2017-2018 Far West Skier's Guide - 55

I PUBLIC AFFAIRS

2 017
by Paula Hazzard

Vice President - Public Affairs, FWSA

FAR WEST MEMBER COUNCILS
cover 12 states, with 9 regional councils and
more than 150 CLUBS, with a combined membership
of over 50,000 skiers and snowboarders.
Woman's Ski Jumping was finally approved as a medal event in the

a co-working space where you can plug in, post up, collaborate and 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia. Sarah Hendrickson's 13
tap into a creative community. This "Fort" brings a convenient, mod- individual World Cup victories places her second all-time behind Sara
Takanashi, as of March 2017. photo courtesy of Women's Ski Jumping USA /
ern co-working space offering lightning-fast internet, and everything Ben Pieper / Point Productions
needed to get your work done while still enjoying the High Sierras.

Many of our resorts have instituted "Green" and "Sustainable
Projects". Here are just a few, and what they have already put into
motion:
Squaw Valley /Alpine Meadow (CA) - has discontinued selling
single-use water bottles, and as a result, will remove at least 28,000
bottles from our waste stream and landfills each season. You will be
encouraged to carry a reusable water bottle and stay hydrated for free.
There are 20+ refill stations to Drink Mountain Tap.
Mt. Bachelor (OR) - received a cash grant to install an infrared
motion sensor control system for lighting in the Pine Marten Lodge.
The upgraded automated lighting system will replace the current system of manual on and off switches and allow for off-site monitoring,
helping to reduce electricity use and the ski area's carbon footprint by
120 MTCO2e or 2 percent. Mt. Bachelor is a participant in the ski industry's Climate Challenge.
Arapahoe Basin (CO) - will receive the benefits of an in-kind
Sustainability Staffing consulting services grant valued at $5,000. Brendle Group, the sustainability engineering and planning firm that manages the Climate Challenge, will help A-Basin assess the important
intersection of HR and sustainability. Arapahoe Basin is also a participant in the Climate Challenge, and has pledged to reduce emissions
by three percent under 2008-09 levels by 2019-20.
Copper Mountain Resort (CO) - also a participant in the Climate
Challenge, has been awarded a high-efficiency snowmaking grant.
Copper will use this grant to kick start a deeper investment into more
efficient snowmaking equipment across the mountain. Low-energy
snowmaking equipment will decrease compressed air consumption,
save power, and reduce the ski area's carbon footprint. The existing
snow guns use 232 CFM compressed air to produce 27 GPM of snow,
while the replacement guns will use only 29 CFM compressed air to
produce the same 27 GPM of snow, representing an 87 percent savings
in compressed air.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (WY) - a founding member of
the Climate Challenge, has completely jumped right in and has committed to follow the applicable environmental laws and regulations
along with the principles of the National Ski Area Association's (NSAA)
Sustainable Slopes Charter. The resort will establish targets for pollution
prevention and continually review and improve their environmental
program, while communicating these environmental policies to employees and the public.
Please refer to www.fwsa.org for public affair updates.

Excitement Builds for the
XXIII Winter Olympics
in PyeongChang
by Jane Wyckoff
Along with the thrill and excitement from the announcement that
the 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, USA, we will
now turn our attention to the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympic Games
and Paralympic Winter Games, to be held in PyeongChang, South
Korea. The Winter Olympics will feature 17 days of Olympic competition from February 9 - 25, with more than 2,800 athletes from 95 nations expected to participate.
The Far West Ski Association has supported junior racers and
Olympic hopefuls since the founding of the organization. The Athletic
Scholarship Program has awarded over $100,000 to over 100 recipients
since the inception of the program 14 years ago. Over the years, we
have been honored to have had Olympians as Keynote Speakers and
special guests to our annual Convention. Billy Kidd - Silver Medalist
in Slalom, 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, attended this year's Convention
in Boise, and has attended many Conventions in the past. Also attending this year was Sarah Hendrickson - 2014 Olympian in Women's
Ski Jumping, Laura Sankey - President of Women's Ski Jumping USA,
and Alan Alborn - Head Coach of Women's Ski Jumping USA. They
provided valuable information about the Olympics, and also generated
much enthusiasm among Convention attendees about the upcoming
XXIII Olympic Winter Games.

Location: After waiting for more than 15 years, the cauldron will
be lit at the South Korean ski resort in the Taebeck Mountains. It took
South Korea three tries to win the IOC votes to host its first Winter
Olympics, after losing the bid to Vancouver in 2010 and to Sochi in
2014. This will be the second time South Korea will be welcoming
the world's greatest athletes, having previously hosted the Olympic
Summer Games in 1988 (Seoul). The only Asian country to have
hosted the Olympic Winter Games twice is Japan, in 1972 (Sapporo)
and 1998 (Nagano).
The "c" in "PyeongChang" was capitalized, to help avoid confusion with the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The North Korean
border (DMZ), is actually in the province in which PyeongChang
County is located. The Olympic site is about 60 miles south of the
border and 80 miles east of Seoul.

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SKI AREA SUSTAINABILITY
PROJECTS & PROGRAM

Far West Skier's Guide 2O17 - 2O18

http://www.fwsa.org

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