SAM Magazine—Jasper, Alberta, May 1, 2024—More than 425 ski area operators and suppliers gathered in Jasper, Alberta, for networking, education, and late season turns at the Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA) Spring Conference, April 21-24. Katie with Marmot Basin's mountain manager Rob Ellen

SAM senior editor Katie Brinton attended the event. The tenor was positive, and operators appeared motivated and future focused. While final skier visit and active skier totals for Canada are not yet available, the preliminary findings of the Canadian Ski Council suggest a drop from last year’s record 21.1 million visits and 2.8 million active skiers. Nonetheless, anecdotally, operators reported steady demand despite (and sometimes because of) the warmer, drier conditions the El Nino pattern brought this season. 

Looking ahead, the impacts of climate change and consumer belt-tightening on operations and business remain of concern. To address these concerns, several growth initiatives and ideas about how to position snowsports as part of the zeitgeist and national identity were discussed, including suggestions to promote the health and wellness aspects of getting outside in winter and the family-friendly side of snowsports.  

Education sessions on AI, summer operations, risk management, forest fire mitigation, maintenance, responsible stewardship, and media messaging were all well-attended. On the trade-show floor and in the banquet hall, weather was invariably a hot topic of discussion, as was the labor crunch. 

Another point of discussion was Canada’s immigration-driven surge in population growth, and the continuing need to understand and welcome the “New Canadian” market to snowsports. Attendees also ruminated on the benefits of and continued need for industry collaboration and cooperation, a hallmark of CWSAA and its membership. 

In the spirit of cooperation, just shy of CA$40,000 was raised for the CWSAA Small Areas Assistance fund during the conference through a silent auction coordinated by Johnathan Clarkson of Nitehawk Ski Area in Alberta, as well as significant donations from Lake Louise Ski Resort and Banff Sunshine Village in Alberta and Big White and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia.

The fund supported 15 ski areas that would otherwise not have been able to attend the safety, maintenance, and operations sessions at the conference, and will provide assistance to other small areas through a variety of long standing CWSAA programs. 

Several members were recognized at the annual banquet: Charlie Locke, owner and president of Lake Louise Ski Resort, was honored with the Jimmie Spencer Lifetime Achievement Award; vice president of mountain operations for Whistler Blackcomb Doug Macfarlane received the Jim Marshall Leadership Award; Dean Roberts, lift maintenance manager at Sun Peaks, B.C., was awarded the Rod Chisholm Operations & Maintenance Award; Anders Svenson, business manager and partner at Mission Ridge, Saskatchewan, received the Lars Fossberg Excellence Award; and Zoe Sloan of Edmonton Ski Club, Charles Albrow of Sun Peaks, Anna Boyd of Whistler Blackcomb, and Shannon Johnston of Asessippi Resort were all recognized with Peak Performance awards.

Next year, the conference is headed to Apex Mountain Resort near Penticton, B.C., April 28-30. 

In addition to attending the conference this April, SAM’s senior editor visited a handful of Alberta ski areas—Lake Louise Ski Resort, Mt. Norquay, and Sunshine Village in Banff and Marmot Basin in Jasper—and met with leadership at each resort to learn about their respective businesses and plans for the future.  

Despite their relative proximity, the four ski areas see different market segments, from primarily drive-to day visitors to primarily inter-provincial and international destination guests. Common among the four, though, was continued capital investment, particularly in lift infrastructure: Marmot Basin opened its new Knob Quad at the start of the 2023-24 season, providing access to new expert terrain off the Marmot Cirque; Lake Louise and Sunshine Village are both installing heated six-passenger bubble lifts this summer, among other projects; and Norquay has plans for a new gondola to its summit as part of its Norquay 100 Vision.