19 replies to this topic

[TBarMan]

Hey guys I just wanted to hear some stories or experiences or even advice on the lift mechanic position. I am 21 and I have been swinging chairs and T bars since i was 16. Unfortunately at the club i work at it is just too small, you know the kind where a handful of guys can run the show. It seems as if they will never need a new mechanic. For now i will just keep swinging chairs with a . so, how did you get started?


cheers

andrew

[Emax]

TBarMan, on Feb 21 2008, 09:04 PM, said:

Hey guys I just wanted to hear some stories or experiences or even advice on the lift mechanic position. I am 21 and I have been swinging chairs and T bars since i was 16. Unfortunately at the club i work at it is just too small, you know the kind where a handful of guys can run the show. It seems as if they will never need a new mechanic. For now i will just keep swinging chairs with a . so, how did you get started?


cheers

andrew

Answered an ad in a Carson City newspaper - ran the show the following year.

I did have a lot of background - but mostly, Janek liked me. I became one of the "handful of guys" overnight.

The rest is history.

[chasl]

Up to the age of 16, I was ski racing. At 16 I had the misfortune of crashing in a downhill race and broke some bones in my lower back.
After healing I went back racing for one race and said to heck with it, I had a car and girlfriend and needed money.
My Father was operations manager for Okemo Mountain at the time, so I started bumping Riblet chairs and Poma platters. The two old guys’s that performed 90% of the lift maintenance did not like to climb towers, so every time tower work was needed, my father told me to go with Bud and Lloyd. I would get in and old Tucker pontoon cat and head up the Mountain.
Once we got to the tower they would hand me a rope send me up the tower, I would haul up the pail with tools and Bud and Lloyd would holler up and tell me what to do.
My start to where I have gotten today.

I should mention, and as Lift Dino. will tell you, at that time there weren’t any handy items such as work platforms, Poma passes or lifting beams and safety harness’s were not even heard of.
7 years later still none of these handy items, but when working for Hall Ski Lift I found from Larry Wollum a great item called stirrups, 1.5 inch wide flat steel formed to fit over the crossarm and give you a place to put your feet.
You have it easier today, enjoy it, when working at a ski area and on towers the pay is not the best, but you can't beat the view. Although black fly season in the East makes it interesting.

[liftmech]

Quote

but you can't beat the view

10-4 on that!
I started in the parking lot at Crystal Mountain in 1991, age 14, too young to run lifts. Once I was old enough I got the hell out of there and became a lift operator, that lasted through a move to Mt Baker. I helped out in the shop up there during the winter of 1997-1998, building sheaves and doing oil changes on the primary diesels. In the spring of 1998 I needed a job and Zop needed another hand for summer maintenance; I never really 'applied' for a lift mechanic job but ten years later I'm still doing it.

[skierdude9450]

Wow you all started young. What is the age that ski areas require for lifties and such?

[Peter]

18 to run lifts

[EagleAce]

I started out as a ropetow operator at Dodge Ridge in '02. Moved up to a chair the following year and stayed there for four years. Then decided to stay in Yosemite year-round and worked as a lift op at Badger. Was interested in lift mechanics but those jobs are very few and very far between here, as we're small, so I decided to get a CDL and drive trucks.

This post has been edited by EagleAce: 22 February 2008 - 05:45 PM

[chasl]

skierdude9450, on Feb 22 2008, 08:00 PM, said:

Wow you all started young. What is the age that ski areas require for lifties and such?

When I started in Vermont the min. age was 16, now the minimum age is 18 for this type of work.

[liftmech]

The law was changed in Washington after I started (to 16 for parking lot attendants), so I was grandfathered in. Lift ops were already required to be 18; under Washington employment law lifts were (probably still are) considered heavy equipment.

[Altatech]

I started at my area in 1973 as a lift attendent swinging chairs. Mid season,on an old Herron lift, the return bullwheel axle sheared. Having had some mechanical aptitude, they kept me on that summer for demolition, and as a grunt to dig tower holes for a new lift. Each lift had a lead foreman,and they were the maintenance crew. In the summer, they would keep one,or two attendants for additional help. I stayed on yearly from '73 on, advancing up to foreman, and eventually to a separate maintenance dept. All of our mechanics come from the ranks of attendants as ability, performance,and drive show themselves. Hang in there- it's how most of us started

[cjb]

I started here in 1996 as a terrain park digger, that only lasted a few weeks as the LM Manager at the time knew that I had just finished 4 years in the Navy as a communications electrician. He convinced me to transfer into LM and I have been there since. Of course as is true with any smaller resorts you do everything. I have made snow, groomed, ran the terrain park, built rails, done cat maintenance, etc... Right now I run LM, VM, elec/comm, and snow surfaces. I hate to say it but considering the substandard pool of applicants present in many areas if you are interested in grooming, working LM, or almost anything most places just need you to prove that you can show up for work (always), work hard while you are there (always), and show some ambition. Out of my crew of 8, 4 are former lift operators. None of them have technical backgrounds. 'hire the attitude, train the skills'. As a former GM used to say.

[Snoqualmie guy]

What is the highest paying job at a ski area, besides a job in management?

This post has been edited by Snoqualmie guy: 23 February 2008 - 10:21 PM

[cjb]

I am sure every resort is different and usually the money (what little there is) comes with time and experience, but I would bet that departments that offer commisions (group sales, skis school, travel) do pretty well. Watch out for 'salary', 50k a year can turn into $11hr in no time. Mammoth has an employment section on their website that explains what many positions and gives their pay ranges, theirs is probably the best employment site I have seen.

This post has been edited by cjb: 24 February 2008 - 06:19 AM

[skierdude9450]

As far as ski school, pay is greatly dependent on skill and experience. Once you get your PSIA III is when the salaries start to really go up. Entry level instructors don't make more than ticket checkers to begin with. If you get your PSIA level IV certification, you can make a pretty good career out of ski instructing and have a decent salary. I know some of the PSIA IV's at Vail that make $50+ an hour for themselves plus tips for doing private lessons. (Well truly more like mountain tours with line-cutting privileges.) So Snoqualmie Guy, if you want a high-paying career in the ski industry, ski/ride school is probably the best bet. But like any other job, it takes many, many years of training and working up through ranks.

[Snoqualmie guy]

But of course you would not find that kind of money at a smaller resort.

[Lift Dinosaur]

...and it's only a part time job.

Dino

[liftmech]

skierdude9450, on Feb 26 2008, 09:13 PM, said:

As far as ski school, pay is greatly dependent on skill and experience. Once you get your PSIA III is when the salaries start to really go up. Entry level instructors don't make more than ticket checkers to begin with. If you get your PSIA level IV certification, you can make a pretty good career out of ski instructing and have a decent salary. I know some of the PSIA IV's at Vail that make $50+ an hour for themselves plus tips for doing private lessons. (Well truly more like mountain tours with line-cutting privileges.) So Snoqualmie Guy, if you want a high-paying career in the ski industry, ski/ride school is probably the best bet. But like any other job, it takes many, many years of training and working up through ranks.

I hate to say it, skierdude, but while your example of a Vail instructor making $50+/hour is great, it's a rare exception. There are no high-paying ski area jobs, at least not what most of us would consider high-paying. Ski school is definitely not normally your 'best bet' for a high-paying career in the industry. And as Dino pointed out, it's only part time. What will you do in the summer to pay the bills? I doubt you'd be able to live off your winter savings.

[aug]

As I have been told and experienced the best paying jobs on the mountain besides management is....
1)Bartender at a busy mountain bar . you had better be fast and a muti tasker and know how to make drinks and put up with with a lot of BS.

2) lead lift mechanic expect to make 18-25 per hour you must put your time in and be versed in all phases of lift maint. and construction

3) cat mechanic be prepared to work in dark dank cold ski area vehicle shops.

I got my start as a lift operator , I had left a mill wright position working in the city and escaped to the mountain when I was 30 and started at 4.25 an hour bumping chairs a far cry from what I was making in the city . within two weeks I was servicing cats , driving cats , and then landed a position in lift maint. been doing that ever since and loving it most of the time.

[zeedotcom]

I've generally been more of a Rental Tech, with a few outside jobs, and I mostly just hang out here to keep up on what is happening. My experience is that a good summer job is crucial to surviving in the industry as a whole. The first few years you have to do something to make it balance, and then year round becomes more of an option. Most of your entry level positions...you are probably looking at barely breaking even in the winter after rent and food and "entertainment" in whatever variety you choose.

Look to get involved someplace that has a summer draw as well as a winter operation. You might be changing departments seasonally, but it will be easier to find something all year OR find a town that is busy in the summer as well as winter. Tahoe is a classic example of this type of thing. You might not be doing what you like quite as much, but there are jobs in the area during the summer.