I’d say from East of the Mississippi, we finally received a reasonable amount of snow. Granted, those in the Mid Atlantic got some earlier, but I’d have to say this is one of the worst natural snow years I have seen. Climate Change? Many of you have seen too much snow and now a bit of a dry spell to the West. All have suffered due to COVID. Staffing and the COVID spread amongst staff have created havoc. Some have managed better than others—more on this in an article below.

Have we seen the breaking point of consolidation and replacing people with technology? As one who advocates for using technology, I want to be clear I only do so as a tool to be used by boots on the ground to raise their level of proficiency and expertise. I suspect that too much emphasis has been placed on apps doing what good managers previously did. The apps may have the potential, but they will never replace good people.

Social media focused on long lift lines, lack of service, and terrain should not be taken lightly. With that much smoke, there is some fire for sure.  As we all know, there are very valid reasons for the situation that so many ski areas were in during the holidays and continue to be in. Leadership and a healthy culture seem to be lacking in some instances if you accept half the social media buzz.

As many of you know, Steep Management is a partnership between me and SEC G mbh, an Austrian company that developed MountainOffice.  SEC also publishes Ropeways.net, a great online newspaper to keep you up to date on all the latest technology and business news in the ski industry globally. I have decided to depend on Ropeways.net to keep you current both through their monthly newsletter; please subscribe and like their Facebook page. The Steep newsletter will focus more on sharing ideas on mountain operations management and, of course, the use of the best tool in the mechanics toolbox, MountainOffice.