DeebieSkeebiesugh you guys would absolutely hate PC some days. its a fun place to ski for sure but man, some of the locals really do fucking suck. primarily the older ones. lots of retired, old curmudgeons with too much time on their hands. Very rude, theyre from that generation where they think its okay to be absolutely awful to employees of lesser wages because that's what they are there for, and they should get a better job, etc. all that bullshit. makes me more stoked to ski snowbird/alta because you meet couples that have been skiing since the 40's, and are just happy to be out making turns while their old fragile bodies allow it. Truly inspiring shit to see, I met a couple at snowbird from hungary skiing there since the 70's, and they were absolutely ecstatic to know me and my friend were skiers. they basically told us that our goals in life should be to do whatever you can to go skiing, and that's something I can get down with.
you'd be the best co-worker. especially during these muggy-ass spring days where the ramps are literal pools. rake, salt, rake, salt, rake, salt, rinse, repeat all fucking day long, park crew looks like a real fun job, not too many guys are hyped on it at PC. one of the best parks on planet earth and no one seems to be happy, people are just odd.
Honestly it depends. It can be a lot of work. At the momen I have a good group of guys to work with, but we've been working super hard all season and don't have the parks to show for it imo. That's frustrating.
We set everything up on mounds like it's 2001, then we hand rake all the side of it. IF it's icy we're trying to smooth it out, my wrist is fucked from falling on these piece of shit steep mounds. They also look stupid and don't ride very well. Even in our beginner park the dance floors are up 3 feet off the groun in front maybe more, and like a 5 foot drop off the back,So if you learn to slide it and you come odd wrong you're going to pick up speed instantly and die.
The way the features are set the cats don't groom next to them so by the time we finish our morning rake it's time for midday, midday it's time for closing, and in the end our park really isn't that good. Pretty frustrating. I've pushed the line on a few features recently making the call to set them up right. Our boss wasn't in for the morning after we set in a 40' mellow down so I moved all the snow as fast as I could and turned it from a 5 foot gap here the takeoff was higher to a super wide super mellow urban takeoff that you can come flying into(the spot sends you in real fast too from the rail above) and it rides awesome, but he wasn't a fan. Luckily that one stayed.
An elbow I built the take off for, made it fucking perfect, came in the next day and he said "Who the fuck built that?" " I did" " It looks like shit, blah bah or something" And we had to lift the rail up and make it ride ghetto.
Also as far as the huge mounds are concerned, there is only a small amount of snow next to the feature at the top, so when it's sunny as fuck, everyday you're trying to push more snow up to the sides. We're only running 60 or so jibs right now but it feels like 300.
I'd rather set things up in a way that they ride nice, look nice, and can be maintained. IF we did that we could double the amount of features in for the work we're doing and maybe actually have a competitive park.
I thought the corporate side of things was going to be the problem when I came out. Not at all. We have a tone of good jibs, room for 4 parks, 2 to 3 dedicated park cats that unfortunately have lazy bitchy operators.(everythings hand work). Once in a while I'll get pissed and just rake a feature like 30 feet out on all sides as a, "IS that fucking good enough for you?" thing.
What bums me out is that I had an app in for keystone as well. I go a call back from here like 8 hours after I sent my app in. IT froze my keystone app and I would have had to say no to a sure thing to get through to keystone not knowing. As it turns out i would have gotten the job.(I know nothings for sure but plenty qualified and they were still posting the job a month later) Actually sent an app to breck two weeks ago but I decided to send it in too late and they already found somebody.
I just hate useless highschool drama. Got to denver and my friend checked out my brakes and told me I was pretty much gonna die if I drove like that. Told my boss, didn't hear back till the morning, where I got I'm a 13 year old girl style texts back ranting about how I'm fucked if I miss my shift, woudn't answer my phone calls or text back when I asked if I skipped fixing the brakes and got back if I still had a job even though I was late.
Combo that with some safety hazards I've been told not to fix(won't get into that on the internet) It's just fucked.
Honestly an incredibly motivated crew of guys. Everyone works hard, even when nobody is there to supervise. Everyone get's along, nobody is lazy, at the day crew and leads. For some reason instead of embracing that and using it as a tool to build a sick park he pokes and tries to throw drama into everything and see what happens. He'll ask you what needs to be fixed, and if you say something valid it's like "No that rail is perfect" , but there's 10 rails(that aren't bad) that need work and I should know if I've been doing this for a while.
IT drags you down to the point nobody knows what the fuck to do because good is bad, bad is good, there is drama everywhere, and we just want to fucking do our job.
So now that motivated crew of hard workers, though still working hard wants nothing to do with the place. Can't fucking wait for the season to end. When he asks if we're coming back it's going to be a hell no across the board other than 1 maybe 2 guys out of the 8 or 9. A few people already quit.
Also took this job because I was told there was a possibility of dual park crew and grooming next season which I'm sure is total bullshit, and that we bought 7k worth of steel and would be pumping out features all season. Have build one little bonk all season.
It really sucks when somebody as motivated and passionate as me keeps working for shitty mountains that make me second guess whether I ever want to work park or even ski areas any more. Considering working this summer digging and then ending park crew work for a few years and grooming. Might be set up with a grooming job next year at another mountain. IF I do that going to work there 3 years til I can get a year maybe 2 if I'm lucky in the park a bit and then take over a mid ranger mountain somewhere and turn a park in need into the best park in the region.
All I want to do is work hard, and put out a great park. It's frustrating to work hard and put out such a mediocre product when you have no control.
Every mountain could have a great park, for the smaller ones with low budgets a decent park at least that's fun for their size, but it's bullshit like this that prevents in.
/solid rant
Seriously, that bummed about everything that I've been thinking of leaving the park, and ski areas in general after this summer. This summer will be 14 seasons, 11 in the park. Would be a shame to bail because there's too much bullshit in the industry.
Maybe I'll start knitting or something while watching the price as right, and stay the hell away from ski areas for work.
