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Most ski areas have lift surveillance video footage running on capability will need more storage space. Most outdoor cam-
computer screens through their ski patrol dispatch or in their eras come with an outdoor enclosure, which may be included
security office, which allows for intermittent monitoring. with the cost of the camera. (Some areas using lift surveil-
Notably, most new camera systems now allow senior man- lance have noted that most cameras do not seem to have
agement to periodically monitor video footage straight from issues with ice or fog, as some outdoor-rated cameras come
their smartphones, or even remotely from home. with built-in heaters and fans.) Ski areas with night opera-
tions should also consider a camera with infrared capability.
How much storage capacity depends on the number of
WHEN AN INCIDENT OCCURS, HOW MUCH FOOTAGE SHOULD BE SAVED? cameras around the resort. Many ski areas already employ
surveillance in other public locations, and a dozen cameras
When a lift incident occurs, ski areas should maintain more at various chairlift terminals are not likely to impact network
than just the few minutes of actual footage of the incident traffic speeds or bandwidth. Indiana’s Perfect North Slopes
to preserve in case of a future claim. You might retain an ex- uses a 40-terabyte server; Bear Creek Ski Resort in Pennsyl-
panded part of the footage that shows not only the particular vania—with more than 250 surveillance cameras around the
incident (someone not fully getting onto a chair, for exam- entire resort—has a 70-terabyte storage system. Individual
ple) but also footage of others loading the lift under similar cameras may also have an internal SD memory card for
conditions for, say, an hour around the time of the actual temporary storage, but ski areas are typically using either
incident. This will likely show that guests of all abilities and on-site storage servers or even Cloud storage, which may be
ages were able to safely navigate the lift loading or unload- sufficient for just a few cameras at lifts. Depending on the
ing process under similar weather conditions—an especially location of your resort, the use of Wi-Fi for video recording
valuable tool in case a claim goes to a jury trial. Likewise, you purposes can be less effective for capturing video. Moreover,
may also look through that day’s footage to determine if you Wi-Fi is often more expensive than hard-wired network
have captured the same guest using that lift prior to the inci- connections and not as reliable, particularly in more remote
dent. Again, always work closely with your ski area’s outside rural locations.
legal counsel in structuring protocols and strategies with your Power is typically provided over Ethernet to a nearby
use of video surveillance and retention of video footage. switch. Often, network connectivity can be a challenge, espe-
cially up the lift to the unloading areas of longer lifts. If not,
you would need a small storage server at the site to maintain
WHAT ARE THE INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS FOR SURVEILLANCE AT LIFTS? the footage.
Lastly, one helpful consideration: Some ski areas dis-
The infrastructure is pretty straightforward—starting with courage placing cameras on lift towers, which vibrate during
a camera, preferably one that is high-definition. Consider operation and therefore may distort images or affect the tech-
cameras with a range of 2 to 4 megapixels (on the lower nological stability of outdoor cameras. Likewise, areas using
end), or a camera with 5 to 8 megapixels that provides higher surveillance at lifts recommend mounting cameras away from
quality digital zoom capability. Cameras with high-definition interference from nearby snowmaking operations.

“IT WAS AMAZING THE NUMBER OF TIMES GUESTS ACTUALLY

APOLOGIZED TO US FOR EXAGGERATING THEIR CLAIMS FROM INJURIES

FROM LIFTS, AFTER WE SHOWED THEM THE FOOTAGE.”

—MARK SCHROETEL, POWDER MOUNTAIN

40 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2017