Skiers surfing the slopes

Skiers are among the most Web-savvy consumers around, and founders of a start-up Web site target skiers who don't want to visit multiple locations on the Internet for information about resorts at Lake Tahoe and elsewhere in California.

Powhound.com, an online community for skiers and snowboarders interested in California resorts, debuted in January. The site, which includes classified ads, resort profiles and bloggers' inside tips, is the brainchild of Max Shu Teasdale, founder and chief executive officer.

The site's name is short for the more common term powderhound, a name already taken in the virtual domain.

An expert in ski management says skiing consumers are exceptionally Web-savvy.

Hits on ski resort Web sites number millions per year, says Tim Cohee, a former president of Kirkwood Mountain Resort who now works as director of the Sierra Nevada College program in ski business and resort management.

While the college's four-year ski-management program covers everything from marketing to master planning, half of the management courses contain a heavy influence of Web design, he says.

"Customers for ski resorts now rely exclusively on the Web, while before it was written brochures. Online has become the voice box for the entire industry," Cohee says.

One example: Kirkwood Mountain Resort debuted a ride share Web site in January, part of an effort to reduce traffic around the resort.

"Within 48 hours we had 1,000 people signed up," says Allon Cohne, marketing director. The site was developed by snowbomb.com.

The Nevada Commission on Tourism, meanwhile, just launched a ski site with up-to-the-minute ski and highway conditions, hotel ski packages, links to Nevada and Lake Tahoe ski resorts and an opportunity for visitor comments.

The site is at Ski.TravelNevada.com.

The first goal of Powhound.com is to build an on-line community.

For the first two years, its founders will focus on growing both the number and type of classified ads, says Teasdale. "Craigslist took five to seven years to grow."

Most of the classifieds are ads to buy and sell gear, followed by ride shares, room shares and lodging deals.

In future, the site plans to add personals that will allow people to get together offline.

"It's not just the youth using Internet sites," says Lora Elder, a member of the company's advisory board and a sports resort marketing expert who previously worked at Sierra-at-Tahoe. "You don't have to be young and post a social profile on powhound.com."

A second goal, says Teasdale, is to create new Web site content via blogs with information on weather, real time road conditions, and what skiers most want: true reports on snow conditions at the resort.

From her vantage at Tahoe, Elder says, "Our primary market is the Bay Area. Northern Californians are picky. Is it wet snow? Is it dry snow?"

Also popular, says Teasdale, are reviews of favorite restaurants, after-ski places and eateries.

Teasdale contributes her own blog, called snow diplomat, that reports on the Asian ski scene as Teasdale lives overseas with her husband, who is posted in Cambodia with the foreign service.

Squaw Valley at Tahoe and Mountain High in southern California are among the first advertisers on the new site.

"Powhound.com provides us with an additional method of getting the word out about special offers and current snow conditions to a broader audience," says Christine Horvath, director of marketing at Squaw Valley USA. "The content that users post on powhound.com will help provide insight on how we can better meet consumers' needs."

Teasdale bootstrapped the business with personal funds, adding independent contractors such as a sales person recently hired to work the southern California market.

Teasdale started selling last summer before she left for Cambodia with her husband, meeting with resort managers and ski clubs. Now, she keeps in contact with voice-over-Internet phone service with all U.S. calls included.

"But 9 a.m. here is midnight there," she says.

Equally challenging, Teasdale says, is spending a winter away from snowboarding and other winter sports in the West.

Initially, the site serves California ski resorts. Next season Teasdale plans to add Utah, Oregon and Washington, and British Columbia.

The Colorado and Rocky Mountain resort areas are already saturated with Web sites, she says.

The key to Web site success, says Teasdale, is to keep things simple at the beginning.

"Provide a simple solution to the problem," she says.