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Dear George, Manager of Alpine Valley Ski Area. My name is Steve Nemeth writing this letter on behalf of Nick Frank, Andrew Bruss, Nick Niebes, myself, and all of the other customers and patrons of your ski area who are behind our thoughts.
Alpine Valley is my home during the winter months. I spend more time at Alpine than I do at my own house. I have been coming here for 6 or 7 years now and it has been a great place to learn, however I have seen so many good friends and customers stop spending their money at Alpine due to one reason. That reason is the terrain parks. When people look at where to go skiing and snowboarding they would normally look for great terrain, significant snowfall, and vast mountains. The problem is that we live in Ohio. While we cannot exactly serve the needs of people seeking amazing these three things, we can fulfill customers other important needs. The two main aspects that attract customers to a small resort in the Midwest are the Ski School and Terrain Parks. Alpine Valley has done an amazing job of providing a great place and program to learn to ski and ride in. We are unfortunately lacking on the Terrain Park side of things. Countless people are choosing the local competitor, Brandywine and Boston Mills, over Alpine Valley for that very reason. Here at alpine we have one thing that Brandywine doesn't. we have locals who refuse to give up on Alpine and try their hardest to work with what we have.
What I'm trying to put into words sir, are some ways that Alpine Valley can set up a safe, fun, and well maintained terrain park. This is very achievable with some low budget, easy improvements. Ski resorts all over the world have what is called a "park crew", which is a team of workers who’s job is to maintain terrain park and make sure everything is safe for the customers. We don't have to look far to see resorts with a park crew. Brandywine and Boston Mills have a decent sized park crew.
I think it would be a great thing for Alpine Valley to have a park crew for a few important reasons. Firstly, the park would be safer than ever because features will be properly built and maintained. Currently, Alpine Valley has put rails on the hill and not taken care of them. This often results in injury. Kids also come to Alpine and build jumps all over the place. This is a safety hazard. The rails are being thrown on the tow ropes. This is a problem because the tow rope is the only way to the Quad and the Double. Everyone goes on the tow ropes, but not everyone wants to go in the terrain park. This puts many customers at risk for injury. If the terrain park was moved to it’s own fenced off area, only people who chose to hit the features will have to enter the park.
Secondly, having an improved park will only do good for Alpine Valley. New customers are going to be attracted, but it also keeps non-freestyle skiers and snowboarders safer than ever.
Thank you for reading all of that George. I really appreciate it. It might be crazy that I’m writing an essay out of school over summer break, but I’m only doing it because it’s about something that me and my friends truly care about. We just love Alpine Valley and would like to see it develop and change for the better.
Sincerely,
Steve Nemeth"
