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Growing the Sport
US & CANADA JOIN FORCES TO SET WORLD
RECORD FOR LARGEST LESSONS
Organizers Streamline Host Requirements
BY MARY JO TARALLO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
LEARN TO SKI & SNOWBOARD MONTH
THE LEGENDARY FRENCH WRITER Victor Hugo once said that be positioned as the start of the country’s Never-Ever Days,
perseverance is the secret of all triumphs. With that in mind, a program similar to LSSM that is intended to motivate
the ski industry will once again attempt to set a Guinness newcomers to learn how to ski and/or snowboard by taking
World Record for the World’s Largest Mass Participation Ski lessons from a qualified instructor.
Lesson and Snowboard Lesson January 6, 2017—and the
Canadian snowsports industry is joining us! “Canada is a country with a rich heritage of partic-
ipation in winter sports, and we believe that skiing and
Surprisingly—despite the tireless efforts of organizers, snowboarding are the best family winter sports available,”
the support of numerous industry stakeholders, and the par- said Paul Pinchbeck, CEO of the Canadian Ski Council.
ticipation of 150 ski areas—we were unable to meet all of “The Canadian Ski industry is excited to partner with our
the exacting guidelines for our initial Guinness world record American colleagues to work towards introducing as many
attempt in January 2016 (more on that later). Adding to this, people as possible into snowsports.”
warm weather throughout most of the East forced some ski
areas to bow out of the event at the last minute. While there are some differences in how the US and
Canada administer and execute LSSM and Never Ever Days,
But we’ve learned our own big lessons based on the expe- both programs receive broad support from their respective
rience, and we aren’t giving up. Even though we didn’t set associations that help govern that country’s ski and snow-
the Guinness world record, we were successful by our own board industry.
measure: more than 6,000 new skiers and snowboarders
introduced to these sports during the one-day event, along Notable Changes
with incalculable PR value to ski resorts throughout the
country. And, with the support of the Canadian ski indus- There are only four requirements for areas to participate in
try this year, we have even stronger chances of setting the the upcoming World’s Largest Lesson initiative as follows:
records for the largest ski and snowboard lessons in North
America. That’s right: our Canadian friends are joining us in 1. LESSON TIME: From an administrative perspective, the
this endeavor, and their participation is sure to help us cinch biggest overall change from the previous attempt is the
the title. fact that all lessons will take place simultaneously rather
than according to time zone. Besides being a Guinness
A core group of regional and national association repre- requirement, we believe this can only lead to a successful
sentatives, suppliers, and event organizers are already develop- attempt. Submitting the numbers by time zones last year
ing guidelines to make it as easy as possible for host ski areas resulted in diluted totals overall because we could not
to participate. We are committed to formally break the world submit numbers from the whole country at once.
record this coming January, but more important, we want to Here are the 2017 start times:
once again leverage the event as a way to launch Learn to Ski
and Snowboard Month in order to welcome thousands of new DATE: Friday, January 6, 2017
people to the sport. And we need your help to do it!
START TIMES: 9 a.m. Alaska
Strength in Numbers 10 a.m. Pacific
11 a.m. Mountain
The involvement of Canadian ski areas in the largest lessons 12 p.m. Central
attempt will significantly increase our chances of breaking 1 p.m. Eastern
the record. In Canada, the World’s Largest Lesson event will
14 | NSAA JOURNAL | FALL 2016
