Can offering a day of free skiing truly help grow the sport?
Interesting question here: http://www.slopefillers.com/can-free-skiing-grow-skiing/

Just a note that two of the offers were billed as customer appreciation day and that says to me that the marketing focus was geared to create local good will. One was a ski free day that also offered free rentals and was offered early season which seems more in line with the premise of the article. I know there is some thought in the industry that lift tickets could be a loss leader offering... the inexpensive hook to get a customer in the door in order to sell other goods and services.

Does it grow the sport? Well it wouldn't hurt but as noted the time and expense of getting to a resort is a big factor. As more small, local "feeder" ski areas fall into the "lost" column time and expense to just give the sport a try discourages even more first timers. I like to compare a ski resort to a golf course. How far do you have to travel to get to a golf course? There are 2 18 hole golf courses and 1 nine hole course within a 15 minute drive of my house. The irony here is that I understand that the golf industry is undergoing a bit of a decline due to too many courses for a shrinking population.

I don't know the definitive answer and I have no marketing experience but it just seems to me that one of the first hurdles to get over is getting the customer to the product. How much time and money is the first timer willing to send to try a new activity?

The real issue is how do you make that first time experience fun. How do you impart the basic skills in a short, inexpensive way to ensure the customer a positive outcome. In the case of the example cited in the article that offers both free tickets and rentals early in the season it is also noted that the ski school is full.

Who'd a thunk a free day would be a crummy way to recruit new skiers? Seemed like a no brainer good idea to me, but if the freeloaders annoy the regulars and no one has a good time because it's so crowded and stressful (guests and resort staff), then maybe I need to rethunk?
The comparable mid-Atlantic events that came to my mind were the Wisp $7 Birthday offering in mid-December and the Ski Chalet $2 or $10 demo days in early January. Everytime I've been to these they seemed to generate a lot of good will and enthusiasm all around.

A person who could speak to this from experience would be Scott Bender, as Hidden Valley has done a few season opening "free" days recently. I know it generated press and big crowds, but I do not know if it resulted in more skier visits overall.

I would think that such a marketing scheme, mid season, might work for a secondary ski area in a given market.

If the "never evers" are a bigger problem than the benefit, then how about this idea. One day where you get a free ticket, if you bring a lift ticket from another ski area from THAT season. Get people who might not otherwise leave their favorite ski area to try someplace else without the cost of a lift ticket.

GGNagy that would be a good free lift ticket promotion. With all the barriers to a never ever, clothes, rentals, lunch, gas, social inertia i think marketing a beginners package would be a better way to get them to the hill.

Good points by all. When I talk to friends who don't ski I ask them why. The majority of non skiers are afraid of injury. The old sterio-typical skier with his leg in a cast in the lodge comes to the mind of most. The industry needs to market itself as less of a health risk and more of a fitness and fun activity. Family oriented sport with lifetime skills.

Most people don't like the cold. I think that is the biggest reason more people don't ski or snowboard. And they associate snow with shoveling and driving difficulties.

How were you introduced to the sport? I bet it was a friend or family member.

For me it was a school ski club that only existed for one year at my middle school/high school (they shared a building). For some reason I was always enamored with the idea of skiing as a kid, even though none of my friends or family skied. I'd be glued to the TV when skiing was on Wild World of Sports or the Olympics.

So, when an opportunity presented itself I begged my parents to spend the money to let me join the ski club.

Family, in that I was given a pair of kid skis for Christmas at age 6 by my non skiing parents. They were solid wood, no laminations or edges, and were attached to my galoshes with a rawhide strap that was tied with a square knot. The trick was to aim them straight at the top of the hill to prevent crossed skis or doing the splits. Then I tried to stand on them until they came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, or ran into the neighbors garage, whichever came first. Pretty much all my friends got skis that same Christmas and most soon put them in a corner of the cellar to gather dust for the rest of eternity. I was protected against injury by being a tiny feather light child who had the latest puberty in recorded history. I bounced but did not break. Cold or fear of injury were not on my radar screen, although they worried my parents a lot. I just loved being outdoors and hyper kinetic activity.

Hidden Valley did the free ski, can of food for food bank)
thing for several years.
got very crowded on those days free rentals clogged the rental shop for hours.
free ski lessons in groups also.
the resulting repeat skiers either new or returning was
never a huge number.
to do this and track results, first time,2nd time and repeats, on various coupons and other trackable items have been tried.
NSAA has spent huge amounts of money trying to grow the beginner base and every few years comes out with a new better program that also fails.
we need athletic people, not afraid of cold or injury, with free time and money to spend.
40 degree Saturday after a foot of snow in the city with clear roads???
that's my plan

imp

I was introduced to the sport by two friends, one who is a regular poster on this forem.

Brilliant Imp. With this one line you have not only answered the skier growth question, but also the reason for life and secret to all happiness.

I would also add an enthusiastic, empathetic, and patient friend or family member who is a wiz at teaching the fundamentals.

Winter of 1983, someone in our dorm organized a bus trip to Wisp from WVU. A bunch of us who never skied decided to go. I think everyone except the bus driver was drunk.

IMO, I think it would be wise for the resorts to become active in establishing AND INTERACTING with ski clubs in the middle / high schools.

Apple figured out how to get kids hooked on iPads, iPhones and iPods. Why not get them hooked on ski / boarding?

ever notice the buses dumping beginners after school??
HV, the springs and laurel all had a big school ski club program.
20 years ago there were a lot more school ski clubs, now there are a lot of other things for kids to do. indoor soccer and hockey have impacted ski families I know.
ipads and such keep kids inside.
I think school clubs and other ymca type are a great idea and the industry needs to realy push this to keep the pipeline of skiers going.

imp

I was born with skis on. Needless to say, it was a tough pregnancy and even tougher delivery for my Mom.

John,

That's worth a fifth star, except I don't know how to do it. Maybe someone can help.

Came across this website recently. Apparently the Bring a Friend Challenge runs from Dec thu mid-March. Seems like a fun idea . . . but who knows how people are supposed to find out about it.

The idea is that people who get involved as "Inviters" to get friends to try skiing have the chance to win prizes from sponsors. Invitees have to take a beginner lesson from a professional instructor. Grand prizes in 2012-13 included 4-day ski trips to places like Smugglers Notch, Sun Valley, and Park City. There are weekly prizes starting in Jan.

http://www.bringafriend.org

I agree that some people avoid skiing for the possibility of injury and others for the cost, but I think those are two different issues for two different age groups. I would draw the line somewhere around 30. As a grad student for the past two winters, I am always trying to get friends to come skiing (as that's what I was doing 4 days a week while everyone else was doing homework :P ). I could not get anyone to come along until I had free lift tickets to offer up. After two days on the snow, they were hooked and willing to buy their own tickets (one even bought her own set of equipment). And we're talking about grad students here, think Ramen Noodles and PBR kind of lifestyle.

Anyway, my point here is: get them on the snow and let them have fun and they'll come back! Also, wouldn't resorts benefit more from bringing in "younger" customers who are at the "starting families" age?

Or, maybe I just wanted to brag about bringing another ski bum into the world...

I was introduced to the sport by my mother who was a German war bride. She learned to ski much the same way American kids learn to play baseball, everybody did it. She learned when there were no lifts where she lived (very few in the world in fact) and little distinction between nordic and alpine skiing. She used the same skis to compete in school events in both slalom and touring races; solid wood, no edges and held onto her sturdiest street shoes with leather straps. Can you imagine anyone today sticking with the sport under those conditions?

I think ABC Wide World of Sports was enough to start me being hooked. My parents got me some small plastic snow skis from Sears with canvas straps that laced your boot to the ski. the strap had those alligator mouth looking buckles, that would cake with snow and become almost impossible to reopen to tighten. used them many times in our long sloping back yard.

Real skiing started with a ski festival hosted by a Fraternal Union we belonged to. I remember the old beginner rope tow at HV and Spademan (or other style that gripped boots from the side) bindings that were set with the spring tension of a ball point pen and impossible to re-engage without removing every flake of snow from the metal plate on the binding and boot.

Come to think of it, it should be easier than ever to get people into skiing.