Since I became the new Snowsports School Director at Pennsylvania’s Seven Springs Mountain Resort I have experienced a lot of new and exciting changes at the resort. Thank you DCSki readers for voting Seven Springs Snowsports School #1 in the 2008 DCSki Annual Survey. The new owners, the Nutting family, are very interested in making Seven Springs a prime ski resort.

Last Friday, on February 15, we had one of the first ever light music formation skiing & boarding shows in the country, just like the INTERSKI event last January 2007 in South Korea. It’s a mix of pure excitement combined with the elements of music, light and the skills of our snowboarders and skiers. For next season, I hope I can make it an invitational super show with different Snowsports School Demo-teams.

My first thought regarding skiing in the East after returning from Switzerland is do we ski/ride vertical and/or horizontal? Many ski resorts are developing new trails but all of them are very narrow. Seven Springs has some of widest trails among the East Coast resorts, allowing horizontal skiing.

On top of the Polar Express lift. From left: Joe Perry Jr., Ski and Board School Supervisor; Bob Kuban, Technical Director; and Iwan Fuchs, Snowsports School Director. Photo provided by Mountain Memory.

In my opinion, the mountain is geared in the right direction, regarding terrain parks. Our Eastern Mountains are not as challenging as the Western resorts and resorts in the Alps. Dedication towards the parks at Eastern Ski Resorts is constantly evolving and is a must for small and mid size resorts. According to Ski Magazine the top 10 terrain parks are in the East.

Of course there is some room to improve for Seven Springs Mountain Resort, especially since the possibility of Western expansion is floating around; new beginner learning lanes, and a new electronic system for the winter business. The new RF (radio frequency) system is used currently at 95% of Swiss Ski Resorts and about four Rocky Mountain resorts, which are compatible with a Swatch wrist watch pass.

Seven Springs Snowsports School is going through a big change regarding programs. The new direction in the industry is visible and needs to be addressed. As some of you know teaching today is different than it was years ago. The influence of the carving ski and board, and freestyle skiing has its footprints on the mountain. Teaching becomes more and more a combination of traditional teaching and freestyle teaching. Many resorts do have a pre and teen ski & board whole day program. We at Seven Springs are going into the Junior X generation 3G program. I believe the new changes will go along with the NSAA 10plus program. We also see a need for a VIP program and a whole day and/or multiday program for adults. When I worked in Engelberg Switzerland, we had an Adult multi day program and it worked great.

Going back to my question regarding horizontal and/or vertical! Seven Springs Snowsports School has answered the question for our students. Horizontal is the new way of skiing and riding our beloved mountains. I also hope we can start a discussion in terms of teaching and skiing/riding the new way.

See you on the slopes.