Page 44 - Winter 2018 Journal

ith the XXIII Olympic Winter Games
coming up February 9–25 in PyeongChang,
South Korea, ski areas across the country
have been working to make the most of
Olympic qualifying events, leverage local
Olympians past and present, and create extra buzz around
the biggest international event in snowsports.
The hope is that the excitement generated at the local level
will have a ricochet effect—inciting people to avidly watch the
Games, then get revved up to go skiing and boarding them-
selves. While there is some debate about whether the Olympics
boost skier and snowboarder trial and conversion significantly
(see “Do the Olympics Generate More Participation in Snow-
sports?” pg. 46), many areas find ways to highlight the events
surrounding the Games and spotlight the sport based on the
inspirational images and stories of athletes at the pinnacle of
skiing and snowboarding performance.

he Olympics hype started early at Colorado’s Copper
TMountain Resort, home of the US Ski Team Speed Cen-
ter, which opened November 15, 2017; at Killington, host
of this year’s Audi FIS Women’s Ski World Cup in Vermont
over Thanksgiving weekend; and at Beaver Creek, (where
the Vail Valley Foundation hosted the 2017 Audi FIS Birds
of Prey World Cup in Colorado in early December, with
Downhill, Super G, and Giant Slalom racing).
Resorts, teams, and organizing committees have regularly
created opportunities for fans to see the World Cup races
and interact with big name athletes for autograph signings
and other base area appearances, including Ted Ligety, Steven
Nyman, Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn.
“Vail Resorts is proud to support the athletes of the na-
tional skiing, snowboarding, and Paralympic teams in the US
and Canada,” said Liz Biebl, director of brand communica-
tions for Vail Resorts. “We hope our continued support helps
athletes to pursue and achieve their dreams—and that success
will perhaps fuel the same desire in young skiers and riders,
some of whom may even follow that path themselves.”
Other Olympic qualifying events included the three events
in the US Ski & Snowboard Grand Prix, a series of halfpipe,
slopestyle, and big air contests held at Copper Mountain and
Snowmass, Colo., and Mammoth Mountain, Calif.—all of
which provided the public with opportunities to watch the ath-
letes compete and to meet many of them in person. (The official
US Snowboard and Freeski teams in these disciplines will be
announced on January 20 and 21 at Mammoth Mountain.)
While Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows didn’t host a
qualifying event this year, the resort maintains its strong his-
torical connection to the Olympics and has used that tie to
bolster the public’s growing interest in the upcoming Winter

42 | NSAA JOURNAL | WINTER 2018