Hello Everyone –
I have a saying “Al Bell had a great idea in 1879, why don’t more people use it”.
It takes me a long time to catch on or catch up with communication devices such as email, twitter or facebook. I am still a big fan of the old fashion way of picking the phone and having my business done in many cases, in two-minutes or so. But even an old dog can learn or appreciate something new.
Despite being comfortable with phoning someone, let’s switch gears to what seems to be everyone’s new favorite, Facebook. Other than having to correct a couple of folks thinking opening day was going to be marginal, I have enjoyed making comments when people start knocking the snow many of the metro areas in the region have been getting. I have taken every opportunity to post “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” whenever some complains about the precipitation. That just creates a whole bunch of commotion and it’s great!
Imagine THAT – ME making people think, that just hurts thinking about it. The best thing about the whole situation is that it gets people talking about snow and allowing people who have fun in it a chance to let everyone know of their feelings. Now this is technology that I think even Al Bell would’ve appreciated.
If you are not friends with your favorite resorts or state associations, shame on you because it has been an easy and quick way of knowing exactly what’s going on in the industry, especially on the slopes where it counts the most. Of course the best way will always be the daily updates on skisoutheast.com, one stop shopping there folks. Facebook is also a way you, the skier or snowboarder, can correct misconceptions in the industry. Like when I had to let a “friend” of mine know that there is NO artificial snow on slopes in the southeast. That stuff on the slopes, as I informed my “friend”, was real man made snow, produced with real cold water and real cold air, nothing artificial there folks. Artificial snow is that stuff you spray on windows during this time of year. Boy did that ever create some excitement!
The moral of this story is the day of someone saying they couldn’t find out conditions or information about any of the resorts in the region are long gone. But if you are going to post something on Facebook or any other social media outlets (I still don’t twitter) be ready for someone to take you on if they have a descending position. But if you need to prove your point, you know a picture does say a thousand words, or something like that.
That’s it for this week, more to come as the season continues, just remember whether it be cold or whether it be hot, we’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather will be. Think about it! See you on the slopes.
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Joe Stevens, a member of the southeast ski industry since 1990 is a regular columnist for skisoutheast.com and serves as the Communications Director for the West Virginia Ski Areas Association.