Sunday River Snow Summit

The Show at Sunday River was awesome! I talked to a lot of people, expanded my knowledge, and got a bunch of free stuff!

My favorite person to talk to was the National Ski Patrol guy from Pat's Peak. His name was Chris Rousseau and he works with the youth ski patrol on his mountain. I asked him if people who got knocked unconscious ever get confused when they wake up and hit him. He said that it has happened to him before. He was very easy-going and easy to talk to.

Another person I talked to was Patti Dykeman who is the Office Manager from Leitner-Poma. She told us about chairlifts and about the bubble chairlift that is being put on Mt. Snow for the upcoming season. I asked her what it was like to be a woman in the industry. She told me that it's no different than being a man. She is not treated any differently and that she gets along well with all of the men. I also asked her if she had gone to college. She said that she did not go to college and that she started out working in the office at the age of 17 and has stayed there ever since.

I talked to Matt Vanderbrook who is the Senior Project and Sales Manager for Sustainable Energy Developments. He talked about windmills and the benefits of wind power. I asked him if it was possible for there to ever be a resort that was off the grid completely. He told me it wasn't likely because there is always a need for back-up power. Also, it's good to be connected because excess energy created from the wind turbine can be sold to the community and benefit them as well. I asked him what the fastest wind gust recorded from a wind mill was and he told me that it was 100 mph in Berkshire.

John Jacobs is the President of Reliable Racing Supply. He told us about an alternative to Neveplast which is much cheaper and just as effective. He had some samples of fencing on his table so I asked him if there was a machine that could roll up fences easier than getting on your hands and knees and rolling them up manually. He told me that people have made makeshift fence rollers but there is no product on the market for it.

CB Vaughan who does Business Development for EFX USA told us about RFID technology. He told us about how the EFX bracelets work to help achieve better balance and less stress. He tested our balance to prove that they work and then let us pick out our own! I asked him if people ever wore more than one bracelet to achieve even better balance. He said that athletes sometimes wear necklaces and bracelets to increase their effectiveness.

I heard from a lot of other different people from chairlifts and groomers to marketing and hiring. I was able to use everything I had learned in Intro to Ski Resort Management to talk to all of the vendors.
We also got to sit in the groomers and see what the inside of those were like. They were really neat and looked really easy to operate. It made me want to try grooming at some point so I now have a goal to do some grooming this winter.

This show has gotten me really excited about all the different facets of being in the ski industry. Hopefully, in the near future, I will be able to attend this show as a representative from the mountain I work for!

I'm looking forward to learning about cable splicing next week!
(I'm also glad I'm not at Reach the Beach today! :-D)

Adios amigos!