Small Hill, Big Heart: Trollhaugen's Marsha Hovey on Midwest Skiing, Accessibility, and Community

In this episode Nicole and Sarah welcome Marsha Hovey, marketing director at Trollhaugen, a family-friendly ski area celebrating its 75th anniversary just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. Trollhaugen, though small with 80 acres, 270 ft vertical, and 30 trails, offers an affordable and accessible skiing experience. Adult day tickets max at $65, while season passes start at an incredibly low $270. 

The resort caters to all ages, with programs starting for kids as young as 3 and extending through college. Marsha discusses Trollhaugen's strong Scandinavian heritage, evident in its troll mascots and themed trails. Popular events like Late Night Fridays, where the resort stays open until 3am, showcase the area's unique charm. 

Marsha also highlights Trollhaugen's efforts to increase diversity in winter sports, including collaborations with groups like Melanin in Motion to make skiing more accessible to BIPOC communities. As part of the Midwest Ski Areas Association, Trollhagen works closely with other regional resorts, emphasizing the crucial role small ski areas play in nurturing future generations of skiers. 

Marsha advocates for the importance of creating a welcoming community atmosphere for skiers and snowboarders of all skill levels and backgrounds, positioning Trollhaugen not just as a ski resort, but as a vital part of the local community and the broader skiing ecosystem.

Keep up with the Latest from Trollhaugen:

Website: trollhaugen.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/trollhaugen
Instagram: www.instagram.com/TrollhaugenTroll
Youtube: www.youtube.com/Trollhaugen

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Transcript

Nicole: These ski moms have heard you loud and clear. We know that there are a lot of you skiing in the Midwest. So today we are excited to welcome Marsha Hovey. She is the marketing director at Trollhagen, a ski area outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Welcome, Marsha.

Marsha: Thanks for having me excited.

Nicole: Yeah. So, as I said, we have so many ski moms in the Midwest, and many of them are apologetic about, like, oh, I just ski at this tiny hill. But we are here for it because we don't think the size of the hill makes you a better or worse ski mom.

It's all about love of the sport, and we want to celebrate these mountains that are making the magic happen. So let's kick off with hearing a little bit about your ski story.

Did you grow up skiing in the Midwest?

Marsha: I am a transplant, so I grew up skiing in New York. I grew up outside New York City. I'm in a town called Brewster. And my home hill was Thunder Ridge ski area, formerly back in the day, if anyone remembers.

Big Birch, Birch Hill. So, yeah, I started skiing when I was six.

Thankfully, I was raised by two wonderful parents who grew up skiing themselves around New York and in the Adirondacks. So we were volun told that we were skiers.

Sarah: And what do you remember about learning to ski? Was it lessons or your parents taking you out there?

Marsha: We were really fortunate to have a ski area close by, which I think is a really big thing. So right 10 minutes down the road, skiing was easy and accessible. And I remember doing it with my grandpa as well.

It was a full family affair, and it was the highlight. We quickly became one of those families that lived at the ski area. My mom would pack the giant lunch and stash it under a table in the lodge.

And from there, our addiction kind of grew. So my dad became a ski patroller at the ski area, and then he became the head of the snowboard instruction department. So there was a diversion.

Once I became around 11 or 12, my sister and I started snowboarding along with my dad, and then that kind of changed everything.

Sarah: So is that what you do now? Are you. Would you identify as a snowboarder?

Marsha: I would identify as a snowboarder, yes. I worked at Wendell's Snowboard and Ski Camp out in Mount Hood for many years, and they had a swap day where at the end of every camp session, the snowboarders and skiers would switch.

And so those are the only times I've been skiing in the last decade and it was harder than I remember. So, yes, I'm fully a snowboarder at this point.

Sarah: Cole and I have spent many days at Thunder Ridge. So it is a area we know very well and feel a very fond place in our heart for that little mountain there.

Nicole: Yeah, it's one of the places you can take a train from New York City and ski. So for families that have never ever, it's one of the places that I recommend.

It's a pretty low barrier to entry, and as we were driving past to head to Mohawk, you'd kind of look at the snow conditions at Thunder Ridge and figure out how the rest of your weekend was going to go based on that.

But we want to talk about Minnesota today. So tell us where you are now and a little bit about your role at Trollhagen.

Marsha: Yeah, so I have been at Trollhagen now, going on my sixth season.

There are a ton of little scarias around the Minneapolis, Twin Cities metro area, and Trollhagen is one of them.

We are coming up on our 75th anniversary this season, which is really exciting. And this area, the Midwest in general, is home to, I think it's like the third most scariest per capita is in Minnesota, behind, I think, Michigan and New York.

So, um, like you mentioned, there's this common misconception that if you don't have altitude, you don't have skiing. And Twin Cities proves that to be false all the time. Um, so Trollhagen is about 45 minutes from St.Paul. I'm just north. Very similar geography kind of to Thunder Ridge. So amazing proximity to a huge metro area. And we are really lucky to have a big, big, big community of skiers and snowboarders.

The Midwest adapts to the winter.

And if you aren't doing winter activities, whether it's skiing or snowboarding or ice fishing or cross country skiing, you're bored for six months out of the year. So we have a really die hard community of skiers and snowboarders out here that we're always excited to welcome in new ones too.

Nicole: That may be the quote of the podcast, but you're giving me such good sound bites already. But the fact that the Midwest does adapt to the winter, it's true, because you can really learn to resent the winter if you don't find a way to play and embrace it and get the kids out of the house and doing, doing something.

So I get the impression heaven skied there, but that Trollhagen is a family friendly destination. Would you agree with that?

Marsha: Absolutely. Through and through. We tell all of our incoming staff and all of our customers that we're in the business of selling fun. And we absolutely cater to the families to make sure that they're having a good time.

Because if someone has a bad experience at any ski area, they might associate that with all ski areas. So we hold the big responsibility that if they're not having a good time at our ski area, they might write off the sport entirely.

So we want to make sure that we are as accommodating and welcoming as possible, especially to those families, that it's their first time, their first big investment doing an activity like this, and we want to make sure it's lasting.

Sarah: So tell us a little bit about what we would see as we're approaching Trollhagen. And are there mostly, is this mostly day trippers coming out of the cities? Walk us through that.

Marsha: Yeah, we are in little old rural America. Dresser, Wisconsin, is where Trollhagen is located. We are spitting distance across the Minnesota border. So a lot of people mistakenly think we're in Minnesota because we're right there.

But we actually are a Wisconsin ski area.

And the town of dresser is just 895 people. I live in Osceola, which is just six minutes down the road, which is 2,500 people. So we're only an hour outside the city.

But farmland kind of takes over pretty quick. So as you drive out of the city towards Trollhagen, you approach the St. Croix River Valley, which really gives us these hills among a pretty flat landscape.

So you drive through, you know, little farm stands and signs for lawnmower repair and your average, you know, rural America feeling. And then you come up to Trollhagen and we are really frozen in time in some of the most charming ways.

Our building, which in the Midwest, they're not lodges, they're called chalets. Very important vernacular change. I was scolded when I moved here.

Our chalet is very much frozen in mid century glory days. So we have a building from the late 60s that is still exactly what people remember from when they started skiing.

And I think that's something that really makes magic happen at Strollhagen is that every generation people still feel like it's the same place where they grew up skiing and they came with their grandparents.

And so that tradition kind of continues. And, you know, when you look at the landscape of the ski area, it's not very big. We are a tiny little scale. We have about 80 acres, 270ft vertical, 30 trails.

And when it comes to being a family approaching a Scary like that. I feel like a lot of people, especially moms, can sigh a nice big exhale of relief knowing that they're not going to lose their kids.

Everything is visible.

The ease of having a trip at a family Midwest Skeria is just such an amazing place to start and continue your career as a family in skiing.

Nicole: So there's one base area, one lodge, one base area. What does the lodge look like? Is that where we're going to get our lift tickets and our rentals and our maybe have our brown bag lunch or order some tasty.

You know what? We want to know what the. The lodge vibe is like.

Marsha: Yeah.

There's one main area. That's our main chalet. That's the classic chalet.

And we have a ticket office, which is where we are still very old school, which I love. So you go in and you get your lift ticket printed and you get.

Nicole: A wicket on a wicket. Yes, I love that. Wickets are still going strong. That's awesome. Okay, we got wickets.

Marsha: And we love to educate people on what that term is because, you know, people are like, do you have the metal thing for my ticket printout? And we're like, it's a wicket.

So, yeah, you know, we are frozen in time in some of those ways, which I think is really charming. And you get face to face with all of your customers.

If you buy a ticket online, you still have to go pick it up indoors and get your rental slip. And there you're greeted by some staff members that have been there, you know, for over 30 years.

And I think that's part of the charm at Troll is that you get to feel like you're a part of this family and a part of this legacy.

Just from the start, we try and learn people's names and welcome you in. And if you are in for rentals, you walk right down the stairs and pick up your rentals.

And that's where the learning center is. And if you've signed up for a lesson, we have wonderful volunteers and instructors that'll take you right out to the lesson area, which is right out the back of our chalet.

So something that's really cool about Trollhagen is the back of the chalet is this amazing patio. And it's also the patio of the restaurant and the bar, so it provides this amazing viewing.

Let's say grandma and grandpa are there and they don't want to go out on the hill. They can sit at a table by the window and watch. Pretty much the whole lesson happens.

So it just all seems really Accessible and easy. A lot of that huffing and puffing and lugging stuff around and trying to figure out where the family is to get a picture.

Everything is really centrally located and it's, it's really helpful.

Sarah: And what kind of kids programs do you have?

Marsha: We have a lot of really great kids programs. We start teeny tiny. We have Preschool ski school which is for ages 3 and 6, or 3 to 6 I should say.

And it's super cheap. Something that I haven't even gotten to yet, which I think will be a big topic at some point, is the accessibility of cost in the Midwest.

So we do a lot of three and four week programs starting with preschool ski school and then we move up to a program called Explorer Corps which is for ages 7 through 14.

And then we have our D team program. So we kind of have a track if that is the goal of a family or the students to go through different programs.

We work with a lot of after school programs. That's a very big thing in the Midwest is field trips and after school programs are still alive and well.

So basically as soon as you are able to even think about it at three years old, all the way up until college, we have something for everyone. When it comes to just a fun get together on weekends, to training for competition, to all the way up to trying to make it into USCSA competitions.

Nicole: Tell us a little bit about the pricing. That is something that we hear about from families all the time. The two things that we often hear about, that there's no programming for young kids, you know, there's not child care and that it's so expensive to get up and running.

You know, we looked at group lessons at one resort and it was two over $250 a day for a group lesson for your kids to learn. Tell us a little bit about the pricing there at.

You called it the troll.

Sarah: The troll.

Marsha: Yeah, we, we have a lot of names. Sometimes it's referred to as the hog, sometimes it's troll Trollhagen. So yeah, we, we are still riding the wave of accessibility when it comes to pricing in the Midwest.

And although expenses continue to go up, it is really important especially to our owners to make these activities accessible and within reach.

Our owner, Jim Rochford Jr. Is a third generation owner and he grew up here on this property, went to the schools right down the road. And like I mentioned, we're in a rural area and these activities can get expensive.

So our most expensive lift ticket is $65 for a day and then we do a ton of Weekday specials specifically for that local audience. So on a Tuesday and a Thursday night after 5:00, you get two lift tickets and two rentals for 60 bucks.

You know, you could maybe go to a movie in Minneapolis and it would cost the same for popcorn and movie tickets. So it's really important to us to make it as accessible as possible.

And even our season passes, we run a season pass sale in the spring for the following year, trying to encourage people to lock in their season passes. And this year that was $270, you know, and one of our biggest conversations is a season pass at Trollhagen is going to cost you less than a day ticket at a Skerria in the Rockies.

And you have to ask yourself which is more enjoyable a season with your family at a. At a shorter ski hill or one big day where the pressure is on to have the best day of your life and you expect the world because you spent so much.

So for us, we really revel in the fact that we are offering up a product that can make people have this, be a hobby or a passion for the rest of their lives and be able to do so with the pricing that we have lessons with.

Those preschool ski school programs are super cheap. You know, it's under 200 for the whole program. And that includes the lesson, the lift tickets for mom and dad and the kid, and the rentals for the kids.

So our motto is, you know, get them invested into this sport that they love and treat them right, and hopefully we have them as customers for, you know, decades and generations to come.

Sarah: We love that. We totally agree. We've seen some of those lift ticket prices. The one day when Nicole says it makes her eyes water. And we always did the same thing with the season passes, a smaller mountain.

It was much more enjoyable for the whole family. And I love what you're saying about the pressure. It's like you've got to be out there before the, you know, first chair to last chair.

There's no breaks, you know, have a, you know, because we have to get every moment in because we've spent so much money and that's really not that much fun for a family.

What are the approximate start and end dates of the season?

Marsha: We are. Oh, we are staring down winter sometimes as early as mid October. So we are very north in the country and we start seeing snowmaking weather usually mid October. Um, it is not out of the question to be open for the season by late October, the end of October.

We usually aim for kind of a early November start with Traditionally up and running with quite a few trails by Thanksgiving. Um, this past season was one of the worst on record for weather.

Um, maybe top three.

So we were kind of thrown off because normally our season is starting so, so early.

We typically run until the end of March, mid April, depending on what weather allows.

But because of snowmaking, we are not as reliant on Mother Nature as most. So we've done a lot of investing in the last few years and new snowmaking technology and automation.

And it allows for us to hit the go button as soon as we see those, those optimal temperatures.

Sarah: Yeah, that's longer than I would have guessed. It's definitely longer than our, than the Thunder Ridge season.

That's very surprising. But, and at, and thinking about the length of time that the season is with that season pass, that's, that's amazing. That is a tremendous value. And what is the, is that the price you gave the 270?

Is that the children's or the adult season pass?

Marsha: That's the adult rate. And then we do a family advantage pass.

So that includes children and parents living in the same household under the age of 18.

And I believe you can go up to seven children in that pass. And the price doesn't go up. And I think it maxes out at about $1,200. So it's an unbelievable deal.

And that's what we're here for, is to make these sports fun and enjoyable without having to take out a loan. And some of the other Midwest ski areas have kind of done away with that pricing and we will try and hold true to that as long as we possibly can.

Nicole: So you could get your entire family of nine, if you're the Sound of Music family with the seven singing children for less money than an icon pass. One single icon pass.

So good, good to know that that's there. But I do, I did want to kind of dive in with more of that because we do hear a lot of young families that they maybe got one in the lodge and one on the hill because they've got a toddler and a three year old.

Do you have anything like a split pass or is there childcare? You know, how are you making it easier for, let's say that really young family that they've got a toddler and, you know, a four year old zipping around.

How are they going to navigate Trollhagen the troll?

Marsha: We back in the day used to, had. Used to have childcare. I've been going through a lot of old advertising to try and get ready for a 75th anniversary and there were some amazing ads where it was like a ticket for a lady on Tuesday was like $6.

And it came with childcare and lunch. We can't do that anymore. But we have the very amazing downstairs level of our chalet is the snack bar area and the big open picnic table area.

And that's kind of where you see a lot of the families and parents that might have a little one that's not ready to get on snow yet while their other kids are out in lessons or out with dad or out with grandma and grandpa.

The other thing, because the skeria is so small and small, I should say mighty but small, you know, a lot of parents will let their kids go in these beginner areas.

And right in front of the chalet we have this terrain park called Tom de Bakken and they're rope toe accessible. And then we have a little beginner area right there, Kitty Corner, that's Minnie Bakken and Mickey Bakken and those areas.

If you have a six year old, seven year old, it is so common in the Midwest for those kids to be out on their own and out on that trail and with a turn of an eye from the other trail where mom and dad are with the three year olds, everyone feels safe and connected.

You know, they're only a couple hundred feet apart. So this idea that you're letting your kid just run amok by themselves doesn't really feel that way. At scariers like Trollhagen, there's plenty of other scaries in the Midwest that have that same feeling.

Some people kind of joke that the ski areas are free daycare because everything's so compact and you grow these relationships with the lifties that have been there for decades and the instructors that have been there for so long.

And it just feels safe. It feels like you can have an eye on your kids even if you're on a different trail. So that that ease is, is really palpable.

Even though we don't have true daycare, the daycare of Trollhagen is real.

Nicole: Since your season is October to, let's say March could be. What does a day look like for you sort of during the main season and then what do you do in, in the off season?

Marsha: As the marketing director, I am a department of one, which is the story for a lot of small independent scarias is you wear a lot of hats. So I am in charge of everything from the website to all email communications, all social media, planning and running events, graphic design, putting up signs outside that were sold out.

So there's there's so many things that I'm doing within a day.

And that's kind of the vibe of all of the employees is the, the passion is very real. The blurry line of where our job ends and our personal life begins is very blurry.

And that's by choice. You know, we, we all really have a hand in the sky area every single day. Most of us are working six or seven days a week in the winter and then in the summer we have a adventure park which has zipline tours, challenge course, high ropes course, if that is a more common term.

And we have more hands off type of operation with that because it's not as demanding. The people don't need to see a picture of the zipline conditions every morning. So a lot of the necessity for day to day maintenance and day to day updating kind of wanes.

So summer is a little bit of a more relaxing season for us, even though we are all working year round. So we have things going on all the time.

But we have by choice kind of dialed back a bit on what we do in the summer just because winter is so demanding. And I'm very fortunate that the Ratchfords, who live on the property year round, really want longevity for their staff and see how hard we work in the winter and want summer to be a little less of a lift for us, which is great.

Sarah: And I just wanted to ask about. You said that you have definitely people coming from the cities, but there's also the local community. If you're coming from one of the cities, are you just day tripping or do people stay in hotels nearby or rent a house?

Marsha: The large majority of our customers are local within a half hour to an hour and they are coming just for the day.

We have started to see a big bit of an uptick in Airbnbs in this area.

We do have a few hotels. We do not have lodging on site.

There's not a ton of options within 15 minutes.

But those Airbnbs are starting to grow a little more. Something that's funny about the Midwest is cabin culture. And you experience this kind of in upstate New York as well.

A lot of second homes in this area, on little lakes and in the woods where those homes are, whether they're in Hoas or coveted Lake community, a lot of those communities don't want short term rentals.

So even though there's a huge opportunity for them, it's not culturally something that's really the norm yet and that might change over time. But right now the majority of Our customers are day trippers or they might stay, stay somewhere nearby for one weekend night.

But typically it's just drive in, drive.

Nicole: Out, and back onto the. The culture thing. Are there things on the, the, the menu in. At your cafe? I'm assuming you have one in the lodge that are very specific to dresser or, you know, what's the thing that everybody has to order when they come there?

Marsha: Oh, yes. Wisconsin is the land of dairy, and the absolute must is cheese curds. You cannot get them fast enough when you enter the chalet. So we have a couple different options for eats in the chalet.

We have the Skohlhagen Lounge, which is the historic bar and restaurant. On the other side is the Cafe Stuga.

So although they are connected, the Cafe Stuga is kind of the friendlier for families area. And then Skullhagen Lounge is more restaurant and bar. Downstairs is the snack bar, which is more of like your fast food option.

And you can bring your own lunchbox and your own food and sprawl out and get a picnic table. Either way, if you're upstairs or downstairs in either of those locations, cheese curds are a must.

That is a requirement, especially because we are just right on the border of Minnesota. There's a couple fun, gimmicky things that people love when they come over from Minnesota. One of those is cheese curds, and the other one is for the 21 and uppers is Spotted Cow.

And that is a beer that you can only get in Wisconsin. So New Glarus Brewing, genius marketing on their part.

With scarcity comes desire. And New Glarus makes this beer called Spotted Cow. And it is like once people cross the border, they have to have it. I think we are like, even though our bar is only open like six months out of the year, five months out of the year.

I think we're like the number two or number three seller of spotted cow in the state of Wisconsin, like, behind the brewery. It's ridiculous.

So those are two absolute must cheese curds. And if you enjoy a beer getting a spotted cow.

Sarah: Can you just describe cheese curds to me? Like, I don't. I'm just picturing cottage cheese. I. I'm embarrassed to say I've never had this. And I'm. I'm not sure what I'm visualizing.

Nicole: I'm assuming you have to fry it, right?

Marsha: Yes. So cheese curds are kind of this in between of as an east coaster, a mozzarella stick. But also, if you've ever had poutine, that is kind of the Squeaky cheese on top of poutine that's layered in gravy.

So you take that squeaky cheese and you deep fry it. Slightly different breading than a mozzarella stick, but a similar concept. So it's more. And not all cheese curds are created equal.

This is a very serious debate in our stage. People could go on and on, but you have different type of breading. The real quintessential cheese curd is hot when it comes out and has kind of a crispy outside to the point where it's not stringy like a mozzarella stick.

But it does have kind of this little give.

You know, you just gotta experience it. And some people like them with ranch. Ranch is like, you know, the lifeblood of the Midwest. So a lot of people dip them in ranch.

Some people choose to dip them in ketchup. That is not my cup of tea. And then there is the outlandish, which you just have to try to dip them in caramel sauce, which is like next level nerd cheese curd choice.

Nicole: I was just thinking it sounds like it'd be good with Sriracha, but that's maybe the east coast, maybe that. That's not going to be sweeping. Dresser, Wisconsin.

Marsha: The Midwest as a whole is not a big fan of spice. That. That is the funniest thing. Sriracha is like super hot sauce for. For a lot of Midwest folks.

Nicole: Is it. Is it a Norwegian culture? Is that where all these. These names are. Are coming from? Did a lot of Norwegians sort of settle in that area?

Marsha: Absolutely. So Minnesota and this area in general is a huge nesting area for Scandinavian and Norwegian culture.

So a lot of the towns nearby you. Every single mailbox is an Anderson or a Nelson or a Johnson. That's either lots and lots of those names.

So the lore of Trollhagen is from a naming contest in the late 50s where a local school teacher named Trollhagen and a lot of our trail names and characters and our brand kind of stems from that.

Just because so many of the people that live in this area have that as their identifying culture. Outside of being American or from the Midwest, it's. We are Scandinavian and Norwegian.

Nicole: What does it mean? Troll Haagen is like the house of trolls. I don't know.

Marsha: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And there is a lot of the trails that end in Bakken and what are some of the other ones? D. Bjork Doll, Mini Bakken. All of these have little N's that mean Troll Hill or House or Run or things like that.

Nicole: And Are there pictures of trolls around the. I mean this sounds super adorable.

Marsha: It is adorable. And one of the things that makes it so fun for kids, it's just like to have a mascot for your Scuria is amazing because it's used in lesson programs.

We use it in scavenger hunts for events.

We have little troll figurines all around the chalet. We'll have troll cutouts on hill for lessons. You know, when there's the preschool ski school, they say go towards the yellow troll.

And we have of course a troll costume which comes out for all sorts of events. So it just, it adds this other element to the Skyria as a whole that you feel like you're in this enchanted forest.

You feel like you're in some sort of fairy tale in, in Norway. Um, so it, it goes through and through from start to finish.

Sarah: What are some of the unique events that you have on the mountain during the winters?

Marsha: Oh man, we have so many events. We try. One of my big goals is to host events that hit a wide array of demographics with a lot of different needs. Scaria is often look at an event as how is this going to make us money?

And I think that is such a detriment to Escuria. Events really build your community and build your brand and are something that should be seen as a bonus to, to the guests that are always there.

And if it brings new people in, even better. We have everything from ski races to nightly concerts for our Late Night Fridays. That's an event in itself. So for decades we operate something called Late Night Friday where we are open until 3am which is crazy.

And it is unbelievably popular.

So from 9pm to 3am you get a $25 lift ticket. People show up in droves. We have free live music in the Skullhagen Lounge and that's been going on for decades.

And that is an event in itself, which we are known for. And then we also do tons of snowboard contests and ski contests, ride days and everything in between. I really want to make sure that the events that we run provide a variety of sports, sports intermixing sports, where it's a contest versus a non contest, a weeknight event versus a weekday versus a weekend.

You know, not everybody can show up to something on a weekend and not everybody can has interest in participating in a contest. So I try and really do as much as I possibly can without driving myself insane.

Nicole: Are there events where people sort of dress up in costumes or you know, theme days?

Marsha: Yeah. So we have been hosting the Troll cup for. Oh, gosh. I bet that's been going on now for over 40 years. And that is a springtime event where costumes are very much encouraged.

And it is a ski race for ages 3 to 99 and people get dressed in very strange outfits, which is super fun. And typically that could align with a pond skip.

It doesn't always, but costumes are seen all the time at Trollhagen, no matter the day. We. We kind of call ourselves the land of Misfit Toys. So if you identify with weird quirkiness, that's kind of our brand and people really feel at home within that brand.

Nicole: So we would maybe see somebody in a cow onesie skiing at Trollhagen on any day of the week.

Marsha: Any. Any given day, especially a late night Friday. And they might have glow sticks on their snowboard just because I love it.

Nicole: And I also want to say back to the merch for a second. I love a good merch opportunity. Much to Sarah's dismay. So let's talk a little bit about you and your role.

So how did you get from skiing on the East Coast? You know, third generation at the Ridge to Wisconsin?

Marsha: Oh, man, so many zigs and zags. My parents really changed my life when they brought me into these sports, and I owe them a lot for that. I worked at the Scaria myself all through high school and got really into the culture of snowboarding and watched all the videos and read the magazines and I was very into writing and design, and I set my heart on working for Snowboard magazine.

And so I looked at colleges on the east coast and my sister had gone to University of Vermont and was working for Burton. And so that kind of continued the desire.

And I landed on University of Colorado and got. Couldn't go back to the east coast, so I ended up in Boulder and for most of my college career was in a group called Boulder Freeride, which at the time was the largest collegiate club in the nation, which was a massive feat.

We worked basically for free for Vail Resorts and sold season passes in our office. Every video premiere, every pro snowboarder came through and we ran all these cool events and contests.

And at the time, I didn't really have a full grasp on what we were doing at that age, but it was. It was a big undertaking.

A lot of us that were on that board of directors are still very much involved in the industry. One of those board members created the Sunglass Company Pit Viper. And one of them is still Leslie Betts.

She still works for BURTON, like a 23 year career. So a lot of us that were in that group, some have stayed in In Action Sports. And from Boulder, I found my way out to Mount Hood, Oregon, and worked as the camp director for Wendell's for many years and just kind of cemented myself in this world.

And through all of these zigs and zags, I became friends with a lot of pro snowboarders. And I was on a trip in Minnesota and met a guy through these friends who, uh, his name is Matt Boudreau, otherwise known as Booty.

And he showed me the Midwest. I was ready for a change and kind of landed here in the Midwest and fell in love with the culture of Midwest snowboarding. And while I was here, the gentleman who really put Trollhagen on the map in the way that we know today stepped down after nine years at Trollhagen.

And I was just kind of the unicorn that happened to be in the right place at the right time and applied for the job and got it and haven't looked back.

It. It feels very full circle of like working at a resort that feels very similar to why I got into this in the first place. Feels very serendipitous, and it crosses off a lot of things on my.

On my bucket list. So I'm very fortunate to that silly boy who I met, and now I live in Wisconsin.

Nicole: I found you through an article in the Ski Area Management, and I was really drawn to the fact that you were so pro Midwest skiing. It wasn't specifically about your resort, but you were really about, let's just make it more accessible and fun for all of these smaller ski areas.

Because to your point, if somebody skis at your resort or if they ski at the resort, you know, 40 miles down the road, you're still creating a skier. Do you feel that the Midwest resorts, do they work together?

How do they work together? You know, how are you meeting with the other resorts in the area to really promote the sport that we love?

Marsha: We are part of msaa, which is a nerdy group. Midwest Scary Associations.

And there's larger nsaa, the National Scary association for those that don't know. Each region kind of has one of these groups, and the Midwest has one of the largest.

And every year there's a conference. And that conference is amazing. And what we hear from a lot of the reps that go to each conference around the country, that the Midwest group of operators and marketers and everyone in that region, they're like, it's just not the same at other conferences, what you guys do and how you Work together is something that is unique to this area.

And so going to those conferences always kind of reinstills why we're special and why we're important. And I think we band together as, as people that are constantly looked down upon in the greater ski area universe.

A lot of people who live in the mountain areas, who live on the west coast, even in, you know, areas of Vermont, think that the Midwest is flyover territory and that we are a stepping stone for whether it is working your way up to ski at another resort or working your way up to work at one of these other resorts.

And I, I speak at a lot of these events and I say to everyone that success in our industry should not mean leaving the small resort that you've worked at to work at a bigger one.

Success means making the small resort that you work at the best that it can be so that nobody notices the difference.

Because what we have and what we're also very aware of, what we have is this training grounds for the generations of skiers that we need to survive.

If we are not building up these small ski areas to produce the same level of product, ski lesson chalet experience that these big ski areas have, we're kicking all of ourselves by doing that.

So the Midwest really bands together. And I think it is kind of a unique experience how, how the Midwest areas work together. And the owner, like I said, third generation owner, I mean, he's, he's on the board for msaa.

He's constantly talking to other operators and other owners and sharing knowledge because the age of gatekeeping is dead. We, we cannot live in a world where we are gatekeeping trade secrets while big giant corporations are changing the game.

So I think that's something unique about us, is that we really do work together. And we work together pretty well.

Nicole: Well, I definitely hear it loud and clear and, and you know, Sarah and I see part of our mission is telling the stories of resorts your size, you know, alongside talking to Beth Howard from Vail.

You know, we want to talk to women who are leading in smaller areas. And it's, to us, it's just as important because you're, you're serving families in a way that's equally important, if not more so than those larger ski areas.

So one thing I do know is that Minnesota, and I'm not sure so much sure about Wisconsin, but there are a lot of immigrants that are settling in your areas.

And you were talking touching a little bit on diversity that we can't be gatekeepers anymore. But I know that they're for whatever reason, it has been in a really embracing place to first generation Americans.

Are you seeing them, you know, making this ski culture part of their new culture as well? And how are you doing it and how are we, as you know, the ski moms community, going to make it more inviting for people that skiing is really, really foreign to them?

Marsha: Minneapolis is home to the largest Somali population in America. And over the last, I wanna say, Since COVID since 2020, we have seen an unbelievable uptick in Somali youth and Somali adolescents coming up specifically on those Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

And because of that growth, now we're seeing Somali families on weekends and throughout the week entirely. And it's so amazing. And the, the lesson programs and the rentals and doing it together as a group.

There's so much laughing and so much smiling and they might not be wearing the most appropriate clothing, but it doesn't matter. And it truly brings you back to why you got into the sport and why you love doing it.

It's been such an amazing thing to see and it's not something that, like, we've specifically targeted this audience. It's been happening organically and now we're trying to nurture that community as much as possible.

And it doesn't.

We have a large collection of neighborhoods in Minneapolis that, like you said, might not have accessibility to skiing and snowboarding. And there's groups that are really working actively to try and change that.

And Anthony Taylor of Minneapolis is wonderful and he works with a group called Melanin in Motion. And his program started out with just youth lessons and youth. He really had this light bulb that was like, why are, why are we just focusing on the youth?

We need to be focusing on the family as a whole. Because if this is just something for the kid and there's no connection with the parents, this might end after two years.

And we want this to be something that the family does together. So Trollhagen is really lucky to work with Melanin Emotion on Friday nights. And they come out with families of all different sizes, bipoc youth and parents and offer up really accessible lesson programs.

And a lot of those families are now like, we're troll families. And by the season passes, even though there's scary is closer to them in Minneapolis, they just feel more welcome.

And it also kind of feels like they've gone somewhere. You know, like that hour drive or that 45 minute drive makes them feel like they are, you know, at a resort location or just far enough away that it feels almost like a bit of a vacation.

So we've been seeing a really huge change in our customers and it is so heartwarming and so wonderful and we will do everything we possibly can to continue that path.

Nicole: So we are going to make a call. If you are a Somalian ski mom, we want to talk to you because we want to hear, like, what is going to help your community become an even more dedicated ski or snowboarding mom.

So call to action there. If you're listening or if you have a friend who is the ski moms want to talk to you because I think that's fascinating. Like, what is going to make your life easier to get the kids to the mountain?

What can we help you figure out? How can we smooth out the spots to getting ready in the morning or what to pack? These are the things that it takes a village to know.

And until you a lot of this is passed down from mom to mom or generation to generation. And now, you know, our time with you is unfortunately winding down. We want to hear about, like, your perfect ski day.

What does it look like and what does Apreski look like for you? I know you're working hard, but when you do get in that those turns, what would you love to do at the end of your ski day?

Marsha: I really, really try to get out there as often as possible. I think that is something that I people who work at Skyrias can get stuck in a rut and not actually go outside and live the thing they're selling.

So I am on snow snowboarding, taking turns at least two to three days a week for myself when I am not working. It's hard to get turns in just for yourself at the place that you work because you're always on call.

So I will just say if I'm really looking for those amazing turns free of to do lists without people asking me a question, I might go out in disguise and be with friends and kind of just sit out in the terrain parks and have conversation and enjoy being with people.

And of course, I love, you know, some cheese curds if I can get down there and enjoy some cheese curds myself.

I truly love the community at Trollage and it always just feels like an extension of my living room whenever I'm there. So the opera is almost every day for me.

So I'm spoiled.