Free Skiing for Those Who Earn It
By Burt Mills, General Manager and COO, Moonlight Basin, MT

To build interest in downhill skiing and riding, we really have to do more than just advertise and tell our story in the media. We have to dig deep, find people who aren’t skiing, shake them out of their typical patterns and get them on a mountain so they can experience it.

That’s why we developed the Moonlight Basin Aspirations Reward Team (M-BAR-T). M-BAR-T enables junior high and high school students to earn free skiing by getting good grades.

Students who achieve a grade point average of 3.0 or higher in 6th through 12th grades get a free season’s pass (and free rentals, through Lone Mountain Sports). We also give them a pin to honor their achievement. Students who have less than a 3.0 average but show at least a .2 improvement in GPA quarter-over-quarter receive free skiing and rentals for that grade period, and for every period in which they continue to show improvement, until they reach and maintain a 3.0.

We’ve found this to be a great way to get kids thinking about the mountains and to keep them coming back year after year. At the same time, we’re teaching kids that they truly have to “earn their turns.” I can’t think of a better way to build our future customer base.

Last year, for our first offering of the program, it was available in two counties and to about 12,000 students. Of these, about 500 kids came for at least a day. About half of them had never considered skiing or riding, either because they didn’t have the time or money. A sizeable number visited two or three times, and a few skied 10 to 12 days.

This year, we’re offering M-BAR-T to 20,000 students in five southwestern Montana counties. We expect to host about 2,500 students—and now that we have a ski school, we can give the first-timers a proper introduction to the sport. We’ll charge $10 for the lesson.

We already have some great success stories. One kid from a fairly well-to-do family wanted to earn a free pass—he didn’t need to, but he set that as a goal. He just missed the 3.0 GPA, but he was determined to earn the pass. He studied hard and accomplished his goal. That’s exactly what we want to do: give kids a goal. We want to be their inspiration.

Almost any area can adapt this idea to their local market—adding blackout dates and restricting it to off-peak times, if needed. This type of program affords that sort of flexibility.

The lesson for the industry is that all of us can find ways to inspire the next generation of skiers and snowboarders. The question is: How deep are you willing to dig to do it?


Riding the Olympic Wave
By Billy Kidd, Director of Skiing, Steamboat and Olympic and World Championships medalist

When the Olympics arrive next month, America has a real chance to win more medals than any other nation. And right in the middle of the action is one of the most fascinating sports personalities of the Games, Bode Miller. It’s sure to bring a great deal of good publicity to our sport, and that’s exciting.

Bode is a human-interest story that goes beyond the sport of skiing. Not only is he the best skier in the world, he’s a sportsman who competes for the love of the sport. His motivation is not money or fame, he just wants to go out and ski race and see how good he can be. That’s rare among elite athletes. Bode brings attention to why we all like our sport so much—for the joy of participation. That’s why, barring injury, the media will probably make Bode the figure who personifies the Olympics.

Ingemar Stenmark was the same way. He didn’t care if he became famous. I had the feeling that Stenmark, and now Bode, would be just as happy going for the gold medal if there was no one out there besides the timers. Indeed, it wouldn’t bother Bode if there were no media there at all.

That contrasts with so many professional athletes whose motivation is often fame and money. We can all name ballplayers who are unhappy with their teams or won’t play because they are only paid a few million dollars a year instead of many millions. These players feed on media attention.

Bode’s different. He has proven he’s the fastest skier in the world. And he’s proven himself in every arena—the Olympics, World Championships, and the World Cup—in single events and year-long campaigns. Beyond that, he’s a captivating personality: outspoken, unafraid to say what he thinks. He’s not a manufactured “reality” star or an egotist.

As a result, Bode fascinates the mass media. It’s likely that he’ll make headlines in national magazines and newspapers and on TV. Media that don’t focus on skiing, or even sports, recognize the power of his story.

Bode’s example can inspire parents to get their kids involved in our sports. Parents are worried about drugs, violence in video games, and obesity. Skiing and snowboarding can be an ideal example of how to raise kids in a healthy environment—one where families can do something together all day and talk about their common experience at night, and build memories that last.

And if Bode doesn’t appeal to you, there are several other good examples to choose from, like Daron Rahlves, with whom Bode often trades victories. Either one of them could win gold medals. Or Lindsey Kildow or Ted Ligety, representing the young kids on the ski team, who also have a chance to win medals. And there are several other young members of the U.S. Team who show the sport in a good light.

Going into the Olympics, when reporters are still trying to figure the angle, use the story of Bode and his teammates to tell our story about skiing, snowboarding, and the mountains. It would be unfortunate if, after the Olympics, we woke up one day and realized, “Hey, we had this incredible story and we missed it.” Let’s all do what we can to ride the Olympic wave. Tell the story of Bode and the U.S. Team and take this opportunity to show Americans what makes skiing and riding so great.


The Ambivalent Electorate
By Roberto Moreno, founder and director, ALPINO

The biggest enemy of our mountain environment is an increasingly ambivalent and soon-to-be mostly multicultural electorate. The majority of minority kids are growing up with no relationship to the mountains or the outdoors. And that’s mostly because of non-exposure and the elitism of the outdoor recreation industry.

Most American kids today, regardless of their ethnicity, never get to the mountains—ever. That lack of nature in the lives of U.S. youth can be directly linked to rises in obesity, diabetes, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and depression. It’s what author Richard Louv, author of “The Last Child in the Woods,” calls Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD).

In Colorado, ALPINO is making thousands of potential new snowsports supporters understand that this is the greatest reason for participation in snowsports. Of course, winter resorts stand to gain significantly through the creation of new customers, too.

The notion of the ambivalent electorate is absolutely key to pushing organizations in Colorado and elsewhere to begin embracing skiing and snowboarding. Most people now understand that 70 percent of the under 18 population is multicultural. They also understand that if you don’t target that new emerging population now, few of this audience will be skiing or snowboarding in 25 years. The Model for Growth argues that we must reach out to youth. Minorities are that youth.

Using this talking point, ALPINO has seen an exponential increase in support for its youth outreach component from Denver Public Schools and several neighboring counties, along with churches, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, Daniels Fund Scholars, Hispanic and Black Chambers, Heinrich Hispanidad, Univision, the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, CBS News, foundations, banks, developers, colleges, community-based groups of every variety—even the HVAC industry of Colorado!

With the progressive support of Vail Resorts, Arapahoe Basin, Crested Butte, Eldora, Aspen, Steamboat, Echo Mountain, Ski Cooper, NSAA, REI, the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Mountain College and Pepsi, last year we created skiing and snowboarding experiences for almost 4,000 new snowsports participants in Colorado alone. This year we’re launching a Northeast U.S. effort, which will be based at Hunter Mountain. Next year, we hope to add California and Utah.

And now educators are starting to understand that we’re not just a trip to Six Flags or Disneyland. That’s why ALPINO and a team of Denver public school teachers are creating an “Urban Snowsports and Mountain Recreation Curriculum” designed to be relevant to urban kids and increase “buy-in” from principals, educators and school boards. Once they see the extraordinary value of mountain recreation activity, they will understand why kids should be let out from school for week-day visits to the mountains.

[Ed Note: See related story on p. 39 about the WinterKids program]