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!