We were told multiple times this year that Shipyard would FINALLY be removed from our best beginner terrain, and yet, the jumps get bigger. More and more people are utilizing Buttercup, and yet this park continues to expand, even though the visitation to the park is rather minimal.
WHY do we have this park in this location? It is the shallowest slope on Buttercup with a mostly single fall-line. The fall-line that our beginners deal with instead has multiple pitches, including random concave to convex points, in addition to the people flying past them to get back to MHX and the lodge.
Shipyard has been there since I started (2010), and back then there was a rope tow that would benefit the park riders and not increase ridership on Buttercup. Now there is no tow-rope, the bros fly through the lines to lap Shipyard. Unless there's a random competition there's generally less than 5 people in the park, even on the weekend. This is an absurd use of terrain. I also yell at people almost daily for ducking ropes back to the Buttercup run so they can get back to the lodge.
At one point, we had the TBL park on skier's right, and on some years, especially at the beginning, there was some good stuff like mellow rollers. This year, there was only a steep banked slalom that was on the skier's left of Shipyard, further encroaching into remaining beginner terrain. Along the fending was this narrow strip that the beginners were trying to hug against as it was significantly less steep than skier's left of Buttercup. I could look up from Buttercup and see 75% of the beginners within this strip trying not to run into each other or the fencing.
By the way, (tangent) the Zoo is NOT a progression park. If Park Crew doesn't want beginners jumping off the lips entering the rails, we need to instead provide our guests and students progression jumps. This problem will not go away until we provide a solution to the need. The final jumps at the bottom of the Zoo have a steep entrance and requires quite a bit of speed to clear each jump. This is NOT ideal for beginners. The skier's right of the Zoo is severely under-utilized and could be built into rollers progressing into very small jumps that we can coach ATML without wrecking someone for the first time.
Ideally, with an unlimited budget and in an ideal world (yes, yes I know), we would have a longer carpet that would access the mellower slope of Buttercup and then Shipyard could be where the carpet is, assisted by a tow-rope. Being able to watch rail competitions from the deck would be awesome, while also freeing up Buttercup to keep strictly for beginners.
It is currently incredibly dangerous on Buttercup with the crossings of people flying down from Easy Rider and Vista areas across our beginner terrain. There are so many different directions of travel and ranges of speed in this area, while our beginners are simply trying to understand traversing and basic turns.
Ideally, we would also not have the cross traffic flying off T-bar back to MHX through our beginner terrain by the carpet. Why is this even a thing? Why isn’t the carpet south towards Buttercup just considered a beginner zone, and anyone wanting to reach MHX accesses the chokepoint left off South Canyon? If teaching children to look both ways like we’re crossing a highway to get from our meeting corrals to the Carpet is helping them understand real world problems, I guess it works. However, it is not conducive to learning.
Sorry for the rant. I've been teaching full time for over ten years at Meadows and have seen no improvement on this front. I'm constantly worried about myself or my student being taken out by someone. And it’s happened. Multiple times. This has never let up. It’s really hard to be student-centered when we’re constantly looking over our shoulder for the intermediate/ advanced rider/skier who thinks they’re in control and they’re absolutely not.
Being told that Shipyard would be removed by New Years got our hopes up, and now it's just... bigger. Super frustrating. The new Buttercup chair is great being up higher towards the trees, but yet it’s even further from the ideal terrain and it launches our students right into the traffic from South Canyon to Vista. We haven't actually added more or better terrain that is beneficial to our newest beginners. How have we made the focus of Buttercup a park that can be hiked by a non-paying guest? Or for the random rail jam for USAA events? The majority of our students in the MLC are beginners so why are we not focusing on creating better terrain for them?? Corrals being closer to Buttercup is good stuff. But we're still dodging people who might be able to control their speed to get there. That's a gamble.
Anyway, please, please, tell me why this park still exists even though we’ve moved and removed so many other parks in the past. No more Rose City. No more Star Park. No more Vista Spring Park. No more Park Place. Why is Shipyard still a thing after all this time???
Thank you for taking the time to relay all of your concern and observations of our Terrain Park offerings. There is a lot to unpack in your comment and I will touch upon a few of your key points
• On the removal of Shipyard as a Terrain Park by 1/1/21, who told you this? I suggest you revisit that conversation as they were misinformed. When MHM makes a goal of this magnitude it has been my experience that the Exec team gets out in front of it to convey how they came to such as decision and ensure that the team has time to digest and buy in. In the Terrain Park Departments when we are given a goal to reach by our Director and VP we go to great lengths to exceed their expectations. If that goal is no Shipyard one day we will abide.
• On why Shipyard exists: To my understanding this terrain was allocated to Terrain Parks originally because it was clearly identified as being underutilized/fringe terrain that turned into a park, would not have a significant impact on the remaining demographics that come to MHM. It was expanded upon several seasons ago into the area known as the, “Bermuda Triangle” to further utilize terrain that was going unused and unmaintained. This expansion has provided us the grade to provide the jumps currently in place that do in fact see heavy usage.
• The Banked Turns to the Skiers left of Shipyard was known as the Butter Cup Fun Zone. It was a tool designed and requested by the management team of the MLC and not a creation of the Terrain Park Departments. Please consult them and convey your feedback on its future validity.
• Zoo Park is not a progression park: You are correct. The Zoo is a Beginners / Small Park. We are of the opinion that individuals that are new to snow sports should be honing their skills out on the mountain and not endangering themselves/others and the resort prematurely. Park Crew takes no issue with guests side jumping features as we see them as paying guests and potential future freestyle enthusiasts. They are simply getting the same thrill as someone more advanced and progressing at their one pace. I will re-instruct the team not to come down on this behavior.
• Skiers right of Zoo: The rollers that you mentioned are currently in place. Do to the upward pitch to get to this area and the abundant drifting that fills that area in, progression jumps are not sustainable. Keeping the rollers in place can be a struggle at times since any snowfall has to be pushed over to Mitchell Creek so that the grade can remain in place.
• Zoo jumps: In the world of Terrain Parks we are often trying to, “tune the radio station for the whole party” These jumps are tested daily by the team and observed constantly to maintain a consistency to serve the largest number of guests possible. If an individual is not capable of negotiating the pitch going into them then they are not ready to be in the park as of yet. Simple Physics tells us that by filling in and elongating this pitch more speed will be generated by the user, requiring a larger jump to support their velocity. By having three jumps in place rather than two, we can have this small jump offering. Our incredible mountain home is world renown for the character of its topography and abundant variable snowfall which, challenges the Terrain Park Departments to develop as reasonably safe and fun features like nowhere else.
I hope that this response sheds some light on parts of feedback for us. If you would like to discuss things further please email me at Thomas.moloney@skihood.com
Thanks to all my team members for being such a well working machine in these troubled times. We are doing such a great job, for a safe and open season!!
Thank you.
So nice to see this feedback from a member of our great Culinary Team! We do have an awesome team this season! Thank you to each and every one!
~ Mark Fellows
Raise the discount limit in culinary. Our employees work so hard they should be able to get a morning coffee AND lunch without hitting a discount limit.
There are two parts of the meal privilege - the percentage discount, and the daily dollar cap that the percent is applied. We raised the daily cap to $40 for the holidays and we chose not to lower it afterward, even in the weeks we raised the percent of the discount from 50 to 70%. So you should be able to get a fancy coffee and a really big lunch and still be under $40. If you not getting 50% up to $40 worth, please reach out to Jeremy Riss or anyone in HR and we can make sure it gets fixed for you. - Matt Troskey, VP People
Ops: thanks for the weekly updates on the operational calendar. My staff would support a continued ski season if we can drum up the business - so many guests have found the opportunity to recreate reasonably safely here a life saver in this pandemic and that is unlikely to change too quickly.
F&B: Glad to see pizza boxes back in Sahalie, and recent wrapping of sandwiches there have kept the fries less soggy.
I'm wondering if the wrapping on sandos in the Schuss should go metallic wrap inside? the white paper sticks to the food items often, FYI.
HR: I feel like the staff are very appreciative of efforts to make employment here satisfying. The word is getting out and the actions are following the theory. We cannot stop the increasing pressure of the rising cost of living, that has soared even further in the last year, and we must continue to raise wages to keep essential staff. The cost of turnover is difficult to quantify but as a manager, it is real in $$ and in employee satisfaction of those that remain and must pick up the pieces and train new folks.
Thanks for the comments. Paper Products have been challenging to keep in stock this year…that is why you have seen some changes in the presentations or lack of the correct containers. Hopefully the supply lines return to normal next season!
~ Mark Fellows
AwesoMe!
I love my job in lift ops and I love the mountain life. Sadly Im going to end up having to cut my season short because of a number of things.
First; The cap. Or lack there of. Y'all lied to us, told us that you were going to put us first and not overload capacity. It's greedy and there's not a good excuse that you can give us.
Second; instead of saving for expansion maybe pay us a little bit more? like many of my co-workers I live in my car. Because I don't have a plumbing system I'm not allowed to camp in the parking lot which means I often have to wander around to find a place which by the way never has a bathroom. And I've looked around but can't afford any of the gym memberships around the area nor the gas to make the trip frequently.
Do you folks know what it's like being a lifty shoveling all of your snow for your lifts and not showering that often? It's not sustainable or good for wellness.
Maybe if you paid us a little bit more I could afford to move out of my car.
At the very least let us camp in the parking lot and put up a pop-up shower-bathroom so people like me with bills and student loans can maybe scrape by without going into debt to buy groceries
Third; everybody who works in lift ops or mountain ops for that matter knows that they're geared deteriorates at a exceptional rate in just one season. Yes we have incredible pro deals but there's some gear that frankly should just be provided. Helmets and gloves, required PPE, do you have any idea how much money I spend getting ready for every year or throughout the year from various gear that gets broken from the wear and tear of this job?
Fourth; The amount of times that I've hurt myself; stepping on a piece of ice and being hit by a chair, or just slipping in general and falling, whatever it may be. It's entirely asinine that there's no benefits in place for physical therapy or general physicians appointments. We work in a hazardous zone and yet Y'all just assumed that there's going to be more young lefties to fill the ranks when one of us gets hurt It's ridiculous. It's not sustainable. It doesn't make us feel valued.
Anywho my thumbs are tired now too. I'm done.
1. In January and February we cut off lift ticket sales on 15 of the 18 weekend days. I'm sorry you feel lied to but we have made a huge effort to limit visitation. Another good example would be not selling a spring pass that is good 7 days a week and making it mid-week only so we reduce the weekend crowds. If you want to discuss the efforts further and offer suggestions please do reach out to me.
2. Unfortunately camping on Forest land for the purpose of employment is against Forest Service regulations. We have been working to raise wages for the front line team over the past few years paying above the required minimum. If we don't reinvest into the resort it will make it difficult to maintain and grow revenues which would further limit our ability to raise wages. Simply put reinvesting in the company and driving additional revenue is what will allow us to keep increasing wages.
3. I'm sorry to hear your gear is deteriorating. We do have a helmet reimbursement stipend for on-snow team members or the option to check out a helmet for free. We are providing masks for free, I'm not sure what the additional PPE need might be but please feel free to reach out if there is required PPE for your job that we are not providing.
4. We do have an extensive workplace safety program and near miss reporting system so we can identify hazards and try to mitigate them. If you are regularly dealing with the same hazards in your job it would be good to discuss with your Manager so we can find a solution. I'm sorry that you do not feel valued. Making our resort a fun and rewarding place to work is something I am very passionate about and one of the big reasons we have this check-in survey so we can know how our team is feeling through the season and try to make adjustments to improve.
-Jeremy Riss
Hopefully with nights ending soon, the evening staff will be able to fill in some of the spots on day shift to allow our staff ski breaks. I commend our staff and managers for working continually for keeping us all safe.
Hopefully you have been able to get more ride breaks the last few weeks.
-Jeremy Riss
Many of my co-workers and I have noticed HR favoritism when it comes to the mtn exchange program. Too often it seems that people who are close to HR, or HR themselves are getting priority for exchange letters.
With these requests changing to being online, this process is actually more fair than it has ever been. Everyone, regardless of night shift or day, working next door to HR or the bottom of Heather, has access to make requests. Even the HR team members printing the letters have to use the same process as anyone else. Those first-come-first-served requests are time-stamped in the system and so even the waiting list is clearly lined out. Without specific details on what you have noticed, the transparency of the process is all I can offer. Give me an instance where someone was given preference and I will look into it, otherwise it appears to be speculation when one does not receive the desired outcome they were hoping for. - Matt Troskey, VP People x1312 matt.troskey@skihood.com
Awesome
It’s great