Credit: Mary Jo Tarallo Left to Right Kimberly Plake, Glen Plake, Mary Jo Tarallo, Scott Brandi (Ski Areas of NY), Hoda Kotb (NBC Today Show), Greg Sweetser (Ski Maine), Margie Bell (SkiPA), Linda Irvin (Ski PA)
Sixteen years ago, the ski/snowboard industry embarked on a venture known as Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month for the entire month of January. Over 10 years, from 2009 to 2019, it introduced many thousands of newbies to snowsports. But how it came to be was somewhat serendipitous.
A group of state ski areas associations came up with the concept of offering special “learn to deals” in a specific time frame – the month of January. An effort to secure a declaration from the White House did not materialize. However, the PR director for SnowSports Industries America (SIA) at the time and the Marketing Director for Ski Utah (who is still there) came up with the idea of simply declaring January as Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month while breakfasting at a popular cafe in Salt Lake City in January 0f 2009.
There were so many “National What Evers” that it just made sense to establish one for the ski/snowboard industry to generate new skiers and snowboarders, a goal on which the industry has long been focused.
On a press trip to New York later that year, the Ski Utah team managed to secure a segment on the TODAY Show for January 2010 to kick off the second year of the program. The plan was to have NBC’s Hoda Kotb come to Camelback Resort in Pennsylvania to video a segment where Glen Plake would give her a ski lesson.
The concept had a touch of humor. The opening scene showed Hoda in a children’s class. After a few pointers from Glen, Hoda turned into an expert skier. Her “double” truly was an expert skier who apparently heated up the jacket they both shared. She commented on it in good jest!
Representatives from Ski Areas of New York, Ski Maine and Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association all attended to filming at Camelback along with Glen and Kimberly Plake and the LSSM Executive Director.
Many industry areas and organizations already were on board with Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month, but the Today Show visibility attracted SO many more, including the attention of Michael Berry who, at the time, was the president of the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). Unlike SIA, NSAA had not been initially involved, but Berry recognized the value that LSSM brought to the effort to attract newbies.
When the SIA PR director left the organization, Berry infused funds to expand the program with said director at the helm. Funding included SIA and NSAA plus clothing and equipment companies, state ski area associations and more. In fact, state ski area associations always formed the backbone of the program that became a collaboration of about 75 industry organizations.
A steering committee was formed with Ski Utah Marketing Director Raelene Davis as chair. Ski areas could determine what constituted its “learn to offer” based on its position in the marketplace. A web site tied the offers together to make it easy for the public to find information and benefit from tips on lessons, what to wear and other helpful hints for beginners.
Together we introduced more than a million newcomers to the sports from 2009 – 2019., the last year for the national Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month. I’m proud to have helmed the program.
Then, priorities within the industry seemed to be changing, with a greater focus from conglomerates on selling season passes and NSAA leadership changed as well.
Today, although there are some groups in the snowsports industry which “honor” the month of January, there is no industry-wide program that draws attention to the sports. Some programs focus on “skier visits”, but the grass roots approach to getting newbies involved ended in 2019 after an 11- year run.
It was a good run.
Mary Jo Tarallo is an award-winning public relations/communications specialist who has more than 40 years working in the snow sports industry. She currently is the creator and editor for Sun and Snow Adventures, a web site/blog that covers health, fitness and lifestyle topics. She also is a freelancer and contributing editor for The Snow Industry Letter. She previously served as the Ski Editor for the Baltimore Sun. Mary Jo spent almost 19 years with SnowSports Industries America and ten years as executive director of the industry’s Learn to Ski and Snowboard initiative.
