I’ve said it before, but instead of saying it again I’ll let my past self say it for me.

I truly believe that one of the most important things we’ve haven’t yet designed for with the beginner experience is how it looks. We haven’t yet given non-skiers a compelling visual strong enough to get off the couch so they could share that image with their friends.

I wrote that in 2018, spoke about it a year before that, and have been sharing examples of it ever since.

Today, I want to share another one. A really good one.

Lights to the Lodge
Here’s the quick and dirty version from their website.

“A safe and easy one-kilometre snowshoe trek to the historic Hollyburn Lodge along a self-guided trail through the enchanting Old Growth Forest. The trail is lit with LED lights strung sustainably through the forest boughs of ancient Cedar, Fir and Hemlock trees. After enjoying your visit to the Lodge and perhaps one of our popular menu items or refreshments, guests can snowshoe back to the base area along a return trail also with feature lighting.”

There are four things I love about this.

#1) Not a Gamble
People love lights. A nearby state park lights up their campground each fall and there are lines out the gate with cars hoping to drive through. No sense reinventing the wheel.

#2) No Skill Required
No lessons or learning curve required, if you can walk you can snowshoe. It makes fun a fun activity – and introduction to the resort – without the intimidation factor of skiing. It’s a simple way to reframe an existing activity.

#3) Evening
It’s designed for families and – gasp – it happens after families are done with school and work. Instead of fighting potential guest’s lives, it works with them.

#4) Visual
Again, the best part of this is that it’s not just a fun, outdoor experience, it’s that this is a highly visual one. We live at a time when people will do things solely for the “cute picture” they can take while they do it. And, people did.

If you haven’t tried snowshoeing at @Cypressmtn yet, the lights to the Lodge is super pretty and a fun way to spend an evening ❄️ pic.twitter.com/uW1yRvMtDL

— Kathryn Anderson (@MissKatAnderson) March 5, 2021

They already had the snowshoes, they already had a database of potential guests, heck, they may have even already had the lights.

Mix this things together…

…and you have one of the simplest, best activities I saw resorts promote this season.

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.