PLEASE READ IMPORTANT: RCR RESORTS = TERMINATING PARK PROGRAM

I think by now most of us realize that rcr's decision is going to stand this year. That is not to say however that they may reverse their position next season if enough noise is made, and their business goes down by enough. We might have a shot if RCR can be convinced that any business lost by cutting out jumps from their terrain parks wont be a one-time reaction, but a trend that will continue and get worse as the years go by if they don't match the efforts put in by their competitors.
 
You don't have all the facts. Many major resorts (Whistler/Blackcomb for example), self-insure their parks.

Meaning, they do not rely on insurance companies to pay out claims such as lawsuits regarding park accidents, rather they employ their own lawyers, and they pay out liability amounts directly (if their lawyers lose). 

It is only the small resorts (and ski camps) who can not afford to do this that depend on insurance to cover their ass in a liability scenario , and therefore are affected more directly by rising premiums.

RCR is easily large enough to self-insure.  This (ridiculous) policy that they have announced is not, as you seem to believe, a rational reaction to rising insurance premiums. 

The backlash of this decision will most likely be larger than they expect; not only have they alienated the entire youth ski and snowboard community, but also by asssociation the families of everyone in that community, many of whom choose "family ski trips" based on factors such as where the kids want to ski (somewhere with a good park).

Not to mention the direct, devastating handicap to any high performance freestyle ski, snowboard, boardercross or skiercross athlete, etc who currently has an RCR resort as a home base.  Rapid desertion of the local "superstars" to other resorts will affect their PR more significantly than they realize.
 
i agree with that usibng the termanology industry leading is a huge misrepresentation but i am scared at what effect it will have on other resorts( or at least little ski areas thast may follow thier "lead") for "insurance Reasons"
 
And what you forget to understand is that Resorts are about money. According to the CSC, and CSIA ski market report......out of the canadian population only 10% ski and snowboard. Out of that 10% only 3% snowboard. Out of that less then 1% ride twin tip skis.

Now think about that for a little bit, thats 6% of people that carve. There are WAY MORE people who carve, and race then of anything else. Intermidiate skiers are the largest percentage in the market.

( don't get me wrong, im a terrain park builder, and twin tip skier and believe that terrain parks are the best thing that has happened to our sport since snowboarding.......and this is not progression taking down jumps, but you have to look at it from this point)

Now, how do you know that RCR does not have insurance.......as a matter of fact most resorts have insurance regardless of size. Do you know how much it is to hire your own fleet of lawers to fight for you? It is much more cost effective to just have insurance. So im relatively sure this is a move for insurance, not for ONE kid hurting him self on the jumps.

So i would like to say RCR LOVES TERRAIN PARKS. If they hated them soo much, the rails would be gone too. Its the insurance companys who said " Hey, take the jumps out, or your premiums go up....WAY UP." I think that if you protest, spend money at other resorts ( Sunshine, COP), and boycot them.......then they will have tho change their minds.

Now you have to realise that this battle will not be won in a few months, jumps will be gone from RCR for this year for sure. They may be gone for a few years, but if people keep fighting they will come back. Terrain park skiing and snowboarding maybe a small market, but it is the FASTEST growing market in the ski industry.
 
the great parks is what i look forward to every year when i go to the mountains...but now they don't have any.

-it must suck to be the one refunding a seasons because u can't ski park anymore. oh well they're the ones loosing the buisness.
 
This is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in a long time. It is really sad. Resorts here in Montana are just starting to build a few jumps, but now big resorts like big sky controlled by big companies like Boyne USA are probably just going to issue a jump ban too. I hate those RCR people. This will affect way more people than just those who ride RCR resorts.

Petition Signed!
 
thats bullshit look at all of us who hit the jumps and parks and don't get hurt and then a dumb ass gets hurt and ruins it foreveryone
 
so I just got some response from rcr, not sure if the rest of you guys got yours yet.

November 21, 2007

Dear Guest,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the changes to our terrain parks for the 2007/08 season. We want to assure you that your comments are important to us, and are circulated and read by the team at RCR.

Based on the correspondence which we have received from you, we thought it important to clarify the status of our terrain parks for the 2007/08 season. First of all, our decision relative to terrain parks has been finalized, and to clarify, there will be no man-made snow jumps at any of the RCR resorts this season. This decision was based on our commitment to provide our guests with a safe experience at our mountains, and to avoid the inappropriate use of these jumps. Our challenge is to help some of our guests understand that while we cannot control natural hazards, RCR chooses not expose our valued guests, skilled or otherwise, to the air time involved in the use of man made snow jumps.

RCR will be operating rail parks at all of our resorts this season. New investments are being made in rail and box equipment at all RCR Resorts, with an aim to offer skiers and riders some of the best features of this nature in the country. More details about our parks, and a complete list of features will be posted to our websites shortly. We encourage you to visit www.skircr.com and click on the resort of your choice for regular updates, events and information. The new-format rail parks will have a good presence at our resorts, and they will be home to an RCR Rail Jam Series this season.

As an added safety initiative for the 2007/08 season, our parks will have controlled access. Visitors to our rail and box parks will need to acquire a season access pass, available at our resort Guest Services at a nominal cost of $5 per person. (For which you will receive a season access pass and a $5 certificate good at our Slopeside Coffee Bars.)

We take great pride in our resorts and our team works hard to deliver a positive experience for you our guest, and we hope that you will notice the ongoing improvements at our resorts during your future visits.

Once again, thank you for your feedback on this matter we always welcome your comments. We appreciate your passion for the sports of skiing and snowboarding.



Sincerely,

John Shea

Vice President, Marketing and Sales

Resorts of the Canadian Rockies

its pretty clear their not going to budge one bit on this, so i guess were all boned

 
how can we see the improvements , when they arnt there? and we arn't there.

Our Guests our Guests, they sound like androids
 
its funny when you read it cause, inappropriate use of jumps by skilled or otherwise,

they just copped out and dont give a rats ass,

I bet they change their view in a couple of years, thats why its important to try and ski somewhere else.

for the future of newschoolerkind! Sanction the dictatoship of RCR.

thats my last rant about this, and time to move on and seek powder dunes elsewhere

 
I sent rcr this:

This decision (banning all jumps in RCR parks) is absurd; a mountain can never be a completely safe place. Face it - people will get hurt; if it's not on a jump it will be on a tree, if not a tree - then it's someone hitting another skier. The list goes on - but people will get hurt in a ski resort that's why you have a ski patrol. If your goal is to never have a single person hurt - or avoid possible lawsuits - then you might as well cut every tree down, close the blue and black runs, and let skiers and snowboarders go threw one at a time - as to make sure they don't hit each other. I go up to Canada every year for spring break, I spend money, buy lift tickets and help stimulate the economies of those resorts I go to, but if there are no jumps in the park I will be going to a mountain that does not belong to RCR.

i hope they get enough letters from all of us so they start to worry
 
I just did a little more research, and confirmed RCR does NOT have insurance for terrain park liability.  They self-insure, same as Whistler Blackcomb and many other large resorts.

Self-insured means that instead of relying on insurance companies to pay out liability claims, the resort has their own lawyers to handle claims, and pays out any settlements directly. 

If you want to confirm it for yourself, the man in charge of liability concerns for RCR resorts is named Bob Pearson.

So, again, this decision, while it obviously is fiscally motivated, has NOTHING to do with "rising insurance premiums".  Just wanted to clear that up becauses it seems to be a big assumption/misconception.
 
SIGNED!!

why would that dude sue.... by hitting the jump he is taking the risk, not the parks fault he overshot or whatever.. geeze
 
Dear sir,

I'm sure your getting a ton of these emails and probably just delete

them once you read the first line, as i can imagine it gets annoying.

Of course, I'm talking about your recent decision to exempt all jumps

from the RCR parks. Now, i live nowhere near any of your ski resorts

but i have heard nothing but great things about them. I can only

imagine not having a decent jump in a park for 700 miles around me.

That would make life a living hell, and furthermore, i would be tempted

to create my own jumps in the back country. Now, do you not believe

that it is more safe to have large jumps in a controlled enviorment

(namely your parks) rather than an enviorment in which no ski patrol

are found? I do not expect my one email to shift your decision but

instead i would like you to see the other side of the argument. You

probably know the politics of this issue better than a 16-year-old but

i just want to say don't punish others for the mistakes of one

individual. Skiing is not just a sport for some, but rather a

lifestyle, please don't do this to the many in Canada who love your

resorts.

Thank you very much for your time,

Joe Burchard

i brain pwned him
 
There is always the possibility of a civil suit from whoever hurts themselves out of bounds. They may still care..
 
Noone can sue the resort if they are out of bounds... the second someone crosses the line its alls fair.

Don't assume the patrollers dont care though if someone gets wrecked just outside of the line. they ll help out trust me.

for lake louise.. theres already a little booter on boomarang around the weather plot which is in bounds still. and they ll be more to come around rodneys ridge which is near hour glass... anyways ya., people that work there are already on the move.

New park guy Jay is gonna see what he can do about making a "step up rail" which would be sick if he can pull it off...a step up jump with a rail. haha just make it a little wide so it someone misses the rail it works out perfectly
 
here is their response to my email

November 26, 2007

Dear Guest,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the changes to our terrain parks for the 2007/08 season. We want to assure you that your comments are important to us, and are circulated and read by the team at RCR.

Based on the correspondence which we have received from you, we thought it important to clarify the status of our terrain parks for the 2007/08 season. First of all, our decision relative to terrain parks has been finalized, and to clarify, there will be no man-made snow jumps at any of the RCR resorts this season. This decision was based on our commitment to provide our guests with a safe experience at our mountains, and to avoid the inappropriate use of these jumps. Our challenge is to help some of our guests understand that while we cannot control natural hazards, RCR chooses not to expose our valued guests, skilled or otherwise, to the air time involved in the use of man made snow jumps.

RCR will be operating rail parks at all of our resorts this season. New investments are being made in rail and box equipment at all RCR Resorts, with an aim to offer skiers and riders some of the best features of this nature in the country. More details about our parks, and a complete list of features will be posted to our websites shortly. We encourage you to visit www.skircr.com and click on the resort of your choice for regular updates, events and information. The new-format rail parks will have a good presence at our resorts, and they will be home to an RCR Rail Jam Series this season.

As an added safety initiative for the 2007/08 season, our parks will have controlled access. Visitors to our rail and box parks will need to acquire a season access pass, available at our resort Guest Services at a nominal cost of $5 per person. (For which you will receive a season access pass and a $5 certificate good at our Slopeside Coffee Bars.)

We take great pride in our resorts and our team works hard to deliver a positive experience for you our guest, and we hope that you will notice the ongoing improvements at our resorts during your future visits.

Once again, thank you for your feedback on this matter we always welcome your comments. We appreciate your passion for the sports of skiing and snowboarding.



Sincerely,

John Shea

Vice President, Marketing and Sales

Resorts of the Canadian Rockies

i_safe.gif
 
Because they realize that if they decide not to take responsibility for themselve they know they can sue someone and put them at fault and get money for being complete idiots...
 
Honestly, people schould just hit up Sunshine, Norquay, and COP. COP has always had a killer park, and that is not going to change. Their park is a cash cow, and Sunshine's is just going to get better.

Don't worry about the quebec kids either, there are ALOT of options besides Stoneham, and Mount Ste Anne. New School skiing originated from out there for a reason, so they have tons of other terrain parks ( Avila, Val St Come, Sutton, Tremblant, etc).

The only people that are really gonna suffer at the people who call Fernie their home resort. I don't know too much about the region, but i had buddy going out there. He told me that there aren't really any other good resorts out there. They will have reconsider the jumps in quebec anyways, since much of their funds are based off of their terrain parks.
 
I think this is a great idea. Don't get me wrong, terrain parks are fun, but the whole mountain can be your terrain park. Use this as tool to catalyst your creativity using cliffs, pillows, rollers, walls, trees, stumps, and whatever else as your own features.
 
get off your lazy ass and build one. theres so many places that you probly haven't discovered yet that would be perfect for a kicker. ive skied at my home mountain for 15 years and i always see new places to build kickers.
 


dear sir/madam:

While I understand the fear infused in your blood by the lawyers, the elimination of terrain park jumps from RCR resorts is a serious mistake. As a 30-something skiier, this reminds me of the days when the backwards ski industry resisted snowboarding & shape skis. And when I came of age, the hotdogging movement was also shut down on similar (and ultimately false) pretenses, leading to the long decline of the '80s that only *cough* snowboarding & *cough* shape skis resolved. Now that twintips have taken over and skiing is poised for a comeback, limiting terrain park options is only a reactionary and retrogressive stance. You are only 'leading' the industry to its own demise.

In any case, let it be known that I will not be taking my ski tours at an RCR resort as long as this stands. Fernie is out. I will go to Kicking Horse. I will not support decisions of this kind which harm the sport of skiing. Get back in the game, and save your resorts while you still can.

Sincerely,

[I've removed my name due to the nature of this board]

Whistler / Montreal

 
Leave it to a bunch of lawyers and bean counters to implement some bullshit plan to cover thier own asses and to protect our planets idiots, and try and pass it off as an industry leading initiative - give me a f'n break - they just stepped the industry back 15 years and lost a tonne of business and respect. Never underestimate the buying power of Alberta's youth suffering from affluenza...RCR is going down...

As far as geting hurt, it's called darwinian theory. Stupid people do dumb shit and take themselves out of the gene pool. push yourself too far and gravity and fate will make you pay for it - its just that simple.

What's next? Are we going to cut down all the trees the next time some first timer tourist hooks in an edge and straightlines into the cabbage? how about when some stunned F*#k takes a wrong turn and ends up in the steeps? are we going to hire a blasting contractor to come in and level the mountiain so nobody ever gets going fast enough to get hurt again?

The answer is no and the reason is cutting trees and flattening mountians cost money and drive baby boomers to other resrts. Not making piles of snow or shaping and maintaining jumps saves money.

This initiative is only going to lead RCR into the dirt, and lead me to Banff, COP and Kicking horse. I can't support anyone who thinks I am stupid enough to buy that line of shit.
 
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