A New Season. A Shared Responsibility. A Growing Impact

A New Season. A Shared Responsibility. A Growing Impact.

Dear Ski Industry Colleagues,

As temperatures begin to drop and ski areas across North America prepare to welcome guests for another winter season, I want to take a moment to reconnect, share some exciting developments at the Snow Angel Foundation, and recognize the important role each of you plays in shaping the safety culture of our industry.

Since establishing the Foundation in 2023, we've been encouraged by the growing number of ski areas, resort groups, industry associations, and mountain professionals who recognize that creating safer slopes requires more than policies, signage, and enforcement. It requires a shared commitment to influencing attitudes, changing behaviors, and making safety an integral part of the mountain experience.

To those who have partnered with us, supported our programs, or welcomed us to your mountains—thank you. Your willingness to invest in safety education and awareness is helping us make meaningful progress.

And to those we haven't yet had the opportunity to work with, I hope this update provides a glimpse into what we're accomplishing and the opportunities ahead to work together.

Our mission is growing, our industry relationships are strengthening, and we're seeing firsthand how meaningful conversations about safety can influence the decisions people make on the mountain.

Our Why: A Legacy That Continues to Inspire

On Christmas Eve 2010, our lives changed forever when our five-year-old daughter, Elise, lost her life in a tragic collision on the ski slopes. My wife, Kelli, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, and the snowboarder who collided with them also lost his life.

Out of that unimaginable tragedy came a determination to help prevent other families from experiencing a similar loss.

That determination eventually became the Snow Angel Foundation.

Our mission goes beyond reminding guests to slow down or follow the rules. We work alongside ski area leadership, mountain operations teams, frontline employees, and industry partners to strengthen a culture in which every skier, snowboarder, and resort employee recognizes that their decisions and actions can directly affect the safety and well-being of others.

We believe that meaningful safety improvements begin with leadership, are reinforced by employees, and ultimately become part of the guest experience.

Through education, awareness, collaboration, and a renewed emphasis on personal responsibility, we have an opportunity to influence behaviors and help prevent collisions before they happen.

Elise's legacy continues to guide this work. Every resort we visit, every employee we engage, and every guest we reach represents another opportunity to inspire a safer decision—and potentially prevent a life-changing tragedy.

Our Growing Impact Across North America

What began as a personal commitment to prevent collisions has grown into an industry-wide effort to strengthen safety awareness and education.

Today, the Snow Angel Foundation is working with more than 60 ski resorts across North America, collaborating with leadership teams, mountain operations departments, frontline employees, and industry partners to promote a stronger culture of safety.

Our growing reach at a glance:

• 60+ Ski Resorts: Working with ski areas of all sizes to strengthen safety awareness, education, and collaboration.
• 3.6 Million Social Media Views: Expanding the reach of collision-prevention messaging through our social media campaigns and industry collaborations.
• Industry Partnerships: Building relationships with resort groups, ski industry associations, and organizations that share our commitment to safer slopes.
• Staff Training and Guest Engagement: Delivering on-site and remote educational programs, leadership discussions, and guest activations designed to encourage safer decisions on the mountain.

These numbers represent more than growth for the Foundation. They reflect a growing recognition throughout our industry that safety is not simply a department or a set of rules—it's a culture shaped by leadership, reinforced by employees, and experienced by every guest.

And while we're encouraged by the progress, we recognize there is much more work to do.

Working Together to Build a Stronger Culture of Safety

Every ski area is different, with its own operational challenges, guest demographics, and mountain culture. That's why our approach is built around collaboration rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.

We work with resorts to complement their existing safety efforts through programs that engage employees, empower leadership, and encourage guests to take greater responsibility for their actions.

Opportunities to collaborate with the Snow Angel Foundation include:

• Staff and Leadership Training: Interactive sessions that help management teams and frontline employees understand their roles in building and sustaining a positive culture of safety.
• Guest Safety Activations: On-mountain engagement opportunities that bring the Ride Another Day message to life, encouraging guests to be Ready, Alert, and maintain a safe Distance.
• Safety Signage and Multimedia: Practical, visible messaging that reinforces collision prevention and responsible mountain behavior throughout the guest experience.
• Cross-Department Collaboration: Helping resorts strengthen communication and alignment between departments so that safety becomes a shared responsibility across the entire organization.
• Community and Youth Engagement: Educational opportunities that involve ski clubs, schools, families, and mountain communities in conversations about personal responsibility and safer skiing and riding.

Our goal is not to replace the important safety work already happening at ski areas. It's to build upon it—providing additional tools, perspectives, and opportunities to engage employees and guests in meaningful ways.

Let's Work Together This Season

As we look ahead to another winter, I'm encouraged by the conversations taking place across our industry and the growing willingness of ski areas to explore new approaches to safety education and awareness.

Whether we've worked together for several seasons or have yet to connect, I hope you'll consider how the Snow Angel Foundation might complement the work you're already doing.

Together, we can help make collision prevention more than a message on a sign. We can make it part of how people think, behave, and look out for one another on the mountain.

If you're interested in learning more about our programs, scheduling a training session, hosting a guest activation, or simply having a conversation about your resort's safety culture, I'd welcome the opportunity to connect.

Thank you for the work you do every day to provide safe and memorable mountain experiences. I look forward to seeing many of you on the slopes this winter.

Ride Another Day!

Chauncy Johnson
Founder & Executive Director
Snow Angel Foundation