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Author: Steep Management

Bob’s Bits for September/October 2023

For many of you, the season starts in less than 45 days, and that means you are busy getting ready for the start of ski season. I wish you all good luck in your preseason endeavors. This newsletter is being published after two Northeast Trade shows, the NE Summit held in Portland, Maine, and the […]

Bob’s Bits for August 2023

Halfway through August and seeing ski areas post their opening days for the 2023/2024 season. Wow, where did summer go? From a Northern New England perspective, it has been one with significant water challenges, too much, making on-hill work and new construction tough. It is the weather, stupid, something you can’t control. Steep is happy […]

ARENA SlopeManagement

By Maximilian Mündler MSc, Product Manager Last week I listened to the latest episode of the Storm Skiing Podcast with Alterra Mountain Company CEO Jared Smith. In the opening sequence, the former CEO of Alterra Mountain Company, Rusty Gregory, talked about how ski resorts are currently going through a transformation process that is bringing them […]

MountainOffice Free Online Demo

Over the years, many people have asked me for an online demo of MountainOffice, but I could not provide such until recently.  As you may recall MountainOffice began serving ski areas in 1999 when online demos didn’t exist. Business was good, and improving the product was the main concern. Things like online demos were technically […]

SmartMountain – The Story

It is a busy Saturday in February, and the mountain is straining under several thousand skiers and riders. All lifts are turning, parking lots are overfull, lodges are jammed, and all looks good. Then a slide happens in the North Bowl, and there are reports of people in the slide, and Lift 6 goes down […]

The Advantages of Digital

So much of what you read about ski industry-related digital tools is directly transactional with the skiers, riders, mountain bikers, and others. And this is as it should be.  The multi-touch points the ski area has with its customers are many and making that easier for the customers is logical and sound business.  The ultimate […]

MountainOffice more Web-based

MountainOffice has just released its latest update, version 1.4.5, but that does not stop the developers from continuing to move MountainOffice forward. After the 2023 InterAlpin in Innsbruck, MountainOffice staff reviewed the input they accumulated from existing clients, potential clients, and even competitors to check where they were at and where the input was telling […]

Bob’s Bits for July 2023

Not sure what to think about the national weather – heat, tornados, and flooding. Thoughts and prayers go out to those suffering from the impacts of these violent acts of nature. After three years of La Nina’s influence on the tropics, conditions transitioned to El Niño in June 2023. The warmth shows up first in […]

Managers – Establishing Legitimacy

Another Harvard Business Review article I thought had meaningful relevancy to the ski industry.  I have taken the liberty to make the article more ski area manager meaningful. Front-line ski area managers are given the authority to lead by the rules of ski area governance, documented or implied via practices or verbal communication governance. They […]

Today’s Answer for Better Maintenance

If you want better maintenance for your ski lifts, check out the brief video in this post. It is easy and simple to use, MountainOffice. Yes, MountainOffice has been around for 23 years in the ski area maintenance arena. But that doesn’t mean that the program that was created in 1998 is the same that […]

Reach out to Steep Management, we are willing and happy to help you be better.

We can help you create a healthier ski resort by providing individualized solutions to your specific situation—no matter the size of your ski resort, or where you are in North America.
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The Advantage quadrant
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Steep Management has experience in ski area operations, particularly with the challenges of strategic daily routines and workflow. Developed For Ski Industry Professionals, by Ski Industry Professionals. Through our software products we can assist you in maintaining focus on those things which you and your team need to meet your goals and objectives.

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Data and Information

Database of record: Centralized and organized data assists in recognizing and evaluating patterns, resulting in more thoughtful planning and informed predictions.

Rapid, intuitive retrieval of current and historical data (accessible on or offsite) improves decision making at all levels of management.

Simple report generation.

Reduces risk and potential lawsuits.

Supports visualization of current and future mountain infrastructure (e.g. Gazex explosives locations, forest thinning, designing new runs, parking, etc.).

 

Please click on the images to learn more

Ski Patrol

  • Ease of real-time data entry (no more logbooks or spreadsheets!).
  • Use of common language allows for consistent communication and information sharing.
  • Increases safety by minimizing accidents through pattern analysis of incidents.
  • Accident Investigation and Risk Management.
  • Snow Safety (Ski Patrol) Training.

The web and mobile application suite will provide editing and data collection tools for mapping incidents (wrecks, accidents) of any kind.

Please click on the images to learn more.

Avalanche Module

 

Ability to document, track and analyze slope conditions with one tool.

Ease of real-time data entry (no more logbooks or spreadsheets!).

 Centralized and organized data assists in recognizing and evaluating patterns, resulting in more thoughtful planning and informed predictions.

Provides detailed current and historical weather patterns for visualizing/predicting.

Saves money through more precise use of explosives. 

Please click on the images to learn more.

Dispatch

The dispatch and risk module leverage Esri’s Survey 123 for ArcGIS, providing an intuitive survey-form, data-driven workflow for point feature collection and reporting. Data collected with SmartMountain Survey apps, which are available for both web browsers and native desktop and mobile apps for standard operating systems, are integrated with one or more SmartMountain modules, providing real-time or disconnected and later synchronized workflows for data collection and integration.

Each ski resort decided what they wish to display on the Dispatch Dashboard including on-hill incidents, walk-in incidents, on-hill refusals,  missing persons, work details for different departments, ski patrol rosters for the day, clearances, and sweeps.

Please click on the images to learn more.

OPERATIONS LOGBOOK

  • Logs for Lift Maintenance, Lift Operations, and Groomer inspections, as well as building inspections.
  • Logs can record data and signatures, can record stops, station assignments.
  • Logs are tracked by calendar.

INFORMATION

  • Management review made easy through the use of Excel – reviewing a major grouping of assets or a single component of an asset such as a drive or a gearbox.
  • All information related to a system(asset) is in one place whether it be a lift inspection report, a manual, oil analysis, a service bulletin, or a letter from a vendor.

DASHBOARD

  • Every user has a unique dashboard.
  • Dashboards can be customized to reflect a user’s specific needs.
  • Quick access to the status of work and cost .

SCHEDULE/ WORK ORDERS​

  • The schedule function in MountainOffice provides for detailed instructions by task, recording of data such as the temperature of a gearbox, and service bulletins.
  • All schedules can have a time or counter trigger.