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Reprints From The Professional Skier

Fall 1999 - "Jiminy Peak Shapes a Success Story" by John Root

This article is reprinted from The Professional Skier. All copyrights apply. Please see our copyright and disclaimer notice page.

Acceptance and use of short shaped skis is on the rise, notably at American Ski, Company and Intrawest resorts as well as larger independents. Jiminy Peak, Massachusetts, is one area making extensive use of short shapes within the context of a completely revamped beginner program, and with much success. Jiminy Peak has a winning formula for teaching and organization, with the new short shapes serving as a key ingredient.

Objectives

In the fall of 1998, Jiminy Peak embarked on an aggressive campaign to increase the return rate of first-time skiers from 10 percent to 30 percent. Using the new short shapes as a catalyst to revamp its ski school dynamic, Jiminy anchored its beginner lessons with the new gear and focused on courting the beginning skier and capturing the ever-elusive return lesson.

Short shapes became the impetus to this restructuring after Jiminy's area operator, Brian Fairbank, tried out shaped skis for himself in 1996-97. Discovering how easy the equipment was to turn and, better yet, how fun it was to tool around on, Fairbank had an epiphany: "I realized that if we centered our program on this user-friendly equipment-and warmed up our approach to welcoming people to our area and the sport as well-we could probably capture never-ever skiers in droves," he says. "Not only that, I knew we could target lapsed skiers to get them back and on a higher-performance short ski."

Fairbank and his staff set about recreating their entire program, and after one year with the new procedures in place, Jiminy yielded a 50 percent return rate from first-time students. "We arrived at this figure by tracking lesson sales on the rental shop computer," Fairbank explains. "We used separate product codes for various lessons, and to determine how many first and second-time lessons we sold, all we had to do was ask the rental shop to spit out the numbers for us."

Emphasizing the combination of operational changes, teaching methodology, and the new, user-friendly equipment in Jiminy's success, Fairbank says he wouldn't be surprised if the return rate climbs even further this season, now that the program has been in place for a year.

Organization and Infrastructure

Knowing that the first visit to a ski area can be an intimidating, overwhelming, and confusing experience, Jiminy Peak takes great care to ensure that guests feel welcomed and informed. Personnel and signage direct new skiers to their own special rental shop entrance.

Once there, they are equipped with rental boots and short shaped skis, typically an Elan 113 cm. (Other programs may use a Hart 120, a Rossignol 110 or 120, or the Elan in a 123, but it's a matter of choice.) To facilitate developing a natural stance, Jiminy doesn't issue poles to beginners.

At this point, it is important to note the essential role of our rental shop in our program. Because there is no fixed starting time for the lessons, it's critical to have close communications with the rental shop to find out when people have purchased a first or second lesson. After guests pay for their lesson--the first stop in the rental shop--the cashier simply radios us to give us a heads up that guests will be coming our way. Then as the guests progress through the rental shop--a 20-minute process, give or take--we have time to make sure an instructor is available when the guests are ready to go.

Guests are guided from the rental shop to a rustic cabin approximately 75 feet away. This center is adjacent to the beginner's slope and is built to resemble a New England sugarhouse (a small cabin near a stand of sugar maple trees where the water from syrup is boiled off). The sugarhouse is for beginner or second-lesson students. Those with more experience participate in the regular ski school program.

The sugarhouse is warm and friendly featuring a weathered wood interior, ample seating, a gas fireplace, hot chocolate, and a VCR that shows references of solid, intermediate skiing--nothing aggressive or too advanced for this particular audience. It is here, in this welcoming environment, that guests are introduced to the first phase of their lesson.

There are no fixed start times for the initial hour-and-a-half lesson. As customers arrive at the sugarhouse they are greeted by the hostess and staff and asked to sign in. Instructors initiate conversations with guests to facilitate natural groupings of three to five people.

Instructors make sure the guests are wearing clothing that is appropriate for a day on the slopes. (Gloves and hats from lost and found are always on hand in case anyone needs them.) Instructors also check to see that everyone has been fitted for boots correctly--if not, they accompany individuals back to the rental shop for assistance. Once everyone in the group looks comfortable, relaxed, and appropriately dressed for the task at hand, they're ready to go outside and try out the exercises described in the previous article ("Short Shapes Turn Skiing Into The Big Easy".)

Instructor Buy-In

Regardless of equipment or infrastructure, no program can succeed without the enthusiasm of the people who carry it out. At every ski school, the attitude and participation of the instructors determine the quality of a student's experience, and nowhere has this been more evident than in Jiminy's beginner program.

If the instructors were ever resistant to the new equipment and the fact that they might need to rethink some of the traditional approaches to teaching, they didn't make an issue of it. Most seemed eager to try the new gear, and once they did, their enthusiasm for the program quickly became apparent. The energy levels alone swept up hesitant newcomers. Even the skeptics--after sliding around on short shapes for awhile--were soon fans.

Area management helped create this positive atmosphere by empowering the ski school. Rather than implement an externally mandated program, the ski school was encouraged to let the program evolve internally. The core staff last season chose or were invited to be a part of the program--and all were self-motivated, sensitive, creative team players with exceptional people skills. Each team member was allowed to use his or her own style to achieve the desired outcome. And when not assigned a class, staff would cruise the hill, helping their teammates with a fresh point of view.

Instructors were responsible for the sale of the next lesson. In this respect, at the completion of the first lesson, students were given the opportunity to purchase a voucher for a second visit any time during the remainder of the season, which covered the costs of equipment, lift ticket, and lesson. In this lesson, a longer short ski with higher performance characteristics was employed if appropriate. All told, there are more than 2,500 new skiers on the slopes thanks to these dedicated instructors.

The overriding sentiment among the instructors was to welcome the chance to be students again themselves--to be among the first to try out the new equipment and to feel comfortable on it so they could offer the level of teaching excellence that today's students have come to expect. Don't underestimate the importance of this: You need to be on the same kind of skis your students are on to fully demonstrate how they're used.

If there's a lesson to be gained from Jiminy's experience, it's that instructors will find it worthwhile to nudge themselves beyond their comfort zone now and then. After all, that's what we've always told our students, isn't it? Jiminy Peak instructors understand that although the short shapes represent the rabbit in the hat, the instructors create the magic!

John Root has been teaching since 1962 and has been a Level III instructor since 1964. He is the GLM (guaranteed learning method) supervisor and staff trainer at Jiminy Peak, where he has worked since 1983. Root and his wife, Edith (a Level II instructor and the supervisor of the Women's Program at Jiminy), live on their horse farm in Old Chatham, New York.