Jay Peak Week 4

Friday, I was working in the lift ops department. I started out at the flyer (detach) and started pushing 90% of the chairs out of the barn. It is an everyday operation before the lift can run. Every lift also needs to be running earlier in the morning that way they can make sure that all the switches are working and safe to load, because the second a guests feet leave the ground, the resort is liable until they unload the lift. Lift ops employees working a detachable lift is a laid back job. One will stand near the buttons in case of emerengy and be friendly to the loading guest while the other employee would stand on the inside of the RFID gate holding a small computer that shows if the customers ticket is a season pass or an adult, junior, or senior ticket. Season pass holders would come up with a picture so you could tell if it is them or not. A lift op that catches someone using someone elses pass gets $100...that's a pretty sweet deal. The lifties also had a rotating system that will let them catch a run or two throughout the day (depending on the crowd). A good way to keep an employee happy and on their feet at work.
In the afternoon I headed up to the tram. The lift head honcho and the lady that always work the tram were their eating lunch and she has to count 55 guests to load the tram each time. I checked out some of the controls used to run the tram, but I wasn't their for long. The head honcho sent me to the Jet triple because they were short a man. Employees at a fixed grip job is a little different. One employee must swing the chair around the bullwheel so that the guest can safely be seated on the chair. It keeps it from being a hard wack on the shines which can cause people to fall and get injuries. The other employee would be doing the same RFID computer ticket checking. I was checking out the system and there is a statistic button. I could see how many times a customer passed through each gate and the total for the day. Last saturday the Jet had about 7200 custmers just on that one lift. Friday by the time I left for the day the lift had 2600 people...big jump on the weekends. One liftie was talking about how eventually every guest will be able to log onto a computer and check where they skied/rode, and how many runs they did. That sounds like an awesome idea. It would help get accurate statsistics for the mountain administration and the guests. Win win.
Saturday, I worked ski patrol. There was a bordercross event that we needed to set up on the "720 Park" which was the lower part on stateside. We started out by setting up the fencing around corners, high rollers, and areas that the guest had potential to get hurt if they slipped out (its been pretty icy). The patrol manager Brian had to think where those potential spots were and direct us where to put the fence. Then we set up all the gates and got ready for the race to start. My job was at the finish line. Brian would talk to me over the radio saying if he needs just the 1st place, 1st & 2nd, or 1st 2nd and 3rd, depending on the particular heat. I had to make sure the competitor cleared the last gates and get their bib number so that I could tell Brian the place order. We also had to make sure that the course was safe and clear to send the next heat. Once the race was over we immediately broke down the course. Once we were finished taking all the gates down I headed over to ski school. They had nothing for me so I rode...late in the afternoon the edge of the trail is the only slightly safe place to ride. Its deathly in the center, accidents are much higher this year due to the lack of snow. Lets hope we get some soon.