Mountain Town News
Venture beyond
JASPER, Alberta – After a year of futzing, Jasper’s tourism officials have adopted a new tagline: “Venture Beyond.”
“There are a handful of things that really drive Jasper and really differentiate Jasper, so our goal was to build a brand around those differences,” said Eddie Sheppard, of Stormy Lake Consultants, one of the consultants.
The Jasper Fitzhugh notes that the new come-thither line bears a striking resemblance to the “Go Beyond” campaign devised for Tourism Canmore Kananaskis. Andrew Nickerson, the group’s chief executive, says he sees no problem.
The two taglines are just different enough to create separation, he says, yet they are similar enough to allow opportunity the two destinations to be packaged together to international travellers. “At the end of the day, we are far, far stronger working together than competing with one another.”
Patrollers consider unionizing
TELLURIDE, Colo. – Telluride Ski Patrol members, plus dispatchers and snowmobilers, will be voting on whether to unionize under the auspices of the Communications Workers of America. The union already represents ski patrollers at Steamboat and Crested Butte, both in Colorado, and The Canyons in Utah.
A union representative tells the Telluride Daily Planet that about 55 people employed by the Telluride Ski and Golf Co. are eligible to vote. The ballots will be collected by the National Labor Relations Board and counted on Feb. 27.
Pepper Raper, the ski company’s communications manager, told the newspaper that “we are just trying to work with them to understand their concerns and the drive behind this. We don’t necessarily think we need a third party to tell us or tell them what’s best.”
Too connected?
PARK CITY, Utah – Park City enjoys access unrivaled among ski resorts of the West. It’s just a half-hour to Salt Lake City, if you dawdle along the way, and just 10 minutes more to the airport. Even Jackson Hole, Vail, and Aspen, with all their direct flights to distant cities, don’t come close.
But could the transportation links be improved? And should Park City want to keep at least a small bit of distance?
Those questions were being discussed in Park City after a group called Mountain Accord sponsored a discussion about transportation alternatives. Some of the ideas involve just small increments, such as how to improve transportation flows on nearby I-80. But there was also talk of connecting Park City via tunnels to Alta and other resorts on the east side, reports the Park Record.
Not everybody is impressed. “We have no money for schools but we have money to blast through mountains to build trains,” asked local activist Rich Wyman.
A local delegation will be going to Switzerland and perhaps to Italy to study everything from ski lifts to gondolas, bus lines, and trains. Ann Ober, a policy adviser in city government, tells the Park Record she wants to study how Zermatt, Grindelwald, Interlaken, and other resort areas have kept their individualism despite connectedness. She also wants to see how destinations can be connected “in the smartest way possible.”
Striving to be device friendly
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The Steamboat Pilot & Today observes that ski areas across Colorado have been upgrading their wireless infrastructure to accommodate the new set of whims and wishes of those with cell phones and now smartphones.
Doug Allen, vice president of mountain operations at the Steamboat Ski Area, observes that Vail Mountain already has wi-fi on its gondola. “When we redo our own gondola, I’m trying it get it on ours as well.”
Steamboat, adds the newspaper, last season installed a distributed antenna system, or das, at several places to allow cell phone users better data connections.
At Arapahoe Basin, cell phone coverage was limited until two years ago. A new connection has been put into place, although don’t expect wi-fi on the chairlift. This is place that until a decade ago didn’t even have snowmaking.
Alan Henceroth, the chief operating officer, said smartphones on ski slopes and chair lifts are welcomed by some, resisted by others. “It strongly reminds me that A-Basin can be a lot of different things to different people.”
