Happy New Year!

Well, as we head towards the second decade of the third century of the Christian calendar, things are looking good here. We have just had a Christmas that was as white as it can be. From Texas to Copenhagen Denmark (for the Global Warming summit- where there had not been snow on Christmas for 30 years) there was a white Christmas. A friend called from Frisco Texas to tell me there was 3" of snow on the ground Christmas morning. The storm blanketed the entirety of middle America. Usually each winter, some areas have good snow and others are dry. This year for the first time it seems that everywhere people can ski, they are having a good snow year. That is great!

Here in California the ski resorts first opened on October 11. Then many resorts had a "soft opening" at Thanksgiving. Now the storms have hit big to ensure that we had a great skiing Christmas and into New Years. And the skiing masses are responding!

The shop has been incredibly busy! Every day we are working hard with more staffers on hand than ever before. Some days are close to out of control. People are asking if they need to take a number to get a boot fitting done. Rentals are crazy. The store needs restocked from upstairs every day. Clothing racks are getting depleted. The ski wall is shrinking. We are having a record year!

It seems like we are not the only ones either. Most ski shops are having the kind of year we are. I would love to think that our strong sales numbers are something I can take credit for, (and there is probably at least SOME of that?) but the weather is the key factor and all the snow farmers are having a good harvest. Which makes me happy. Other shops need to do well. Lot's of people need to get to ski a lot and have a great time doing it. The resorts need to prosper too. It is good for the sport and the industry.

So I am enjoying it all. I went skiing with the family last Wednesday at Dodge Ridge. The girls cut there skiing teeth there when they were young and so we did a "flashback day". After they had a first year of lessons, and then a year with passes at Donner Ski Ranch, we had Dodge Ridge passes for two seasons. Super fun! Dodge is a great family resort and a convenient drive from the Bay Area. Great terrain and a friendly low key staff. Two of my employees call Dodge their "home resort" for good reasons. Give Dodge a try. I think you will like it.

With the girls home for break from college, they are available to work too. Jennifer has been at it since a week before Christmas. Rebecca got home later and will be here for the first half of January. I love having them around and they are quite useful too! An extra employee that can do anything from waxing and scraping skis for Martin in the shop to dealing with rentals all day long is a great thing to be able to plug in during the busy time of year. It's also just nice to drive in with them to work and chat. Jennifer worked yesterday and then we went to a movie afterwards. So nice to take an evening off from after hours working on boots or the books to spend it with my daughter!

Next up for me is to take a few days off at New Years and go to Northstar with friends. We will ski, we will skate, we will watch fireworks, we will take in the ambiance of a winter playground. I will relax and recharge. Then it is back to the grindstone. I hope you will all do the same. There is nothing better for the soul than a ski vacation!

Last week on the lifts Jennifer and I had a conversation about the things people do and how "weird" she thinks we are as a species. We invent games and sports to play just because we like to. We hike to mountain tops just because they are there. Weirdest and most eccentric of all she decided was that we build contraptions (lifts) that go from many different points below to carry us to the top of a mountain. Then we only use them during the period of year when there is snow on the ground. All done so that we can use gravity to stand on sticks and slide back down and do it over and over! Why do we do this? Because it is just plain fun!

I agree with her. When you think about skiing, it is kind of a strange idea to even have this activity available to us. And if it wasn't such a unique experience we wouldn't go to all the trouble. But it is special so we make it possible. We build the lifts, we buy the chains for our cars, we make the trails on the mountains, we get up before the sun to go there. All because it is soo fun!We certainly are a weird and wonderful civilization to do all this.

So let's all be as weird and wonderful as possible this new year! Ski lots, have fun, be safe. Best wishes from me to you going into 2010!

Game On!

Yahoo! I skied on natural snow at least four feet deep yesterday. John called last night at about nine o'clock. He was still at work. They had a massive day and he was sounding like he needed to go home and sleep. Just a few more boots to get to and then he would head home. I almost felt a bit guilty but hey, a man's got to ski right?

So with the snow dances paying off in spades we are suddenly in top gear at the shop. The timing was sort of perfect. It gives us some time to spread things out before Christmas. The 10-20 day a year skiers came in as soon as the storm hit to get there season started. Now we will start seeing the Christmas shoppers and the families that do one trip a year and it happens right after Christmas. All hands are on deck and we are doing huge numbers at the register (for us anyway!).

Jennifer is home now and Rebecca gets home Monday. It is so exciting to have them home for a bit. I can't wait to ski with them! I expected Jenn to want to go with me yesterday but she had other plans already. I did make it home in time to catch the Campolindo vs. Miramonte girls varsity soccer game with Jenn last night. She went a bit early so she would have time to hug most of the players and all the coaches before the game started. They made all the "you should put on a uniform- we could really use you" jokes. It was sort of a returning hero scene. A few other players that graduated last year showed up part way through the game too. They were talking about doing an alumni and coaches verses the team game. Sounds like good fun! Count me in!

Alright then. I guess until the next time I ski it is work, work, work. That is where I am headed right now. That's where I will be well into the evening. There is no place I would rather be today. Thanks again for the snow dances. We seemingly did an excellent job this year!

Dancing for Uler

Is the mass of weather out in the Pacific the one to trigger our ski season? Can we go now? Are we there yet? Can we start now? Is it soup yet?

After the opening of the store each August the speculation begins. When will the season start? This year has been pretty good so far in my eyes. October 11th there was skiing at Boreal. On Thanksgiving most resorts were open for business using some combination of natural and man made snow. You could have skied a lot of days already on a single lift servicing a single ribbon of white. We have had a normal "soft opening" and are prepped for the real McCoy.

This next week appears to be the real thing. A series of storms that should blanket the Sierra and open things all over the resorts. I'll believe it when I see it, but it looks like it is going to happen.

This will bring a big sigh of relief to my entire industry as it does every year. This year more than others though. After a very poor sales season nationally last year, the manufacturers and retailers all had too much gear left over from the winter. The big factories in Europe (and Asia) don't want to slow production of goods but there is too much inventory already in "the pipeline". We need a cleansing year to get things right. The economy plays a part in all this of coarse. More important is the weather. If we have a great snow season, people will ski. They will buy skis and boots. Helmets and goggles. Jackets and base layers. Chapstick and lift tickets. Destination resorts will see the skiers come. Local resorts will see skier days rise. All will be right with the world. At least that's what all the sales reps are saying.

And they are probably right. Low sales have meant much belt tightening in the industry. Reps have lost lines as companies cut budgets. Brands have overhauled their business plans. Retailers ordered soft for this season because of high amounts of gear carried over from last year. Manufacturers have cut production surplusses to make sure they do not get stuck with overstock situations again.

Sales reps have been peddling the closeouts that they still have left from last year. They are also pushing us to reorder 2009/10 items we think we may need now later as the inventories on this years products is already getting pretty slim. We have barely sold any of the new stuff yet and they want us to reorder! Nobody wants to be stuck with overstocks items on their hands. Some of the retailers are biting too. Now a number of the "big boys" have started offering discounts to "pick me, pick me!" on reorders. Everybody has been nervous about the future-both short term and long term. There has been talk of major brands that are "in trouble" pulling out of the US market next year if things don't go well again this winter. And all the time they remind us that a good winter will make it all work out ok. As we are in a hold pattern waiting to see when snowfall will make sales numbers zoom, everybody seems to have not much else to do but worry.

Well I for one am tired of the speculation. Tired of the stressed out sales reps. Tired of waiting to ski. Tired of worrying about it. I hope that this storm is a great one. For me and my business it would be a good thing. For a lot of people and companies that I know and care about in the industry it may be a necessity at this point. If it happens, everybody can relax a bit and just get down to doing our jobs. And skiing!

With that end in mind, I have staffed up starting this Saturday and through the next weekend. If it doesn't happen, I will simply have a high payroll for the week and need to drum up some more "projects" to keep everyone busy. If it does happen, I can stop worrying and start working.

Uler is the Norse god of snow and he is the one that holds the key to all of our fortunes at this point. So I will do my snow dance again and again seeking Ular's love. The photo of Rebecca above shows that she has been doing the dance. Please do yours too.