Extreme Freestyle Skiing | Idaho Project

Have you ever heard of freestyle skiing? Well Karl Fostvedt, or known as Crazy Karl, and John Ware take freestyle skiing to an extreme in this invigorating video footage at Sun Valley ski resort. Both head to the streets instead of the mountain with filmer, Jasper Newton. Crazy Karl and John Ware use side railings on roads to grind, roof tops to ski off, and utilize a skate park to make things more interesting. 

Furthermore, Colin Collins, makes an appearance towards the end of the video. Where he messes around with friends on two mini hand-made jumps in ungroomed and unmarked slopes in the backcountry of Sun Valley.

Fostvedt and Collins are from the town of Ketchum, Idaho located near Sun Valley ski resort. Both are representing and showing pride for their hometown in this thrilling video.

I hope you enjoyed the video, and leave a comment on what your favorite part of the video was! Caution: do not try this at home unless you classify yourself as a freestyle skier or love to live outside of the box!

What to Do at a Ski Resort after the Snow Melts

With summer just around the corner, and ski resorts closing within the following days they still need to create revenue. For many ski resorts around the world and mainly Colorado offer great summer activities. Activities range from family-friendly to adventure to relaxation. I researched one ski resort in particular that keeps the community involved at their resort after all the snow has melted.

Steamboat was first opened on January 12, 1963 and has upheld a friendly atmosphere while offering many activities during all seasons. Their great atmosphere keeps people coming back every season no matter what the activity is. For those that love skiing during the winter can still utilize the mountain in various ways, such as mountain biking and hiking. The official closing day for the ski season is April 10, 2016 which is less than four days. Get out there and enjoy the last days on the slopes!

So you are probably wondering what other activities there are to do at Steamboat besides ski or snowboard when the ski reason is over. Below is a list of summer activities to do with family, with friends, or individually. Let's take a look at some of the many options that are available:

Scenic Gondola Rides 

Great for families who want to take their kids 

to do something on the weekend. While riding 

in the gondola you will be able to see majority

of Steamboat and the surrounding area with 

many breath taking views. 

Hiking

Climb to the top of Steamboat Ski Resort.

The summit elevation is 10,568 feet and a 

for more challenging hikes there is a vertical 

rise of 3,688 feet. Both guided and specialty 

hikes are available. 

Mountain Biking

Bike over 50 miles of accessible terrain

on the mountain. Mountain bike rentals 

and Mountain Bike access tickets are 

available for purchase. 

Mountain Dining

Choose from 9 different restaurants on

the mountain and the surrounding base area.

Enjoy the views of the beautiful scenery while

dining with family and friends. 

Hot Springs

Relax in natural hot springs after a day on the 

mountain. Located in downtown Steamboat

Springs, Colorado. 

Alpine Slide

This summer attraction is located on Howelsen Hill, Colorado's longest continually running ski area. Weave your way down the steep face of the mountain on a two-track slide is 2,400-feet slide!

Zipline Tours

Fly through the aspen trees on a state-of-the-art seven segment zipline. Great for families and to go with friends. 

Many ski resorts offer summer activities after the winter is over. This helps them keep winter enthusiasts coming back for more fun even when the snow is gone. Mountains are all-around versatile no matter the time of the year. Make sure to check out the available activities of a ski resort near you, or plan a trip this summer! 

Click here, for more information on Steamboat activities such as prices, location of events, and scheduling. Leave a comment if you feel that a certain activity should be included or your favorite summer activity. Thanks for reading! 

Keystone Ski Trip: God's Country

For Spring Break 2016, some friends from freshmen year and myself drove out to Colorado. Making the twelve hour drive in one day, we had come upon the Rocky Mountains. Night time was approaching us as we drove through the pass up in the mountains. All of a sudden the snow started coming down rapidly and the flakes were huge making it very hard to see the road. The snow was thick and the roads started to become covered in a lot of snow making the roads slippery. At times I could not even see the road so we had to drive super slow. Finally we made into the town of Dillon. Here we got our ski rentals, grabbed some dinner, and made our way to the cabin where we were staying. The snow did not let up at all, and we had to keep on driving up into the mountains to our cabin. Montezuma, a town with about 64 people was where we were staying. On the way up to the cabin one of our two cars got stuck in the snow causing major difficulties and stress. We ran into some more troubles, but managed to make it to the cabin safely that night.

Throughout the night it snowed making me really anxious to hit the slopes the next day. We woke in the morning, but the roads were not plowed and I figured my car would be stuck. Since the road conditions were not the best we decided to go to Keystone Resort because it was fifteen minutes away from where they were staying. We decided to go at noon for a half-day to save some money.

I was ecstatic to put my gear on and finally get my skis on. Reaching Keystone, I could see the runs filled with people because of all the snow that fell last night. Outside it was still snowing, and I told myself that it was going to be a great day of skiing. I checked to see how much it had snowed, and a great surprise of 14" had fell. So much fresh powder for my first time back in a few years. Speed walking after I hopped out of the car, I was on a mission to buy my lift ticket. I geared up and got in line for the gondola to head to the top. That is where I wanted to go without a doubt. Skiing is like riding a bike and comes back to you fairly easy although I knew I would be a bit rusty. Reaching the peak I snapped my boots into the boots. I made my way over to the first run and looked down, I was ready to let loose. Skiing throughout the day I did not want to stop, and a great thing about Keystone is that they have night skiing! I stayed until about seven at night because I had an amazing day of skiing.

While I skied throughout the day I shot some footage with a GoPro attached to my helmet. I put together a little highlight video, so enjoy!

Keystone Resort

Mountain Stats:

• Base Elevation: 9,820 ft
• Summit Elevation: 12,408 ft
• Total Skiing Acres: 3,148 acres
• Average Annual Snowfall: 230 in
• Number of Lifts: 20

For those of you that like more of a challenge, and consider yourself Type II to Type II skiers there is 50% of advanced terrain. To keep you on edge coming back for more, and for more of a thrill instead of the usual bunny hills. 

Hope you enjoyed reading and watching about my adventures in Colorado for Spring Break. Feel free to comment below!

HookIt: Sports Social Media

Think you are an athlete or want to see how you stack up against professional athletes around the world? If you are a true athlete you should get the HookIt (link to website) mobile app. This social media platform was created by Scott Tilton and RJ Kraus. Both are former athletes who started the company out of their motorhome called SponsorHome. Their objective was to connect athletes around the world with sponsors via this app. HookIt allows athletes to connect their social media

accounts (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) to this platform for others to follow and interact.

Based on the type of athlete, you are able to choose what sport you compete in, and connect with others in that sport. From here you can track your progress, build your professional brand, and earn recognition to receive special deals on products. The more active you are the more deals you will receive on featured products such as GoPro, Spy Optic eye wear, and much more!

Below is the profile of professional skier, Joss Christensen. As you can see, his profile has a experience level of Pro. There are three experiences levels which are assigned by the amount of points you have achieved based on activity and stats. Here are the three levels:

1. Elite Pro: 5,000 to 10,000
2. Top Amateur / Regional Pro: 3,000 to 6,999
3. Competitor / Enthusiast: 1 to 5,000

Other feature on his profile is the Stats that Joss has compiled, which can be broken down into the Last 30 Days and Last 12 Months. The other is the Contests he has competed in. Since he is a pro skier, his stats are off the charts and has an extreme amount of contests he was a contender in. Your stats will be catered to the individual sport you are involved in.

A daily HookIt Score is awarded to your profile on the activity you do within your sport. For example, if you are a skier then your score will increase the more you ski and travel, due to results from ski competitions and ski sessions, and the more you interact on social media.

I set up my account as a ski athlete, and when I go to the programs tab I am able to search for ski related deals. One company that I can receive deals from is Scott Wintersports which offers ski related gear - goggles, gloves, helmets, etc. In order to receive better deals you must build value by being noticed. In your profile there are three criteria to track your progress:

1. Commitment: how active you have been in the last 30 days, sessions in the last 12 months, and how many years you have competed.
2. Performance: how many contests you have competed in, the verified wins, and highlights.
3. Reach: how well you interact on social media accounts, the total social audience, and audience growth and social interactions in last 30 days.

Now that you have made it this far, GO AHEAD and get the mobile app on either the Apple Store or Google Play. HookIt can be brought with you on your mobile device, so that you are able to compete in your sport while building up your score. Leave a comment below if you use this app or consider yourself an athlete!

Top 5 Mobile Ski Apps | 2016

WIRED is an online media, news, and publishing website providing readers with hot new articles in the following topics: Business, Culture, Design, Gear, Science, Security, Transportation. WIRED came out with a video on February 12, 2016 for the top mobile apps for skiing and snowboarding under their subcategory topic, Gear. The video features five necessary apps to use when hitting the slopes. Through the apps, winter sports enthusiasts can find fresh POWDER, because who does not love the fresh pow? In addition, users of the apps can track their runs, meet up with friends on the mountain, or find resorts around them. All five apps can be found on the Apple Store or Google Play for free, and are compatible with iPhone and Android.

Trace Snow

This app was created by TRACE, a company that builds cutting edge technology. According to Men's Health magazine this is the #1 ranked winter sports app. Many resorts have made Trace Snow the official app adaptable to their ski resort. Steamboat, Winter Park Resort, Mt. Tremblant, Snowshoe,

Stratton, Blue Mountain, China Peak, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Stoneham, and Canaan are among the
resorts that users can use this app at. App users are able to log their days out on the slopes by measuring:

• Speed
• Distance
• Jumps
• Airtime
• Vertical
• Calories
• Time 
• Much more!

When opening the app, users are able to track runs and lifts with GPS maps. After a great day out on the slopes, you are able to view their activity as well as track progress over time.

SNOCRU

Get SNOCRU today! Skiers and snowboarders can connect with each other with the Near Me function within the app. Another feature is creating a CRU where users can challenge other members on slopes with establishing a DAYCRU.

Users can check snow conditions and ski reports around the world, measure speed, runs, vertical, altitude and much more. Based on their performance they can earn badges to see how they stack up against each other around the world. With Near Me, users are able to search for friends, restaurants, and local ski shops around them.

EpicMix

Download the EpicMix app today off the Apple Store to compare lift line times, vertical feet, share photos, resort maps, keep updated on terrain and lift statuses, and view mountain cams. Within the app you are able to search for all the major resorts. From there you can find which lifts are open and the estimated line times. This is a cool feature to be able to plan your route down the mountain and be able to avoid long lines. A daily forecast is also available along with the snow conditions (new snow, last 48 hours, last 7 days, and mid mountain base). Mountain cams are a unique feature that allows you to see the mountain at real-time.

         

 

REI Snow Report

The REI Snow Report can help you get up-to-date conditions while you are on the mountain. This added convenience helps to let you know if fresh powder is on the way. Like many snow report apps this one differs because you are able to search any single resort at your fingertips. With the Favorites tab you can add up to 15 resorts to keep track of. The easy scrollable page allows you to check trail maps, find out which lifts are open, and view the slopes via web cams. This app even allows you to share snow forecasts on Facebook, Twitter, email, SMS and in the app with friends. To keep them informed of the current status of your favorite runs.

    

OpenSnow

OpenSnow was created by meteorologists with a love for skiing. This app provides updated forecasts, detailed snow predictions, web cams, reports and alerts. If you love powder, you will love this app due to powder alerts where you can set up notifications, and a Powder Finder to search for the most snow. If you are hesitant on whether you should hit the slopes with your friends just open this app on your phone and figure out if it is a good day to ski. In addition, OpenSnow has mountain web cams to show what conditions are like.

        

Now that you have checked out all the apps, go to the Apple Store or Google Play. Next, hit that download button for the app that suits your ski preferences or better yet get all five to stay connected to the ski community!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all tear it up out there!

Top 5 Ski Resorts in Colorado with Most Social Media Engagements

Ski resorts are taking advantage of digital advertising by engaging in social interaction with winter sports communities by incorporating videos and photos of their resorts. As well as updating the weather conditions every several hours to show how much snow they get to hype up their followers. In hope that they will make their way to the mountain to hit the slopes. This is a great advertising tool to get people facts fast and easily. Information can be beneficial to for winter sports enthusiasts to see which runs are open, how much snow fell, or how much is currently falling. Furthermore, people can post videos and photos as well on the ski resort social media accounts. This facilitates a close relationship with the winter sports enthusiasts and their favorite ski resorts. With digital advertising winter sports lovers are able to connect with one another, and promote the brand of ski resorts.

I wanted to analyze which ski resorts had the most social media engagements in Colorado. I decided to find the top 5 ski resorts that were the most successful among their winter sports community. My plan of attack was to search for which ski resorts had the most followers on three different social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Through these media vehicles ski resorts are able to reach their communities easily.

Top 5 Ski Resorts Utilizing Social Media:

1. Breckenridge
   
   Twitter: 51.8k & 9,480 tweets
   Facebook: 168,877 page likes & 95,129 people talking
   YouTube: 455 videos, 3,592 subscribers
2. Vail
   
   Twitter: 50.2k & 8,196 tweets
   Facebook: 193,738, 6,750 reviews 298,642 people have visited & 86,507 people talking
   YouTube: 274 videos, 4,774 subscribers
3. Aspen Snowmass
   
   Twitter: 41.2k & 12.7k tweets
   Facebook: 94,687 page likes & 90,7011 people talking
   YouTube: 320 videos & 1,722 subscribers
4. Keystone
   
   Twitter: 40.6k followers & 8,360 tweets 
   Facebook: 127,034 page likes, 6,806 reviews, 331,820 people have visited & 95,413 people talking
   YouTube: 509 videos & 2,235 subscribers
5. Beaver Creek
   
   Twitter: 31k followers & 3,059 tweets
   Facebook: 80,464 page likes & 90,691 people talking
   YouTube: 244 videos & 1,121 subscribers 

But why do these ski resorts accounts have more engagements on social media accounts than the others in Colorado?

I dug a little deeper to figure this out, and I looked at three forms of digital advertising of various ski resorts in Colorado. First, I based the top 5 ski resorts with the most engagements based on three Twitter characteristics: number of followers, number of tweets, and what they tweet about. From these results I put the ski resorts in the order of first to fifth. Next, I looked at Facebook page likes and how many people were talking about the resort. I also analyzed that some sites had how many people have visited their resort. Not all resorts had this content, and I would recommend that they post this because friends on Facebook can communicate to each other and see which of their friends have been there. They could go another step by asking that friend how their experience was via social media. Reviews and how many people have visited the ski resort shows credibility, and people can leave reviews if they had a great experience. Lastly, I looked at the number of YouTube videos and how many subscribers each resort had. Most of the videos promoted the resort and showed the unique physical features of their resort. This way avid winter sports lovers are able to see the slopes.

Breckenridge is the #1 ski resort in Colorado utilizing social media and digital advertising. With over 50,000 Twitter followers, 168,977 Facebook page likes, and 3,592 YouTube subscribers they are competing at the top and giving their followers a place to communicate with each other while keeping them updated. They only come second in number of tweets behind Aspen Snowmass but still maintain to have more followers. This is because they tweet every several hours on weather conditions. Having the highest numbers on social media accounts there is no doubt they should be at the top because they keep their followers involved and wanting to be social.

From my research I found that social media accounts correlate to each other, if people on Facebook like your page they would most likely be willing to follow another form of social media such as Twitter. On Facebook and Twitter videos can be posted by fans and followers to advertise their thrilling experiences out on the slopes. Also followers are able to stay updated on special events and activities happening at the resorts, and latest ski industry conversations. Relating to the winter sports lovers, ski resorts make them feel they are involved in the conversation.

A special shot-out to Breckenridge Ski Resort for utilizing social media and sharing this video of POWDER from their YouTube channel because anyone that has gone skiing knows this fluffy stuff is awesome!! Hope you enjoy!

Source: Breckenridge Ski Resort. "Beautiful sun and fresh snow in January." Online video clip. YouTube. Jan. 21, 2016. Web. Feb. 5, 2016. 

About Me

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Nick Ross, and I am currently a senior marketing major at the University of Northern Iowa. I grew up skiing on my Winter and Spring breaks for family vacations. Out West, I have been to Montana, several places in Colorado and Utah, and Lake Tahoe. Big Sky, Montana is my favorite place so far, and hope to make it back a few more times in my lifetime. My passion for skiing has inspired me to start this blog. I will be blogging about how ski resorts engage with skiers via social media.

I will be graduating in May 2016 looking to pursue a career in marketing/digital advertising. I have a strong interest in marketing and I am a winter sports enthusiast looking to move out West to live in the Rocky Mountains. Like I mentioned above I have skied in many places ever since I was a little tike in fourth grade. I fell in love with the sport ever since, although I do not get many opportunities to ski since I am from Iowa. There are places to ski here, but nothing compares to the Rockies when you have had a taste of racing down mountains.

If you have any questions or post suggestions, please leave a comment or tweet at @Ski_Feed. You can also connect with me on Linkedin here!

Iowa born, mountain daydreamer