Vermont Ski Resorts Participate in National Safety Awareness Month with Education and Activities
Vermont ski and snowboard resorts celebrate the month of January, designated by the National Ski Areas Association as National Safety Awareness Month. It is a time for educating skiers and snowboarders about slope safety awareness with special promotions, activities and information.
Killington Resort and Pico Mountain
Vermont’s Killington Resort and Pico Mountain support and promote Your Responsibility Code – the seven point code that outlines responsible slope behavior for skiers and riders, and Smart Style – a five-point safety message about the use and progression of freestyle terrain. Know the Code and Smart Style stickers and cards will be available for guests during the month of January. Mountain Ambassadors will trade their signature red jackets for bright yellow jackets that display important safety awareness messages based on Your Responsibility Code.
Buy a helmet in any Killington or Pico Sports location or online at www.killingtonsports.com from January 16-25, 2015, and receive a voucher for a 1-day lift ticket valid any day after January 26, 2015, through the end of the 2015 winter season.
Look for the interactive display and Creation Stations in Ramshead Lodge at Killington and Pico Base Lodge, Saturdays and Sundays from January 3-31, plus Monday January 19, 2015. Kids can talk with Mountain Ambassadors, color safety-themed posters, get their pictures taken with the Know the Code logo, and enter a raffle to win a free snow sports helmet and other prizes.
Mount Snow Resort
Mount Snow is celebrating National Safety Awareness Month in Style at Mount Snow. From chairlift to classroom, Mount Snow is spreading the word on what everyone can do to have a positive, safe, and fun skiing and riding experience. The resort is headed to local schools to share the seven tenets of “Your Responsibility Code” and the 5 points of “Park Smart” and will be participating in the National Ski Areas Association sponsored “Safety Poster Contest”. There is also a fun and interactive “Your Responsibility Code” scavenger hunt on the mountain. Finally, ambassadors and ski patrol will be spreading the word of skiing etiquette and the signature “Go With The Flow” safety campaign.
Okemo Mountain Resort
Safety is paramount at Okemo. Safety Ambassadors patrol the slopes to help educate skiers and riders and to ensure they know and practice the skier responsibility code and Smart Style/Park Smart initiatives. On Jan. 18, Okemo celebrates PHAT Day. The PHAT (Protect Your Head at All Times) team will be on hand to extol the virtues of wearing a helmet while skiing and riding. They’ll distribute stickers, posters and hold helmet raffles throughout the day. On Jan. 25, Okemo skiers and riders crown a new Helmet Head Champion - the person who displays the best mussed up hair style created by wearing a helmet while skiing or riding. Okemo photographers will be wandering the base areas in search of competition volunteers.
Smugglers’ Notch Resort
Smugglers’ Notch Resort celebrates Safety Awareness Month in January with activities for employees, guests and the local community, according to Kiri Moore, the resort’s safety director, who adds, “Our goal is to convey in a fun way how important safety awareness is to all of us.” Efforts will focus on traumatic brain injury awareness and promote helmet use, with a 2nd annual “Wear your helmet to work” day for employees. Afternoon activities for children in the resort’s full-day ski and ride programs will include snowsports safety videos. A new update for the children’s trail map at Smugglers’ will continue to highlight the skier and rider responsibility code. Visitors to Smugglers’ Base Lodge can enjoy posters illustrating helmet safety made by children in the local elementary school. To encourage healthy eating, employees will receive a coupon for a healthy snack at the resort’s country store. (www.smuggs.com/skivtw; 855-814-7325)
Stowe Mountain Resort
Stowe’s Triple A’s were created by Stowe Staff as a way of life and safety message for guests. They adopted them over a decade ago as a credo and company culture. The Triple A’s are the driving force that allows individuals’ freedom critical to the mountain lifestyle and snowsports.
The Triple A’s are: Attitude, Awareness and Accountability.
- Attitude – Respect yourself, others and our environment.
- Awareness – Sensitivity to your own immediate surrounds and the needs of others
- Accountability – Ownership of your personal actions and the continued preservation of Stowe’s unique qualities.
Stratton Mountain Resort
The focus on safety is year round at Stratton where Play Safe, Play Smart, Enjoy the Mountain is both a mantra and a campaign that has earned the resort several national awards including the 2014 NSAA Best Overall Safety Program. This year’s National Safety Awareness Month programs include education, contests, a chance to ski with Safety Bear and tours of the newly expanded Carlos Otis Clinic where this summer’s $1.5 million project added 1,500 square feet of treatment space and updated medical equipment and systems. Founded in 1972, the urgent care facility is staffed by physicians who practice at prestigious medical centers including Mass General.
Sugarbush Resort
Sugarbush Resort is teaming up with the High Fives Foundation for their #KNOWYOURPARK initiative. Sugarbush is the East Coast test mountain for the initiative where their terrain park will display the five core values of the initiative: Know Your Conditions, Know Your Park Features, Know Your Progression and Ability, Know Your Terrain Park Etiquette, and Know Your Protection. The initiative is designed to increase safety awareness in terrain parks, and Sugarbush’s award-winning Riemergasse Park will be branded with these messages to help promote terrain park safety.
Suicide Six Ski Area
As anyone who has skied on cold days can tell you, it’s no fun if you don't dress properly. The month of January is dedicated to making sure our skiers and snowboarders are properly dressed for the cold weather. The Suicide Six ski patrol will be out meeting and greeting guests, making sure they are comfortable and warm. They will be checking for frostbite at the top of the lift, and will make suggestions to guests on how to avoid it. Suicide Six always welcomes skiers and snowboarders to warm up at the top ski patrol hut. www.suicidesix.com
