PSIA-AASI

6.2.2010

SnowPro Snowbiz Update: This Season Isn’t Over + SKI News & Helmet Use

As plenty of PSIA-AASI Snow Pros like PSIA Alpine Team Captain Mike Rogan prepare to jet down to South America, Australia or New Zealand for the “second season,” it’s worth noting that North America hasn’t quite finished with its own ski season just yet.

Here we are heading into June, and several ski areas are still turning the lifts. According to Scotland-based Snow Hunter Patrick Thorne of http://www.skiinfo.co.uk, “There are four areas still open in the US, all on the Western side of the country.  Mammoth Mountain in California has a 7.5 – 12 foot (2.3 – 3.6m) base and reports a fresh dusting of snow in the past few days. The near-year-round Timberline ski area on Mt Hood in Oregon has a 148 inch (4.5m) base.  Arapahoe Basin in Colorado is looking good with about half of its lifts and terrain open with a 45 inch (112cm) base and yet another three inches (7cm) of new snow in the past few days.”

Add to that list Snowbird, which announced that a recent late May storm put the area over the 600-inch mark. The new scheduled closing date is June 20th.

Changes at SKI, Skiing

Boulder, Colo. - SKI and Skiing Magazine parent Bonnier Corp. announced that it is moving five of its luxury and lifestyle brands under a new publishing unit in an effort to leverage the products collectively to marketers. The new group will include Saveur, Ski, Skiing, Snow and Garden Design.

Saveur publisher Merri Lee Kingsly will lead the new group as vice president of publishing. There is no word yet on any additional editorial changes, though it has been reported that former publisher Mike Federle and Skiing Editor Jake Bogoch have already moved on.
 
According to a release from Bonnier, “Through the first half, Saveur saw advertising pages jump 22.6 percent compared to the same period in 2009, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures. Ski, however, saw pages fall 16.8 percent, and Skiing’s pages tumbled 41 percent.”

The new unit will also include Warren Miller Entertainment and NASTAR.

NSAA Says Helmet Use Jumps
 
Lakewood, Colo. - According to preliminary findings of the 2009/10 NSAA National Demographic Study, 57 percent of skiers and snowboarders wear helmets while enjoying the slopes at U.S. ski areas.

Helmet usage among those interviewed nationwide increased 19 percent over the 2008/09 season, when 48 percent of those interviewed were wearing helmets. In comparison, only 25 percent of skiers and snowboarders wore helmets during the 2002/03 season. The annual Demographic Study is compiled from more than 130,000 interviews of skiers and snowboarders nationwide. The study also showed that:
 
* 87 percent of children 9 years old or younger wear ski/snowboard helmets;
* 75 percent of children between 10 and 14 wear ski/snowboard helmets;
* 70 percent of adults over the age of 65 wear ski/snowboard helmets;
* Skiers and snowboarders aged 18 to 24 have traditionally represented the lowest percentage of helmet use among all age groups. This year, 43 percent of all 18 to 24 year olds interviewed wore helmets, representing a 139 percent increase in usage for this age group since the 2002/03 season, when only 18 percent wore helmets. FOMO, check out http://www.nsaa.org.

-30-