Last Weekend at Bretton Woods (3/23-24)

This past weekend at Bretton Woods I worked with Ski Patrol both days. Since there was only one trail open other than the learning area we had very little to do. On Friday I hung out with a bunch of the guys and they gave me run through's of what they normally did. The work that we did get to involved taking down pads from the snowguns and lift towers on closed trails, as well as collecting "trail closed" signs from parts of the mountain that were no longer accessible. On Saturday we arrived at 7am to help set up for the downhill mountain bike race on the one open trail. Ski Patrol's tasks were to set up bamboo and fencing along the side of the trail where the racers were going to be, and set up mesh fencing at the bottom so that skiers and racers would know where to go. With so little snow left on the mountain the event gave some life to an otherwise depressing amount of terrain for this time of year. I wish I had been able to work with Ski Patrol when there was a larger variety of terrain open to ride, but even though I didn't get to experience any calls I still got a sense of what it's like to be a patrolman, and can definitely understand the value of their knowledge and experience for a mountain. Since Bretton Woods is closed monday-friday for this week last Saturday would seem to be a fitting end to our time there. Everyone who I had the opportunity to work with was more than welcoming, and in addition to learning a lot I had fun and got to know some new people in the process.

Bretton Woods 3/16, 3/17

This past weekend at Bretton Woods I worked with Courtney the supervisor of lift operations. Over the course of the two days I got to see the top and bottom terminals of the Bethelhem, Zephyr, and learning area lift. Essentially I lived a day in the life of Courtney for the most part though. In the morning I set up the magic carpet and worked that for a while and from about 10 o'clock on I went from lift to lift with her and gave the lift attendants breaks. Because of the extreme temperatures we usually gave them a break and shoveled as much snow as we could onto the loading/unloading ramps and raked them out for them. At times I got sent to do different tasks around the mountain which gave me an opportunity to ride which was nice. I got to experience the terrain park which was basically a lawsuit waiting to happen. As you can see by the rail sitting on its side in the middle of the trail unmarked, held up buy Kory. Other than that I attended the department manager meeting in the base lodge on Friday and just helped out where it was needed throughout each day.

The job of lift supervisor is very busy and it seems that each day can be drastically different from the next. Once the lifts start spinning there needs to be an unending sense of alertness, and responsibility from the lift supervisor. A reliable lift operation is essential for a ski resort and is easy to overlook, but constantly dependable lifts and operators are key to the big picture of a successful mountain operation. I have a lot of respect for everything that she does on a daily basis and got to experience it first hand this past weekend.

Bretton Woods 3-9,3-10

This past weekend at Bretton Woods we helped put the nordic marathon into action. On Friday we were introduced to Pete, the head of the nordic center. From that point on we shoveled, a lot. There were multiple points on the cross country race course that were running low on snow, so with the magic of our several shovels we moved and compacted as much snow as we could on several stretches of the course. This work took our entire first day at Bretton Woods, but hopefully it was going to be worth it for the racers the next day.

Saturday was the day of the nordic marathon and we had a lot of work to do to set up for it. I dug a shallow valley across the finish line so that a wire could be run through to track finishers times. We set up all the fencing in the finishing area as well to keep spectators out of the way and so the racers would know where to go once they finished. After that we carried the PA system from the starting line to the finish line, it was really really heavy. While the races were running we set up and re-stocked the refreshment table for the racers as they came in through the finish. After the racers were finished up we cleaned up the food table, PA system and fencing around the finish area. Even though it wasn't glamorous work it gave us a better understanding of what goes into hosting an event like this at a ski area. Everyone needs to help even if it's outside of their general duties in order to best prepare for something like this.

First Weekend of Bretton Woods Practicum 3/2, 3/3

The first weekend at Bretton Woods I was sent to work in the rental shop. I met a few interesting people and had the opportunity to learn how they ran their rentals. It was pretty similar to Stowe's system just smaller in scale. There were a few people at each station, sizing boots for renters, tuning ski's/boards, and later in the day dealing with returns. Having a few people doing specific jobs like an assembly line helps move people in and out onto the slopes quicker which makes our lives easier and the customers experience better. I spent my time distributing boots like I did in Stowe and just gaining more of an overall understanding about how all the equipment works. It's important for the people working with the equipment to be knowledgeable and know how to fit someone for ski's so their safety isn't compromised. Although I didn't tune ski's or boards for customers, I observed it being done for several hours at both Stowe and Bretton, and on top of my previous experience I feel much more comfortable being responsible for tuning equipment, and just interacting socially with the people renting who are generally beginners. In addition sustainability of equipment is essential to running a smooth rentals operations. Small things like getting boots to the dryers as soon as they're returned, or not always going for a pair of boots that's closest to you on the shelf, so that each pair is used equally as much, can all make a difference in the long run so that the equipment stays in better shape for longer periods of time. I didn't make the trip Saturday because I was sick, but I still took away a few new things and gained some knowledge from spending time in Bretton Woods' rental shop.

Last Day at Stowe 2/17

We spent our final day at Stowe Mountain Resort this past Friday alongside Scott Reeves. What turned out to be an enjoyable day started out by recharging our cards and gearing up to meet Scott at the quad. We took some runs around the mountain with Mike Manley, Scott, and a representative from HKD snowmaking equipment. They were observing the current equipment and discussing what was likely going to be replaced or discarded at the end of the season. Deciding between 10, 20, and 30 feet towers was the main objective of running through the trails with the rep, as well as giving an effort to observe as much that was going on the mountain as possible. Dangerous conditions, safety hazards, and interacting with guests were all a part of combing through each run. We came in at 11 for the daily meeting between all the mountain operation managers like usual, and got to hear about the preparation taking place for the upcoming holiday weekend. Every employee on the mountain is impacted during President's Day weekend and ensuring that they were all ready was the main focus of that particular meeting. Afterwards Scott informed us he was booked with meetings and let us have the rest of the day to ride by ourselves, which was great. The snow was soft and we took full advantage of our passes taking runs until we were all agreeably tired. I'll never forget the time I got to spend at Stowe, and definitely look forward to riding there sometime in the near future. Every employee we ran into and got to interact with was pleasurable, and we were able to take away helpful information from each department we spent time in. In addition, Mike Manley was a great help and consistently had answers to all of our questions, as well as the rest of the mountain ops staff.

Stowe 2/10,2/11

This past weekend at Stowe I had the opportunity to work with lift attendants on Friday, and the customer service department on Saturday. Friday consisted of working at the Midway Gondola, and the new FourRunner quad as well as spending a small amount of time at the Sunny Spruce quad towards the end of our day. Dom and I spent the first half of the day with Kelly at the Gondola, it wasn't terribly busy this particular morning so we pretty much got an overview of how their system works and how they keep the line moving. She showed us the top area of the lift where all the moving parts are and where the motor's reside and gave a a brief explanation of how it all worked, along with an overview of the controls they have in the operating booth and which buttons do what for certain situations. At eleven we attended the mountain operations meeting in the administrative office where they went over the typical daily tasks and discussed upcoming events, trails that needed to be groomed and a few other specific bits of information.

After the meeting we spent time at the new quad and got an explanation of the new RFID rechargeable ticket system that Stowe's implemented at all their lifts. Whoever's maintaining the checkpoint can see a skier's information once they pass through the gates at any given time. All their basic information is displayed as well as the number of runs they've taken and at which lifts they've stopped at. We essentially got the same treatment at each lift we visited, learning the controls, what their policy is for certain situations and so on.

On Saturday Wes, Dom and I worked with the customer service department. We met Heidi in the morning at the Mansfield lodge, where I worked with Gretchen for a majority of the day, while Wes and Dom worked over at the Spruce Peak customer service desk until our lunch a little after noon. Customer service can definitely be a demanding job and I got to experience it first hand with Gretchen. She has to have an answer for every question that comes her way, or at least be able to point people in the right direction to solve their questions. I was able to answer basic questions, give people directions to resort services, inform people about trail conditions and pricing and things along those lines. The most I took away from watching Gretchen was her ability to think on her feet and come up with solutions to people's often involved or confusing questions in an effort to get them back to what they came there to do, go skiing or spend time with their family. Everyone I had the opportunity to work with this past weekend treated us really well and were open to sharing everything they knew with us, and I appreciated each employee's positive attitude towards us both days.

Stowe 2/3-2/4

Over the weekend me and Wes worked in the rental shop at Stowe and learned the ropes of how Stowe handles their rentals. They were incredibly efficient in their process and moved people in and out of the small shop really fast. Once we were taken step by step through the process we figured out where they could use us most during our time working for them. We spent most of our time sizing people for boots and renting helmets before they would get their ski's or boards. Stowe has a reputation for providing a high quality experience, and with that comes a high priced lift ticket. In order to make sure people get the full experience for the price of their ticket its important that they get their equipment as quick as possible so they can get out on the hill. They do this through an organized system of codes and colors so that the process of getting boots and tuning the ski's can move efficiently as possible. I learned a lot about quick service and how hectic things can get in a rental shop, but it was a great experience overall. The employees were pleasant and outgoing with us and I enjoyed working for them. Tom was a great guy and I appreciated his attitude towards us through everything. As an added bonus I had an unexpected encounter in the rental shop with Mike Gordon the bassist from Phish, my all-time favorite band who I've seen about 15 times thus far in my life. It was essentially the icing on the cake of a pretty enjoyable weekend working at Stowe, and I'm looking forward to working on the lifts next week.