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!