Operations Staff

Beaver Valley, Ontario

Six-word bio: "Fresh snow, humming lifts, happy faces.”

Operations Staff

Beaver Valley, Ontario

Six-word bio: "Fresh snow, humming lifts, happy faces.”

“I didn't expect to be in the industry, and doing this for so long,” laughs Kathy Hall, a member of the mountain operations team at Beaver Valley, Ontario. “I started 10 years ago as a lift attendant and I'm still working in operations today.”

Hall, who has been described as a “hell of a worker,” has done it all. From humble beginnings as a lifty, she moved on to become rental shop manager, patroller and snowmaker. She's served time in the trenches working on trail maintenance, and she's currently developing her skills as a lift mechanic, working as an apprentice at this small resort with its six chairlifts.

“I like the hands-on aspect of it,” says Hall, who says that she's focusing on mechanics, and planning on developing her career by returning to school to pursue studies in the Snow Resort Operations program at Georgian College, Ontario.

The move is a big one for Hall, who went straight from high school into the workforce (that lifty job), and has been learning on the job and from peers ever since. “I've learned a lot,” she says of her work experiences. “Tom Cahers was instrumental in teaching me the customer service stuff, and my coworkers have taught me how to be really conscientious and mindful on the job when working around lifts. Beaver Valley's head lift mechanic, Darren Drake, has been great, too.”

With plans in place to become a master lift mechanic, and a husband that she met while working at a rental shop, the future looks bright for Hall. She's even found the time to dial in her snowboarding skills between hours spent on the job. “When I first was able to hit a box,” says Hall, “that was special!”

—Tom Winter

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