MSS February Newsletter

What a difference a month makes!! With a total snowfall this season of 201”, Jackson stands at third highest snowfall in the Intermountain West- just behind Alta and Steamboat.  Seventy-two of those inches has fallen in January- so you KNOW the skiing/riding has been fantastic. We saw some of our favorites open this past month- Hobacks, the Lower Faces and the Couloir. While this recent shot of sunshine has strengthened everyone’s goggle tan, we are looking forward to a snowy start to the month of February. Bring it on!!

We would also like to share a huge thank you to everyone for creating amazing experiences this winter. Despite the uncharacteristically slow start to the season, our overall performance of instructor scores is 9.6/10 for the season. That is a testament to the genuine connections you create with our guests and your focus on creating fantastic experiences. Your hard work and professionalism are inspiring.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

As we approach mid-season, we want to hear from you. Over the next several weeks you will

have the opportunity to participate in two surveys.

The first is an all-company employee engagement survey created by HR and the Leadership Team. The goal of the survey is to establish baseline metrics on our employee experience. The survey results will help guide company decisions for enhancing our employee experience. The JHMR Employee Survey is live as of January 23rd and will remain open for responses until Feb 6. The survey is being administrated by a third party and all responses will remain confidential.

Your second opportunity to weigh in on your season will be in the MSS Mid-season survey.  Changed last year to a staff-directed survey (rather than a supervisor directed evaluation), this is your chance to let us know how your season is going. The mid-season survey link will be available next week. Please use this opportunity to let us know how you are doing, and how we are doing. This is the best way we have of getting better at what we do so you can be happier and better at what YOU do! A link to this survey will be posted next week.

BUSINESS FORECAST

Looking forward to the rest of the season, lesson participation will remain relatively quiet (as usual), between now and the beginning of President’s week. During Presidents’ week, will be busy from the 17th to the 24th. Group lesson numbers have picked up for this period and we see an increase in private lesson reservations beginning on February 17th and lasting through February 22nd.

Spring break visitation will pick up on March 10th and remain relatively steady (rather than one big spike) through the end of March. The biggest spike in business will be the week beginning March 11th.

True to form, we show increase in participation because of snowfall. During the last two storms, 25% of our lesson participants made reservations within the week of participating. If we have more consistent snowfall, we can expect increased last-minute reservations. In addition, Jackson Hole Resort Lodging has had an uptick in-season reservations in the last two weeks.

We will do our best to continue to keep you informed about changes in business volumes and to manage your schedules to respect the time you give us.

PROCARD

Sending out a huge thank you to everyone who has been creating class lists and entering levels to sign out in ProCard. We use this information to accurately describe our Mountain Sports School, which we believe is truly unique in the volume of high-level lessons we teach, and therefore also unique in the need for skilled and experienced instructors. Every time you accurately level your students you help us tell the story and advocate for you. Your patience as we have developed and tuned this functionality is greatly appreciated. We continue to work with Vertsolutions, our ProCard developers, to fine tune this functionality and make it easier to interface with. If you are experiencing difficulties, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Lexey (Lexey.wauters@jacksonhole.com). If you can supply screenshots of what you are experiencing, that is VERY helpful. You can also review the process to create a class lesson list and assign a level to your students by watching the 2023-2024 Updates tutorial.

One additional ProCard note: be sure to check your ProCard profile for accuracy. Items to check are your certifications, years of service, your wage calculator and your priority group calculator. If there are any inaccuracies, please bring them to your supervisor’s attention or email Lexey.wauters@jacksonhole.com or paul.franzeim@jacksonhole.com.

PRO-BOOKING, PRIVATE LESSONS, REFERRALS- OH MY!!

This is a brief reminder of some private lesson booking protocols--

1. To get instructor managed for a booking, please book the lesson through Pro-Booking.  Please do not email mss.privates or go to the Sales office unless you have a complicated booking that prohibits you from using ProBooking. If you need a primer on using ProBooking, you can review the tutorials found HERE.

2. If you want to refer an instructor, you may do that through mss.privates@jacksonhole.com.  The guide/instructor should book their day through Pro-Booking and then email the supervisors or sales to book the referral. They will enter the referral pay for you. The referred-to instructor will be booked at confirm-to-request pay. You can't get referral pay on a day that you are not otherwise booked for work with the MSS (time off, not available, etc).

3. If you give an instructor the client information/dates/contact and that instructor books the client through ProBooking, that lesson will be booked as an instructor managed private for the booking instructor.  There will be no referral pay in this case.

4. Cancelling spots on early tram or gondola - reserved spots must be cancelled the day before to qualify for a refund. You need to notify the sales desk by closing which is at 5 pm. There are no dock-side cancellations for refund morning of.

CAUTIONARY NOTES TO LIVE BY!

This is a photo of a skier triggered, inbounds slide on Friday, Jan 19th just below South Pass near the base of the Teton Lift. This area was closed. Patrol cleared the slide using a beacon search and their search dogs. Fortunately, no one was hurt. However, this is a GREAT reminder of the dangers that exist in closed areas and beyond the boundaries. With new snow, high amounts of wind and persistent weak layers buried below, avalanche risks are high. The patrol is very thoughtful as to how and when they open terrain. If terrain is closed- STAY OUT. Not only is there an inherent risk to your own safety, events such as pictured result in dilution of our on-mountain resources. Lastly, skiing closed areas is against JHMR policy. Please be safe out there.

Another safety reminder- or introduction- to consider are deep snow immersion injuries.  Avalanches aren’t the only way to suffer from an immersion incident. Tree wells- an area of unconsolidated and shallower snow at the base of a tree- can result in effective burial of someone that falls in one. Be cautious when skiing in the trees in deep, especially new, snow. Ski with a partner and stay within visual (if possible) or voice contact. Review the information at Tree Well and Snow Immersion Suffocation to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon and how to react if you find yourself upside down under a tree!

SHOUT OUTS!

To the Day Care crew- captained by Jen Traver herself- for coming in second at the Employee Trivia Night. The Baby Bottle Baristas were edged out by 1 point by Team PC from HR.

To all our new Alpine Level 1s- we had a 14 out of 14 pass rate last week. Great work to all.

Aaaand to all of our new Snowboard Level 1s- whoop whoop! We had a 3 of 3 pass rate on Tuesday.

TRAINING

It is training season! With new snow opening up terrain and certification season ramping up, this is a great time to add some training days to your schedule. There is a broad array of topics from cert prep to Freestyle Friday to Introduction to Backcountry- check out the training calendar on Procard to sign up. Your training hours are accrued throughout the season and are part of your Points-Wage calculation for wage next year. Remember, if you are signing up for a PSIA/AASI event, you must ALSO register with the PSAI/AASI organization. Signing up on ProCard will not register you for the event.

SUMMER!

Crazy- right? We will have positions open this summer for work with the Mountain Sports School for Summer Camp Counselors, Activity Attendants and Ropes Course Attendants. Please reach out to Hailey (hailey.sentz@jacksonhole.com) for Summer Camp info and Meaghan (Meaghan.lovely@jacksonhole.com) or Richard (Richard.morse@jackhole.com) for info about the other positions. Applications for all JHMR summer positions opens on February 15th. You can find info about other departments on the website- Employment - Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

Thanks for ALL the hard work out there!

MSS Management

MSS Employee Website

Mountain Sports School Management

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

P.O. Box 290

Teton Village, WY 83025