Friday: This week was a lot of fun. I was learned a lot and also got to ride a bunch. On Friday I joined ski patrol for the morning then back to help out Mercedes Benz for the evening. So we arrived at Stowe at 8:30, suited up and sent to the top of the Fourrunner quad to 269 (the new ski patrol shack). We were introduced to the staff on board and then were offered some coffee and coffee cake. The conditions were pretty icy so i was expecting a busy day for patrol. After coffee we went for a run with one of the patrollers. He talked to us a little about there job as patrollers. He said 75% of his job is to cover the resorts butt from any lawsuits. The other 25% is responding to calls. Most of the work a ski patroller dose is putting up warning signs bamboo and closing of trials. During the run we had to replace some broken bamboo in the terrain park to help separate the park and another trail. As we were replacing the bamboo the only call of the day came in for a broken tib/fib. As we road the chair back up we could see the accident and the other patrollers working on the victim. For the rest of the day we sat in the patrol shack hoping for a call. Unfortunately it was a slow day for ski patrol and we did nothing until 12 noon. After lunch we headed over to the maintenance building to help was the 4 Mercedes Benz Stowe was using for the test drive. We gave them a nice wash, vacuum, and armor-all then transported them back to the toll house lot. I got to say washing the brand new Benz was not as bad as it sounds especially since we got to ride in them all.
Saturday: This was the best day of Stowe practicum by far. For the first half of the day It was a day in the life of Scott Reeves. I learned a lot about a mountain op's manager and how they need to play the role of not only an manager but as a good friend. On Saturday Scott has a routine that he like to follow each weekend. He starts his day off by helping load the gondola chairs onto the cable. The Gondola barn hold all 76 chairs except for 16 that are stored at the top terminal. It was really cool how we had to push the gondolas around the track and onto the loader. The loader is controlled by a computer that spaces the carts out perfectly. After the gondola was up and running we took some hot laps with Scott visiting other stations and patrol shacks. I was pumped that we took a run through the park and i got to show off my skills a little for Scott.
For the Second half of the day we were back at the Mercedes Benz test drive table escorting test drivers to the cars. Another day of honing my guest relation skills. One cool thing that came out of working at the test drive event was that while it was slow i got to sign up and test drive a Benz myself. IT WAS AWESOME! Those cars are soooooo sick. When you reverse not only dose a camera show what is behind you but it also displays you tire track according to your degree of steering wheel. Not only did I get to drive a 50,000 dollar car but i got two free passes to Stowe just for doing it! Week 2 at Stowe was great i learned a lot and had a lot of fun. I cant wait for week 3!
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