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                                            Independent Schools for Growth

 

Despite the strong skier visit number in the 2022-23 season, a question resort managers are asking is what will happen in the future with the declining number of participants under 25 and the declining number of lessons? The growth model NSAA created twenty years ago has undergone a lot of changes, and much hard work has gone into achieving the conversion goal of 25 percent. All this effort has prevented a prolonged decline in skier visits, but the conversion rate is still only about 19 percent. Maintaining the core and revival (or lapsed) skiers is another goal of the growth model.

 

This quote from NSAA shows the need for a different approach: “With participation rates at a plateau, changing demographics, time constraints, and low beginner conversion rates, these challenges point to the need to dramatically improve our level of engagement with beginners, and to help them become committed skiers and riders.” There are 50 million more people in the country than when the growth model was created, but 45 fewer ski resorts. From 1955 to 1965,580 new resorts were created, but over the last forty years about 200 resorts closed resulting in fewer opportunities for first timers. With 68 percent of skier visits occurring within 200 miles of where the participants live, having nearby resorts is important because the loss of ski resorts makes growth more difficult.

 

More lessons needed

 

Guest Research reports customer loyalty is trending down based on a lack of emotional connections caused by staffing shortages, and claim that it is critical to rebuild those emotional connections. The close interaction instructors have with the guests builds customer loyalty and increases conversions. When customers get to a resort, it is important to have lessons available, but it is hard to meet the demand for lessons during busy periods, so many customers can not get lessons. More lessons create more growth, and with the loss of so many small resorts over the decades, more and larger schools are needed to increase growth.

 

Small Midwest and Mid Atlantic resorts play a large role in creating new skiers and snowboarders. They provide an affordable experience for first time participants that is close to large cities. Many offer lessons for school groups that produce a lot of young first time participants with a series of lessons that often occur for multiple years which increases conversions. When these schools are large, they increase the supply of lessons to create growth and generate more demand. 

 

Increase demand

 

Fewer than half of new participants take lessons; most try it on their own or learn from friends. The results are often very bad as people go to terrain that is way beyond their abilities which can cause fear, frustration, injuries, and a low conversion rate. If they do come back, it is often with bad habits that slows their progress or prevents them from developing the control necessary to keep the slopes safe.

 

It is important to have enough lessons to meet demand, but it is also critical to increase the demand for lessons. There would be much more demand if greater effort was put into educating customers on the benefits of instruction for increasing their fun and safety, if the prices were lower, and if more lessons were available.   

 

Increasing complexity

 

Small resort managers have a lot of pressing issues beyond lessons to deal with like finding and keeping employees, making snow, keeping lifts running, grooming, plowing parking lots, keeping restrooms clean, and operating the rental department, retail shops, cafeterias, bars, and in some cases lodging. It is a lot of work, but managing the snowsports schools is another level of challenge because the staff is usually larger than other departments, and they are vital in creating loyalty and growth.

 

The snowsports schools at smaller resorts are often relatively small, even though many need to be larger, but they are becoming increasingly more complicated to operate. The challenges include hiring a large staff in a tight labor market, most of whom will be part time while working other jobs or attending school in the area, and retaining the staff at a time when many people are quitting their jobs. Then there is ongoing training, supervising, evaluating, scheduling, maintaining the database of staff and customers, communicating via text and email, and doing payroll, Much of this is not done digitally in a coordinated way, so different software or paper and pencil approaches are used.

 

Snowsports directors also have to keep the website and social media up to date, manage a huge number of phone calls, conduct marketing meetings for local schools, survey customer feedback, respond to social media questions and criticisms, create reports for the general manager, and manage the online booking and POS software to provide the frictionless mobile experience customers increasingly expect.

 

The cost of liability insurance, uniforms, tablets, PCs, and radios also grows. If the school is responsible for running the racing programs, there are additional costs for gates, drills, timing, score boards, bibs, awards, and protective netting. Providing enough training and assessment has always been an issue, but that takes a lot of time and money which often is not there. It takes a very experienced team to manage all of this complexity.

 

Because instructors have such a close relationship with customers, it is critical that in addition to all these skills the director needs to have the right personality to create a culture of fun and caring that will build customer loyalty. If the director can hire a large staff, the job of managing all these functions requires software, management, and teaching skills, along with endless hours of work. Many directors do not have the time or the skills and are not compensated well enough to perform all the functions necessary to operate a large school. With all this work to do, it explains why a lot of resorts have smaller schools than they need. A different approach is required to create large high quality snowsports schools.

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Independent schools

 

Washington state has a long history of independent schools operating at resorts like Crystal, Stevens Pass, and the Summit at Snoqualmie. Some of these have been increasing trials and conversions since the 1930s with season long programs for several generations of families. They market lessons, sell tickets and rentals, organize lessons, teach lessons, manage the instructors, and provide the critical transportation. Resorts have big budgets for ad agencies that don’t generate this much revenue.

 

Stevens Pass had 29 independent schools in 2000, by 2006 it was down to 6, and today there are none left. It is a similar situation at Crystal. The Summit at Snoqualmie had 18 in 2007 and are down to about 10 today. Imagine all the price, quality, and program options customers had at Stevens Pass and still have today at Snoqualmie. How many of these customers would not get to the resort, afford lessons, find lessons available, or even be new participants without all the work independent schools do? Lesson prices doubled for some former independent school students the year after Crystal eliminated the independent schools, and many customers were upset. Did they continue in the sport, participate as much, or bring new friends with them after that?

 

Conventional thinking

 

It is very surprising for some to learn of these independent schools because almost all of the snowsports schools in this country are run by the resorts, so the sound economics of having a marketplace to increase growth seems inconceivable.

 

The thinking is why should resorts give up any revenue to independent schools? This fails to consider all the additional revenue that is created beyond lessons in every other department, early season revenue from pre sold group sales even if it is a slow start to winter, the increased trials and conversions, the help in retaining core and revival participants, the competitive advantage of a famous program, the marketplace they create that increases lesson options and availability for customers, and saving the resort all the expense and work of trying to do it on their own. But some independent schools are being eliminated altogether as consolidation occurs. With high margins and more demand than supply during busy periods, many resorts are not considering the revenue they are losing and how that restricts growth.

 

Seeing the benefit of independent schools should not be that difficult because resorts regularly work with independent programs for adaptive instruction, race coaching, ski clubs with their own instructors, and special instructional programs offered by learning experts or famous athletes and instructors. These are marketing channels that generate more revenue.  But the special operating permits that resorts have with the forest service and a focus on resort owned schools have resulted in monopolies that have almost eliminated this critical source of growth.

 

What is good for the customers is good for the resort, even for big resorts like Vail Resorts where lessons are the third largest source of revenue at over $280 million annually. Variety is important. Costco makes more money when they provide a wide product mix rather than selling just their Kirkland brand. If Apple tried to develop all their own apps, they would have much less revenue. In Europe the large resorts have multiple independent schools listed right on their websites that provide a large marketplace of program and price options. Here is a look at just a few of the independent schools in Europe: https://www.greatinstructing.com/independent-schools

 

More examples

 

In the Midwest there are different Blizzard Ski Schools that operate in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Winter Walden is another travelling school in Michigan. These schools also do the marketing, organizing, instructing, group ticket sales, and arrange transportation. They generate a lot of revenue for the resorts and grow the industry. 

 

Founded in 2016, Snowschoolers is the only independent school in California and Colorado. It is run by Brian Bensch with the goal of improving instructor compensation while making instruction more affordable and accessible. Snowschoolers works with three small ski areas in Tahoe and one in Colorado. They believe that booking lessons should be as easy as finding a great place to stay on Airbnb, complete with reviews, transparent pricing, and easy mobile checkout on your phone. They create a lot of new participants who otherwise might think it is too expensive, and Brian would like to help other resorts.

 

These same benefits are created on a much larger scale at Pine Knob and Mt. Holly resorts in southeast Michigan. The independent school at both resorts has been owned by Pat and Pam Deibel who took it over from former Deer Valley President Bob Wheaton back in the seventies. Over the years there have been between 200 - 300 instructors each season who have taught about 500,000 students. Each season they teach over 1,600 classes for more than 7,500 school students, and they also operate a variety of racing programs. It is one of the largest and oldest independent schools in the nation. Blizzard and Winter Walden also operate at these two resorts, and they all create many lesson options for the customers and a lot of revenue for the resorts. 

 

With a staff this big, the school can run large programs for young children, private lessons, school groups, junior race training and races, adult race leagues, and operate the third largest largest number of Nastar starts in the nation. This generates a lot of revenue from ticket sales, rentals, food and beverage, and retail for the resort. To see the benefit of this large independent school, one can look at the other two snowsports schools in the area; they are owned by the resorts and are about one fifth the size. So some customers from these resorts travel to Pine Knob and Mt. Holly because it is the only place they can get a lesson. The Deibels retired, but they spent the last three years training their replacements who are highly motivated entrepreneurs innovating at the rapid pace of an independent business with competition and skin in the game.

 

Booking instructors

 

Pine Knob customers can book individual instructors online, not just lessons. This innovative approach produces more empowered, accountable, engaged, and better compensated instructors who build strong relationships with the customers. The customers don’t just pick an instructor for a lesson; they pick a partner for their journey to improve. As the instructors develop a clientele, they become more motivated to work harder and improve their teaching. Positive interactions with instructors are a major factor that create fun experiences so customers want to return. Many customers book their next lesson, or group of lessons at the end of a lesson.

 

The online booking system shows customers only the instructors who are available and capable of teaching the type of lesson they are searching for by date, time, age of customer, level, and discipline. Customers get to see reviews, pictures, information about the instructors, and the school control the order instructors are displayed based on their internal rating. Customers pay when they book so their no show rate is very low.

 

Allowing customers to choose their instructor reduces the back office work of paring the customers with an instructor. Directors often think they need to choose the right instructor for the customer, but in many cases there is just not enough staff to have a lot of choices. And the school may not have done much or any evaluation of the instructors’ teaching to know which ones are really better. Some online booking systems make it difficult if not impossible to book an instructor who was referred by a friend, or to book with the same instructor for the next visit, so calling the school is required which can be difficult during busy periods. 

 

When investing so much in lessons, customers like to choose their own instructors rather than just taking whoever is assigned. Customers were offered the option to just book a lesson and not choose an instructor, but virtually all wanted to make the choice. Most customers take ownership of their decisions and believe in their choice even when they did not choose the most qualified instructor. Many times people skills are more important than teaching skills in creating a fun experience, even though both are necessary for the greatest conversions. Every resort can develop a larger, more empowered, and better compensated staff of instructors by booking individual instructors online

 

Create dedication

 

It is hard to find and keep staff today, so great management is important. Bob Wheaton was known for how well he treated employees at Mt. Holly and Deer Valley, and that tradition has been maintained by the Deibels and the current management. At Pine Knob and Mt. Holly a culture that is caring and fun-loving, along with pay that is higher per hour than major destination resorts, has resulted in a lot of the instructors teaching for multiple generations. This is far beyond the three year national average, so it reduces the need to hire a lot of new staff each season. Instructors create their own schedule and become more independent professionals.

 

Customers who pay a lot for private lessons are more loyal and dedicated when they can easily book the instructor they want. This also helps to increase the the conversion rate with more experienced instructors providing a better experience.

 

Quality control

 

Large companies have big budgets for quality control programs and software like Total Quality Management (TQM) which focus on continual improvement. However even a smaller quality control program can transform instruction and increase conversions. Many snowsports schools rely on instructor requests rate, surveys, and certification to evaluate instructor performance. Great people skills can increase conversions, but when they are combined with great teaching create even more growth.

 

Certification is also a way to assess instructor performance, but brief simulated teaching does not measure instructor performance teaching actual lessons which has a direct impact on conversions and the schools’ revenue. Certification can be a challenge for instructors because the cost of achieving certification and maintaining it can be a large percentage of what many of the part time staff will earn. Some schools reimburse instructors for PSIA training rather than creating a quality control program.

Independent schools can spend the time and money on a quality control program that may be difficult for resort owned schools to budget. Lesson quality at Pine Knob and Mt. Holly is important for increasing conversions and safety. Innovation and assessment are the key; lessons need to be fun and reach the quality goals. To achieve this, clear goals are the core of the quality control program. Best practices are determined by analyzing what approaches create the best results over many years of testing. Content is more focused on the large market of beginners and intermediates who participate fewer than six times a season; they are 80 percent of ticket sales but an even higher percentage of the lessons.

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The school developed this approach by working for 25 years with V1 Sports, a leader in digital coaching software that has worked with skiers from beginners to the US Ski and Snowboard National Development System athletes gaining insight from this huge amount of content. It requires time and money to develop an internal quality control process, but it is worth the investment for increasing conversions, safety, and revenue.

 

Marketplace competition

 

Golf has a marketplace of famous lesson programs from top instructors that provide choices for customers and a competitive advantage for resorts. This is the way it was in skiing 60 years ago. Over the years a few successful programs helped to grow the sport like GLM, Perfect Turn, Breakthrough on Skis, Terrain Based Teaching, Burton Learn to Ride, and Woodward. There are many top instructors who could be creating famous snowsports schools.

 

As the industry continues its more than 20 year search for growth, allowing customers to choose the instructor and lesson program they want with independent schools critical for success.

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                                                               Booking by instructor for growth

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 Technology is improving the guest experience making it faster and easier to get to the slopes by booking all aspects of a visit on a phone. One critical aspect of this process is booking lessons. Guests usually select a date, time, level, and type of lesson. Supervisors then select the instructor they think will be best which is thought to be an important part of creating a successful experience. It is assumed that customers would rather have the school choose because they know the instructors and it saves customers from making another decision in a long booking process. This was also the thinking at the Pine Knob School in Southeast Michigan, but they had a chance to test these assumptions and were very surprised to find that they were not correct.     

 Pine Knob is a small resort an hour north of Detroit, so it has a very busy school even with a large staff of 150 instructors. At most resorts it can be difficult to book a specific instructor if a customer has a recommendation from a friend, if they had a great experience with an instructor, or if they just want to select their instructor when spending a lot of money for a lesson. It requires a phone call that can be hard to get through at busy times which means making multiple calls or leaving a voice mail message. Then there can be follow up calls as schedules are coordinated. This does not create a great experience for the guest. So the Pine Knob School decided to let their customers choose the instructor they wanted for a private lesson.

 A big concern was that customers would choose the wrong instructors, creating a lot of complaints and refunds. There was also the idea that customers would not want to take the time to pick their instructor or would not feel they were capable of doing it. Pine Knob worked with Only Sky which allowed them to control which instructors were available for specific times and types of lessons, as well as control the order instructors were displayed based on their internal rating. A picture and bio were displayed along with ratings and reviews from other guests.    

 Customers could choose or have the school pick their instructor; it was a great surprise that almost all their customers wanted to make the choice. This produced numerous benefits. The first one was saving a lot of time and work assigning instructors. During busy times there are few instructors available and the difference between them may be minor, so the customer can choose who they want as well as a supervisor. Customers often loved instructors that the supervisors did not think were the best choice, but the guests had so much fun they would book an additional lesson or group of lessons. Guests know when they have a great experience, but usually don’t know if it was the most technically proficient lesson. Customers develop strong relationships for their learning adventure that creates repeat visits.  

 There was not an increase in complaints because it was the customers’ choice, so they often like the instructor which creates a placebo effect even if it was not the most effective lesson. It does require extra training and assessment of instructors because great people skills combined with great teaching skills produce the best experiences and more conversions. It also takes leadership that can develop a culture of fun which is transmitted from the instructors to the guests.

 

The increase in private lessons creates a better guest experience. This is especially true for the critical beginner lessons where fearless fast learners are often in group lessons with slow learners. The theme of this year’s Interski, a meeting of international instructors, was “ The Guest’s Experience Is Everything.”  Teaching a lot of private lessons requires a large staff and a skilled director who is highly motivated to put in the long hours it takes to build and manage a big school that can teach a lot of successful requested lessons. 

 

Instructors like to teach private lessons because they are more focused on the needs of their client. Group lessons are profitable and can service more customers with a smaller staff, but in the long run, a high volume of private lessons generates a lot of revenue and converts more beginners. Pine Knob went from 150 private lessons a weekend to 500 consistently and over 600 on busy weekends. Instructors who were teaching 30 private lessons a season now teach 150. Return rates grew to 50 percent. Instructors developed more experience, taught better, and earned more money.

In summary, the results were a lot less work, a huge increase in private lesson business, and the guests had an easy book-by-phone experience that allowed them to choose the instructor they wanted. Guests were happier, often booking a package of private lessons. The school started offering more preseason packages which generated a lot of early season revenue as there was a sense of scarcity that they might sell out fast. It makes a sale when the buyers are interested, and because they pay when booking, the no-show rate is low. Demand was spread across a longer period each day rather than having one or two big crunch times. More revenue was generated for the school, and there was also a large increase in revenue for the resort with more lift ticket sales, rentals, retail sales, and cafeteria and bar business.

The instructors are much happier earning more income for requests, which is more than made up for with all the additional revenue. Instructors work harder to improve and to create a better experience. It is easier to hire a larger staff of instructors and retain them because they are more empowered, motivated professionals who know what their lessons will be for the day.

Reaching the conversion rate of first-time participants in the National Ski Area’s Association’s growth model has been challenging. Most beginners learn on their own or from friends or family often because lessons are not available. This can result in fear, frustration, injury, and an 18 percent conversion rate. If customers do return, it often creates slopes that are less safe as they frequently struggle with terrain that is beyond their abilities. Allowing customers to book more private lessons with the instructor they want is a fundamentally different approach that can play a big role in achieving growth.

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                                                                                Comments on March 2024 SAM

                                                                          article "Lessons in Growth"

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• Hiller states that snowsports is the most complex operation and pivotal to the guest experience.

• She says that more lessons will help growth and safety.

• Hiller suggests providing lessons as a loss leader to make them affordable.

• She discusses how people skills will make great instructors, and that may increase lessons.

• My solution is to increase growth and safety with more choice of instructors, schools, and instructor training programs.

 

Creating more lessons

 

Peggy Hiller stated that her eyes were opened to how complicated snowsports schools are while at Abasin. She thinks it is the most complex operation at the resort, that it is a pivotal part of the guest experience, and instructors spend more time with guests than any other employees. Hiller said that because lessons are taught predominantly to first time through novices, they are critical to growth.

 

She addresses the high cost of lessons and suggests that it would be beneficial for growth if lessons were a loss leader. This would be great for growth, but given that skiing is such a capital-intensive business, large public companies like Vail Resorts are unlikely to reduce a major source of revenue at over $287 million in 2023. If more large beginner group lessons are provided, especially if taught by the lowest cost, least experienced instructors, they will not create a great experience and increase growth.

 

A different way is needed to create more first-time lessons that are less expensive. The new CEO of Altera, Jared Smith, came from Ticketmaster and is working on a variety of pricing options to reduce ticket cost for first timers while increasing revenue from core participants. It should be interesting to see what he decides to do, but that is currently a big part of the cost for a first timer. With lower ticket prices, it becomes a matter of creating more and cheaper priced lessons, which is what independent schools are doing in a couple places in the US and in Europe while increasing revenue for the resorts.  

 

Katie asked Hiller how the organization contributes to growth and the answer was about how the organization is focusing on people skills to improve lessons, but that will only help a guest return once they’ve had a lesson. It does not address how to create more lessons that are affordable. Shortly after that, Hiller responded to the question about the rude attitude SAM received when asking about deals for first timers. Again, she discussed the importance of reducing the cost for first timers. Growth requires more lessons and lower prices which a marketplace of independent snowsport schools provides.

 

Choosing an instructor

 

The “How Does That Make You Feel” story reported that 70 percent of brand selections are based on emotion, and research confirms that “strong emotional connections lead to loyalty.” Pine Knob Ski School customers book the instructor they want and build an emotional connection with them. We were surprised not only by the over 50 percent return rate but the number who bought lesson packages after their first lesson. In addition to that, we were concerned that there would be a lot of unhappy guests wanting a refund because they picked the wrong instructor, but there was a high level of satisfaction with the choices they made. Giving guests the opportunity to choose the instructor they want increased growth and revenue for the school and resort; it tripled the number of private lessons we do.

 

It is not easy for resorts to give guests the ability to choose their instructor because there is very little technology to support it. I spent a lot of time recently talking to the CEO’s of Flaik, InTouch, Snowcloud.io, and other software companies. Most admitted that they could not provide this feature, but in some cases, they were going to develop and test it. We are working toward making it look like Maison Sports in Europe  https://maisonsport.com/en/profile/1456613779/lorenzo-f . Even companies in other industries could not provide this feature. The one company we could find is Only Sky, which is in the process of upgrading their software. All the CEOs were very nice and helpful, but the common problem they expressed was how hard it is to be profitable while providing a great solution. I included the list of requirements we discussed with the software suppliers below.      

 

Giving guests the ability to book by instructor makes our instructors more engaged and motivated to improve. Even our very experiences instructors are interested in teaching effective beginner lessons and creating great experiences because they stay busier, make more money from being requested, and often know who their students will be.

 

The great benefit for the resort is that the school is an independent business that handles all the complexity of managing a large school without any cost to the resort. Each season we give them a check that is larger than what they make at the schools they own at their other resorts. We also produce a great deal of ancillary revenue from rentals, food and beverage, and ticket sales that would be much less without our large school. This revenue is created early in the season from presold programs which ensures revenue even when winter is off to a slow start.  We are a big asset rather than an expense, and the resort generates even more revenue from other traveling clubs who market, manage, and transport large groups of students to the resort. The success of independent schools in creating growth can also be seen in Washington state and Europe.

 

Beyond growth

 

Hiller says that guest safety has a big impact on growth; the list of stories below describes how it is a very big problem that goes beyond growth. But no one knows how much it is affecting growth because the industry makes it hard for the press to get accident and death statistics.

 

There were 57 deaths during the 2021-22 season and 53 catastrophic accidents causing paralysis, loss of a limb, or serious head injuries in 2022-23, in addition to all other sprains and broken bones. Based on the 18.6 percent of deaths coming from person to person collisions in the  Australian study below, about 10 of deaths in the U.S. are caused by participants colliding with each other. These horrible life altering events affect many other people, and the stories spread on social media. But beyond growth, a real concern for safety would be that even one death of this type is too many.

 

If this were the aviation industry, major investigations would happen, and a lot of changes would be made. The airlines don’t say that flying is dangerous, so you are doing it at your own risk, and they are not responsible. In skiing, these risks are just considered part of the cost of participating, but people don’t even know the cost because it is so hard to get the information. If the family member of a CEO at a large resort were killed like in the “Ride Another Day” story, things would be changing much faster.        

 

What can be done?

 

It takes a more proactive approach than discussed in the “Safer Slopes” article. More cameras could help, like the traffic cameras in major cities. But it could be hard to find the person who caused an accident when they do not stop, and it is dealing with problems after they happen. People use apps to track their vertical feet and are often rewarded with pins and leaderboards. This reduces safety and creates a liability, but it shows the low priority is given when creating these programs.

 

GPS tracking apps could be used to track participants so the person causing the accident can be quickly found if they do not stop. Their speed, direction, and location would be known, and access to the lifts could immediately be terminated to prevent additional injuries if they are under the influence. People may even modify their behavior if they know they are being tracked including not being under the influence. This is drastic, but so are deaths, especially if it is your spouse or child. A competitive advantage for a resort could be having a top safety record.

 

The culture of skiing is about freedom, but there are responsibilities to other people who have the right to enjoy the slopes with without having a family member killed. It does not take a lot of data to see the problem; just look at blue slopes on a busy day at a popular resort. There are so many close calls and near misses, it is hard to believe the statistics are not worse, and how many collisions without injuries are not even reported? Returning or revival participants who have been away for some years may find the risk too high on the crowded slopes mega passes have created.

 

Demonstrate ability

 

People cannot drive without training and testing, but anyone can go 50 MPH or faster on a busy slope without any training, proof of competency, or license plate to identify who they are if they cause a collision. Pine Knob has a program for school kids that restricts where they can go until they can demonstrate a certain level of ability.  With RFID technology it would be easy for resorts to limit access until the necessary ability is achieved. Resorts could provide incentives to encourage participation like award pins and leader board rankings. There could be discounts for safe skiing and riding, like auto insurance companies offer.

 

New goals

 

It is not helpful to have “Your responsibility code” if people do not know it exists, don’t know the long list of rules, and can’t follow the first rule, “Always stay in control. You must be able to stop and avoid people or objects.” Skiers often do not know how to ski in control; it is frequently a reason they take lessons. Some think no one is at fault when an accident happens; “it was just an accident.” But with so many serious accidents and deaths every season, the industry has a responsibility to make the slopes safer for their customers. Resorts may be moved there faster in Colorado with this new court ruling Colorado Supreme Court ruling on liability waivers may limit access (coloradosun.com)

Most first timers learn from family or friends or try it on their own. They go to slopes that are beyond their ability which frequently produces fear, frustration, or accidents. Their expectation is that it will be easy to ski; they don’t know it takes time and practice, so when they don’t learn quickly, they may think it is not fun or that they cannot do it. The problem is so bad that the conversion rate has been below 19 percent since it has been measured.

 

Fewer than half of the first timers take a lesson. Many choose a group lesson because they are much cheaper and private lessons are often not available at busy times. Beginner group lessons are frequently taught by the newest instructors and can be large because staff is limited, and they are very profitable. Some beginners are very fearful, uncoordinated, and learn very slowly, while others are very athletic and learn quickly. The class can turn off the fast learners who think lessons are slow and boring, while the slow learners can feel incompetent, neither is having a great experience. The instructor’s goal can be to start teaching more advanced classes ASAP and leave the beginner groups to the next rookie instructor.

 

Beginners who do return often have control problems which makes the slopes dangerous. The only goal they often have is to ski faster on steeper slopes. Control and how they are turning are less important because they don’t know what to do or how they are doing. Knowing how to be in control and make good turns must become the goal that replaces just going fast on steeper slopes.  

 

New programs

 

National team members create much of the instruction content that instructors teach. Every four years they go to Interski to “exchange beliefs” with instructors from other nations. The members of national teams go through a rigorous selection process requiring them to have top skiing or riding skills just to make it through the early rounds of the process. A top teacher can get eliminated at this point. Instructors training for the team often spend a long time at challenging resorts working on their skiing or riding skills. One team member said he had to train to ski faster after not making the team the last time he tried.

 

For much Interski history, the focus was on comparing the technique of top instructors to see who had the best new technique. It is a big competition; nations have sent top demonstrators who do not even teach. Some countries also require instructors to be able to ski within a certain time of a World Cup racer. It is instruction by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, and content changes regularly with new beliefs designed to help guests develop the latest version of expert skiing right from the start. Interski has recently had more emphasis on teaching, but there is still a large element of comparing expert skiing and riding to find the newest technique.

 

The average person skis or rides six times a season, and many are not young, fit, or athletic. It is a fun recreational activity for them to do with friends and family; they are not looking to become experts. Most do not have the time, fitness, or desire it takes to train daily all season. They will not be making fast carved turns on steep expert runs. It can be considered outdated to teach important things that beginner skiers need for control like steering moves for skidded turns and down and up movements that help with steering and timing. New programs that focus on control and safety are needed.

 

Only 7 percent of visits involve instruction, maybe because they are happy at their level, want to learn on their own, do not think they can get better, can’t book lessons on busy days, or think lessons are expensive, boring, complex, or ineffective, and they don’t like feedback, especially in a group.  Others think they are great and do not need lessons because it is hard to know how good they are without a score like in golf. Most lessons are beginners, so new programs that focus on them and the large market of recreational skiers are needed. 

 

A new approach

 

The September SAM article titled “The Training Conundrum” talked about every department but the snowsports school. A marketplace of training programs for snowsports schools will improve quality and reduce costs for instructors. The traditional international process to create content does not provide good business solutions for better safety and growth.  

 

Other sports do not have national techniques or national teams to create and distribute content. Instruction is a business, and it is time to unleash the benefits of competition. A variety of lesson programs would allow guests the ability to choose the programs they prefer. This is the way instruction used to be more than sixty years ago when resorts had famous instructors from different countries that provided a competitive advantage for resorts.

 

Golfers go to resorts where top instructors or their programs are taught. One of these is David Leadbetter who has schools at a lot of resorts. There are many other famous golf instructors like Harmon, Haney, Cowen, Foley who attract golfers to the resorts where they teach. PSIA/AASI members are dedicated and passionate instructors who could be providing a competitive advantage for resorts with unique training programs. At the bottom of this email is a podcast discussing the new PSIC alternative to CSIA in Canada and new PSIE the Professional Ski Instructors of Europe.

 

There is contradiction among instructing organizations; they like all the different ideas at the international level but only want one approach within each country. If competition is good internationally then it should be good for the country. Some team members attending Interski talk about all the different approaches as the reason there is so much conflicting information from trainers. The conclusion some reach is “good skiing is good skiing” and they know it when they see it even if they cannot agree on what it is. Sensations to focus on when teaching are important because each person learns differently, but they can produce confusion and endless debate trying to create one approach. However, different ways of skiing and teaching can make a marketplace so the customer can choose the approach they prefer.      

 

Greatinstructing.com

 

Greatinstructing.com focuses on beginners and improving control for recreational skiers. The timeless content has been tested for more than 20 years with real lessons. It provides skiers with visual goals and a score to measure their progress. Improving is constant challenging even with consistent goals because ski moves are opposite the natural moves that people make. Learning gets much harder when the goals are regularly changing with the newest beliefs about technique. Rather than focus on the latest beliefs about the differences in expert skiing, Greatinstructing.com focuses on the things skiers have in common and struggle with when learning.   

 

The average instructor only teaches for three years and makes little money. Most instructors are hobbyists who are taking a break from school, are retired, or are teaching on the weekends. It takes a long time and is expensive to get certified, so quicker, cheaper, and more effective training programs are needed. Certification programs based on a few days of simulated teaching is not as useful as a quality assurance program that evaluates the performance of instructors when teaching real guests. Progress is being made on Greatinstructing.com; it is being completed and will launch in September, www.greatinstructing.com

 

Changes in the old traditions of instruction will create growth, but it requires new approaches that provide guests the ability to choose instructors, more lessons programs, and more instructor training programs for resorts.

 

Ski Talk Forum

 

The discussions on the online forum “Ski Talk” have gone into great depth about the problems created by the instruction monopolies in this country and the benefits that more program options would provide like greater supply, quality, and price options. The demand is so high that nannies are teaching the children they watch in Aspen, and guests are looking for available instructors from anyone online. It is very hard to afford to live in a resort town working as an instructor. Retirement is reducing the supply of instructors even more and the lack of supply has caused Vail to hire people who do not ski or ride and train them to be instructors. The owner of the Ski Talk forum had this comment: “My issue is that you have no control or say in what you get for that $1,200. You could get a first year LI or a 30 year LIII. Talk about a crap shoot.”