Winter With Woes leave the Weak and Weary Wondering (or; possible winter jobs)
QUICK WORD OF WARNING: This post is completely self-indulgent and completely about myself and stuff I MIGHT do. You probably won't find this interesting.
Anyways, as it stands right now,
I officially DON'T have a job this winter.
That makes the situation sound a lot more dramatic than it actually is. The thing is, I didn't reapply for my Lifty Lead job this year. It's something we're supposed to do every spring for the following winter. After being with the lifties for 5 seasons, 4 as a lead, being passed up for a promotion time after time, watching the kids I TRAINED become by bosses, I had to make a statement: Either I move up, or move out. This is just as much an ultimatum to myself as it is to the Lift Op department. I just can't walk against a wall for years and go nowhere. I will not return as a lead, and that's the only thing I'm sure of at this point.
But now with our manager, Boss Lady Rox, moving on to work HR at A-Basin, and one of the two assistant managers most likely on his way out, that plan might be backfiring. Things are looking like we'll have to hire from outside to fill the manager spot. 5 years of loyalty and hard work building a positive reputation could be going right out the window. (Then mouthing off to a couple super-superiors at the end of last winter probably won't help anything, either) There seems to be a looming mass exodus from Keystone Lift Ops coming up, and even though this means that there will most likely be a lot of opportunity for me to move up, I'm starting to think it may be better to join the exodus.
So, if I don't get a promotion, or don't go for one, and leave Keystone Lift Ops, then what?
One hope has always been Lift Maintenance. I love the chairlifts, but hate customers, so just working on and learning about the mechanics of the machines always seemed like a good idea. I've seen others who have the same experience as me (several years of lifty work, but no other actual mechanical experience) get a beginner level lift maintenance job. The only issue would be IF a job position with them opens, and if someone with a better resume than "I'm a lifty!" also applies. So, this is nothing I can be totally sure I could fall into. (Though, if I could get a job with them, I'd take it over any Lifty promotion I could get. I'd rather start getting mechanical experience than managerial experience)
This past weekend at Beer Fest, two more opportunities for the winter came to me.
See, I ran into Boss Lady Rox. She suggested that I start over with the A-Basin Lifties. It's a much more relaxed environment, easier hours, longer season, free hot breakfast everyday, better ski benefits (Vail Resorts pass, plus vouchers to almost every ski resort in The CO) and better pay. That does sound pretty good. The downside is that there's even less opportunity for advancement. Only 4 leads and one manager. To take that route, it would be a step back, and would probably take almost as long to get back to where I am now. It'd be chill and fun, but comes off as underachieving... which says a lot, coming from a huge slacker like myself.
And then, Rox's husband Matt talked to me, and gave me the most interesting proposition I've heard in a while.
Matt was in charge of "Adventure Point" at Keystone, which is our snow tubing hill (and some other lame stuff... but tubing is cool and a big deal). He was let go some time ago, pretty much for being too relaxed of a boss. But he was recently hired to be head of what's known as the "Frisco Peninsula Project". Long story short on the background there: The town of Frisco wanted to do something with their run-down peninsula, everyone in the town gave their opinion over the past couple years, the town council finally decided on something, now Matt's in charge of it. He's in charge of its construction this summer, then will be the manager when it's ready in the winter. There's going to be a snow tubing hill, a mini terrain park, and maybe a couple other things during the winter. It'll be serviced with a carpet lift. They'll charge something like 20 bucks for a day, which is a lot better than the 100 you'd need to ride the terrain park here or at Breck or any other place.
Anyways, Matt wants me to think about working there. The certain up sides would include easier hours, higher pay then I've made anywhere else, interesting variety of work (snow making, operate carpet lift, maintain lift, throw/spin tubers, maintain terrain park features, ext), and working for a cool chill boss who already knows and trusts me. The down sides would be, no more free ski pass, and health insurance issues (it's owned by the town, so there'd probably be good options, but if I keep working at the golf course during the summer, that's when things get complicated).
But, there's two other factors to working there. 1) Housing. Starting in October, the landlord for this place I just moved into is going to want me and my roommate to sign a new, long-term lease. If I work in Frisco, which is on the other side of the lake, I'm not sure if I want to drive that distance during the winter. I'd rather move to Frisco. I'd be fine driving from there to Keystone during the summer to work at the golf course, but in the winter, I want to minimize my driving. So, could I leave this new place, just when I was finally getting settled in? There's a lot of other stuff to consider for that too (banking, mailing address, ext), but I'd have to decide before October.
And then 2)... Matt will most likely have a KAT there, to groom the tubing hill and terrain park. From the first week when I moved here, I've felt that KAT driving would be the coolest dream job ever. I wasn't able to get a KAT driving job here because the head of that department wants guys who have experience with heavy machinery. If I could have Matt train me on his KAT there, after a couple winters, I'd be entering my 30s and would have legit experience with KATs. I'd be able to get a groomer job at any mountain. I wouldn't even care where. But working at this little hill with Matt might be the best bet for getting my foot into that door.
So anyways, yeah, this is the stuff that's on my mind right now.
Anyways, as it stands right now,
I officially DON'T have a job this winter.
That makes the situation sound a lot more dramatic than it actually is. The thing is, I didn't reapply for my Lifty Lead job this year. It's something we're supposed to do every spring for the following winter. After being with the lifties for 5 seasons, 4 as a lead, being passed up for a promotion time after time, watching the kids I TRAINED become by bosses, I had to make a statement: Either I move up, or move out. This is just as much an ultimatum to myself as it is to the Lift Op department. I just can't walk against a wall for years and go nowhere. I will not return as a lead, and that's the only thing I'm sure of at this point.
But now with our manager, Boss Lady Rox, moving on to work HR at A-Basin, and one of the two assistant managers most likely on his way out, that plan might be backfiring. Things are looking like we'll have to hire from outside to fill the manager spot. 5 years of loyalty and hard work building a positive reputation could be going right out the window. (Then mouthing off to a couple super-superiors at the end of last winter probably won't help anything, either) There seems to be a looming mass exodus from Keystone Lift Ops coming up, and even though this means that there will most likely be a lot of opportunity for me to move up, I'm starting to think it may be better to join the exodus.
So, if I don't get a promotion, or don't go for one, and leave Keystone Lift Ops, then what?
One hope has always been Lift Maintenance. I love the chairlifts, but hate customers, so just working on and learning about the mechanics of the machines always seemed like a good idea. I've seen others who have the same experience as me (several years of lifty work, but no other actual mechanical experience) get a beginner level lift maintenance job. The only issue would be IF a job position with them opens, and if someone with a better resume than "I'm a lifty!" also applies. So, this is nothing I can be totally sure I could fall into. (Though, if I could get a job with them, I'd take it over any Lifty promotion I could get. I'd rather start getting mechanical experience than managerial experience)
This past weekend at Beer Fest, two more opportunities for the winter came to me.
See, I ran into Boss Lady Rox. She suggested that I start over with the A-Basin Lifties. It's a much more relaxed environment, easier hours, longer season, free hot breakfast everyday, better ski benefits (Vail Resorts pass, plus vouchers to almost every ski resort in The CO) and better pay. That does sound pretty good. The downside is that there's even less opportunity for advancement. Only 4 leads and one manager. To take that route, it would be a step back, and would probably take almost as long to get back to where I am now. It'd be chill and fun, but comes off as underachieving... which says a lot, coming from a huge slacker like myself.
And then, Rox's husband Matt talked to me, and gave me the most interesting proposition I've heard in a while.
Matt was in charge of "Adventure Point" at Keystone, which is our snow tubing hill (and some other lame stuff... but tubing is cool and a big deal). He was let go some time ago, pretty much for being too relaxed of a boss. But he was recently hired to be head of what's known as the "Frisco Peninsula Project". Long story short on the background there: The town of Frisco wanted to do something with their run-down peninsula, everyone in the town gave their opinion over the past couple years, the town council finally decided on something, now Matt's in charge of it. He's in charge of its construction this summer, then will be the manager when it's ready in the winter. There's going to be a snow tubing hill, a mini terrain park, and maybe a couple other things during the winter. It'll be serviced with a carpet lift. They'll charge something like 20 bucks for a day, which is a lot better than the 100 you'd need to ride the terrain park here or at Breck or any other place.
Anyways, Matt wants me to think about working there. The certain up sides would include easier hours, higher pay then I've made anywhere else, interesting variety of work (snow making, operate carpet lift, maintain lift, throw/spin tubers, maintain terrain park features, ext), and working for a cool chill boss who already knows and trusts me. The down sides would be, no more free ski pass, and health insurance issues (it's owned by the town, so there'd probably be good options, but if I keep working at the golf course during the summer, that's when things get complicated).
But, there's two other factors to working there. 1) Housing. Starting in October, the landlord for this place I just moved into is going to want me and my roommate to sign a new, long-term lease. If I work in Frisco, which is on the other side of the lake, I'm not sure if I want to drive that distance during the winter. I'd rather move to Frisco. I'd be fine driving from there to Keystone during the summer to work at the golf course, but in the winter, I want to minimize my driving. So, could I leave this new place, just when I was finally getting settled in? There's a lot of other stuff to consider for that too (banking, mailing address, ext), but I'd have to decide before October.
And then 2)... Matt will most likely have a KAT there, to groom the tubing hill and terrain park. From the first week when I moved here, I've felt that KAT driving would be the coolest dream job ever. I wasn't able to get a KAT driving job here because the head of that department wants guys who have experience with heavy machinery. If I could have Matt train me on his KAT there, after a couple winters, I'd be entering my 30s and would have legit experience with KATs. I'd be able to get a groomer job at any mountain. I wouldn't even care where. But working at this little hill with Matt might be the best bet for getting my foot into that door.
So anyways, yeah, this is the stuff that's on my mind right now.