I appreciate that we are seeing positive improvements to our space after identifying and making our needs known. Being able to have candid conversations with members of our upper management team like Greg, Jeremy and Jason has made communicating our needs much smoother as well. Thank you.
I also want to give a huge shoutout to the Sahale Grill crew, Chef Matt has created an amazing menu and the team behind the counter is serving up absolutely delicious grub every single day. I love that we have some veggie options like the impossible burger (which is sooo good!) but I would love to see more! I think some plant based chicken nuggets or other chicken products would be an awesome addition. I miss my chicken tendies and fries after going vegetarian =( . I also think the addition of more tvs with menu signage would go a long ways in reducing some of the lines I have already seen this holiday period. There seems to be a number of locations near the restrooms that could have menus rotating to allow customers to make choices while waiting as opposed to just before they hit the service counter.
Thank you so much for the great comments and ideas. As more products like you suggest become available, we may be able to enlarge the menu. We are keeping it pretty tight right now due to the limited operations we have this year. We do have a sign ordered to post the menus for Sahale on the wall as you approach…it got back ordered, but hopefully we will see it in early January.
– Mark Fellows, Director of Culinary Services.
If possible, provide more food. I know there’s some people who go through the work day eating very little if anything at all.
Thanks for taking time to reach out! I am not sure what you mean by provide more food. If you would like to send me a direct email so we can discuss this further.
- Cody Howe
I wanted to share a some observations of mine relating to the lifts and offer a couple suggestions. Forgive my wordiness. And my roundabout point making.
I’ve noticed that the new ghost lane maze setups have seemingly done away with the singles line. As we’re no longer even trying to fill chairs anymore, it seems the entire concept of using singles to fill empty seats is dead. As someone who utilized that technique to negotiate Meadows on busy days, I gravely mourn its loss. The result is we all stand in line now. But the lines don’t move very fast due to people choosing to fill chairs only half full. I understand giving people this option is one of our core covid responses and I’m not saying to do away with it, especially as I don’t know how we would even do that or if we even should. Instead, I’m suggesting we recognize and accept that this behavior has effectively reduced the uphill capacity of our chairlifts to something closer to half what they're rated for. For example, if a full detachable quad chair has an approximate uphill capacity of 4000 people/hour, does only putting 2-3 people on a chair drop that number to 2000-2500? That’s about what a fixed-grip triple would transport! If you look at it that way, ask yourself is having a single fixed-grip triple chair acting as the only chair out of the base area sufficient for uploading guests out of the base area? For those that have been here a while, you probably will remember that we had exactly that for many years and we ended up replacing it with MEX because the answer was no.
My suggestion would be to perhaps run the chairs at full rope speed to pull as many of those only half full chairs uphill as fast as possible. It’s my understanding we often run the detachable lifts at something a bit less than their full speed to try to reduce the number of cycles the chair grips go through and thus reduce maintenance costs - and I totally understand this and why - but in this new covid era we’re in, when we’re busy and we’re not filling the chairs, turning them up to a full 1000-1200 fpm might just cut the liftline wait a bit.
What’s the difference between a Saturday and a Tuesday or Wednesday this year? Not a whole hell of a lot, by my observations. I’ve noticed that on weekends and holidays, every lift automatically gets set up and pre-oped for an 855am opening. As the Main lot, Sunrise, HRM and Twilight fill and full ski school lessons go out they’re there to help uplift folks to minimize crowding and liftlines. And if it turns out it they’re not necessary, those lifts get shut down and its staff moved elsewhere. But on non-weekend and non-holidays, it appears we don’t move towards those secondary lifts like Daisy or Blue, even as we’re filling the Main, Sunrise, HRM and Twilight lots and full ski school lessons are heading out. Again, I’m curious what the difference is, besides the day of the week on the calendar. Seems to me, there isn’t one. So why, then aren’t those lifts on the matrix? I realize a ton of people don’t ride them, even if there is a long line at MEX, but there certainly are those of us that do and that that 10% or so of our skiing guests appreciate having an option to move around the ski area instead of automatically getting stuck waiting at MEX.
Today (Wed 12/23) and a day last week (sorry, I forgot the exact day) are examples of my next observation: On these two blue-bird, Vista and CasX storm recovery/access restoration days, CasX was to be opened first. I get this - it is the more desirable chair that accesses all the terrain Vista serves. BUT, with Vista not operable yet and with both blue and Daisy closed, it once again put a heavy load on MEX as that lift was the only way to access CasX. And as ski school kids lessons seemingly go out early this year instead of at 10am or so as in years' past, both Buttercup and ER got crowded fast, so one couldn’t even lap those lifts while you waited for Vista. In the hour and a half or so it took Vista to be pre-oped and opened, a hell of a line formed at Vista. Even once Vista opened, the line never shortened, due to the folks not wanting to sit 4 to a chair, so there was no way for anyone to access CasX without suffering through a long line. Daisy remained closed during all of this.
My suggestion for the above two observations would be to offer at least two or three lifts up and out of the base area on busy days. Perhaps staff, setup and pre-op and staff all of them daily, at least until we get a better read on the new covid skier visit dynamics. While Stadium is great for offering northside access, it doesn’t access the upper mountain lifts and thus is of limited help on open upper mountain days. Blue and Daisy do. Maybe tie it’s operation into the morning lift ticket validity period - the one we charge the highest price for - open it daily at 855am but close it after that period ends? Maybe we could somehow sell the idea of riding Blue to those that would prefer to ride a chair as a single or a pair because of covid and go back to using singles at MEX to fill every chair? As far as Daisy goes, how about if it gets linked with Vista when we again find ourselves in a storm recovery/access restoration situation when it is decided to try for CasX first - staff, setup, pre-op and open Daisy at 855am. Keep it running for those that would like to lap the southside while they wait for Vista to open or perhaps as a way to access CasX without having to go to MEX. When Vista does open, close down Daisy or, at least, re-assess if it’s serving a need if it’s a busy day. Please note, I’m not suggesting Daisy replace ER as the alternate for Vista on storm days.
I thank you for taking the time to read my long comment and consider my suggestions. I hope they make sense.
To the best of my knowledge, we have not done away with the singles lanes at any of the lifts. Have you gone to a lift that does not have one? If so I would love to follow up with you because I have not given that directive. As far as chair speed, we always run chairs at full speed whenever we can and the ONLY time we reduce it is for wind. I have never heard that we run it slower to reduce wear and tear. Whenever we reduce speed we always re-evaluate multiple times try to speed it back up. In fact, I did this myself twice today and got it up to 850 from 700. It is always our goal to run those things as fast as it is safely possible. I have been staffing Daisy more often when we have the staffing. I talked with Jeremy and Mel about Blue today and one of the biggest issues is that even when it is open, no one wants to ride it. Id rather put those 3-4 people at lifts to help with the crowds than staff a lift that nobody wants to ride, even when it is busy. I do like the idea of staffing Daisy when possible, I will try to do it whenever we are able to. Thank you for the feedback and I will continue to try to improve what we are doing.
-Cody Howe
More space in race trailer, new snowmobiles
I know that people have a lot of frustrations about everything right now but I wanted to take some time and recognize some of the incredible people on our team who consistently brighten up my day and make my life easier.
Thank you so much Mikey (Micke?) and Angel over in Wildflower café. These two are amazing and are always so friendly and helpful and I don't know where I would be right now if it wasn't for the caffeine they provide.
The entirety of Lift Maintenance. I know that several of those guys have been staying late into the night keeping lifts running on top of getting here early every single day to keep lifts turning. Thank you so much for keeping lifts turning. Us lifties might be the ones pushing buttons, but we wouldn't able to do what we do without your team. We wouldn't be skiing and riding if it weren't for you guys doing your thing!
Thank you Facilities maintenance! You guys and the janitorial team are definitely the unrecognized heroes of this mountain. The amount of work and effort you guys have had to take on dealing with COVID and the new lodge has been hefty. You guys are behind the scenes heroes!
Thank you HR for everything you have been doing. I realize it has been incredibly difficult and time intensive changing how we do EVERYTHING up here to accommodate for COVID. I know a lot of frustration has been pointed towards you guys because of passes which is unjustly attributed. I know its been hard but the way things are working now is how we have to do it to maximize safety. I know how many extra hours and early starts have happened there with the express purpose of printing passes so that every employee can enjoy this amazing mountain we work on.
Thank you to guest services, race crew and ski school. There have already been countless mornings this season where these teams have come to our rescue and have helped with shoveling and maze control and mask enforcement. Without their help, we would have struggled even more so.
Huge shoutout to Jennifer Conkey. Unfortunately, I have been working with her quite a bit recently (unfortunate due to the situation) but she has been so incredibly helpful. The efforts she is putting in to keep our entire Meadows family safe is immense and I know she is often the bearer of bad news but has jumped into this tough role kicking butts.
Lastly, I want to recognize the entirety of the Lift Operations team. Our supervisor team has stepped up so much to this challenging year. Our OICs are becoming incredible leaders and helping train our new hires like never before. Our brand new employees are some of the best we have ever had. I am so incredibly thankful to have such a solid and passionate crew to work beside. Thank you all so very much for everything you do.
Thank for the feedback and I don’t have much to add because you summed it all up. This team is great.
-Cody Howe
I'm so grateful to be working at Meadows again! It's been an amazing start to the season and I hope the momentum continues. The morale is high and the energy is super positive. Chris is very professional and personable. He truly cares about our crews well-being and treats us all with respect. Teamwork makes the dream work!!
Thank you for the positive feedback that is awesome to hear!
-Jeremy Riss
Because we are such a happy, cheerful and enjoy our job department - it makes it fun and enjoyable to come to work!! Thank you Cale and Courtney for keeping such a positive vibe!!
Stoked to hear things are going well in retail!
-Jeremy Riss
Be respectful to returning F&B (all) employees.
I heard of certain returning employees not being hired back because of where they are from, no call back wasn't right.
New employees not being considered for employment because of where they are from.
Then the few lucky returning employees from F&B get disrespected and laid off hours while the new employees get to work.
I imagine it would be nicer to have the well-trained returning staff to have first shift-DIBS option rather than decreasing their hours, firing them, or lying and saying they quit.
I miss the other well-trained staff and to hear how they have been treated breaks my heart.
At least give them the option to transfer to another department before terminating them
We are losing so many good employees right now because of all of what is going on.
Please be respectful to ALL staff members, no matter who they are, what they look, and where they are from.
Respectfully,
A returning employee member
Being respectful to each other is certainly vital to our success. We encourage everyone to be an upstander - this means if you directly witnessed something like you described, we want it reported to someone who can do something about it (a Manager, Director, VP or Human Resources). I say "directly witness" because it is possible to hear something secondhand that isn't the whole story, or is being misinterpreted. These things often get repeated and become highly inaccurate (even if there was truth to it in the beginning). Mt Hood Meadows takes issues of discrimination, bullying, and harassment seriously. You didn't leave your name so I really cannot follow up with you more than this. Please consider speaking to someone in a leadership position. You can also email me. matt.troskey@skihood.com or call ext 1312. - Matt Troskey Vice President for People & Learning
Things seem to be working well so far- the lines have been a little long, but the line control people are doing their best.
We need more lesson reservations!!! All my shifts have been cancelled due to lack of demand! Please promote lessons on the Meadows Nordic facebook page, in the eNewsletters to pass holders and make it easier to find the Nordic lesson purchase option on the ski hood.com website.
Thanks!