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Growing the Sport
Passport Program Plus, which includes four days of lift/les-
son/rentals. At the end of the four days, participants receive a
season pass for the rest of the season and a pair of Elan skis,
plus discounts at the ski shop to purchase additional equip-
ment and accessories. This package directly tackles some of CHAMPIONS ARE BUILT BEFORE
the hurdles that beginners commonly cite: cost of a ticket/
season pass and cost of equipment purchase.
Importantly, Pats Peak stresses the importance of cus-
tomer service with all their staff, not just the rental and THE GAMES BEGIN
snowsports departments. Rowell elaborates, “[We want] to
make them feel like they are part of the sport, so guest ser-
vice is a big part of what we teach our employees. Smiling
and helping out our guests is most important.”

These specific examples of targeted changes and innova-
tive programs to increase beginner conversion are simple
yet effective, and can be implemented at any ski area in any
Pats Peak region of the country. More attention to conversion and fol-
low-up with beginners will yield dividends and will increase
the numbers of participants in skiing and snowboarding,
Pats Peak distributes data from the Beginner Conversion Study to its which is the entire point of the NSAA Model for Growth.
management team each week, which helps inform the development of Consider creative ways to do things differently at your
learning programs such as Passport Plus, which gives guests the tools
they need to continue with the sport: a free season pass, Elan skis, and ski area, with the intention of bringing more people to the
coupons for other discounts. awesome sports of snowboarding and skiing.
SARA JEVO 19 84

CALGARY 19 88

INVENTED IT N AGAN O 19 9 8

SALT L AKE CIT Y 2002
ENGINEERED IT
VAN COUVE R 2010

Jeongseon, Korea
BUILT IT SOCHI 2014 2018 Alpine Olympic Venue

PYE ON GCHANG 2018

UNSURPASSED

SMI is proud to be the snowmaking provider for 7

With 50 years of experience, Wiegand’s Alpine Coaster winter Olympics including the new 2018 Jeongseon
designs propel millions of guests year-round on over 250 ALPINE COASTERS Alpine Olympic Venue with 130 SMI PoleCat fans. Snow
Alpine Coasters worldwide. Enhance your year-round U.S. HEADQUARTERS MONTANA Makers
business with a Wiegand design. Nobody does it better. 406.777.990 • wiegandsportsusa.com Olympic athletes are the best at what they do, and +1.989.631.6091 E R S . C O MS W E A T H E R P R O O F T M
S N O W M A KN O W M A K E R S . C O M
we are honored to help prepare the stage for them. SNO WMAKERS. C OM
F A CEBOOK. C OM/SNO WMAKERS

T E C H N O L O G Y + L O N G E V I T Y + S E R V I C E
10 | NSAA JOURNAL | SPRING 2018