The recent ski lift incident in Gudauri, Georgia has certainly gotten plenty of air time and I am sure you have seen various posts about this unfortunate incident. It is remarkable that the injuries that did occur were not more serious and that there were no fatalities. For those requiring a refresher on what happen, […]
Snow safety for many of us in the ski area business is something we don’t think about too much while others spend a huge amount of time giving thought and effort to snow safety. This subject hit close to home for me recently as there was a slide in the Smugglers Notch area injuring 6 soldiers […]
Just read a great article in Forbes that was about retirement but brought home a couple of different perspectives for me, How One Woman Landed Her Dream Second Act Job (Only page 1 is relevant to this discussion) They were: Kudos to Deer Valley for sending someone who actually does the grooming out on the hill […]
Over the past years writing the Steep newsletter, I have refrained from really expressing any points of view on the impact of climate change on the ski industry. Partly that is due to being told back in 2010 by some of the leaders in the industry after I and a colleague had done research on the potential […]
Over time I have advocated for training for lift maintenance personnel, both veterans, and apprentices. It is very encouraging to see the efforts of a committee put together by the NSAA to advocate for training. The intent of this committee is to initially put together a resource guide that can provide guidance to individuals and […]
lift maintenance
Hate to share another article with you but I do feel this one is very worthy of sharing. I hope you will see the analogy of the Titanic with workings of the ski industry; THE TOOLS OF SYSTEMS THINKING. There are many good points made in this piece. I especially welcome the comments on challenging […]
Management
It’s mid-December and winter has been good and bad with fitful starts in various places, no start in others and in some a robust beginning. The season is young and there is still plenty to look forward to. At Steep Management we are looking forward to hopefully having the opportunity to speak with you either […]
As the bullwheels begin to turn throughout North America, lift operators are being hired and brought on board to load lifts and hopefully have a great season of skiing and riding. The operating of lifts, albeit at times a boring duty is one of the most important responsibilities within a ski area. Often, the position […]
I have often spoken about healthy organizations and the importance of trust in those organizations with a healthy culture. It is easy to say trust is important but how do we build trust? And, how do we come to trust others? So I did a bit of research to see if there are some relevant […]
Imagine a ski area with unreliable lifts. Not sure the area would be viable for long if at all. Customers expect reliable and safe lifts. Securing insurance might be a challenge and can’t imagine an owner taking the risk of running a ski area without insurance. The lack of reliability stems from poor maintenance. Poor […]
