How important is the Internet and social media in influencing where you ski/board ?

[OzSkiCT]

Being a bit of a geek, here's something I'm curious to hear your thoughts about:

With all the technology at our fingertips these days, how much does the content on a mountain's web site, their Facebook page, Instagram feed, Twitter feed, YouTube/Vimeo videos, etc, influence your decision to go (or not to go) skiing/boarding at a particular mountain ?

If you've got a "best of class" example from a mountain that you really *LOVE*, please feel free to share what it is that you like so much about it, or if you've seen something that just falls short and fails to deliver, you can share what drives you so crazy about it too (but please try to be constructive in your criticism !!!).

How do you rate this ahead of "traditional" media advertising like TV, radio and print advertising ?

Over to you !

 

[crank]

Not one iota. It all boils down to snow and terrain and those were around long before social media and websites. Before interconnectivity, I used to call local bars and ski shops in VT to ask about ski conditions because back then, even more than now, ski areas were less than truthful in that area.

Snow has always had more impact on the ski area business than advertising and it will ever be thus. Same as it ever was.

 

[billski]

Related to short-term info,

I setup FB groups for the NWS and respected meteorologists.
I setup another FB group for the resorts worth watching.
I take the former group more seriously.
I often post pointed questions to resorts that I might be interested in hitting. I usually get pretty fast answers. I tend to ask the questions that they'd rather avoid. Or if I think it won't get answered publicly, I FB message them. So far so good.

Twitter is nothing more than a big time sink.
For all the other public outlets, I'm with crank.

 

[MadMadWorld]

Someone is trying to get polling data.

 

[gmcunni]

alpinezone affects my decisions.

 

[Cornhead]

alpinezone affects my decisions.

It has in the past for me also, a couple years ago I had planned on skiing Magic, people here said Burke would be the sweet spot, so I went there, 18" on April Fools Day, my Moma didn't raise no fool! :-D

 

[C-Rex]

AZ definitely affects my decisions more than FB or anything else. Although, I've seen some posts from Jay that made me what to drop what I was doing and head north.

 

[Smellytele]

Someone is trying to get polling data.

+1
Weather, amount open, price and conditions influence where I am going to ski. I get that info anyway I can from multiple places. Pictures of shiny happy people mean nothing to me

 

[Domeskier]

If the internet didn't exist, I doubt I ever would have discovered the awesomeness that is Ski Sundown!

 

[ScottySkis]

I don't care about website when I at great hills enjoying snow that is fun that what I care about.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Most mtn websites are underwhelming in terms of influencing my decisions, they almost always overstate their conditions . FB and Twitter Yawn

AZ and Harvey Road does to. Degree influence me but Snow quality , previous experience with which mtns traditionally offer BETTER conditions, price points , density etc have more influence I look at multiple weather sites ,web cams and then look. At what the mtn trail condition reports are

 

[jimk]

I use internet forums like this one for info on deals, conditions, technique, gear, travel tips, and networking for ski buddies. (Spent a couple days last winter at MRG and Stowe with Crank and other online acquaintances.) I know a few tricks about posting reports and photos, but otherwise I'm a bit of a technophobe with other social media, never use FB, twitter, or a smart phone. Of the channels on your list the only one I use is the ski area website for conditions, pricing, maps, etc. And I may go there repeatedly in the week or so leading up to a visit.
See here for an appreciation of forums: http://www.epicski.com/a/giving-thanks-for-online-ski-forums

 

[spring_mountain_high]

it influences me 60% of the time, all the time

 

[dlague]

My decision on where to ski is based on the best deals I have first and foremost, the resort and their terrain next, and then the weather. Much of this is driven by knowledge from multiple sources - BEWI Ski and Snowboard Show, ski industry trade rags, cool people on AZ and weather sites/channels.

 

[OzSkiCT]

Someone is trying to get polling data.

Actually, it's nothing of the sort. In the interests of full disclosure, I do instruct at Ski Sundown on a part-time basis, but I effectively have no influence in their web site content. That's what Marketing take care of.

In the 6 years since I started skiing, I have taken advantage of several offers that I've found on ski mountain web sites. It was Okemo's "Learn To Ski Free" offer (which these days is offered at greatly reduced price) that first got me and my sons onto skis for the first time, and it was Mohawk's "Learn To Snowboard free" offer that allowed me to try snowboarding enough to know that I was happy to stick with skiing. I have also enjoyed cut-price e-Tickets to Jiminy Peak by being on their e-mail list, taken advantage of the Boy Scouts discount at Ski Butternut, won free tickets through various web sites (RealConditions.com and SkiCoupons.com), and taken advantage of CT Ski Council's Appreciation Days at various mountains in NY, VT and NH. All these are "draw factors" that make me want to go, or to keep coming back, and which keep skiing affordable for my family and I.

I've also been interesting in broadening my horizons and trying new mountains, but when I see a web site or Facebook page that is hard to navigate, hopelessly outdated or outright inaccurate, then I'm also likely to steer clear and cross them off my list of potential places to try.

That's what motivated me to write my original post ... nothing more !

 

[BenedictGomez]

Someone is trying to get polling data.

LOL, I thought the same thing. Or an article, etc...

 

[Abubob]

If they wanted polling data might not they have set up a .... poll?

Anyway, I'd say - a lot - at this point. I used to rely on a printed ski map previously and of course weather reports on TV. I've planned whole ski vacations without the internet. All that information is available online now. Moreover with AZ and the Skiing on the Cheap thread I've found some good deals at places like Magic, Killington, Jay Peak. Without the internet I would not have heard of the CHAD card which is a great money saver.

The greatest influences remain the weather and my wallet.

Facebook? Feh!

 

[Smellytele]

I do instruct at Ski Sundown...
In the 6 years since I started skiing,

:-o

 

[MadMadWorld]

Yea suuuure. Just like that kid that really wanted our opinions on his editing ability!

 

[Nick]

I think it's an interesting topic still. I've got this big spreadsheet because I want to update our resort pages to include social media from teh resorts. So you go to the Jay Peak page (for example) http://www.alpinezone.com/resorts/jay/, I want to include

a) Their recent youtube vids
b) Recent twitter content
c) Recent instagram content
d) Links to their social media pages

... maybe other stuff also? Not sure yet.

I haven't got around to planning and designing it yet but it's on my radar. I think that in conjunction with user reports here on AZ really make our resort section a "go to" for information on any given place in the East.