As a new part-time instructor, I want to thank all of the staff and trainers who worked to get us up to speed and on-boarded. In particular, my gratitude and thanks to Kelly, Kaitlin, Alex and Cole, who did the majority of my on-the-snow training and team teaching. They were helpful, hands-on, supportive and tremendously knowledgeable. Thanks to Jillianne and Tyler who took the time to answer my (many) questions. I've been riding at Meadows since 2000, but it's fun to now give back to this mountain resort by teaching the next generation(s) of riders.
So appreciative of your comments and am stoked your are loving the job! It is so fun to give back to others. And the training aspect for new instructors has been improving over the last several years so it's great to hear this from you! -Tyler Barnes, Learning Center Operations Manager
The alpenstube has been brutal. Today I waited for 20 minutes after sitting down, and then another 20 minutes just to get my drink.
While as an employee this isn’t a big deal but the continued poor service creates a negative image for our guests.
Thanks for your comments and please understand that as a team member, you are as important to us a guest. Obviously what you describe is not what we intend or what is normal.
It would be great if you would send me an direct email with details about when you were there or who your server was. That is how we can zero in on when things are not happening as they should.
Also, there is almost always a floor supervisor that you can ask for if there is the need.
Thanks for being our guest!
-Mark Fellows
As we come out of holidays and fall into the groove of the season, I can feel all the departments really fall into a great rhythm! Shout out to Lift-ops for always crushing it! Grooming has been fantastic and the learning based terrain is always stellar! With that shout out, I do have to call out ski patrol. Myself and multiple other instructors and lift ops staff arrived early to shovel out MHX and we had been at it for about an hour and half when some patrollers (most volunteers) came to early load and rather then return pleasant greetings, chose to be frustrated about small amounts of ice still left on chairs seats and glare us down. I know this season has been stressful with weather conditions but we have to work as a team and maintain some sort of camaraderie and that isn't how we go about it. No one on our team should think they are above another team member and not treat another team member without some level of respect. I also have had off the clock interactions with our patrol that definitely leave a lot to be desired. I know our patrol has a lot going on and our patrol is definitely one of the best I've interacted with but that doesn't mean we can't strive to improve and be better, especially because patrol is so visible and important, they have to be at the top of their game all the time.
I also want to include the food and beverage staff and cooks have been awesome, but food options have been a little hit or miss overall. There are definitely some good options but those are few and far between and even they are prone to the occasional misshap.
Overall the entire mountain is doing a great job now it is just some refining!
I’d like to apologize for the grumpiness of Patrollers loading icy seats. We sit on snowy, icy seats all the time; we don’t like it, but we should be used to it, and shouldn’t give others hard time. We do greatly appreciate your hard work digging out lifts and cleaning off chair seats!
If you have off-the clock interactions with Patrollers that affect your working environment, I’d request your direct feedback to me, please, so that I can address the specific behavior.
-John Bain
Yes, it's all about team work. And it's difficult to know what an individual has been dealing with inside or outside of work. Patrol gets here very early to help get the mountain open. As for the Mt. Hood Patrol (volunteers), I cannot speak about them specifically - I'll let John Bain respond.
I totally agree that no one is above anyone else on this team. The motto of, "That's my trash!" holds true and everyone shovels! In fact I met Jeremy Riss outside the North Lodge Snout on my arrival one morning at 7:15am and he was already there shoveling out so employees arriving who use that entrance could do so much more easily. In a team of over 1,000 employees it's a village and there will always be various personalities and emotional states of the villagers. All you can do is shrug it off and continue with your passion and focus on enriching people's lives. Others appreciate this more than those who do not. Keep up the enrichment!
-Tyler Barnes, Learning Center Operations Manager
It would be cool to get lift specific wellness incentives. Many times massages, acupuncture and the like are only available for people working indoors while there are many people in lift ops that would benefit from those programs.
It would be really cool for this company to be more proactive in using our voice to talk about climate change. Currently the Green New Deal could be monumental for tackling this problem but congress says it's too controversial. Mitigating climate change has a direct impact on our long-term sustainability. Also, the Green New Deal would provide bountiful summer employment in the area and create a huge stimulus to the economy securing a lot of employment for our team. Beyond just the moral imperative it makes fiscal sense for our industry and company to use our voices to advocate for stronger climate action.
Furthermore, there are so many people in this company that have strong backgrounds in the environmental sciences dying to use their skill sets to help this company and our community at large. Much of the work for regional climate action could be make more effective by using our resort technology to help make this happen. Farming snow, raking snow during the fire season, and so many other smart actions could make a world of difference in our community. It would be awesome to bring back the sustainability team to see if there are ways we can utilize these resources.
Please and thank you...
Thanks for making suggestions that tie to two Core Values (Sustainability and Wellness), and a huge company goal (expanding operations to summer). We are working on getting a couple of our wellness practitioners to accommodate times and locations that will be more conducive to several of the depts who have specific needs. I am aware that the people working on summer ops have ideas to continue to grow to provide enriching experiences for guests and be able to employ more team members. - Matt Troskey
It is such a joy to see concrete examples of how sustainability is important to our team. Be assured that our leadership team shares your concerns and passion. Many of the important sustainability initiatives we undertake are ‘behind the scenes’ things, such as advocating for strong action on climate through responsible legislation. We are currently working on this in Salem and beyond. You will see more on this shortly.
As always, I welcome the opportunity to meet to discuss your ideas and learn about your passions in this realm and how we might be able to leverage these, as others on our team have successfully done. I can also share examples of how we use our voice, which may not be readily apparent.
The formal sustainability/ Green Team was cumbersome to manage and largely ineffective so it was disbanded. It was agreed that we are all on the green team at Mt. Hood Meadows. So let’s meet up! green@skihood.com or extension 1215 will lead you to me.
Thank you for sharing your hopes and passions!
-Heidi Logosz, Sustainability Manager
Can something be done for employee parking?expecting us to drive to hood river from the sandy side to park is b.s. we are carpooling there were five employees in my car.
I also have to comment on employees on the buses who take bench like it is their personal bed. blankets, pillows, feet on the seats and in isles. I understand it is not the drivers duty to police seating and they have other things- important things to focus on. Honestly everyone should be adults and respect fellow employees. But as an employee boarding the bus it can be uncomfortable to ask someone to wake up and sit up- just to sit down to get to work to their job. Maybe an all company reminder/refresher on bus etiquette at morning meetings. Or empowering staff to speak out for fellow employees who needs seats.
In short folks (younger folks) are being disrespectful to other employees on the bus.
Thanks for saying something. It seems very reasonable that we should all be prepared for and welcoming to another team member sitting next to us on the bus since there is generally not enough seats for everyone to have their own.
-Jeremy Riss
Just a reminder that it’s often faster to slow down and make sure we’re doing our jobs well, particularly when it’s busy. While standing in line at higher grounds today they were very busy, and I saw multiple orders in a row, including mine, not done correctly...smoothies not blended completely, sandwiches halfway heated, ingredients left out, which meant the supervisor had to stop what she was doing to help and time had to be taken to redo or fix the orders. A little bit of extra care the first time would have saved having to do so. I know we all get busy and sometimes have a tendency to rush, and it was a good reminder of the value of paying attention and taking our time to do things right no matter what.
Management should visit departments and visit the employees once in awhile,I never see them,dont know who some of them are,I think there is a huge disconnect.
I'm not sure which department you work in but it is surprising to here a manager wouldn't be regularly checking in. If you leave your department name next time I'd be happy to make sure I swing by and also check in with the department manager to see if they can be more present.
-Jeremy Riss