SAM Magazine—Steamboat Springs, Colo., Sept. 15, 2023—The thirteenth SAM Summer Ops Camp drew ski area and aerial adventure operators, experts, and suppliers from all over North America to Steamboat, Sept. 10-12, for three days of learning, networking, and hands-on fun in the name of growing non-winter business.
The host resort provided attendees with a variety of unique perspectives on summer business, most notably the choice to remove some of its existing summer attractions—including a mountain coaster and mini golf course—as part of its major redevelopment called “Full Steam Ahead” to, in part, reimagine summer business starting with a clean slate. Steamboat leadership shared lessons learned from these decisions throughout camp, including the importance of considering your brand when adding non-winter attractions and how those attractions must not conflict with the winter guest experience.
The Steamboat team also took full advantage of having a group of other operators, experts, and suppliers on-hand to inform its next steps.
“We’re working on what’s next for our summer operations—and we’re looking forward to spending time with this group to help us figure that out,” said Steamboat president and COO Rob Perlman during his presentation after the opening night dinner. Joining in on the festivities that night was the affable Olympian and ski racer Billy Kidd, who serves as Steamboat’s director of skiing and spent the evening hobnobbing with his many fans in attendance.
One of the more unique experiences campers witnessed was a drone show from Open Sky that lit up the night. In honor of Steamboat’s 60th anniversary, a choreographed presentation culminated with drones forming the SAM and Steamboat logos in the sky above Steamboat Square. The drone demo highlighted for operators an alternative to fireworks.
In between networking events, hands-on activities like mountain biking, e-bike demos, guided hikes, and tours of Steamboat’s fantastical Greenhorn Ranch learning area, several educational sessions informed campers of the latest trends and considerations in summer operations.
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Billy Kidd with SE Group's Claire Humber.Billy Kidd with SE Group s Claire Humber.
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Eric Lipton of SNOW Operating leads attendees through summer customer journey exercise.Campers chatting about one of the many informative sessions
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Lunch at the new venue, The Range.Campers enjoying lunch at The Range
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Campers enjoying mountain biking.Campers enjoying mountain biking
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Mountaintop yoga to finish a busy day of activities.Campers enjoying yoga at the mountaintop
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Candie Fisher from Outdoor Ventures with Dan Brennan from Holmes Solution.Candie Fisher from Outdoor Ventures with Dan Brennan from Holmes Solution
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Chelsea Severn and Rikki Cooper from White Pass Ski Area.Chelsea Severn and Rikki Cooper from White Pass Ski Area
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Claire Humber presenting at her session, "What Defines Success."Claire Humber presenting at her session What defines success
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Dave Bryd from NSAA and Tim Bruce and Colin Russell from Safehold presenting the "Risk Mitigation" session.Dave Bryd from NSAA Tim Bruce and Colin Russell from Safehold presenting the Risk Mitigation session
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Dave Hunter and Jennifer Shea from Steamboat Resort and Steve Hoxie from Taos Ski Valley presenting for the Summer Construction session.Dave Hunter and Jennifer Shea from Steamboat Resort and Steve Hoxie from Taos Ski Valley presenting for the Summer Construction session.
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Spectacular drone show by Open Sky.Drone show by Open Sky
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Cocktails at sunset on the mountaintop.Enjoying the sunset on the mountaintop.
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Hugh Reynolds from SNOW Partners, Katie Brown from Steamboat, and Max Key from Viator presenting at the "Capturing the Market" session.Hugh Reynolds from SNOW Operating Katie Brown from Steamboat and Max Key from TripAdvisor presenting at the Capturing the Market session.
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Dave Hunter, Steamboat, taking attendees on a tour of Greenhorn Ranch.IMG 8171
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Kelly Deason, Deason Built, and Susan Cross, Snowmass.IMG 8908
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Intense fleet of mountain bikes and e-bike demos.Intense fleet of mountain bike and e bike demos
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Isaac Sims from USDA Forest Service with Max Nichols from Singenuity.Isaac Sims from USDA Forest Service with Max Nichols from Singenuity
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J.C. from Wenk Associates Landscape Architecture and Planning and Corey Peterson from Steamboat Resort giving a tour of Burgess Creek.J.C. from Wenk Associates Landscape Architecture Planning and Corey Peterson from Steamboat Resort giving a tour of Burgess Creek.
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M.J. Legault, Origin, presenting at her session, "Capturing the Market."MJ presenting at her session Capturing the Market
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Jon Feiges, bike park manager, giving a tour of Steamboat's bike parks.Mountain bike and e bike tours with campers
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Rob Perlman, president and COO of Steamboat, giving a presentation on their summer operations.Rob Perlman president and COO of Steamboat giving a presentation on their summer operations.
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SAM registration table.SAM Registration Table
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Steamboat and SNOW Operating teamed up to explain Greenhorn Ranch.Steamboat and SNOW Operating s Eric Lipton explaining Greenhorn Ranch
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Rob Perlman, Steamboat, and Olivia Rowan, SAM.Steamboat Resort s Rob Perlman with SAM s Olivia Rowan
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Tony Cammarata from A Basin working on the "Summer Guest Experience" exercise.Tony Cammarata from A Basin working on the Summer Guest Experience presented by Eric Lipton from SNOW Operating
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Adventure Partners' via Ferrata tour at Arapahoe Basin ski resort.Via Ferrata tour at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
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Reaching the summit on the Via Ferrata tour.Via Ferrata tour at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area 1
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Yellowstone Club with representatives from Leitner Poma enjoying the champagne toast.Yellowstone Club with representative from Leitner Poma enjoying the champagne toast
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Two industry legends, Billy Kidd and Blaise Carrig.IMG 8796
The unprecedented amount of capital improvements happening at ski areas across North America prompted a session on the considerations of balancing major construction projects with the ability to deliver great guest experiences. Steamboat’s Dave Hunter and Jenn Shea along with Steve Hoxie from Taos Ski Valley, N.M., shared lessons learned and useful takeaways from their experiences undergoing multi-year capital projects at their respective resorts.
Claire Humber of SE Group led a session that explored what defines success for resort operators and shared a surprisingly broad gamut of answers to that question from leaders of ski areas big and small—from sustainable business and allowing guests to enjoy the natural environment to increasing year-round brand awareness, retaining year-round staff, and much more. Humber passed the mic to CLIMB Works Design owner Nick Thompson (operator and builder of several adventure parks), who shared his perspective on what defines success for his operations—and what he thinks other adventure operations should consider: ensuring there’s something to do for the entire family, especially kids aged 7 and under.
Eric Lipton from SNOW Operating led an interactive—and energetic—session that included an exercise in which campers broke into groups to map out the ideal summer guest experience. The groups came up with useful takeaways that will help in planning and improving the guest journey in the non-winter months.
Insights Collective’s Ralf Garrison and Barb Taylor Carpender, along with Jon Stavney of Northwest Colorado Council of Governments and Steamboat director of social responsibility Sarah Jones, discussed our changing mountain communities. The group implored operators to be actively involved in their local communities and provided a better understanding of the current push and pull between residents and visitors and concerns around over tourism.
An in-depth discussion on how to capture the summer market was facilitated by Origin’s MJ Legault and SAM’s Olivia Rowan, who engaged a panel comprised of SNOW Partners CMO Hugh Reynolds, Steamboat VP of sales and marketing Katie Brown, and Viator’s Max Key. While there is no silver bullet, one key takeaway was that ski areas must spend more time considering the “dreaming” and researching phase—when travelers have decided they want to go on a trip but haven’t chosen where to go—of the pre-visit experience in order to provide clarity to would-be guests and make their decision to visit an easier one.
Finally, NSAA director of regulatory affairs Dave Byrd made his Summer Ops Camp debut, leading a session about risk management in summer operations. Supported by Tim Bruce and Colin Russell from Safehold Special Risk, the discussion explored several cautionary tales and left operators with a clearer view of what should be done to better address risk management.
In other news, Mountain Creek, N.J., won “The Great Glamping Giveaway,” a raffle of $50,000 worth of glamping equipment, courtesy of EJH Distribution. Monte Hansen from Yellowstone Club, Mont., won a prize pack from Intense Cycles.
Many of the insights and takeaways from the sessions at Summer Ops Camp will be available as articles in SAM Magazine and on PodSAM.
Stay tuned for the location of next year’s Summer Ops Camp. Thanks to all who attended this year. We had a blast.