“You want a letter of what?”
A ski area was recently asked for a letter of invitation by a competitive ski club to train in its terrain park. This created a question as to why a specific letter of invitation was required. CWSAA consulted industry oracle David Pym of the Canadian Snowsports Association to find out why. David explained CSA instructs all clubs (eg: Freestyle and all others) to contact in advance any mountain they may be visiting (other than their normal training mountain). This contact is done as a courtesy so clubs do not show up unbeknownst to the ski area. It provides an opportunity for the ski area to communicate any guidelines to the club such as local rules or preferred training locations and times. The advance notice tries to eliminate scenarios where a club surprises a ski area by setting up gates, has people (coaches) standing around on the slopes, or perhaps has groups of athletes in a park trying specific drills. The letter of invitation does not have to be a formal document. It can simply be a return email from the ski area acknowledging the club’s intent.
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Increased insurance claims in 2016
Insurance Bureau of Canada issued a release stating that severe weather and natural disasters in 2016 were responsible for insured damage that topped $4.9 billion – smashing the previous annual record of $3.2 billion set in 2013. It says “the record damage reported in 2016 is part of an upward trend that shows no signs of stopping.” Click here to read more.
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World’s Largest Lesson
 On Friday January 6, Ski Areas from across North America united to set a Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Ski & Snowboard Lesson. Results of the World’s Largest Lesson attempt are still being tabulated and will be available in the coming weeks. There were 148 participating Ski Areas in North America, which included 17 in Western Canada. In Canada alone, it is estimated that 850 first time skiers or snowboarders participated. Read the CSC News Release.
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Digital Advertising
CWSAA is pleased to introduce a new valuable addition for associate members in digital communications. Associate Members will be able to run monthly ads in the newsletter section of our website. More details will be sent out this week to Associate Members.
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The Canada West what?
 In a recent conversation with Doug Forseth, he explained that how we conduct ourselves and our business defines #TheCanadaWestWay. The phrase stuck... read more.
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Saskatchewan Ski Area Operators Association
TechnoAlpin did a snowmaking demo at the Saskatchewan Ski Area Operators Association meeting on January 9th at Mission Ridge Winter Park. Around 20 people attended in -20C temps. Big Thanks from Dave at TechnoAlpin to the Mission Ridge staff for providing some excellent hospitality.
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Places and Faces
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Willie Stanley. He recently passed on the eve of his 89th birthday. Lily Peters says that he served as President of the Whispering Pines Ski Hill volunteer board for 20 years.
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Jamie Tattersfield hates the limelight and thought retirement would remove chance of publicity. Unfortunately for him he is too popular. Sorry Jamie.
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Hometown girl, Meryeta O'Dine, was home for the holidays and trained at Tabor Mountain in preparation for the ski area’s NorAm SkiCross on January 13 & 14.
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A great friend of CWSAA, Don Weixl, shot this photo of the late Alan Thicke with Mike Duggan on a ski adventure to SilverStar in 1982. Photo courtesy of www.donweixl.com
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Big White: They are known as the rookie choir. It's been a tradition for the last 13 years. All of Big White's new Ski & Board School staff sing at the Christmas Eve service held at the Village Centre Mall. A parade through the village follows the service. All departments participate in a torchlight parade down the mountain and the evening ends with a huge fireworks show!
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Apex: CWSAA’s Dawn Sleiman gets into the ski area Christmas spirit by spending December 27th helping the rental shop team at Apex Resort. Through the summer and fall meetings, the CWSAA team has been keen to go behind the scenes to tour cat shops, lift terminals, and water & sewer infrastructure. Understanding the ski areas operations helps the association better serve its members.
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Mount Cain: CWSAA was recently in touch with Wendy Knudson, Treasurer, at Mount Cain. With a huge amount of volunteer effort, they were able to put in staff accommodation two years ago. The staff housing has 26 beds and two kitchens. Lewitt Construction donated their units from a local run-of-river project. They were also able to access a matching community grant.
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Reminders
- February 22 - 24, 2017- Tourism Industry Association of BC Conference, Victoria, BC
- March 26 - March 31, 2017 - 2017 CADS Ski & Snowboard Festival, Sun Peaks, BC
- March 30 - April 2, 2017 - CSP Leadership Conference 2017, Big White, BC
- April 25 - 27, 2017 - CWSAA Spring Conference & Trade Show, Lake Louise, AB
- May 5 - 8, 2017 - NSAA, National Convention & Trade Show, Scottsdale, Arizona
- October 30, 2017- SSAOA Fall meeting, Asessippi, Manitoba
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