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Future of WSSF in Whistler not a sure thing

Organizers say issues need to be ironed out for the festival to continue The spotlights have dimmed, the final drumbeat has floated up into the night sky and the crowds have dissipated from their place of worship around the big air jump, yet Whistler

Organizers say issues need to be ironed out for the festival to continue

The spotlights have dimmed, the final drumbeat has floated up into the night sky and the crowds have dissipated from their place of worship around the big air jump, yet Whistler still glows in the aftermath of one of its most successful Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festivals.

"Thanks for coming Whistler – see you at the 2002 Festival" – or then again, maybe not.

The organizers behind the annual festival say this year’s 10-day event has definitely been among the best in its six year history, in terms of world class competition, bands, participation and weather. However Doug Perry, the WSSF chairman and managing director of the Resort Communications Group which manages the festival, says it has become increasingly challenging to put together.

He assures that the WSSF will definitely go ahead next year, but says certain issues need to be ironed out to ensure that the festival’s two main drawcard events – the World Snowboarding Championship (WSC) and the World Skiing Invitational (WSI) – remain in Whistler.

"The future of these two events hang in the balance because Whistler is such an expensive and restrictive place to host an event," Perry says. "I just hope the stakeholders in the Whistler community embrace the need to stop events from going to other places."

RGC introduced both events to the festival last year, significantly boosting both the calibre of athletes and the prize pool. RCG owns the WSI and is part owner of the WSC, with Sims Snowboards.

Perry says being presented with a surprise bill by the municipality for renting the village on Monday, April 23 after the festival, for example, makes it tough to justify Whistler as a venue.

"We were never informed about this new bylaw and now we have a $12,000 bill we never anticipated," he says. "As far as I know this resort is the only one in North America that would charge event organizers who are attracting visitors and boosting local businesses."

As the event manager, RCG assumes the financial risk of any unforeseen costs. Prior to receiving the invoice, the company had said budgets were balanced perfectly for 2001. Last year the inaugural WSI resulted in extra costs that were absorbed by RCG. Perry says the municipality has billed out at $1,000 a day, including an extra two days for setup and cleanup.

"Apparently the bylaw was passed last year but I am not aware of any other events that have been charged rental for use of the village," he added.

Whistler is no stranger to conflicts with event organizers. In January Whistler announced it would not host a triple World Cup mountain bike event this summer, after event organizers, the municipality, Tourism Whistler and Whistler-Blackcomb failed to come to an agreement on costs and responsibilities.

In February, the organizers behind Whistler’s gay and lesbian ski week, Altitude, publicly threatened to take their event elsewhere, saying "draconian" rules were creating a poor experience for international guests. Altitude claimed inflexible attitudes from Tourism Whistler were exacerbating the problem and its 3,000 guests would follow if the event was re-located.

Perry says he has not yet received word yet if RCG will manage WSSF 2002. This decision will be made by Whistler-Blackcomb and Tourism Whistler who respectively own 50 and 25 per cent of the WSSF management company. The remaining 25 per cent shareholder and founder of the WSSF is the World Skiing Group, which does not have a say in the issue due to Perry’s vested interest as its director.

Rob McSkimming, a WSSF board director and managing director of Whistler-Blackcomb Ski and Snowboard School, says he can’t imagine any obstacles to RCG taking the helm again next year.

"They did a fabulous job and Whistler-Blackcomb looks forward to a long partnership with RCG in keeping the momentum up and the event growing," McSkimming said.

He adds, the town has been full over the past week with attendees at three other festival events: the Battle of the Ski Schools, the International Mountain Sports Instructors Association and the International Ski Instructors Association. He says the feedback on the WSSF has been incredible.

"People kept telling me over and over again that they couldn’t believe how busy and pumping Whistler still is, when most resorts all over the world are now so quiet."

McSkimming says once things calm down post-festival, the board will be getting everyone together to work out the contract details for WSSF 2002 and go from there.

While the WSSF helped draw visitors to Whistler in April, the numbers were probably aided by the fact the Easter holidays fell within the festival dates for the second consecutive year. Visitors from Mexico and United Kingdom were prominent during the festival.

Meanwhile local retailers report that the WSSF has once again been good for business by bumping up tourist numbers in the traditional downtime. While any hard economic data from the event is still weeks from being compiled, John Grills, the Town Plaza representative for the Commercial Core Committee, says the feedback from retailers has been positive.

"It is lot of fun and one of the best end of season parties in western North America," he says. "The turnout at the big air events especially shows how popular it is and it creates such good energy in the village."

Grills says WSSF typically draws younger people who are not necessarily a dining crowd that would frequent his own businesses, Thai One On and Zeuski’s Taverna. He adds that "the festival isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but the alternative is having nothing," and he doubts any businesses would want that.

"There has been a dramatic drop-off in business since Sunday night when the festival finished," he says. "By all accounts it has been a great success and the only negative thing I heard was about clashing music in the village, with the big stage and smaller booths all pumping out their own sounds."

One of the WSSF sponsors, Westbeach, says the festival just gets better every year. Dave Halliwell, a Westbeach director based in Whistler, says the WSSF is a great team effort.

"RCG put everything together really well and the mountain did a great job building the jumps. We’ll be supporting again next year."

Halliwell says top riders, including Todd Richards, told him they especially like the free-flowing "jam format" in the pipe, where competitors can drop in and pull out anytime, depending on how their run is going. Halliwell believes the WSB and WSI system whereby the athletes are involved in the planning and judging criteria of the slopestyle, big air and pipe events also makes for a successful formula.

The World Ski and Snowboard Festival blueprint is one that other resorts around the world are taking note of. Perry says over the 10 days, Whistler becomes the busiest mountain resort in the world and other ski towns have been following suite in a bid to boost late season skier numbers.

"For example Breckenridge, Sun Valley, Sugar Loaf and Chamonix in France have all started off similar ventures in the past few years." He says none are close to rivalling Whistler’s festival.

Within the next few seasons the WSSF board of directors hopes to introduce a women’s division into the free skiing big air and slopestyle competitions. This year saw four men’s and women’s disciplines in the snowboarding events, but only a men’s classification in the skiing. Whistler skier Sarah Burke was the only woman to enter the 2001 WSI.

Perry says big air and half-pipe snowboarding participation is "more mature" for both sexes but women are gradually getting involved in freestyle big air skiing.

"For example there are plenty of women who compete in big mountain freeskiing but spring is the wrong time of year to host such a competition safely because you need good snow cover."