Stowe Clean Up Day

This past week our class was ready to watch the lift towers get flown up via helicopter on Tuesday, however the chopper remained in Maine for the better part of the day and we didn't get to see it that particular day. I made my way to Burke the next morning and saw it fly a few towers up the mountain in person, and it was really cool to see up close. The amount of technology and skill involved in the process is unbelievable, and exciting to watch happen so quick as it only took about 5 minutes for the helicopter to make a round up and down the hill with the parts.
On Thursday we drove back to Stowe to see the progress they made on their new quad. They had the whole thing up and running, and were conducting weight tests when we arrived. They simulated the weight and movement of humans on a chair with barrels full of water. Pending an inspection from the state their new chair looks like its ready for Stowe's opening day. After checking that out we took the the rake's and leaf blowers and   cleared out the drainage ditch that ran alongside Stowe's access road on the bottom of the mountain. It was a time consuming process even with the whole class at it, but we eventually knocked it off. The last thing we did was drive up to the summit to seed and spread hay around the unloading area that surrounded the lift and check out the top of the lift. We went up into the unloading station to see all the new components and got another good look at the complexity that is a chair lift. As well as get an additional follow up tour of the new ski patrol building which was coming along really nicely. The gentleman who showed us around the top was a good guy and seemed like he really enjoyed his job at Stowe. It was definitely a long day, but nonetheless I took out a lot of it.

Burke/Chili Cook Off

In early November we took a trip over to Burke Mountain to tackle the task of putting the seat cushions on all 160+ chairs of the Willoughby quad. We knew the job would take a decent amount of time, being that there were so many chairs, but we split up the work really efficiently and got it done in just under two hours. We had people take turns operating the lift stopping and starting it, while a group of about 4 to 5 people would attach the seat pads with bungee cords to each chair. It became a mini competition to get each pad on quicker than the other group, and it made time pass a lot quicker, and ultimately helped us finish the job sooner. The more and more tasks we do around different mountains all puts into perspective the amount of work that seemingly never ends to keep a ski area functioning at its best potential. 

The following Saturday our class had the Chili cook-off event that we had planned for so much in advance. Last year in my Theory and Practice Class with Thom Anderson we volunteered for it so I had a good idea of what to expect from it. This year was unique because of the combination of the skate jam with the cook off. While we can agree that it would have been nicer to have more skaters sign up to make more money the event itself was a success in my opinion. We made plenty of money for the LOC and people enjoyed themselves watching the skaters and sampling the food. The games we ran could have done a lot better in terms of participation and revenue, and it's something that we'll have to look at more for next year. Overall I was glad that so many people showed up, and I had fun being at it as well.

Bretton Woods

Our class traveled to Bretton Woods New Hampshire this past Thursday to take a look around the mountain. Bretton has had great success in marketing towards families and the beginner crowd. Since the mountain itself has minimal expert terrain advertising towards families and beginners fits the resort. A rock wall in the middle of the lodge is a great example of an easy way to generate revenue, and was one of few things Bretton Woods was doing to promote the family atmosphere. We spoke to people from several departments including snowmaking, guest services, lifts, and terrain parks. The gentleman from the guest services department was really knowledgeable about the business and made it appear to be a gratifying position.  The snow-making in particular was interesting because they fired up the guns that same day and we got to hear about how they handle the variable preseason situations. As well as getting a tour of the mountain we explored the Mount Washington Resort Hotel. It was enormous and had a lot of interesting history behind it like story behind the Gold Room, and the different celebrities who had stayed at the hotel. As a whole the amenities available between Bretton Woods and the Mount Washington Hotel are endless and can provide any type of visitor with a luxurious experience.

Jay Peak

This past Thursday we got a hard hat tour of the incredible new expansion going on at Jay Peak. Nearly every facet of the mountain is changing in an effort to make it even bigger and better than it already is. Trails wise Jay's planning on expanding a whole new face in West bowl dedicated mostly to glades, and expert terrain. With the possible expansion of West bowl in the near future it would definitely give off the feeling of riding out west with its expansive terrain. But the real progress is being made on the grand hotel, water park, ice rink, and condos. The waterpark is massive, and it makes Jay Peak incredibly unique by installing it, and the amenities included with the hotel and tram lodge are seemingly endless. From the multiple buildings we walked through there was no shortage of places to relax, and services to partake in. The new bar in the tram lodge stood out to me in particular for obvious reasons. The use of old lift equipment and view of the main face and base area make it an awesome place to be before, during, or after taking your runs. The hockey rink as well as the water park sets Jay apart from nearly every other mountain on the east. It's state of the art, and is home to the North American Hockey Academy already. With a hockey rink, waterpark, grand hotel, golf course, amazing skiing and riding, and everything else Jay has truly become a full fledged year-round resort. In an effort to put it all into perspective Jay Peak is giving its best effort to become a national destination and they are destined to succeed.

Trip to Burke

Burke Mountain

On Thursday the 13^th our class visited the local hill, Burke Mountain and got an inside look at what was going on with the mountain. Dick Andross the head of mountain ops was nice enough to show us layouts of the long term plans at the mountain. They ranged from cutting more trails, to adding a lift that runs through east bowl and the current in progress lift. I always wondered how exactly mountains planned for the future, and how short term their decisions were. It was interesting to hear that nearly every larger scale mountain has a plan for roughly 5+ years into the future. We were given a small tour of the new lifts parts, and saw part of the base being built and learned why it was put there. After that we checked out the new wind turbine at the top of the mountain up close. It was exceptionally windy that day, and I was surprised as to how quiet it actually was. It was incredibly nice of Dick to take that much time out of his day and show us what was going on around the place. I’m looking forward to opening day as I’m sure everyone else is, and getting on the new quad on Christmas as well.

Cannon Mountain 9/29

On Thursday we visited Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch New Hampshire. While there we visited the New England Ski Museum and got to briefly explore the the mountain. The museum had all types of interesting memorabilia like Bode Miller's Olympic medals, dozens of skis from different era's and a lot of pictures and personal accounts of skiing history in New England. While there we sat in on a presentation about the history of ski areas and their formation in New Hampshire which was very informative. After visiting the museum we looked around the Man on the Mountain display and learned all about its discovery and what lead to its collapse. Shortly after we rode the tram to the top of the mountain in a dense fog which was unfortunate, but it was still cool to see the amount of technology at the base and summmit of the mountain involved in running the tram. The size of the counterweight and cables at the top of the tram in particular were impressive to say the least. Hopefully I can make a trip to Cannon sometime this winter to ride the tram again and experience the mountain even more.

LOC Cable Splice and trip to Stowe

This past week our class spent time at the Lyndon Outing Club, and at Stowe Mountain Resort. On tuesday morning we helped the Outing Club with a cable splice, while we were restricted from finishing partly due to the weather and counterweight issue it was still a valuable learning experience. It was a perfect example of how things don't always go as planned, especially working with older equipment in less than desirable conditions. On thursday we traveled to Stowe and got an in depth tour of their new lift/storage facility, and ski patrol base. The picture below was taken in the loading station at the base, where construction was taking place.

Seeing all the construction and just listening to everything that they were doing this summer was impressive, as the time to deconstruct and build new structures is limited to the late spring/fall seasons. Another thing worth mentioning was the heating concept that the designers came up with to save energy costs at the top of the mountain. They installed pvc pipes to take the extra heat that the lift provides and bring it to the ski patrol house to heat it and save money and gas in the process. As well as touring the new lift we helped deassemble the old tops of the lift towers for shipment. They were purchased by Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut, one of few places I learned to snowboard at which was cool to hear. Taking the lifts apart, while time consuming, obviously gave me a better understanding of how the whole structure is put together. This was my first time visiting Stowe, and I enjoyed it and hopefully get the opportunity to ride there this coming winter.

New England Winter Sports Summit

This past thursday the 15th our practicum class traveled to Sunday River in Maine for the annual New England Winter Sports Summit. The tradeshow had numerous ski resort vendors advertising products like Pisten Bully groomers,  Neveplast artificial snow surface, and  several sustainable energy companies. Even though none of us were potential buyers the reps at each booth were very informative and passionate about their products and didn't hesitate to answer all of our questions, and fill us in on anything we didn't know about what they were selling. Among the companies we spoke to were Sustainable Energy Developments, responsible for Jiminy Peak's groundbreaking wind turbine, Leitner Poma, and Rossignol. In addition to talking to individual company's reps, we attended several seminars that were all interesting and concentrated on improving the ski/snowboard industry for the future. In particular I thought Michael Berry's presentation on growing the sport was incredibly well put together and made a lot of sense. It seemed like he knew everything there was to know, and displayed a true passion towards the sustainability of the winter sports industry. I took several pages of notes during his presentation because I felt that everything he was talking about was true and would definately be applicable at some point down the road. Overall, I absorbed a lot of information at the NEWSS, and felt at home talking to people with a common interest in skiing and snowboarding.

First Week of Class

This past week in practicum we had class at the Lyndon Outing Club. As a class our objective is to improve the hill in as many ways possible. We separated into four groups consisting of marketing, events, sustainability, and maintenance. I got assigned to the marketing group, and already we've begun brainstorming ideas to market a Fall Festival at the outing club by reaching out to as many prospective people as possible. I'm excited to see what will come of our efforts to improve the outing club.

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Pre-Season Activities.. Last Year's Queen City Rail Jam in Burlingotn Vermont