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Liability Waivers Grow in Colorado
Ski areas in Colorado are increasingly demanding that skiers and riders sign liability waivers as a condition of receiving their day tickets and season’s passes. The practice has some plaintiff’s attorneys crying foul, but there doesn’t appear to be much of a consumer backlash. Could it be that Americans are finally willing to accept at least some responsibility for their actions?

Two relatively new niche areas in particular require all skiers and riders to sign waivers. Echo Mountain Snowboard and Ski Park and steeps haven Silverton both say that the waivers help them explain the particular risks posed by their terrain, including some that are not necessarily spelled out (or covered) by the state’s ski safety statute. Winter Park also requires waivers for its expert terrain park, for the same reason.

But in a sense, the use of liability waivers is not new in skiing. Colorado ski areas have incorporated waivers into their season’s pass contracts, barring passholders from suing for negligence, for decades. Vail recently took the aggressive step of countersuing a pass­holder who sued after injuring her knee on a skier bridge, a rare instance of an area seeking to uphold the provisions of the pass contract. Mission accomplished: an Eagle County judge threw out the woman’s claim, and Vail dropped its countersuit.


Mammoth Shaken by Patroller Deaths
In a tragedy that illustrates the inherent danger in patrol work, three members of the Mammoth Mountain ski patrol died in early April while fencing off a geothermal vent following a heavy snowfall. The snow they were standing on collapsed and they fell into a 20-foot-deep well around the vent. It’s possible that warm air from the vent had eroded the snow under the patrollers.

The collapse occurred as John McAndrews and James Juarez were attempting to remove a nearly buried fence when the snow gave way, sending them into the six-foot-wide well. A third patrolman, Charles Rosenthal, went into the hole to retrieve them. All three died. Other patrollers who attempted rescue were overcome by carbon dioxide and hospitalized, though they were not seriously injured.

Autopsies and toxicological tests were completed and it was determined that the patrollers died from the fumes.

Mammoth held a memorial service on April 14 for the three patrollers and donated all lift-ticket proceeds for the day to their families. Mt. Rose also donated its proceeds that day on top of donations from resorts from across the country.


Mountains of travel
More than 1,000 travel professionals converged on Squaw Valley April 2-8 for the 31st Annual Mountain Travel Symposium Week (MTS), where buyers and suppliers of mountain travel vacation components make deals for the following season. The only group in short supply was ski area representatives.

Destination travel remains big. Based on results from 13 Western U.S. and Canadian resorts, lodging nights for the 2005-06 ski season are up 2.7 percent, with revenue up 5.1 percent, according to MTRiP research. As these figures reflect trends for national and international destination visitors, who typically spend far more than locals and day-trippers, that’s good news.

Education is a big part of the MTS, with two days of general sessions and workshops. (For a report, head to www.saminfo.com.) Keynote speaker Dr. Robert Kriegel (remember Inner Skiing?) said, “the difference between winners and losers is that winners change before they have to.” David Perry, senior marketing VP for Aspen, urged areas to adopt new trends to shake up old stereotypes, and “fight against ‘resort Alzheimer’s,’ the affliction that makes you forget what made you great in the first place.”


Why a New Prez and COO at Intrawest?
When Intrawest named Alex Wasilov president and COO of Intrawest, a new position in the company, industry wags asked: who is this guy? Wasilov is number two to Joe Houssian, chairman and CEO of Intrawest, which recently retained Goldman Sachs to review “strategic options,” which could include sale of part or all of the company.

Wasilov has been a member of Intrawest's board of directors since February 2005. His resume includes stints as president of Hirtle, Callaghan & Co., a $12 billion financial asset management firm, and president of Rosenbluth International, a $3 billion travel management company. Oh, and chief operating officer of Eastman Kodak, president of Kodak China and president of Xerox Emerging Markets, where he was responsible for Xerox operations in Europe, China, Russia, India and other parts of the world.

In other words, Wasilov would be an ideal choice to help Intrawest achieve its goal to have seven resorts in China by 2010. But his appointment could mean almost anything. His travel management experience suits Intrawest’s move into high-end travel. And his investment background is suitable for preparing the company for sale. Several pundits told SAM that, given Intrawest’s stock price (about $34 at press time), only selling the entire company would satisfy shareholders. And Starwood Capital, which recently purchased Intrawest’s stake in Mammoth, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts are rumored to be considering a joint buy . . .


Of Ski Domes and Winter Theme Parks
Here we go again: A group of Texas investors is planning to create a year-round theme park, The Coolzone Winterplex, centered around an outdoor Snowflex dry-slope venue for skiing and riding, near Dallas. Plans also include an Alpine village and theme park.

The main attraction would be a 60-acre, 20-story hill, complete with chairlifts, a snowboard park with competition halfpipe, toboggans, and tubing. The dreamers behind the effort also foresee a theme park tied to a major motion picture studio. They have enlisted former Texas Congressman Dick Armey to help line up the ever-elusive financing for the $375 million project as they search for a site. Despite the uncertainty of these two details, they hope to complete the project by late 2008.

Speaking of dreams, what’s up with the star-crossed Meadowlands Xanadu, previously touted as the first indoor ski dome in the U.S.? The Wall Street Journal reports that the developer, Mills Corporation, is seeking to sell all or some of its primary assets. A dispute over patents for the snowmaking technology to be used in the dome is said to be one of the stumbling blocks. New Jersey officials are anxious to ensure that the entertainment portion of the complex, which centers around the ski dome, is built, so that the complex does not simply become another enormous mall. If all else fails, as has been the case with several other attempts to build a snow dome in the U.S., the state could use a portion of the $130 million it has already collected from the developers to deconstruct the steel shell that has been erected so far.


You Think Your Opponents are Tough...
Environmentalist no-growthers are nothing compared to the forces lining up against a proposed five-star, sustainable-tourism resort in the Himalayas, headed by Alfred Ford of the Ford Motor clan: oracles of the local deities. “A majority of the worshippers are against setting up the ski project on account of threat to the local environment and culture and we naturally support their wishes,” said Maheshwar Singh, caretaker of the chief deity Raghunath. “If the state government still hands over the project to Ford, it may even spell doom for the venture. A majority of the oracles fear that the ski village would pollute the local culture and sacred spots on hill tops which belong to deities. The oracles also feel that a huge area will be fenced off by the company which will snatch the traditional rights of peasants,” he said.


Slope Rage Goes Worldwide
You think your guests don’t need a break from the real world? In our last issue (Blue Pages, “Shortswings”) we reported on a case of assault on the slopes at Steamboat.

Now comes news from Churchill Travel Insurance, a British company, that one in four (26 percent) skiers and snowboarders have witnessed on-hill aggression. “It’s worrying that not everyone is able to leave their stress behind them,” said a Churchill spokesman. The sources of slope rage, says the company: people who go too fast, and slobs whopush and shove in liftlines (a mostly Euro thing.

A U.S. case in point: This past winter, in apparent protest against the closure of a trail for training-camp purposes, a male snowboarder on a chairlift at Heavenly poured beer on camp participants. He then allegedly struck a patroller with his snowboard while arguing about the closure before fleeing the area. The alleged attack left a very real two-inch crease on the patroller's helmet.