During the first month we were open, I had 5 or 6 guests a week take the time to tell me how impressed they were with our operations during difficult circumstances. It made me proud to have our guests realize and appreciate the effort and policies MHM put in place to create conditions allowing us to open. I'm happy to be working again and willing to do what ever it takes to increase the odds of us remaining open, even if it means no exchange letters for a bit.
This feedback from guests was a positive balance to the frustrating stories of lift ops and DPS having to deal with guest belligerence and unwillingness to follow COVID protocols. I believe 99.9% of our guests are willing to follow COVID guidelines, but for the last .1% it was empowering to have managment announce in many media outlets what was expected guest behavior when they visit MHM.
Sahalie food is the best I've had in a lodge at MHM. Thanks to everyone involved with planning the menu or preparing my food. Great work. The increased food discount through PresDay is appreciated.
Dealing with COVID has lead to a few policies I hope stay in place going forward. Required advanced purchase of private lessons and 9:30 group start times being two.
A few suggestions to help decrease the possibility of COVID transmission.
Block off every other urinal to spread dudes out.
Put some arrows on the floor before the ramps at the four way to keep foot traffic flowing in one direction per side.
Open at least half the vinyl flaps on the Ballroom carpet if it's not raining or snowing. Sometimes I'm riding it for most of the day, with no choice but to inhale the cloud of whatever those in front of me are exhaling. Some cross ventilation would improve the situation.
Maze control is a necessity on busy days. It doesn't matter if it's blue or green coats doing it, but let's be sure to staff for it. It's hard to put clients at ease while shepherding them through a chaotic mess.
Now that we have enough snow, the ski school lanes are much improved. Big thanks to Lift Ops and Grooming.
Final thought. The year to year improvement in my department continues to amaze me. I've never worked with a more talented, well trained, guest focused, group of people. When riding Buttercup on weekends, the Sea of Green I see in front of Sahalie makes me smile.
Thank you so much for the great comments. Chef Matthew, Caitlin and our entire team are very proud of what we are doing in our new facility! The great comments from both our guests and our employees are very rewarding.
– Mark Fellows, Director of Culinary Services
Thank you as well for taking the time to think through potential improvements to the operation as well. We will consider each of these to see what can be implemented.
- Jeremy Riss
While I certainly appreciate that this season has introduced a slew of challenges to work through, I have to say I am a bit disappointed by management's approach to how this season has been handled.
The added work, pressure, and risk from COVID has placed a great burden on the employees that allow the resort to remain open. Management has addressed the reasoning behind some of the decisions that have been made, and keeps reassuring us that we are valued and appreciated, but seems unwilling to do anything to show it. If the Mountain Exchange program is one of the benefits of working at Meadows, and the decision is made to temporarily restrict it, why is nothing being done to make up for what is essentially a pay cut to all of us? An increase to the meal discount is great, but that's supposed to be our thank you for our hard work? A remote appreciation event on Zoom is great too, but bonuses might make me feel a bit more valued at work... Repeatedly thanking us for our hard work, while slashing our benefits, and only making up for it by giving us a slightly higher discount on food makes it feel like management really only cares about profits. Though I'm sure those understaffed, overworked lift operators appreciate getting a better discount on meals after a long day of dealing with wrangling disgruntled guests to wear their masks...
We are fortunate to be open and be in a position to offer employment opportunities. If MHM Management were to focus exclusively on profits, we would NOT have made the following choices: limited the number of passes / tickets that we sell; increased meal discounts; frontloaded additional sick leave; continued to keep MHM base wage a dollar above what is required in our area; have 1150 Team Members on the payroll during this difficult time. The MHM Team is just that: We are Team-oriented company whereby the needs of the many will always outweigh the needs of a few. The attributes of successful MHM Team Members include thoughtfulness, skill, resourcefulness, unselfishness and kindness. Supporting ALL Team members on their quest to maintain their health and the health of their loved ones while maintaining the economic viability of our business is our number one goal this season. If Mt. Hood Meadows were a bus, the destination shown above the windshield would read “Enriching Lives”. If you are not interested in that destination, please exit our bus as soon as possible. - Matthew Drake, Chairman and CEO
I find it ironic that I can't safely ski at another resort, yet the only 3 lessons I've had this year are two with a client from Hawaii and one with a client from Indiana. And of the 5 clinics I've participated in or led this year, at least three had participating instructors that actively teach part time at other resorts (Timberline, Mission Ridge, Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie). I know we are all trying to make the best of a difficult time, but our misguided attempts are sure driving down moral. Also, our continual denial of our culpability in the traffic/parking issues on Mount Hood are both embarrassing and troubling.
I feel weird when other staff use rtp to look up where I've been on my ride break
RTP access should only be used for legitimate business reasons. If you feel this is not the case, please notify your Manager. Those with access are expected to use sound judgment in accessing private information. - Matt Troskey, VP People
Hang in there. We have a great management team. They have had to make hard decisions. And we are open. Do what it takes.
With the mask issues we’re seeing, it would be really beneficial if we could have some disposable masks at our base lifts.
We should definitely be able to provide these. Please check in with your Manager to get some disposable masks to that you can hand out to guests in need.
- Jeremy Riss
Employee Lounge / Hot Cocoa Machine: Can whoever is responsible for the hot cocoa and coffee machines please check them more often to ensure they are dispensing properly? The cocoa machine is frequently out of cocoa when I've tried to get some (more mid-week, seems like). Thank you!
Thanks for the heads up. Our Warehouse Logistics team takes care of that and we will look at it more often.
– Mark Fellows, Director of Culinary Services
I’m curious if we are contact tracing guests as well as employees. It’s seems likely that out of towners or guests who do not appreciate social distancing cause a higher risk of transmission. Have cases been traced back to employees from guests or vise versa? and if so where is the higher rate of transmission? I’m not saying employees are great at covid guidelines but I am saying I know some guests are not great at it either in their time away from the mountain. Are we allowed to know any covid data while working or strictly when involved in contact tracing? I guess what I’m asking is there a way to evaluate risk when coming into work both from co workers as well as guests?
At this time, we have had no COVID exposures or infections in our Team Member population that have been linked to recreation or work at Mt Hood Meadows / Cooper Spur. The activities that have led to transmission within our Team Member Population and our community have been household interactions, social gatherings, overnight travel and carpooling. The COVID Response Team has been contact tracing employees as we have not yet had a guest inform us of a presumptive or positive COVID infection/exposure. If a guest did contact us to inform us of a presumptive or positive COVID infection/exposure, we would investigate the incident. should there be a need to contact guests due to an exposure to a symptomatic Team Member, we would work with local health authorities. Team Members are required to call in if they have had any possible or confirmed symptoms or exposures so that we can make a plan to get them back to work as safely as possible. This effort has helped us keep COVID (and other illnesses) from spreading amongst our Team Member population. Data compiled by the COVID Response Team is not shared, mainly because it should not change how any of us are acting at work. Whether we have a lot of folks out sick or none, we should be treating everyone like they have COVID (including ourselves). We still need to be wearing a mask, washing hands, watching distance, avoiding closed spaces, avoiding crowded spaces and avoiding close contact settings. -Anna Laxague and the COVID Response Team
I have some feedback on the travel ban. My thoughts are that it doesn't make much sense. If I get in my car, drive to Crystal Resort and utilize their ski area in the same manor as ours then where is the covid threat? It seems like its potentially a form of mass punishment for those who didn't act appropriately, and I don't think that's fair to those who are doing what they need to.
Also, we should do late sweeps and allow people to ski to their cars on weekends no matter if we park out or not. Either that or find a better way to communicate to our guest how it works
Reading through some comments, I have some too.
Regarding music: In years way past there was "music" flooding Butter Cup. It was awful. Teaching classes to beginners in a howling snow/wind storm and trying to be heard over the "music" was daunting. Trying to have music in most of the areas noted is again a safety issue. Lift operators/Instructors trying to be heard at the critical time at the top and bottom of a lift do not need people entertained by anything else. Most folks who want music have ear buds and can listen to whatever they want...without disturbing anyone around them (except those trying to get their attention to put their mask back up, or something else safety-related)
Lots of comments about exchange passes: This year is different. Try something different. x-country, backcountry. Learn boarding/skiing/telle, whatever you can't do. Take a breath. If it's that scary, go work somewhere else/sit on a couch in Mom's basement/live off the government. Maybe I should just quit reading these comments, or there should be a tag "Life is so unfair" so I'll know which ones to laugh at/skip.