Bretton woods week 2

This week started of on saturday instead of friday. Our friday class got cancelled due to a winter storm and ice. We lost a day because of this. However the following day i learned quite a bit about terrain parks. I started off by taking a tour in the groomer during operation. It was interesting to see how a groomer operated. The majority of the groomer was being operated with just two joysticks. Next I learned how to set up jumps and to make them look appealing to the customer. Bretton woods is one of the many that make the sides of their jumps nice and even. This also requires them to chop the sides down even. We also had to rake the surface of the ramp. I finished up the rest of the day by setting kids up in rock climbing gear so that they could climb on the new indoor climbing wall.  One way in which Terrain parks practice sustainability is by using scrap material to make there park features such as rails and boxes (recycling). The park also services the customers, because many like to ride the park. Those how are more experiences like more options. Bretton woods offers lots of terrain park options. The terrain park at bretton also relates to safety in many ways. The terrain park practices safety by inspecting all rails and boxes to make sure there are no sharp edges or ice. These are only a few safety precautions bretton woods follows. Brettons terrain park supports the customers by giving many options as of what to ride or jump for those experienced and non experienced skiers and boarders. It also supports the employee because it gives them something to work on and make money, plus they are allowed to ride the terrain park as well. It also supports the owner because It helps them make profit many experience riders will by tickets just to ride the terrain park. All in all, I enjoyed working in the terrain park department. I was quite an experience

Bretton woods week 1

Lets first start off by saying week one went extremely well. I was put into the lift off world which is actually a very important department . Not only do the employees work for park but they work together to make the guests experience safe and great. So to answer some of the questions that were given to us by our professioner i will take what i learned in week one at bretton woods. The first question is on sustainability. The ski lift world at bretton practices sustainability in a variety of ways. The most important way is by recycling and getting ride of waste (oil), that they use on there lifts in a proper and harmless way. This way no harmful chemicals are getting into our environment. Remember it is this environment that drives many ski resorts today. The ski lift world at bretton also relates to many service and safety practices. One way bretton deals with service is by offering there guest shorter wait lines. With their high speed quad detachables, they are able to send more people up the hill faster therefore reducing the lift line wait time. There ticket scanners also reduce the line wait time. They also practice safety by offering and making there guest use the safety bars on there ski lifts. The Lift attendances make sure that there guest use the saftey bars. Bretton woods lifts also contain many safety features on there ski lifts, such as brittles bars, proximity sensors and many other safety parts. The last 3 questions were to explain how our department supported or benefited, the guest, the employee, and the owner. One way in which bretton wood's ski lift world supports the guest is offering them transportation up the  mountain with 9 working lifts. The major of the lifts are high speed detachables, which are nicer because the carrying capactiy is greater. Bretton woods lifts are also a benefit to the employees because the wait line are shorter and customer complaints wont be so much of a problem. However these lifts may also be a hassle for lift attendances because there are more advanced and sometimes more complicating to use then simple fixed grips. The last question is how the lift world at bretton helps the management and owner. This question is very simple. My offering great services, guest are happy and will come back and spend more money to do it all over again. It is important for these lifts to be running and for friendly staff so that guest have the best possible time on the mountain. I mean think about it, it is these people that keep many resorts such as bretton open and operating. On the final note, I meet a ton of really nice professionals in the lift ops world at bretton. I was show how to operate the lifts as well as how they all functioned. I also learned how to maintance a nice loading and unloading ramp, so that injuries are less likely to happen due to ice. It is extremely important to always make the guest your number one priority, and to practice safety for the guest as well as all the employees operating the lifts. The department I will be working with next week is terrain parks which will be  very interesting.

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 =]