PSIA-AASI

10.18.2011

Hold Onto Your Helmets—Winter is Off to a Fast Start

After a 10-month-long ski season that finally came to a close on July 4th, 2011, Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin fired up the chairlifts again on October 13th, marking an off-season that lasted just a little more than three months. Loveland Ski Area, A-Basin’s constant competitor in the race to be first to open each fall, followed suit a day later, offering three green runs for the diehards to hit.

But even those two areas were still playing catch up, as Colorado’s Wolf Creek Ski Area and Nevada’s Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort had already opened a week earlier. Wolf Creek’s decision to open after a fall storm delivered more than three feet of fresh snow drew national media interest, and can only help spur early season snowsports equipment and apparel sales, which, according to all reports, have already been brisk.

It’s all good news for an economic-trend-busting industry still basking in the record results of last season, when snowsports retail sales hit an all-time high of $3.3 billion and skier/rider visits rode to a new peak of 60.54 million.

With a second straight La Niña weather phenomena in the forecast this winter—and apparently already bringing early snowy returns—there are hopes for a repeat performance of last season just about everywhere but the Rocky Mountain Southwest. As ski areas from Colorado to California, and Utah to Washington hit record snowfalls last year, New Mexico made do with a less-than -average result. Powder turns were reported from the early snow on top of Santa Fe Ski Basin on October 8th, however, and every storm counts.

For ski and snowboard instructors especially, though, the equipment forecast is for plenty of new gear. That’s because those record sales and tighter inventory controls on the part of ski and snowboard manufacturers and retailers alike has pretty much eliminated the overstock equipment market. This means that the folks who are buying, are buying new technology. So you can expect to see plenty of rocker in the lesson lineups, especially if the snow keeps coming. It also means you might want to get on the stick if you’re looking to upgrade your own set-up.

As for the latest innovations and insight into what’s happening in the world of instruction, the brand-new Fall 2011 copy of 32 Degrees should have just arrived in your mailbox, with stories on how to choose a rockered snowboard, teaching kids on skinny skis, and adding freestyle to your all-mountain mix.

Also, PSIA-AASI Team Training kicks off in just a little more than a week, and we will post updates from the event.

Time to get your turn on. Another new winter is already out of the gates!

— Peter Kray