definitely an excellent idea. the organization behind the "smart style" signs is the national ski areas association. if anyone has the potential to put together this kind of program, its them. my advice would be to write/email them your opinions. if newschoolers as a community really wants to make a difference, then i think this would be the most effective way.
the contact list is here:
http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/home/contacts.asp
here is what i wrote (sent to
anng@nsaa.org and
wendyg@nsaa.org). feel free to use this as a form letter, change it, whatever. the more people that contact them, the better.
Ms. George and Ms. Guyerson:
As a concerned member of the skiing community, I believe that despite the efforts of programs such as Smart Style, and those of individual mountains, our terrain parks are not as safe as they should (and could easily) be.
As a result of unfortunate incidents that have taken place, a number of resorts in the Unites States and Canada are removing jumps from their terrain parks, which is a sad step knowing that these accidents could often be easily avoided. I have also had the unfortunate personal experience of both witnessing and partaking in collisions with other skiers and riders who are not utilizing the features correctly, despite following all of the guidelines myself.
One solution is the option of park passes, which many resorts are beginning to adopt nationwide. The support for such actions is overwhelming, and it is the opinion of many that such precautions should be taken at all ski areas. For evidence, you do not need to look any farther than
www.newschoolers.com, an online freeskiing forum with over 100,000 members from all over the world. I have also included a link below this message for a specific discussion of this issue.
We, as a community, believe that there should be a standard set for all mountains involving the mandatory implementation of park passes. Who better to organize this than the group that created Smart Style? I personally feel that many resorts have not pursued such actions due to the additional work that it would require to develop materials and standards on their own. If the National Ski Areas Association produced a video, test, or both, and distributed these materials to member resorts, a new standard in terrain park education and safety could be set. This would allow a skier or snowboarder to pass a test at one mountain, receive a Smart Style certification card, and then have the ability to present this card as a valid park pass at any participating resort (rather than having to go through the trouble of retaking a different test). With this system, everyone wins, as the parks become a safer environment for people to ride.
As the executive and education contacts for NSAA, please take this into consideration, and feel free to forward this email to anyone in your organization who might be able to take action towards solving this problem.
Thank you for your time.
Daniel von Allmen
Discussion of standardized park pass link:
https://newschoolers.com/web/forums/readthread/thread_id/344734/