presentations 12/8/2011

On Thursday each on of our groups had to do presentations. I was in the marketing group. Overall the presentation went well. One thing I noticed with all the groups was that communication during our event (chili Cook off) could have been better. However, that being said the chili cook off still turned out to be a big success. I also liked how we have representatives from each mountain sit in to watch us. That shows that they are interest in what we have to offer coming this next semester. Im excited to be working at Bretton and jay peak this semester. I hope to be working in every position. I would like to work in the mountain ops thought! All in all the presentation went extremely well.

Week of 11/29/2011

On Thursday we meet up in LAC 409. We pretty much just went over what we would be expecting for next semester. Next semester seems pretty fun and I am excited to visit Bretton woods and Jay Peak every Friday and Saturday. We also sat down in each one of our groups and worked on our power points. The power point is coming out well. We will be ready for presentations on Thursday 12/8/2011!

November 8th and the 10th

On November 8  we were suppost to meet up at Burke to watch the helicopters fly in the towers. However the helicopters were in Maine still so we did not get to see them fly in the towers. Nothing happened on the 8th besided a few group talks. On the 10th though, We went to Stowe to rake out the Ditches along the service roads so that in case of a flood nothing would wash out. After raking out the ditches We went to look at the new finished lift and ski patrol house. They both looked incredible. The ski patrolmen are going to love this year lol. After that, We went down to look at one of the the best and biggest maintenance/Mountain ops shop in the northeast. The shop was incredible. It had a groomer lift, and a bunch of other really neat shop accessories. Outside of the shop were all there groomers. There must have been about 9 or 10 groomers. One groomer that i was not fimilar with was the pisten bully bus cab. I though it was pretty cool. At the end of the day we took a quick trip over to were they store all the terrain park features. It was a long day, but I enjoyed it.

Burke Installing Seat Pads

On November 3, We went to Burke to install the seat covers on all 160 or so chairs. I liked this and had some great experiences do it. One person was in charge of operating the life after each chair was completed. Others placed the pads onto the chairs will the others attached the bungee cords beneath them to hold them on. The last job was to have some separate all of the bungee's that were tangled in a huge blue drum. After all Chairs were completed we all got together as a group and had a brief talk with one of the lift personnel's. I also have to add that it take 6 full men to install these chair pads in about 2 days, and it only took us about 2 hours for them all. I really feel our class went to work and did such a good job!

Bretton Woods 10/27/2011

On October 27, 2011 we took a trip out to bretton woods which is also where our professor Sean works. When we arrived we talked to the GM and the one of the service directors. We talked about the resort as a whole and a brief backround of it as well. After that informational talk that lasted close to an hour, We went to the maintenance shop to meet the mainenance crew. They are in charge of alot of daily tasks such as fixing lifts, grooming trails, and controlling snowmaking processes. One thing i found interesting is the cost of a single bag of snomax. Snomax is what they use to increase the quality and volumn of the snow coming out of the snow making machnes. Each bag runs about $100 per bag. The bag is only the size of a small bag of chips...Must get expensive. After meeting the maintenance crew we went to zip line building. Wish we could have got the free zip line tour lol but it was still fun being there. After briefly looking at the zip line we meet up with a few other employees and visited the Mount Washington hotel. This was definetly the best part of this trip. I liked how the Hotel had alot of history behind it. A lot of famous people have stayed in that hotel and on top of that Thomas Edison built all the electrical boxes and switched in that very hotel. The monetary funds were also signed in that hotel along with the exact table it was signed on. i Thought that was pretty neat as well. All in all I enjoyed bretton woods very much and the staff was extremely nice besides Sean lol just kidding =]

Jay Peak

On October 20, 2011, our class went to Jay peak to look at the master plans, as well as other ongoing projects such as the new hotels, and the water park. We also got to see completed projects like the Ice Haus. In regards to the master plan, we got to view what Jay wanted to do in the future to their resort. One future project was constructing new hotels for overnight accommodations. This was difficult for the Walter (master plan designer) because he had to find a suitable spot for the hotels, and had to also meet certain regulations. Where he thought the hotels would go, later got rejected during a meeting with EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The reason for this was because the area where Walter wanted the hotel was considered bear habitat. Now Walter has to make some changes to his master plan, and later have another meeting with EPA. This was only one of the many future changes that Jay wanted to make. The master plan was pretty cool looking at. After looking at the master plan we went to go view the new hotel that was being constructed. After obtaining hard hats we walking in hotel being constructed to look at some completely furnished rooms. They looked absolutely amazing. The hotel also had a huge outdoor pool and Jacuzzi. We also got to take a sneak peak of the new water park. This water park was incredible. It had 3 huge water slides. It also has the longest indoor lazy river in the united states. Another neat thing that is in the water park is the wave rider. I think it would be fun to try. After looking at the water park we ended off by viewing the Ice rink. The ice rink was built about 2 years ago and is pretty much brand new. Professional Olympic hockey and ice skating teams use this rink to train. I thought this was pretty incredible. All in all i though Jay made some great major improvements. However, the only question I have is how did they receive all the money to purchase these things considering Tom who works for Jay Peak said it cost over 30 million for some of the new projects?

Burke Mountain 10/13/2011

On October 13, 2011 our class went up to Burke mountain to look at some of the new upcoming and ongoing projects. We began first by looking at the master plan of the mountain and the new lift. On the master plan of Burke many futures plans are in place to move some existing lifts to other spots on the mountain and to install more lifts. The master plan include many other plans as well. A lot of engineering work was also put into the new lift master plan. Before any digging could be done for the lift towers to be installed, lift engineers had to figure out the slope and heights of each individual tower. Tons of planning go into installing a lift due to different locations and lift sizes. After looking at the master plans we all went to look at the actual lift being installed at Burke. We seen the concrete footings being installed so that the towers had something sturdy to sit on. We also seen were parts of the mountain had to be blasted away due to thick rock beds, which was causing problems for that specific tower location. We ended the day by looking at the incredible wind turbine that had been installed. It was said that over 2 years the turbine would be payed for an Burke would pretty much be receiving 20 % free energy. All in all our day at Burke mountain was great. We got to see quite a bit.

ski museum and festival planning

This week Thom Anderson's class meet with our class to go over specific details regarding the fall festival and chilly cook-off. We went over all the departments involved in the planning. Most of the meeting allow everyone to get on the same page. Also each event did a SWOT analysis. Each group talked about their strengths, weaknesses,  opportunities, and threats. The following class (Thursday), we went to the ski museum at Cannon. It was a great experience. We seen things from the way old skis were made, old day ski patrol, real olympic metals and a presentation on how skiing starting. At the end of the day we took a ride on the aerial tramway that is also located on Cannon. It was such a fun week!

Stowe mountain 9/22/11

Today our class drove up to Stowe mountain to take a look at their new Premier quad ski lift that is currently undergoing construction. When we first arrived, a Stowe mountain employee took us for a tour of the mountain showing us various things from their historical old stone hut, to their new lift. There new lift was installed because the other lift was getting old and needed to be replaced. Their old lift was also their most used lift, so it led them to replace it. As a class we were able to take a look at the inside of the new terminals which was also a great experience. One thing that did catch my eye was stowes idea to save on heating costs. Towards the top of the new lift, they were building a new mountain ops station. Stowe figured that since the lift was nearby they would run PVC pipe from the lift to the new building. The enormous amount of heat being let off from the lift would then travel through the pvc to heat up the building. Towards the end of the day, we assisted in taking apart the old towers. Also on the 20th of sept. we assisted LOC in a Haul rope splice. Although we didnt get to finish watching the splice because of the rain, we helped prepare for the following day. We measured out and marked the length of the new haul rope being replaced and layed it all out so that the next day all they had to do was splice it. It would have been nice to watch the whole process, but on the other hand we were able to talk about the fall festival alittle more.

2011 Trade show at Sunday River!

On September 15, 2011, our sophomore class attended the 2011 trade show located at Sunday River in Maine. At roughly 6 A.M, we left Lyndon state college at arrive at Sunday river around 8 and 8:30. Upon arrival or professor gave us details about leaving at around 2:30. After this brief talk we went and got breakfast which was located towards the back of the room. After breakfast we began talking to many of the professionals in the ski resort industry. When walking up to the Red Cross table I engaged in a friendly conversation with Christine Powell the marketing specialist. We began talking about how many people donate each year compared to those how don’t. The numbers were fairly low. While talking to Christian, I needed a question answered and she would be the person to know. I asked about how many pints were actually donated yearly. She responded by saying “Roughly 800 pints”. That is not much blood if you think about it. We are running low and are always in the need for blood, so get out there and donate. After talking to Christine, I walked up to another table nearby. At this table, I talked to Matt Vanderbrook, the senior project and sales manager of SED (sustainable energy developments).  My question for him was how much money would actually be saved if wind turbines were installed as an alternative energy source at resorts. He asked by saying “About 600,000 to 900,000 dollars”. This is quite a bit of revenue that resorts could save just by using these turbines. Matt Vanderbrook was very nice to talk too, and informed us on wind turbines and how using other sources of energy can actually allow a resort to save money and use it towards other important projects. After I finished talking to Matt, I felt great connecting to these professionals so I keep it going. The next table I walked up to was Lenko Intelligents. Lenko is a business that creates and operates many land and tower snow guns. I talked to Bill Van Zee, the warehouse manager. We talked about some of the upcoming projects Lenko had coming up. Lenko had previously released their new tower gun which consisted of a land gun that sat on a dock. This dock was then attached to the end of a tower gun. The gun used is the NW490. The tower used is the Arm tower AT8. If this gun needed to be worked on or some of the settings needed to be changed, the arm of this tower can be lowered to allow for this to happen. I thought this was pretty neat. I asked Bill how many GPM his gun could push out and he said “roughly 127- 150 gallons, and the best thing about it is the land can throw the snow farther but still have a long hang time”. This is ideal because the longer the hang time the fluffier the snow. Remember the condition of the snow is what attracts skiers and snowboarders. After talking to Bill, went to talk to Leitner-Poma about their lifts. Patti Bykeman the marketing manager for Leitner-Poma assisted me with a question. I asked her “how many lifts do you install yearly? She said “This year we are installing about 10 lifts”.  This is quite interesting due to how much each lift costs (Roughly 2-10 million dollars per lift). We also talked about their new chair lift called the bubble seats. It consisted of a pull down glass cover that shelters the skiers or snowboarders on the way up the hill. After talking to Patti I attended the RFID seminar. CB Vaughn the director of marketing for RFID talked about their new system RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This system uses a card that acts as an antenna. When a skier who has an RFID card on them passes through a RFID gate, the system then recognizes them and allows them to pass through. What makes then unique is how you can customize your card online. You can add your own picture and selected the days you want to ski or snowboard. The customization also include may other thing such as adding audio files. How this card work is quite interesting. When a skier passed through a gate the TV monitor in front shows them their picture. Their audio is also played. For example my audio may be “Welcome Brent Enjoy your day at such and such”. I asked CB towards the end of the seminar “what if someone decides to try and go around the gate to get in for free”.  He responded by saying “the system can pick up a card up to a 6 foot radius. Anyone who tries to go around, the system will then notify the staff who if operating the system behind the gate. The staff can be notified by the use of a PDA”. The benefit of this system is it eliminates the need for multiple ticket checkers at each lift.  All in all the trade show went well and I felt it helped me learn a lot about how many things worked and how they all interact with each other. The ski industry is such a large family and it great to network with them all. I want to thank Sean doll for allowing us to experience something like this. It was very informational and would definitely attend again next year.

First class at LOC

Today (september 8) we got together as a class. We all met at the lyndon outting club at around 8am. The day started off by doing a few small group activities which included: listing the different departments in the ski resort industry. After being giving scenerio's we had to list how many of these departments went hand in hand with the scenerio's. I found it kind of interesting how many departments in the ski industry are actually considered important. Guest services always seemed to be the most important which makes sense. Following these activities the class was put into four groups. Each group had a job there we responsible for. They included, marketing, sustainability, events and trail maintenance. My job along with my other group members were responsible for the events portion. The task was to think of an event and come up with a good outline of that event which would be held at the lyndon outting club. Our idea consisted of some sort of fall fest along with a BBQ. At the fall fest we are planning on holding a skate and rail jam contest to which there will be prizes. Some other contests will be a pumpkin carving, costume, pumpkin pie, and guess the pumpkins weight contest. We are going to try and get ahold of some vendors and bands to participate in the fall fest. We want to end the fall fest with a bonfire. As the fall fest gets closer and a date is set, more information will be provided.

First post!

Thursday's Haul cable splice should be very interesting. Hoping to learn alot about the ski industry this semester!