CWSAA March 2025 Newsletter - Canada West Ski Areas Association
Presidents Message I have just returned from Everest Base Camp…at Troll Mountain. This annual event encourages participants to ski the height of Everest (approx 30,000 feet / 8,800 m) in a single day. Of course, Troll Mountain is an exclusively TBar domain that compounds the endurance challenge. The evening prior includes a feast and music. There is one more element that describes Everest base camp – and that is the camp itself. Many of the participants, including families, tent overnight at the base of the slopes. The fabric village is surrounded with prayer flags, and for the young kids, this is just another average day in the mountains. Perhaps none of this is surprising in a community where four-year-olds boot pack to find the goods, and 9-year-olds on tele skis rip the terrain park. While gazing at the sky and moonshadows cast by the almost full moon above Troll, I reflected on some recent conversations with industry champions such as Leah Muirhead and Tim Hendrickson. Both are advocates for an industry initiative presented to CWSAA members a few years ago called Ride Another Day through the Snow Angel Foundation. This initiative features a powerful narrative around slope safety. More will be shared on this at spring conference, and it represents one of the opportunities available to our industry to educate guests on safety and responsibilities on the slopes. This is an area of focus reinforced by the CWSAA Board of Directors in its approval of the organisation’s new strategic plan. The CWSAA 2025 – 2027 plan described further in this newsletter, includes supporting industry needs relating to tenure renewal. Ski resort tenures vary greatly across the west from private ownership, to operating on farms or national park leases. In BC, many ski areas were initiated under the then-called Commercial Alpine Ski Policy and many are coming up for renewal. For resort communities to seize new opportunities, in addition to infrastructure maintenance and capital requirements in the millions of dollars, long-term certainty is needed. This is essential for the viability of the industry, thus the direction for CWSAA focus. This topic and many others will be discussed next month as CWSAA looks forward to hosting the annual Spring Conference and Trade Show in Penticton. The trade show is sold out, and delegate registrations have paced ahead of last year. Both indicators suggest a great gathering of learning and networking. Further event details are being shared with delegates. The conference information below and online also highlights the amazing sponsors of the event, as well as the many contributing to the coordination and presentation of the valuable content. A sincere thank you to all these supporters. Cheers, Christopher Highlights of this month's newsletter... Spring Conference With the event just over a month away, here are some important updates: • Accommodations: Group bookings at Balcomo and Four Points are sold out. If you have extra rooms reserved, please cancel them as soon as possible to allow others to book. There are many other hotels available nearby. • Golf Tournament: The tournament is nearly sold out. If you haven’t added golf to your registration and plan to attend, please do so soon. • Mentorship Session: Following last spring’s mentorship lunch, the session returns on April 29. Read more to learn how to participate as a mentor or mentee in the newsletter. • Trade Show: Booths are now sold out, with 56 exhibitors confirmed for this year’s event. • Registration Rates: Prices will increase on March 28, so please register soon to secure your spot. • Awards Dinner & Casino Night: This year, the awards dinner will be followed by a casino night in the conference centre. The awards night will be themed Black & White. Small Areas Silent Auction Each spring, the CWSAA Spring Conference Silent Auction raises funds for Small Areas Assistance Fund. The committee is currently seeking items for the auction as well as volunteers to help with the auction. AI Essentials Webinar AI Essentials: Getting Started with Artificial Intelligence April 3: 11am - 1pm pacific Presenter: Rob Cupello, Chief Strategy Officer Csek Creative This webinar is intended as an introduction or refresher on AI. At the Spring Conference Rob will be hosting a workshop on Strategic use of AI, and participating in the April 3 webinar will help prepare attendees for the workshop. The webinar is free for CWSAA members and all staff members are welcome to attend, regardless if they are attending the Spring Conference. CWSAA 2025-27 Strategic Plan Learn more about the core pillars of the organization that were approved by the CWSAA Board of Directors. Selkirk College SROAM Diploma It's not too late to register for the 2-year Diploma program. Learn More about Hannah Roth's experience at SROAM. OHS Learn about two recent cases from outside of the ski industry that offer useful takeaways: securing lockers and traffic control plans. SAM Summer Ops Camp The SAM event will be held in Whistler Sept 2-4, 2025. CWSAA's Bike Park Forum will follow on Sept 4 & 5. Welcome New CWSAA Members Over the past year CWSAA has welcomed 23 new members as well as three returning members. Learn more about these members. Places and Faces Passing of Alois Kunc Troll Mountain Spring Lake Ski Hill Andy Cohen TIABC Meeting with the Premier of BC Leitner Poma |
|
ropeways.net | Home | Economy | 2025-03-26
Back
Add Photos
PrintGoogle Adsense