Preservation and Prosperity, Please.

It’s no secret that goals of protecting large amounts of land and creating a vibrant economy can be at odds with each other.  Man has always used the land and natural resources to drive commerce. Unfortunately balancing environmental protection and economics is often easier said than done.

Garnet-Hill-Lodge-view

Over the last few years, I’ve been working with a few of my favorite mountain businesses on search marketing and web development. My most recent project is helping Garnet Hill Lodge with a new responsive website design.

Last weekend, in addition to getting some of our projects done at the cabin, I visited the Lodge to connect with owners Don and Mindy to review our progress.

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Ski Resort Water Parks: Wave of the Future?

Four Season. Are there any two words more desired by ski resorts — most of which are on a never-ending quest to plug the non-revenue-producing hole that stretches from April to the end of November?

FlowRider-Adult

Over the decades, lift-served mountains have added numerous attractions to generate cash flow during the off season: alpine slides, outdoor water parks, paintball, frisbee golf, lift-served and cross-country mountain biking, ziplines, even skiing on rubber mats — usually with limited success.

More recently, indoor water parks have been added to the menu of off-season options. They have the added benefit of not only attracting paying guests year round, but also providing families with a Plan B for bad-weather days during ski season and a one-stop shop to keep increasingly jaded kids entertained.

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Hooked: Skiing on Natural Snow

My first time skiing was at Garnet Hill Lodge in 1989. I had a friend with a ski shop who convinced me to give nordic skiing a try. We bought NNN skis, a complete set up, boots, poles and skis for $125.

Natural-Snow

The first morning of our stay we skied from the lodge down to the ski shop via the Cut Off Trail. It’s pretty steep for a nordic trail with a 90-degree turn at the bottom of the steepest section. It was right after a rain/freeze and we were out before the groomer.

When I got to the corner, it wasn’t pretty. I spent a minute on the ground wondering what the hell I was doing.

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