When it comes to things we sometimes struggle to see the magic in the way a normal human would, right near the top are ski lifts.

And within that theme, near the top of that lift is what it takes to splice a cable.

I’ve never had the chance to participate in a splicing effort myself, but I’ve watched the process enough times to still be amazed at what it takes to connect the two ends of the wire rope from which thousands of trusting skiers will hang.

Sugar Bowl

Even with all those views into the process, this post from Sugar Bowl stood out for a few reasons. Well, as the title suggests, four reasons if we’re going to be precise.

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A post shared by Sugar Bowl Resort (@sugarbowlresort)

#1) Quality
The first thing to notice is the quality of the photos. The depth of field, the lighting, the framing, the colors…all are top notch. The difference between good photos and great photos is massive in terms of the message they send and the emotions the evoke. These are great photos.

#2) Multiple Angles
This may just be a preference of Gregg Blanchard alone, but I like it when there is a series of photos instead of a single photo, even if many of the photos are similar to one another. In the absence of video (which I’ll talk about in a sec), this is a great way to get a sort of 3D mental image of what’s happening and just mentally dig into the moment a little bit more.

#3) A Big Deal
Next, Sugar Bowl was able to see past their “oh, yeah, another splicing job” knowledge and get into the mind of their guests who would be blown away by this. Then, they didn’t hedge and play it cool, they got excited.

#4) Play-by-Play
Some folks might be saying “why not make this a video?” Well, that’s an option, but it’s also an expensive option in terms of time and opportunity cost. So I love that Sugar Bowl put a little bulleted list in their copy to walk folks through the process instead of doing a couple hours of editing just to convey the same nuance.

Good Stuff

I love posts like this.

It’s a unique view of the stuff skiers may take for granted, it’s extremely well done, and it conveys as much excitement as the viewers would feel in the moment. A solid combination.

Maybe that’s why this post got more like than anything they’ve posted since a spring snowstorm in April.

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.