Stowe Week 2

Friday I was with administration. I got a perfect day for this because Fridays are the days where all of the managers (head honchos) have a meeting lead by Scott Reeves. This week was important because Chardis (company that owns Stowe Mountain Resort) will be at the resort all of next week, there also will be the Eastern State Cup Race Finals in the upcoming week. The managers were stressing out a little and making sure everything is planned accordingly and effectively. Certain lifts need to be open at earlier times for the racers and groomers will have to groom accordingly for the race and all of the netting that needed to be properly placed on the trail so that the groomer has an edge marker. Communication is needed everywhere and key to running a successful resort. Stowe has these meetings every single Friday and other days if needed...management is run very smoothly at Stowe. Reeves talked about the upcoming project that will happen this summer. Last summer was a lift construction year this year is a snowmaking improvement year. Stowe will add 16 SMI pole cat fan guns, 318 HKD tower guns, and about 20 miles of new snowmaking pipe to the resort...thats a lot of metal. Is there a way to sustain this? Reeves also talked numbers in the meeting. This year Stowe's revenue is down 1% and they are 5-7% over budget on diesel fuel. So Scott told them to think twice before making a trip because every gallon counts. The good thing about Stowe is that it has a special bank in New York that they can take money out if needed and then payback in the future. I want to find out about the other ways on why Stowe is extremly wealthy. Meetings may be boring sometimes but they are really interesting and very important for making sure that all employees are on the same page.
Saturday was probably the best practicum day so far. I got to work lift mechanics.  I started out at the top of the Sunny Quad on Spruce with Lind-say Hill (electrician/mechanic) There was a little bit of ice on the grips which was causing a space malfunction and making the lift stop. Sam and Geoff were at the bottom terminal trying to get the ice off while Hill and I were testing all the switches in the top terminal. Hill took a mallet and hit every tire to check for air. Its a good thing he did that because one of the tires were flat and would not have pushed the chair around the terminal. I took a skinny bar and tested every zone deflector around the terminal. The deflector should be standing up straight and get knocked down if the grip is not properly in place in the zone its in. I would flick the deflector down and then back up to see if it is still functioning. It is very important that the lift mechanics do these tests EVERY morning before opening the lift because safety is number one to our guests. The lift mechanic must tell mountain dispatch that the "blah blah" chair is ready to be loaded. Dispatch will then make the announcement to all radio stations saying, "The blah blah lift is now open and loading the public." Communication! Once all of the lifts were on and spinning Sam and I were with Geoff Myles who was a lift mechanic that just started this past summer. (funny thing is he is from the town next to my hometown and his home mountain is Pats Peak)...small world. Geoff brought us into every single lift terminal at Stowe. It was awesome because we got to snowboard around all day and see what a lift mechanics usual day job is. I'm not going to explain on how the lifts run. I took Jacks class for that...anyways every lift uses the same type of technology to make a lift work, but different maufacturers tweek things in their own way. The strangest lift I saw was the lookout lift. The chairs had to grips. Where a grip would normally be was metal that stuck right into the rope between the strands. That seems like a quicker way to wear out the rope and cause problems, but hey its a part of history. Geoff had to check in with the lift operator and ask if everything is going ok. The mechanic also has to sign a paper in the shack to show that he was there. Lift mechanics rarely interact with the guests, but the lift ops interact with them all day long. The operator must rake/shovel the ramp so that the guests can load and unload safetly.
No break downs happened that day which is great, but it would of been cool to see how Geoff would respond to a broken down lift. Next week should be interesting with Chardis in town.