John LaPlante

While the mountains we ride on may be natural, they’re shaped by the human environment of business models (lift tickets), engineering (snowmaking equipment) and the law (liability and land use).

The only ski area within the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area may shut down soon. The reason? A legal dispute between the owner of the area and the city council. There are a number of issues, including a demand by the city council that the ski area set aside a certain amount of land for “public use.”

Thanks to Shayboarder for the tip. I’m doing some research into the matter and may report back later.

The North American ski season is not far off. Loveland Ski Area has started making snow the other day. It even has a web page where you can watch the progress.

If you have a favorite snowboard instructor that you’d like to return to this winter, you may be out of luck. Why? The politics of immigration have made it much more difficult for U.S. ski areas to hire instructors from other countries.

Here’s an article I wrote on the subject

WHERE THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE MEETS MY SNOWBOARD INSTRUCTOR
Saint Paul Legal Ledger
September 18, 2008
John LaPlante

Last summer the big national issue was immigration reform. One side said “build a fence and enforce the law.” Another said “create comprehensive immigration reform that includes making a way for undocumented workers to become citizens.” The debate ended in an impasse. It was for me yet another debate “out there” until a fellow snowboard instructor told me that some ski areas were having trouble finding adequate instructors.

Immigration, like most areas of government, is an alphabet soup of laws and programs. Foreign ski and snowboard instructors come to this country through a seasonal work visa called the H-2B, which is for non-agricultural work. A business that wants to use this visa must fill out paperwork that is reviewed by the state department of labor as well as three agencies of the federal government. It’s likely that Pablo, who gave me one of my first snowboard lessons in Colorado, came to this country through this kind of visa.

Only 66,000 H-2B visas are granted each year. Thanks a special law, workers who had obtained a visa in a previous year were exempted from the cap if they wanted to return. In fiscal year 2007, some 69,000 foreign workers used this provision. But it expired during the immigration blow-up, effectively cutting the number of visas by more than half, and Congress never came close to reauthorizing it.

The returning-worker law was doomed by the larger issue over immigration, which included debates over agricultural workers, high-tech workers, economics versus politics and a proposal that businesses verify the legal status of everyone they hire. The Hispanic Congressional Caucus opposed piecemeal laws such as the returning-worker rule, favoring comprehensive reform and a new paths to citizenship. Union advocates such as Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), meanwhile, argued that the H-2B program required more vigorous enforcement of worker protection laws and the visa’s “prevailing wage” requirement.

On the other side, U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY), wrote that absent the returning-worker law, “many family-owned businesses that depend on such employees will be without the workforce they need to stay in business.” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), keeping mind the folks who harvest crabs in her state’s waters, said that without the exemption, “many businesses would be forced to limit services, lay off permanent U.S. workers or, worse yet, close their doors.”

Since the legal supply of H-2B workers has been halved, businesses have adapted in a lot of ways. Some, I suspect, simply flout the law. That puts companies that hew to the law at a competitive disadvantage.

Customers may see changes, too. If I return to Colorado and want to take a lesson with Pablo, there’s a good chance he won’t be there. As gas stations did years ago, businesses that depend on low-wage workers will find ways to shift some of the work onto consumers, and call it self-service.

Some ski and snowboard instructors hope that the law will improve their own conditions. After all, their pay is typically low (high-priced Vail, for example, proposed in its visa application to hire instructors at $9.06 to $18.05 an hour) and housing costs in resort areas are high, due to limited land for building. Other instructors, however, are pessimistic. After all, there’s a limit to what even well-healed skiers will pay for a lesson, meaning that raising instructor pay—one obvious way of attracting more U.S. job applicants—could simply price some instructors out of a job.

Ski towns and ski areas, which use the H-2B program for lift attendants, retail clerks and housekeepers as well as instructors, are scrambling to adjust. The timetable laid down in immigration law puts ski areas at a disadvantage: By the time they are able to submit their applications, much of the quota has already been filled.

So they’ve ramped up efforts to recruit U.S. workers by holding job fairs and advertising on Facebook and other social networks. Copper Mountain, a well-known Colorado resort, has advertised for experienced instructors on Craig’s List. According to one Denver-based snowboard instructor I know, that’s the first time Copper has had to recruit experienced instructors. I expect, though I haven’t read this yet in industry publications, that the larger, better known resorts will be able to poach some employees from their smaller brethren. No surprise there—regulations that make it more difficult to do business usually give the bigger boys an advantage.

As for Minnesota and the Midwest, a few ski areas have dabbled in foreign workers, but at least for day areas such as Afton Alps, the dispute has no impact. They’re able to hire local workers.

Instead, the businesses most affected are landscaping and lawn care services, nurseries, golf clubs, and summer resorts. Fran Regan of the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development (DEED) told me in an e-mail that in fiscal year 2007, DEED transmitted 95 H-2B applications from Minnesota employers to the U.S. Department of Labor. In turn, that department certified a total of 75 applications for a total of 2,125 workers. So even if they never leave the state for a ski trip, Minnesotans may see the impact of the restrictions, too.

I’m always eager to highlight niche outlets that spread the joy of snowboarding. Since the teenage male gets most of the media attention, there’s a lot of room for adults.

Another segment of the population that doesn’t get much attention in the world of snowboarding is women, generally. So here’s to PowderRoom.Net, a U.K.-based site that bills itself as being “for girls who know snow.”

It’s got news, a blog, a discussion forum, and other features.

Some ski resorts have been making a name for themselves by touting their “green” credentials. Of course, that helps them obtain another form of “green”–cash.

One such company is the Aspen Ski Co. Since I bought some lift tickets from them last year, they sent me a 14-watt CFL, or compact fluorescent lamp. You know, the kind of light that Congress has pretty much declared that we will all use, like it or not.

There’s nothing terribly unusual about the bulb, of course. But it’s got several additional layers of cardboard and paper around it (save the trees, anyone?) To begin with, there’ the standard-issue cardboard box that the bulb comes in. Then there’s an outer wrap with images from the Aspen/Snowmass region on it. OK. A pleasant touch, but the scenes are obscured by the words “save” and “snow” that alternately appear on each panel.

These two layers of packaging are then placed inside another box with a flip-top lid–think “mini-coffin,” which says “printed in China.” (How much of a “carbon footprint” was created to print this box in China–perhaps burning coal in an electricity plant with marginal pollution-control technology–and then ship it back to the United States?)

The top side of the lid has an inspirational (scolding?) quote about the interdependence of life, while the underside promises financial and environmental benefits of CFLs. Finally, there’s a mini-brochure touting the SkiCo’s environmental record: snowcats run on biodiesel fuel, they purchase “renewable wind power credits” (perhaps from the same company that lets Al Gore feel at peace touting the green lifestyle while using more electricity in a month than most Americans live in a year), etc.

Can you tell I’m a bit annoyed? Yep. Sure, I love snow. And I also think that a company ought to be free to do what it wants to do to attract customers. I would certainly prefer that to having politicians in Congress (or worse yet, unelected bureaucrats) making decisions for all of us. Obviously, ski industry leaders think that polishing their green credentials is good marketing–that being green can bring in the green.

Perhaps. On the other hand, I have my fears that any large-scale political response to observed changes in climate–a “cap and trade” system, for example–will enrich a few, politicize life even more, and harm the overall economy.

It’s hot and muggy today, but it’s not too early to start thinking of winter. The other day I received an e-mail from the snowsports school for which I occasionally teach. They already had a picnic for instructors and patrollers (I was out of town), and plans are set for refresher meetings.

My favorite news, though, are the tent sales for the sporting goods stores. There’s nothing like looking at new gear in person to get me giddy about the return of winter.

The common perception among non-riders is that snowboarding is much too risky of a sport. Maybe something like bungee jumping.

It’s true that injuries do happen during snowboarding. But sometimes the worst risks are those that aren’t so obvious. Take obesity, which is correlated with diabetes, high blood pressure, and other health issues that in turn have bad implications for health.

Writing on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, Phillip K. Howard explains Why Safe Kids are Becoming Fat Kids, and the item actually has some relevance to adults and their attitudes toward snowboarding.

You can read a summary here, but essentially the argument is that risk of physical harm is one thing that makes physical activity attractive. By removing opportunities for risk (e.g., banning tag at recess), our political and legal system encourages children to be inactive–and obese.

What’s the takeaway for adults? Some moderate amount of risk is still something that makes an activity enjoyable. Without it, there’s no testing of your abilities, and no “I did THAT?” sense of wonder and accomplishment after laying down a series of good turns or taking a pitch a little steeper than you did last time.

And so too many adults say “Snowboarding? Too dangerous. Not for me,” and they miss out on opportunities for personal growth–as well as a way to keep or get into shape.

The Industry Report, a blog about the mountain resort industry, looks at the factors that determine when a ski area shuts down for the season.

The answer is obvious in some cases, as summer temperatures melt the snow. But in the words of one industry insider, “you look around in the middle of June at resorts above 7,000 feet and wonder how they can possibly open for mountain biking and hiking when there’s still snow everywhere.”

In California, Mammoth continues to operate into July; so does Blackcomb, in British Columbia.

The kind of clientele an area receives makes a difference, of course: areas that serve hard-core riders and skiers are more likely to stay open late than destination resorts that cater to people who prefer an area at its peak winter condition.

If you’re a member of LinkedIn, you can use the site as a way of finding other professionals who have a passion for snowboarding. Click on “Groups” and then do a search for “Grays on Trays.”

Though I created the group, you don’t have to be linked to me to take advantage of it.

There are several different ways to create an artificial ski and snowboard surface. Here’s a video for Snowflex, a product created in the U.K. Not saying that I would find the prospect terribly exciting. But if it was the only thing available to me, I might give it a try.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWYjsoM35Sw]