series, features new topics each week to help employers learn more about Canada’s economic immigration programs. Learn More & Register for these sessions HERE. The next 2 sessions are:
- Recruiting of global talent: March 1, 2023 12pm EST
- Work permits – Temporary Foreign Worker Program: March 8, 2023 12pm EST
BC Francophone Society Workshops
La Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique (SDECB) is currently working on a project exclusively directed towards tourism & hospitality businesses in BC so that they can hire quickly and more efficiently talented employees.
Two free in-person sessions will be delivered in different areas of the province to help these businesses with their recruitment. These seminars are best suited for business owners, team managers and HR teams. Here are the registration links and info for the seminars:
Responsible Stewardship Workshop Series
In case you missed it...
In the Fall, a playbook was introduced to help members integrate responsible stewardship practices and become more sustainable. CWSAA members will be able to use the tools to create a quantifiable and measurable action plan that aligns with the responsible use and protection of natural environments.
This Winter, a workshop series has been developed. Participants will learn about sustainability, develop a sustainability action plan with goals and targets, and learn how to share a sustainability story with credibility.
During this series of three online workshops, participants will learn about sustainability, develop a sustainability action plan with goals and targets, and learn how to share a sustainability story with credibility.
There is no cost for CWSAA members to participate! Advance registration is required.
Register for the Workshops Now!
Workshop 1: Building a common language & measuring your baseline
This workshop was held on February 1. Members can login to view a recording of the workshop and download the slides HERE.
It's not too late to join the next 2 workshops, which build on the learnings from the first Workshop - you can catch up by watching the recording of Workshop 1.
Workshop 2: Creating your sustainability vision, goals and action plan
March 8: 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm Pacific Time
More Info HERE
Workshop 3: Action planning continued + telling your sustainability story
March 15: 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm Pacific Time
More Info HERE
Register Now!
Advance registration is required. Note, a CWSAA website login is required to access the registration pages.
REGISTER HERE
Destination BC - Corporate Strategy 2023-25
The intention of the DBC 2023-2025 corporate strategy is to:
- Reduce seasonality and regional disparity by growing the tourism economy across all regions of BC and in all seasons;
- Enable more tourism organizations and businesses to access technologies, marketing channels, planning tools, data, insights, and training that are otherwise only available to large businesses and organizations;
- Take action to continue to grow a sustainable, authentic Indigenous cultural tourism industry in BC.
Learn More HERE
CWSAA Members are invited to post their jobs on the CWSAA Job Board.
CWSAA Partners
CWSAA Driving Force at Whistler Blackcomb, January 2023
CWSAA Driving Force at Whistler Blackcomb, January 2023
EASY RESERVATIONS: www.drivingforce.ca
CONTACT: 780-483-9559 or edmgdsreservations@drivingforce.ca
Staff Offer from Kal Tire: Download the Coupon
Thanks to the partnership with Kal Tire, all ski area staff and associate members of CWSAA are eligible to receive $100 off at Kal Tire. Please feel free to circulate this offer with your staff.
To redeem, click on the image to the left, and print the voucher or present on your mobile device in-store at Kal Tire.
Places & Faces
Merv Hilland recently received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. The medal honours “outstanding service” for his work at Eastlink Park and the Rotary Club.
Through his participation in the Rotary Club, Merv began his involvement in 2015 with Eastlink Park while it was still in the planning stages. That group became the Whitecourt Woodlands Winter Recreational Park Society, of which Hilland is currently board chairperson. CWSAA would like to extend it's appreciation to Merv for all his support of a small ski area as a volunteer.
Colleagues from Quebec’s Mt. Bromont were recently benchmarking in the west. SilverStar’s General Manager Herwig Demschar toured the group joined by ASSQ, CSC, and CWSAA.
CWSAA's Dawn Sleiman visited CWSAA Board Chair Jason Paterson at Marmot Basin. Aside from the hyper-detailed planning of spring conference in 2023, CWSAA is already working to secure 2024 and 2025 conference venues.
Ski Area Operator Association desk jockeys Yves Juneau (ASSQ) and Christopher Nicolson (CWSAA) were found bumping it up down the moguls of SilverStar’s Headwalls.
Angie (yellow toque) and Mike Smith of Mission Ridge attended the X Games in Aspen with the McMorris family to watch Mark McMorris (who grew up boarding at Mission Ridge) become the most winning X Games athlete of all times, receiving his 22nd X Games medal, 11th Gold. At the end of the footage (58 minutes) the Smith’s can be seen congratulation the McMorris family and Mark acknowledges his roots: “Something I never thought would ever come to me as a kid from Saskatchewan.”
Vista Ridge (Fort McMurray, AB) hosted alpine skiing and snowboarding events for the 2023 Arctic Winter Games earlier this month. The Vista Ridge team worked hard in partnership with Align terrain & events to build rail jam, slopestyle, banked slalom and a boarder cross courses.