First Weekend of Stowe Practicum 1/20, 1/21

Our first two days at Stowe we spent time working with individuals in departments ranging from the racing/events, and terrain parks. The first day we set up several different things for events that were in the coming days, all of which relate directly to sustainability, service and safety. Our first task was digging a small trench at the finish line of the race trail so that they could run a line underneath it to record finish times for a NASTAR event. Immediately after we fenced off a large area at the bottom of the gondola for the rail jam that was happening that night. Later in the day we familiarized ourselves with the mountain more by riding around and exploring different trails. To conclude Friday we set up the speakers, generator, and tent at the rail setup. Setting up the boundaries directly related to keeping people safe so they don't interfere with the rail setup, and enabling them to run the sensor under the finish line helps run the racing event smoother. Having both of these events run in correspondence to each other allows a variety of different people to enjoy the mountain in ways they prefer.

On Saturday we spent the whole day with the park crew which was a lot of fun. Their main responsibility is grooming and maintaining the park features. The bulk of the days work is done first thing in the morning where the guys will clear off any new snow that's on the rails and rake out the take-off and landing for each feature. The grooming for the open areas of the trail is done overnight so throughout the day the guy's will observe the trails and make any necessary adjustments as the day goes on. As a precaution every time they perform maintenance to one of their parks they call it in to dispatch so that they can keep record of it to prevent lawsuits and keep the parks safer. All the initiatives that are involved in working on the park staff contribute to service, safety, sustainability, and overall serving everyone who rides at the mountain.

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.