At my local resort, big picture conditions don’t change that much. Yeah, it might be softer one day and harder the next, but beyond that there’s not much to report.

This is not the case at all resorts, especially those who rely on snowmaking like Ski Sundown.

A year like this one can bring rain and warm temps that significantly alter the snow at the mountain, the skiability of individual trails, and the overall experience. The mountain doesn’t just ski different, it looks different. And you can tell from the parking lot of webcams or social updates.

Slow, Quick

This can happen slowly over weeks of high pressure and unlucky storms, but the recovery can be dramatic once snowmaking temps return. So how do you quickly and effectively tell this story of conditions across the mountain? In my book, a drone does a fantastic job.

Early morning drone views @skisundown. Making snow again all day! #skisundown #wintermadebetter #snowmaking #makingsnow #skilocal pic.twitter.com/yaiaoBsz7T

— SkiSundown (@SkiSundown) February 1, 2023

You get to see every trail from multiple angles, you get to see the whole resort, you get to see specific areas up close, all in a quickly-moving and engaging format.

And while video works great, so do stills.

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A post shared by Ski Sundown (@skisundown)

Either way, the drone gives you a powerful angle in telling the story around big changes in conditions.

Reset Perceptions

This is a great move from Sundown. The perception of the resort can build over weeks from their own backyard, actually being up their skiing, what they imagine happened after a rain storm or warm spell passes through.

So zooming out a little bit, showing the resort from all sorts of angles does a fantastic job at an effective and transparent view of what the resort looks like in reality, not in their minds in ways that a written update or ground-level view never can.

So much of marketing is just knowing which tool to use in which situation, and Sundown absolutely made the right call with this one.

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