Photo by Mary Gmuender
Ski season was over, but from May 13-15, Heavenly Ski Resort in California was hopping. Attendees at the annual California Ski Industry Association (CSIA) Maintenance and Operations Conference filled the buildings with industrious noise and activity, firing up welding torches, self-evacuating from chairlifts, puzzling over splicing techniques and hurling cantaloupes toward Lake Tahoe. The CSIA conference, designed for “the rank-and-file mountain operations employee,” according to chairman Steve Harkrader, attracted 335 employees from 45 ski areas in 12 states.
With the goal of providing “Value that Works,” an all-volunteer organizing committee supported by CSIA personnel coordinated 50 classes of basic and advanced technical training. Seven different tracks—snowmaking, lift maintenance, vehicle maintenance, grooming, lift operations, risk management and lift operations—allowed crews to train and cross-train together just as they work together, said conference coordinator Mary Gmuender. Many classes were hands-on and this year, for the first time, a Non-Destructive Testing Level II Certification class was offered for lift maintenance personnel.
“Other conferences can discuss international marketing and management, but we concentrate on the people who turn the ski area on when customers show up,” said Harkrader. “We want to provide education, motivation and some fun at the end of the season for the people behind the scenes.”
Fun was in no short supply. A Workin’ Man’s Reception marked the end of the first day’s activities, with pizza and beer at the top of the Heavenly Tram during the first annual Cantaloupe Catapult, sponsored by Lenko. Prior to the meeting, ski area teams had been challenged to design and build catapults—made only from parts found at ski areas, no explosives allowed—for the sole purpose of launching cantaloupes to kingdom come. Obscure lift line equipment, snowmobile suspensions, shuttle-bus chain tighteners and restraint bar bearings were included in a bizarre assortment of medieval machines arrayed on the deck of the Monument Peak restaurant.
Out of six entries, the distance winner was the King of Sling from Sugar Bowl, Calif., with a launch of 545.31 feet. In contrast to the complexity of most of the entries, the winner was a classic slingshot design: an 18-foot-high Y assembled out of 4×4 maze posts braced by a Yan crossarm, using 40 feet of ski patrol surgical tubing to form the sling. The tensioning system was even less technical: One crew member held the cantaloupe in the sling while his teammates held him by the waist, pulling him back about 50 feet for maximum fruit-flinging capacity.
Wednesday afternoon after a day of classes, cantaloupes were forgotten in the bustle of a packed trade show with 38 booths and 113 supplier representatives. “It’s a good show for me because I get to contact the maintenance guys,” said Rick Spear of Poma, “and most G.M.’s listen to their maintenance guys.”
Following the trade show, a gala banquet featured guest speaker Craig Breedlove, deceptively slight and soft-spoken for a five-time holder of the world land speed record. Breedlove awed the crowd with a video of his 1996 attempt at the record, which ended abruptly in a 675 mph crash. On a more formal note, Bob Sokolowski, utilities manager at Snow Summit, Calif., was awarded the 1997 Dave McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award for “outstanding contribution to the ski industry.”
Photo by Mary Gmuender
In its seventh consecutive year, the conference attracted nearly 500 attendees and the question of “Just how big do we want to get?” began to circulate. Harkrader attributes the success of the conference to an emphasis on practical, hands-on training as well as an affordable attendance fee—still under $100—and says that those characteristics must not change. Although the growing attendance makes it difficult to keep a ski area as the conference venue, Harkrader stressed the importance of supporting and being supported by ski areas. Besides, where else would attendees get away with hurling cantaloupes at a moving tram?
