THINKING GLOBALLY
Efforts to attract international visitors have ebbed and flowed over the years, but have been on the upswing in the past year. It’s easy to understand why: international visitors are often big spenders, making them a highly prized if small percentage of visitors. Vail Resorts bet big on the international market last summer when it acquired Perisher, Australia’s largest mountain resort. The move paid off. During a winter in which unfavorable exchange rates deterred many international visitors, Aussies became the largest international market at Vail’s U.S. properties—a success VR attributes to the introduction of the Epic Pass at Perisher. Not surprisingly, CEO Rob Katz was quoted saying possible acquisitions in Canada and Japan are “a higher priority.”

Jet-setting Mountain Collective passholders can receive two free days each at resorts in Australia, Chile, France, and Japan, and discounts on additional days. These overseas options augment the coast-to-coast opportunities in the States and British Columbia.

Leading up to the Winter Olympics in Beijing, former Olympic host Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows has partnered with China’s Genting Secret Garden Resort, which is slated to host freestyle events in 2022. The two resorts will offer five free days of skiing to the other’s season passholders. The potential is yuuuuge: Chinese travelers love California, having spent $2.5 billion there in 2015. Too, the number of Chinese skiers and riders is expected to grow tremendously from now through the ’22 Games and beyond.

Then there’s the Powder Alliance—a unique partnership of 14 resorts in North America that give each others’ unrestricted season passholders three days of free skiing. In June, Kiroro Snow World in Japan was added as its first international member.

It’s nice to flex worldliness, for sure. Consumers crave variety. It will be interesting to see how much they spur visits.

SIA STAYING, AND GOING
New-ish SIA president Nick Sargent has been a busy guy. Following the organization’s decision to move its annual Snow Show in Denver from late January to early December, Sargent got an earful from hundreds of industry stakeholders. The message: early December is not the best time for retailers and resorts to be away from the business. That led SIA to revert to its January slot.

All the while, Sargent was developing a plan to move SIA’s headquarters from Mclean, Va., where it has been located for more than 30 years, to a location where more folks wear ski boots to the office—Park City, Utah. The stated goal is to bring the organization closer to its people, both suppliers and their customers. That makes sense, even if being in Washington made it easier to deal with legislative and regulatory matters.

But there’s more to the move than that, Sargent admits: “In addition to these significant business benefits, having the opportunity to ski and ride the Greatest Snow On Earth is a nice perk.” Yes, the man steering the SIA ship has his priorities in order.

MOMENTOUS DECISION
The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision that avalanches are an inherent risk of skiing was good news for the ski industry. The unfortunate circumstances that brought about the decision dampened the applause, since it stemmed from a suit brought against Winter Park Resort following a death in 2012 caused by an inbounds avalanche. (Sadly, an inbounds avalanche at Vail took the life of a teenage skier that same day.) The family of the deceased said the resort knew there was high avalanche danger and should have closed the terrain.

The court’s ruling determined that avalanches were included as an inherent risk by virtue of the snow conditions clause in Colorado’s Ski Safety Act, which limits resort liability when incidents occur as a result of circumstances beyond their control.