The snow sports industry is missing the boat.
Communities dependent on snow sports need to do more than try to entice visitors to luxurious lodges in the most beautiful landscapes in the country. They need to embed snow sports themselves into American life.
The middle of the Great Recession is as good a time as any to begin to make snow sports second nature. It's a tall order, but it's doable.
How?
The standard answer is to produce more marketing that shows people having fun and hoping visitors will sign up. However, there are things like the fact that snow sports are intimidating to people who didn't start skiing, boarding or snow shoeing shortly after they learned to walk that even the best marketing can't overcome without some help.
Just as problematic is the poor fitness level of Americans, which keeps them from even thinking about outdoor sports. Thirty percent of us are obese, and the problem is so serious that first lady Michelle Obama is launching a national fight against obesity in children.
A better answer is for snow sports to help the nation get fit and help the ailing industry at the same time. That will require overcoming serious misperceptions about the sports.
Snow sports are often viewed as only for the young, the rich, the incredibly fit and those who don't mind risking their lives going 90 mph down a hill.
Shedding this baggage will require the industry to reach out with new programs for people of all ages and fitness levels.
Resorts should bring together instructors, fitness trainers, nutritionists and equipment specialists to help people get involved in snow sports.
The industry should sponsor and disseminate research on the health benefits of snow sports. It should accentuate the favorable comparison of the cost of snow sports to the costs of medical care for chronic preventable diseases related to obesity and to the costs of electronic diversions that contribute to sedentary lifestyles. It should also show people easy ways to make snow sports affordable.
Winter resorts should create "farm team" relationships with small ski areas to nurture new generations of visitors.
All of this is a lot harder than building hotels, buying advertising, doing social networking and hoping people will eventually incorporate winter sports into their lives and their travel.
If the snow sports industry is to quit shrinking and start growing again, snow sports must become synonymous with life.
