Year-round activities that cater to both the 30-year old and 60-year old can mean the survival of America’s ski clubs. In this instant gratification seeking world, everybody seems to think that they should have it all and that they should get it now! Why wait?
Ski clubs should keep their memberships occupied during the summer as well as the five months of the ski season. Your older members are probably retiring, with time on their hands and a desire to go somewhere in the summer and fall and their ski clubs has shown them the pleasures of traveling with a group of friends — and then we introduced them to some folks who ski and travel and they loved the concept.
This often extends beyond the club to sub-groups who have been skiing and/or traveling together since the 1970’s. Some still ski with the club and some do not, but the sub-group started with traveling with “the club”.
Perhaps initially they joined the club because skiing was not an easy trip to organize from their home town or they wished to save money on ski trips or they wanted to find some friends with whom they could ski. But today, it is often just a matter of skiing with those friends that resulted from joining a ski club 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. They are not as concerned about the price of ski trips and tourism. That’s what retirement savings are for. They may have knees, ankles, or whatever that don’t work like they used to so they will enjoy a river cruise in Europe as their big vacation next year instead of skiing. So, if you want to keep that member around and traveling with the club, offer them a trip to Europe in the summer or fall. Show them Machu Picchu or drive to Colorado’s Mesa Verde (North America’s version of a much less developed Machu Picchu — the entire area is covered with little seen evidence of native Americans 1,200 years ago! Take care of those aging members for they are usually the backbone of your club.
But also pay attention to those younger skiers and travelers. They are the future of the club. Search out less expensive ski trips to less glamorous resorts — perhaps staying in nearby motels or nearby cities from which you can launch ski expeditions. Many of the 30-year olds simply cannot afford a $1,700 ski trip but would be excited to go to smaller resorts for a week — or perhaps even a long weekend of skiing. Give them that opportunity and start attracting some younger members.
And don’t forget the things that used to make the summer so much fun when we were young; happy hours, picnics, volleyball on Wednesday nights, camp outs, boating outings, etc. Keep trying to attract our old and finding some new folks to join our clubs.
