Week 12/29/11

This week on Tuesday a guest speaker came in to talk about snow making. I am really upset i missed it because i was sick! i really wanted to see the presentation because snow making is really interesting. On Thursday of this week, we talked about next semester and each mountain specifically. I learned that websites like to lie about what they have at their resorts. For example a website says Burke has 3 parks and it only has 1. That was a big lie! false advertisement. lol We also talked about the syllabus for next semester and requirements. I am really looking forward to being at Bretton Woods when I return from break! It's going to be really fun and i hope i learn a lot. This week on Friday, our group got together and started our final presentation. We finished it and just have to present it now! Hope it goes well!

burke and stowe

On Tuesday we went to Burke to watch their new lift towers fly in. We did not get to see them though because the helicopter was still in Maine :( that was a bummer.. On Thursday we went to Stowe to help them out with clearing their drainage ditches on the side of the road. I learned that trees have a lot of leaves and all of them like to fall in the ditch that I have to rake. It was fun though. I found a lot of little creates like lizards and frogs. After we were done raking we went to the top to see the finished ski patrol building which was absolutely gorgeous! I would live in their. They even have a huge flat screen TV that their doctors bought them which was really nice. After that we layed down hay under and around the new lift where they had to dig. This protected and covered the soil. Then we got to go to their gigantic maintenance building and see their new groomers! They were really really awesome.. I would like to drive one one day. Any hoo, Overall it was a great day and i can wait to go back and try out their new lift!

Burke and chili cookoff

This week, our class went to Burke Mountain to help them put back on their seat pads on the lift. This task for about 6 men would have took about a day and a half they said, but our class of 18 did it in an hour and a half! We did it so fast because we had a really good system going on and everyone was working together well! Shauna and I, were untangling bungee cords the entire time and handing them to the boys so they did not have to do it themselves. That way they could already have the pads ready before the lift came back around. I also learned how to run the lift and stop it. That was my favorite part because i like pressing buttons :). Overall the day was actually fun and very educational. Yesterday (Saturday) we also had the chili cook off. It went really well because we were all prepared and very organized. I ran one of the outside games and all of the kids loved it! Overall, we raised a lot of money for LOC and i had a lot of fun with everyone!

Bretton Woods

On Thursday the 28th our class took a trip to Bretton Woods ski area. When we arrived we met James the ski services manager. He gave us a little background about the area and a nice tour around the lodge. We got to see the new rock climbing wall they installed which was really awesome! Next we went to the maintenance building and learned a little bit about their snow making. I learned that snow making is a lot more complicated than i thought. After that we went back and talked to James again about guest services and what he does as his job. he talked about how he pretty much gets paid to listen to upset guests. I thought his information was very good and i knew what he was talking about because being a cashier and hostess at Denny's i get the same thing. I would really like to do my practicum at Bretton woods next semester so that i can work with James in customer service because i love helping people. After we were done talking, we took a shuttle over the the mount Washington hotel. I learned this hotel was built in 1902 and there are many famous people that stayed there over the years like Babe Ruth and such. I also learned that Thomas Edison put in the electricity for the place years ago. That was soo cool!! Overall it was such a good informative day and i cannot wait to go back hopefully!

Jay Peak

Yesterday our class made a visit to Jay Peak. We got to take a tour of all of their new projects from their new waterpark to the hotel. The new water park was huge! it had a flow rider surfer thing, and a water slide that almost does a complete flip. I also learned that they have the longest indoor lazy river in the united states. Their ice rink was also amazing. The way it was built is just awesome. I like how they had the adirondack seats looking over the ice. The biggest thing i learned is that it took jay over 50 million dollars to build all of their new projects!! I just cant wait to go their and experience the new water park myself!!

Burke Mountain trippen

On Thursday October 13th our class went to Burke muntain to see some of their new projects. We got to see their master plan that included ideas that are possibilities and some that are actually in proccess. We also got to see the blue print for the new poma they are putting in at this moment. We talked about alot of the permitting proccess that goes along with the lift and how long it usually takes to get approved to start building. After that, we went outside and got to see where the bottom lift terminal is going to go. We also got to take a look at the new sheave trains and towers for the new lift. They were very very green! like hulk green. :) I liked them very much because they are my favorite color and they are going to look very nice when they are finally up. Next we went up to the top to see the top terminal and the new wind turbine. The wind turbine was the neatest thing ever! it was going really fast too because it was windy. We learned that it will take 2 years for the turbine to pay for itself which is really fast. I also learned that from all the power it creates in the summer, thats enough power to power their new lift in the winter!! Its amazing how much power the turbine produces. Overall it was a good day and i cannot wait to ride the new lift at Burke! Its going to be awesome!!!!

New England Ski Museum (Cannon Mt.)

On thursday, our class went to the new england ski museum to look at the exihbit. We met at 9 a.m. and drove about an hour to Cannon mountain. When we go there it was really amazing looking at the franconian notch. Then we walked to the museum and entered to be greeted by the nice people working the museum. They first thing we got to see and actually hold were bronze, silver and gold olympic medals. They were really heavy and neat to look at in real person. The next thing i checked out in the museum was the old clothing they used to wear skiing. The clothing was really weird compared to what we wear today and it did not look warm. Next to that were about 100 patches of some ski clubs that have went to cannon in the past. Shawan actually noticed that the lyndon outing club was up there too which was neat. The last thing that got my interest was the old snow gun. It was amazing that that old thing worked at one time! After we got through the museum we watched a presentation about the history of resorts and skiing in new england. I actually new alot of the information because i wrote my lift operations paper on all of the same info. After we were done in the museum we got to ride on the tram up tp the top of the mountain!! it was soo awesome because ive never actually been on a tram that big! When we got up to the top they had a cafeteria and we all ate and explored a little. Overall it was a good day and i would really like to go back!!

Stowe Mountain trip

On Thursday September 22 our class went to Stowe Mountain resort to check out their new projects. Their first new project we took a look at was there new storage barn, located at the bottom of the new lift they were putting in. The purpose of the barn is to store the chairs over night so ice cannot form on them. It was very big and awesome. The next thing we got to look at was the inside the bottom lift terminal. I had to climb a latter that was a little scary but it was definately worth it. The man inside working showed us the counter weight system which creates tension for the lift. It looked really high tech and confusing but it was really cool! The next thing we went to look at was the top terminal which was 4363 feet above us. It was a long ride up, but it was really beautiful being able to see all of the trees. When we got up there we checked out the new terminal, the new ski patroller building and the stone house that people stay in for vacations and such. The new ski patroll builing was HUGE and very well built. It was coming together very nicely. After that, we broke for lunch then started the manual labor part of our day. lol :) We all got to work taking apart Stowes old lift that they were going to sell to Mohawk mountain in connecticut. Brent, Alex, Shawna, Chandler and I started with taking the ladders off of the lift towers. This sounds easy but man were those bolts really rusted and painted on there. It really took alot of arm power. Overall though it was a very productive day! I had alot of fun and i cannot wait to go check out their new lift in a couple months!!! :)

Sunday River Trade Show

On Thursday September 15th, our sophomore ski practicum class attended a trade show at Sunday River in Maine. We all met at 6 a.m and dressed apporpriately and ready to go. Then we took 3 vans on a 2 hour ride up to Sunday River. When we finally arrived to the show we recieved name tags and then proceeded of to a nice breakfast. After breakfast is when we got to walk around and start asking questions. My first person i talked to was Matt Vanderbrook the sales manager for a wind turbine company. My question was how, how much is a brand new turbine. His anser was that " it depends on alot of factors like things such as land and the location you want it". Matt was very nice and very helpfull to talk to. The next person i talked to was Christine powell from the red cross. I asked her the question, how many pints of blood get donated a day in total? Her answer was simple, " 800 pints". She was also very easy to talk to. The next person i went tos name was Bill and he was representing Lenco snow making machines. My question for him was that, yeah electric macines are alot more efficient than manually doing them, but doesnt it make them hard to fix? Bills answer was yes. He said it does take a little longer to fix them if they are electric rather than manual. because there is more to them. The next person that i visited was a reprsentative for Leitner- Poma. Her name was Patti Dykeman and she was their sales manager. The question i asked her was, how many lifts do they sell on average in a year. Her response was "About 10".
For my last question I talked to Chris Rousseau of the National Ski Patrol. He was first talking about salary and how patrollers do not make that much money. I asked him though if his job was worth it, even though he doesnt make alot alot. His reply was, " deffinately! My job is very rewarding and we really make a difference in peoples lives everyday". Throughout the day I  kept asking questions as they came up. Overall today was so awesome! I got to sit in many different groomers and have conversations with many important people in the indusrty. I learned alot today, and i would really like to go again next year!

first day at LOC 9/8/11

Today was our first class at the Lyndon Outing Club. We all arrived at LOC at aproximately 8 oclock a.m and began working on different activities. For our first activity, we were put into groups and were all given different scenerios. My groups scenerio was a bachleor party from philidelphia  and they were going to Jay Peak for 4 days. Using every department in the ski resort indusrty we had to create a story showing how many departments people actually make contact at when they are at a resort. For our group this was a very fun and easy activity. Then after that scenerio Sean threw us a curveball. Ours was the same scenerio except 2 of the guys in the bachleor party were very intoxicated and we did not want to call the cops but we did not want anyone to get hurt though. So our solution was to offer them other activities to do until the sobered up. This activity was a little harder but still fun. The last thing activity we did was all the groups had to choose if they wanted to be the marketing group, sustainibility group, trail maintenece, or event coordinators to possibly help the outing club come up with some new ideas. Our group picked marketing and got right down to brainstorming new ideas on how to re-market the outing club. We got together with the event coordinators and came up with maybe a fall festival at LOC. Then our marketing group continued to brain storm and came up with new ideas to market the place. Things such as advertising on lsc campus, at businesses in Lyndon, on facebook, on the radio, the critic, and maybe even a rebranding of LOC. Then we assigned everyone in the group a specific role for our advertising. Overall it was a very productive day. Everyone had great ideas and worked well together. Can't wait to go back on Tuesday to continue the great conversation!! :)