214: La Grave & the future of snowsports in the USA

We find out about the off-piste resort of La Grave and the state of the snowsports market in the USA, including ways to tackle climate change and bring newcomers to the sport. Iain was joined by freelance journalist, Sam Haddad and Nick Sargent, President of the SIA (Snowsports Industries America). SHOW NOTES Utah offers ‘The Greatest Snow on Earth’ (3:30) Marcel Hirscher is coming out of retirement to compete for Netherlands (4:30) LISTEX Luxury took place last week in London (5:15) Research by The Ski Club of Great Britain showed that luxury ski trips represent 4% of the market by pax, 21% by trips and 50% by value (7:30) The new Northern Snow Show will take place at Chill Factore in October (8:00) Nick previously worked as a boot fitter on the World Cup race circuit, working with skiers such as Alberto Tomba (11:00) Find out more about the SIA (Snowsports Industries America) (12:30) The number of skier visits in the States went down 7.6% last winter (14:30) https://x.com/skipedia/status/1803779843412160532 There are roughly 60m skier days in the States v. 2m active skiers in the UK (16:00) The Share Winter campaign is bringing newcomers to skiing and snowboarding (19:00) Listen to Iain’s interview with Stu Brass about the AIM series schools education (21:00) “Climate change is the no.1 threat to the sport in the States” (21:00) Find out about the SIA’s ‘Climate United’ initiative (22:00) Iain spoke with Mike Goar from Vail Resorts Europe in Episode 204 (25:00 The importance of Epic/Ikon passes (28:00) Epic revenue was up last winter Sam was on the show discussing the impact of climate change in Episode 179 (29:00) Sam’s blog is called ‘Climate and Board Sports’(29:30) Find out about ‘NoJO’ (30:30) The 2030 Winter Olympics are due to be held in the French Alps (31:00) Link to the official La Grave website (33:00) Read Sam’s article about La Grave on The Guardian (33:30) Liste to Iain’s interviews with Peter Hardy and Arnie Wilson (37:30) The top lift in La Grave is due to be replaced with a new cable car (39:30) Find out about the new Jandri lift in Les 2 Alpes in Episode 209 (40:30) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz0hrmQgVGg  Feedback I enjoy all feedback about the show, I like to know what you think, especially about our features so please contact on social @theskipodcast or by email [email protected]  James Rice: "Episode 204 was another great episode. Love the podcast, thanks! " Adam Fisher: "Episode 213 (with Stu Brass) was great" Steve Holding: "Really love the podcast, especially the equipment episodes and the features on different resorts" Bobnmillsy (Apple Podcasts): “Excellent podcast covering an incredible range of topics. The special episodes are particularly good giving fascinating insights into the worlds of the ski industry A list from a very well researched and skilled interviewer” If you like the podcast, there are three things you can do to help:    1) Review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  2) Subscribe  3) Buy Me A Coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com  There are 219 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up. There is so much to listen to in our back catalog, just go to www.theskipodcast.com and search around the tags and categories: you’re bound to find something of interest to you.  You can follow me @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast