Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006 • Coppervale Ski Hill is a potential student draw

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006 edition of the Lassen County Times.

“I think the college would benefit from Coppervale Ski Hill if they used it to have an associates degree program in Ski Hill Management and Operations,” said Norm Wilson, Coppervale Ski Hill manager. Wilson also said he feels that “a program like this would draw students to Lassen Community College.”

Being one of the few, if any other, community colleges in the state with its own ski hill, “is something LCC could benefit from by having its own ski team. The local high schools could also offer that as part of their sports program,” emphasized Wilson. “I have an instructor that would like to begin teaching ski and snowboard racing and I’m working to get that going this year.”

LCC ski classes usually kick off in December or January and sometimes earlier when the snow has packed the ground well and powder is plentiful.

This year at Coppervale there will be a range of styles and levels to enter as far as college classes or lessons offered consisting of Nordic/telemark, snowboarding, alpine, and cross-country.

Wilson has been offering ski instruction for approximately 18 years at LCC.

“There are college classes offered for people who want to take a class at a low cost or to see if they will have an aptitude for the sport. He said it is a great incentive for getting people of the community to use the community college resources,” he emphasized.

Through community service programs and low-cost daily tickets, monthly punch cards or season passes the ski hill has been an attraction to locals but even “many from Susanville do not know that Coppervale exists,” said Wilson.

Wilson will spend approximately seven hours a day in the off-season clearing brush, performing maintenance on the poma lift to maintain Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and other maintenance needed on structures. He also does all the work on the terrain park features to make sure everything is in place and ready to go when the snow comes. In the winter, hours could increase from 10 to 14 hours a day to complete the grooming.

“This is a standard thing because everybody has a terrain park at other ski hills and resorts. Even though we’re small we offer the same amenities that other ski areas offer,” he said. “I think if you offer racing and more intense programs the students would be very inclined to be using a service that the college already owns. Having race teams at the college and local high schools could be very beneficial to the college.”

With more students on ski teams at the college and high schools, Wilson predicts parents will spend more time there and get signed up for college ski classes or do some volunteerism, which is a strong point in keeping Coppervale viable and cost effective.

“We are still going to offer community service classes for underage kids and other people. At other ski areas the cost for a three-hour lesson is about $75. We can offer it at $25 for the same time and skill levels.”

Coppervale also has monthly punch cards that are a reduced daily usage ticket.

“We had to increase that $5 to cover the fuel costs of the groomer,” explained Wilson. “We have not raised it from $15 dollars which has been the cost for many years. We can’t afford to do it at the rate considering the current cost of fuel.”

Having a program in ski hill management and operations will teach students who have an aptitude and love of skiing to become professionals in the field. Students would learn the business and financial aspects as well as the sport and promotion and marketing of skiing, snowboarding and other snow sports.

Students of the program would also learn how to build terrain parks to increase visitors with interesting and well-maintained trails of all types and how to maintain lifts, grooming of the ski area and other daily functions of the business of operating a ski area.

Wilson said he feels strongly about the program and how it can impact enrollment at LCC.

“In the past the students in the ski program at Lassen College have mostly been students from the community rather than the college itself,” he said. “I’ve been working very hard to promote the ski hill to the college students. Getting college teams and high school teams would bring more students out there because a lot of them don’t know about Coppervale or that Lassen had their own ski hill. Taking it from Lassen College, you get quality instruction and exercise.”

“If the college could tap Coppervale’s creative and educational assets it would draw students to Lassen College. Recruitment uses Coppervale as incentive to get students to come to LCC and having a program will make the recruitment incentive more attractive.”