Meet “Frank the Friendly.” He roams the ski area in full Viking regalia: a long reindeer vest, fur leggings, leather gauntlets, a full-length sword and the requisite helmet. Frank isn’t there just for show, however. He bestows a Viking blessing on hot chocolate at Kinder School, directs newcomers to the rental shop or ski school, ties kids’ shoelaces in the cafeteria, relieves lift operators and entertains customers in lift lines.
“I started a couple of years ago on the chairlifts,” says Frank, “but it was getting boring, so I started talking more with the customers and doing trivia. Not Viking trivia, though, because I was just a plain lift operator then.”
When owners Bob Wurzer and Michael Gotstein heard about the friendly lift operator, they approached him with an idea they had been tossing around: the “Viking in the parking lot” concept. “We wanted a goodwill ambassador to let customers know as soon as they drove in that we were glad they were here,” Wurzer says. “Frank picked up the ball and ran with it, and now some customers come back specifically to see the Viking.”
From the minute Frank Dalberto the “plain lift operator” became Frank the Friendly, he says he knew that this was what he was meant to do. “This isn’t just a thing I do for money,” he declares. “It came so naturally that after I started learning more I realized that I had always been a Viking, only now I look like one, too.”
The Viking look has to do with more than just clothing, says Frank, attempting to describe the feeling behind it: “I don’t know how to explain it exactly—it’s like a mariner looking over the horizon, or an explorer looking for a quest. Every day I go out looking forward to a great day coming.”
Despite his unmistakably Italian surname, Frank makes a case for his own Viking bloodline by explaining how, during their continental meanderings, the Norsemen probably happened upon some of his ancestors in northern Italy. This detailed historical knowledge of Vikings is put to good use at Norway Mountain: Frank educates and entertains customers waiting in lift lines with Viking trivia, rewarding correct answers with caramels.
Returning visitors have started to bring their own trivia questions to “Stump the Vike,” though according to Wurzer, the Viking remains unstumped. Occasionally they bring him food and drink as well; real Viking food like reindeer meat sandwiches and Wasa bread for lunch, or mead for a Viking happy hour.
The younger kids get to play trivia, too, as Frank makes daily rounds through Kinder School and day care. His most important duty there, however, is delivering the blessing he wrote for the hot chocolate break. “I hold the Viking sword out over the urn and turn it over three times, slowly, while I say: ‘I bless this hot chocolate in the name of Norway Mountain. May this chocolate be magic and help you learn to ski better. May you have fun and adventure today, and a safe and happy time.’”
Though the Viking idea started as part of creating a brand identity for Norway Mountain, Frank leaves management to worry about those things. “My job is to make sure that customers know I can help them,” he explains. “I try to connect with every person and I have all day to do it. If I miss somebody in the morning, at least I can say goodbye to them in the afternoon, and thanks for coming.”
At the end of the day, Frank heads toward the parking lot, looking for anyone juggling equipment who needs help. He’s always willing to stop for pictures, often demonstrating the Viking salute: “I put my right hand over my heart with the thumb and forefinger forming a circle, then I make a sweeping motion up to the sky. It means ‘I welcome you with an open heart,’” he explains.
“We don’t have a lot of amenities here, but if we take care of people and do a little extra, it rubs off. What I do is just picked up by another person who carries it on,” Frank says, adding definitively, “That’s why they come back.”
