SPECIAL STATEMENT
Out of an abundance of caution, the CCSAA Board of Directors has made the decision to postpone this year’s Annual Conference 2020 scheduled for April in Bogus Basin, ID, due to the COVID-19 Virus.
The situation regarding COVID-19 is fluid, and we believe not postponing the Conference would be irresponsible. We take the health and safety of our members very seriously.
For those of you that have registered, we will be reaching out to you individually over the next few days about conference and lodging refunds.
This year’s conference had an amazing agenda and we hope to roll all presenters into next year’s conference. More on this shortly.
Please feel free to contact me or any BOD members with any questions
CCSAA Annual Conference 2021
Please join CCSAA at its Annual Conference 2021 April 6 & 7 at Bogus Basin in Boise, ID. The Conference is a great opportunity to not only listen to relevant speakers within our cross country community, but to spend time with other owner/operators of cross country ski areas, to get some great spring skiing and share ideas of what works and does not work.
This year’s event will be packed with interactive grooming and maintenance elements as well as fat bike, employee retention, safety and risk management and more. The Conference is moving away from the traditional speaker to more interactive and hands-on elements. You will see this reflected in the agenda. We feel collaboration and discussion on our topics are for more beneficial than only listening to a presenter. There will be opportunities to spend time with presenters and learn specifics about how their subject pertains to your for your ski area.
Retailers and area ski shops will also have the ability to place their finals orders at the Conference and still take advantage of the pre-season pricing offered at the Jan shows. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of.
Conference Highlights – Tentative
- Cloud Seeding Presentation – A Form of Weather Modification
- Winter Wildlands and Snow School
- Best Practices for Marketing Workshop
- Pisten Bully PRO ACADEMY – (Tentative)
- Grooming demos
- Fat Bike Single Track Grooming
- HKD Snowmaking
- Social Media
- Cross Country State of the Market
- Multiple Round Table Discussions
- Founder’s Award Presentation Dinner
- More…
The $425 US for CCSAA member ski areas & exhibitors. $475 for non-members. $250 for media. The cost includes attendance at all events and meals for Tuesday and Wednesday.
To be able to sit down one on one with the exhibitors was really helpful. I had my website analyzed and now I know what areas to improve upon. I can imagine Grey Suit Retail picked up a few new accounts out of this conference. It was a soft and non-intimidating approach – soooo valuable.
Lodging
There are two options for lodging at Bogus Basin. There are 18 condos at the top of the hill that sleep between 3-8 people each, 122 beds total, and there are hotels in Boise, ID. The BOD has asked that we hold all activities at the top of the mountain including all meals and happy hours.
CCSAA has reserved all condos and Terry from the CCSAA office will manage all condo pairings. Please contact Terry directly with those in your party and add specific rooming arraignments you need. She will do her best to accommodate everyone.
Condo pricing is extremely reasonable ranging from $300 – 825 per condo for three nights (Mon – Wed). That split between 3-8 people will make it extremely reasonable. Condo website is here:
Please note, condos will sell out, please do not wait until the last minute to book your lodging.
- The Grove Hotel – https://www.grovehotelboise.com/
- Comfort Inn and Suites – https://www.choicehotels.com/idaho/boise/comfort-inn-hotels
- Riverside Hotel – https://riversideboise.com/
- Hotel 43 – https://hotel43.com/
Need a roommate or carpool?
CCSAA is happy to help. Just contact the office prior to making your reservation. 802-236-3021 We’ll keep a list of folks looking to share a room and those offering carpooling.
Getting There
Boise, ID is the closest airport to Bogus Basin and generally considered the best way to get to get to the ski area.
Come Early to Explore and Ski
Many members are coming in the weekend before the conference to ski and spend some relaxed time in Idaho. Don’t miss this opportunity to visit and ski one of the most beautiful places in North America!
Sun Valley, part of the Blaine Country Recreation Department is a 2.5 hour drive from Boise is offering comp skiing for any CCSAA Member attending the Annual Meeting either before or after the event. Please contact BOD Member Eric Rector to arrange for your complimentary tickets
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Bogus Basin Agenda 2021
Subject to Change
Last updated: 3/5/2020
Monday, April 5
All Day Optional skiing at Bogus Basin or in Sun Valley
4-5:00pm Conference Arrival and registration TBD
Sponsored by The SIG Insurance Agencies
5:30-7:30PM Welcome Reception TBD
Tuesday, April 6
7:30-8:15 Breakfast Pioneer Lodge
8:15 CCSAA Welcome Reese Brown Pioneer Lodge
8:20 Bogus Welcome Paul McNeil Pioneer Lodge
8:45 Morning Activity Options
- Possible PSIA
- Exploring the ski trails on your own Nordic Center
- 10am – Snow School Ski Experience Nordic Center
- Digging Snow Pits– Get hands on with snow pits as we dig to understand more about the snowpack.
- Groomer demos – Ski & Fat Bike Nordic Center
- Fat Bike Demos Nordic Center
Industry Expo Set-up Frontier Point Lodge
9:00am PRO ACADEMY (Advance Registration Required)
Noon Lunch sponsored by HKD Snowmaking and Industry Expo
1:00 – 1:40 Cloud Seeding, A Form of Weather Modification – Derek Blestrud, Sr. Atmospheric Scientist — Presentation on Idaho Power’s cloud seeding program to enhance rain and snow, reduce hail damage, and alleviate fog – and how it greatly benefits the ski community.
1:40-1:45 Break
1:45 – 2:30 SnowSchool, a Classroom Without Ceilings – Kerry McClay, National SnowSchool Director and Dirk Anderson, Bogus Basin Environmental Education – SnowSchool is a national education program designed to bridge snow science and recreation for kids. Discussed will be the national program and a case study review of the Bogus Basin curriculum.
2:30 -2:45 Break
2:45-3:30 Liability Waiver Round Table– Tom Lawrence, The SIG Insurance Agencies and CCSAA Insurance Agent – Tom will moderate a discussion on best practices for trail pass waiver, rental waivers, handling racers that don’t get trail passes and summer operations. Panel TBD.
3:30 – 3:35 Break
3:35-4:15 Attracting the Next Customer, Serving the Community and Programming – Bogus Basin Marketing Director will discuss how the Resort’s approach to consumer outreach and programming.
4:15 Industry Expo and Happy Hour Frontier Point Lodge
6:30 Founders Dinner Pioneer Lodge
7:30 Founders Award Presentation
CCSAA is honored to present its annual Founders Award to John Morton of Morton Trails
Evening Fireside Chat TBD
Wednesday, April 7
7:30-8:15 Breakfast Pioneer Lodge
8:15 Quick Morning Meeting Pioneer Lodge
8am – Tour of Bogus Maintenance Shop Shop
8:30 Ski Options
- 10am – Snow School Ski Experience Nordic Center
- Watershed Maps– With snow as our medium, we’ll create our own ski hill and discuss how watershed science is integral to understanding
- Exploring the ski trails on your own Nordic Center
- Groomer demos – Ski & Fat Bike Nordic Center
- Fat Bike Demos Nordic Center
11:30 Simple solutions for measuring snow temperature and snow depth (this is the lab for the 1pm presentation)
Noon Lunch sponsored by HKD Snowmaking and Industry Expo
1:00 – 1:40 Predicting Melt Out of Key Areas of Your Trail System Utilizing Simple Measurements and Why This Matters – HP Marshal, Boise State University – Why NASA is mapping snow temperature and snow depth and why measuring this at your ski area with simple tools is more important than you think. (Please attend the 11:30am lab to learn about accurate measuring)
1:40 Break
1:45 – 2:30 Best Practices Marketing Workshop – Todd Walton, The Walton Works – Todd will lead a workshop on marketing solutions and case studies to real ski area questions. The presentation will be short, the conversation generated will be fascinating.
2:30 Break
2:35 – 3:15 Best practices for teaching and beginner area set-up including grooming and terrain selection -or-
3:15 Break
3:20 – 4:00 New Technologies in Fat Bike Grooming –
4:00 – 4:30 State of the Cross Country Market and CCSAA End of Season Survey–
5:30 Happy Hour and Industry Expo Frontier Point Lodge
6:30 Closing Dinner & Silent Auction Pioneer Lodge
PM Fireside Chat Location TBD
Thursday April 8
Depart
All Day Optional skiing at Sun Valley, reservations required