[News & Views]
(+21.4 percent) and Pacific Northwest (+10 percent), and the season ran a week lon- ger than last year on average, with fewer midseason closures. Participation was up for a fifth straight year, with 3.1 percent of Americans (an estimated 10.7 million people) skiing or riding. But the sports’ demographic profile keeps aging: skiers and riders over 55 accounted for 24 percent of visits, while the under-25 share slid to 33 percent, markedly below the NSAA Growth Com- mittee’s 40-percent target. In the vein of growth, lessons per area increased 3.3 percent, but still remain below the 2022- 23 post-Covid high. Guests also remain overwhelmingly white (86 percent), male (62 percent), and high-income (74 percent from $100K+ households), underscoring the gap between the partic- ipant base and the U.S. population. Inter- estingly, the share of skier visits made on a season pass declined for the first time in a decade, down from 51 percent to 49 percent, suggesting, if not a shift in con- sumer, a shift in consumer behavior. For a dive into the Kottke’s guest expe- rience findings, see “A Worrisome ‘New Normal’” (p. 51).
with alpine touring also posting solid gains. Average days on snow ticked up across most disciplines, echoing NSAA’s Kottke finding that average days per pass holder had increased for the first time in four years. SIA’s full report lands in September.
ate Finance and Revenue Committee this summer, but died without a floor vote when the legislature adjourned. The incidents are a study in how two neighboring states can look at the same risk landscape and choose entirely differ- ent approaches, serving to highlight how much liability law can potentially shape the viability of ski area operations.
LIABILITY WHIPLASH IN THE PNW
PFAS: THE WAX THAT WON’T QUIT
In June, the Idaho Supreme Court reversed its own 2023 decision in Milus v. Sun Valley , restoring long-standing assumption-of-risk protections for ski areas. The earlier ruling had briefly expanded operators’ duty of care and sent some shivers through the industry, draw- ing amicus briefs from the NSAA and oth- ers. The about-face was welcome news for operators, but it came with a caveat: the court introduced a “reasonably pru- dent person” negligence standard when fulfilling statutory duties, language that could invite more legal challenges in the future. State lawmakers, who shelved a clarifying bill while the rehearing played out, are now weighing statutory changes that would further enshrine liability pro- tections for ski area operators. Across the border in Oregon, the trend is going the other way. Safehold Special Risk, a longtime ski insurer, announced in June it will pull out of the state by year’s end, leaving Mountain- Guard as the only insurer for at least 14 ski areas. Safehold pointed to mounting losses in a state that refuses to enforce lia- bility waivers, where jury awards can be both unpredictable and enormous. A bill that would have reinstated the enforce- ability of waivers passed out of the Sen-
New Hampshire legislators are the lat- est to eye a ban on ski-waxes containing PFAS, aka “forever chemicals.” Research this winter found measurable PFAS in slope soils and water at three New Hampshire and Vermont ski areas, mir- roring the findings of similar studies in Europe. Recent crackdowns against PFAS have been seen across various industries and states, and many PFAS-containing ski waxes are already being phased out. Beginning in 2023-24, FIS began enforce- ment of its ban of all fluorinated waxes to reduce environmental contamination and the risk to human health. While compliance is a challenge, maybe it’s time for resorts to help speed the shift by promoting the use of PFAS-free waxes.
EARLY SIA DATA: NORDIC HEATS UP, ALPINE SOFTENS
CAN AN ALGORITHM LAND A 1440?
A Snowsports Industries America (SIA) Participation Highlights Report preview shows overall U.S. snowsports partic- ipation up 2.4 percent year-over-year. According to SIA, though, the growth was uneven. Alpine skiing slid 1.8 per- cent, and snowboarding 1.2 percent. Winners were cross-country skiing (+5.8 percent) and snowshoeing (+5.7 percent),
At X Games Aspen 2025, an experimen- tal Google Cloud “AI judge” assessed airtime, trick difficulty, and execution in real time during superpipe events. The broadcast roll out was somewhat clunky. And the AI judge’s scores didn’t count, but organizers say the test proved accurate enough to commercialize the platform (now spun off as Owl AI ) for other sports. Purists fret that creativity could get coded out (and bias coded in), but backers see the tech as a transparent, multilingual scoring win. SUPPLIER NEWS Phil Van Why will lead HKD SNOW- MAKERS ’ newly established service department, HKD Service, and has been promoted to senior technician and North American training manager. As
sam industry calendar Find more events and details at saminfo.com/industry-calendar
Sept. 8-9
New England Summit
Portland, ME
nesummit.com
Sept. 15-17
SKI NY-SKIPA EXPO
Ellicottville, NY
iskinyexpo.com
Sept. 23-26
Mountain Technology Symposium
Camelback, PA
nsaa.org
Oct. 7-8
Mountain Towns 2030
Breckenridge, CO
mt2030.org
Oct. & Nov
Snowvana
WA, OR, and WI
snowvana.com
Nov. 14-16
Snowbound Expo
Boston, MA
snowboundexpo.com
Dec. 5-7
Ski Dazzle
Los Angeles, CA
skidazzle.com
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