A Culture of Safety, From the Tram Dock to the Summit

At Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR), we believe that the best turns happen when everyone feels safe. And this past season, that belief turned into action — and recognition. JHMR was just honored with the Best Overall Safety Program by the National Ski Areas Association, a national award for large resorts welcoming more than 500,000 annual visitors. It’s a big win, but more importantly, it’s the result of a community-wide commitment to making the mountain safer — for every skier and rider who drops in.

A Vision Built on Shared Responsibility

Heading into the 2024-25 winter season, we set out with a bold goal: create a culture where safety isn’t just policy — it’s personal. That started with a clear-eyed look at reckless skiing and riding. How do we reduce it? Educate. Communicate. Hold each other accountable.

So that’s exactly what we did.

Our safety team launched a multi-pronged campaign to shift the culture — one that spoke to guests, employees, and locals alike. The message was simple: Manage your speed. Your space. Yourself. It's called the Triangle of Safety, and it showed up everywhere — from the JH Insider App to your inbox, to signs spread across every corner of the mountain. Between digital impressions and in-person visibility, that message hit over 2 million touchpoints last season. The Triangle of Safety is a campaign created by High Fives Foundation, NSAA, Ski California, and Snow Angel Foundation. 

Safety Across the Resort

We made the message stick in new ways too. As the Aerial Tram approached the summit, a new audio safety reminder greeted riders. We also teamed up with local ski phenom Kai Jones and TGR to share a short video across base areas and lifts — a friendly nudge from someone who knows just how fast things can go wrong.

We also created Family Zones in key areas of beginner terrain and congested intersections — places where people of all abilities and ages share the snow. These zones were clearly marked, fenced, and served as real-time reminders to take it down a notch. We even added designated rest areas on the mountain so skiers could safely pull over and soak in the view without creating hazards.

Walking the Walk

Of course, safety messaging only goes so far without accountability. That’s why we boosted enforcement by increasing our Speed Wrangler hours by 50%. And we didn’t just ask more of guests — we asked more of ourselves. Every JHMR employee, from tram ops to ticket scanners, participated in new safety trainings, including special sessions for managers and supervisors. Our success for this initiative, culminating with this prestigious award, could not have happened without the dedication from every employee on the JHMR team.

We also removed the vertical foot leaderboard feature available in the JH Insider app to avoid potentially promoting fast skiing as users tracked the amount of vertical feet they skied in a day, week, month, and season at JHMR.

One of the most powerful moments of the season came when our staff spent a day with Chauncey and Kelly Johnson from the Snow Angel Foundation, an organization dedicated to safety awareness and honoring lives lost to reckless skiing. Their story struck a chord. JHMR employees received a Snow Angel pin — not just as a symbol, but as a conversation starter to talk to guests about why safety matters.

Results You Can Feel

It worked.

Over the course of the season, we saw an 83% increase in employee-guest interactions around reckless skiing or riding. Lift access revocations for unsafe behavior went up by 34%. These numbers aren’t about punishment — they’re a signal that our community is stepping up, looking out for each other, and taking shared responsibility seriously.

Looking Ahead

“We knew we had to go beyond signs and slogans,” said Mary Kate Buckley, CEO of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. “This effort was about shifting the culture — and making it clear that safety is core to who we are as a mountain. We’re incredibly proud to be recognized by the NSAA, but we’re even more proud of how our community has responded.”

We’ll continue building on this momentum in the seasons ahead — not just at Jackson Hole, but hopefully across the industry. Because when safety leads, everyone gets to enjoy the ride.

👉 Learn more about JHMR's safety initiatives.