My home mountain is Nordic Valley. And while they’re starting to get more attention in the Utah ski market, they’re still fighting for attention.

But I’ve also dreamed that one day they’d throw caution to the wind, crank all their guns non-stop for the first cold weekend of the year, and get their shortest beginner chair spinning to throw the local media off balance by being the first resort in the state to open.

While this idea may never happen, something similar just did on a much more awesome scale.

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A post shared by Ski Ward Ski Area (@skiward)

Ski Ward recently purchased one of the make-snow-at-almost-any-temp snowmaking machines. And with their fall festival coming up, they decided to add snow to the mix.

One thing led to another and…they opened.

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A post shared by Ski Ward Ski Area (@skiward)

The race to open is full of all sort of unofficial rules, depending on who you ask.

• It has to be a chair, not a surface lift
• They have to stay open
• A full, real run has to be open

But the funny thing about marketing and PR, is that it’s not so much about the rules as it is the story. And Ski Ward beating every resort in the country with Latitude snowmaker and magic carpet is a fantastic story.

Unofficial agreed.

So did Snow Brains.

As did Powder.

It’s clever, it’s scrappy, it’s opportunistic, it’s a David against Goliath narrative that’s hard to resist.

Marketing isn’t always about rules, marketing is about stories. And this is a fantastic story.

Nice work, Ski Ward.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.