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Since 2012 Sugar Bowl Resort has installed video surveillance cameras at chairlifts as one part of a broader, industry-leading chairlift safety initiative. | Sugar Bowl Resort

of liability—season pass releases, rental agreements, ski les- ANSI B77 code, for example), and an additional sign about
sons, etc.—likely contain (or should contain) a provision that surveillance may lead to more sign pollution.
grants the ski area explicit permission to use a guest’s picture
or likeness for any commercial benefit. While it is unlikely
that surveillance footage would be used commercially or for ARE THERE OTHER BENEFITS WITH LIFT SURVEILLANCE?
marketing, having this authorization through waivers and
releases is always a good arrow to have in your quiver. Interestingly, there are some other positive, unintended
Still, there is often a broader concern about the benefits resulting from lift surveillance. For example, the
“Big Brother” effect—but this tends to be an issue with em- surveillance cameras at Bear Creek’s lifts were used to remote-
ployees, rather than guests, being surveilled. “Our guests realize ly monitor line congestion. If certain lifts were getting long
that the use of surveillance is actually to help them feel more lines, resort managers would quickly respond by getting more
secure, so there has been little if any issue with that,” said Jarad employees out to the lift to orchestrate line management
Golitko, the IT manager at Stratton, Vt., which has been using and get chairs fully loaded, said Mark Schroetel, the area’s
surveillance cameras near ski racks outside the base lodge. former GM. Bear Creek also used other surveillance systems
for rental shop congestion and ticket window congestion, be-
cause the cameras could be remotely monitored, allowing the
SHOULD YOU NOTIFY GUESTS WITH SIGNAGE ABOUT SURVEILLANCE? ski area to strategically get employees to congested locations
to provide better guest customer service.
Again, there are no laws or regulations requiring the post- “It’s hard to be everywhere at once, and these cameras
ing of signs informing the public that you are conducting will help our operations team keep a better eye on things to
surveillance. When businesses inform guests about surveil- decide if a lift maze needs to be extended, or if some change
lance, they often do it as a way to make their guests feel more is needed to deal with congestion,” said Mount Snow’s Jason
secure, but it’s not required by law. One consideration is that Perl. “To me, the bigger value of surveillance at lifts is the
at the lift loading area, there are often many other warning real-time ability to better identify and monitor areas for
and instructional signs already required (pursuant to the improvement in overall operations.”

42 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2017