Perusing ski area websites, as I always do to see what’s coming, I couldn’t help but notice that there were lots of offers of employment. I know that ski areas run hiring clinics every fall, but now I notice all have employment sections on their websites. I suspect very few of my readers are looking for full-time employment at a ski area for the winter. I have often written about skiing jobs, such as ski patrol or instruction, but seldom about other jobs at our ski areas.

Dave Irons, Skiing Columnist

The Thursday before Christmas, I attended a gathering at the New England Ski Museum in North Conway and among the longtime friends I expected to see was Ben Wilcox, GM at Cranmore Mountain. I asked him about the employee situation and learned that in the Mount Washington Valley the shortage of workers is felt more in summer than winter. With all the retail and amusement attractions in the valley that shouldn’t be a surprise. Wilcox said they still have some openings, as they can always use some extra snowmakers and lift attendants. Ski school is another area of need, as Cranmore has extensive junior programs involving hundreds of young skiers. One place where ski instructors come from is South America. They teach skiing February through August in Chile and Argentina and come north for our winter. 

At Mt. Abram, I talked with Marketing Director Kevin Rosenberg about the problems regarding finding and keeping employees. He mentioned the limited labor pool for skilled workers, such as lift mechanics, and the competition for workers with such a low unemployment rate. The increasing minimum wage is another factor. Why would someone want to work nights making snow when they can work in a nice, warm convenience store for the same money? This, of course, has put an upward pressure on wages. Rosenberg noted another challenge: Finding lodging for seasonal employees.  Mt. Abram is part of the Bethel area, and with the demands of Sunday River a two-bedroom apartment in the area will command as much as $1,000 a month. 

At Shawnee Peak, GM Ralph Lewis said they were fortunate to have a lot of returning help. An example is Mike Harmon, who runs mountain operations in winter and oversees maintenance of lifts and other equipment in summer. Mike has been on the job for 30 years. The head mechanic for maintaining the big grooming vehicles is a longtime employee who works summers maintaining heavy equipment for a road construction company. Summer employment is important for seasonal workers at any ski area, and being in the lake region gives Shawnee employees numerous job opportunities in the offseason. 

Naturally the two big destination resorts, Sunday River and Sugarloaf, advertised the most openings. On the Sunday River website I counted 50 separate jobs listed. While the day areas have jobs on the mountain and in the lodge, the resorts have hotels and condos they not only have to plow multiple parking areas for day skiers, but also parking for the condos. In addition to a fleet of grooming machines, they have plow trucks, and I counted ten or so shuttle buses parked below the Sunday River garage this past summer.    

With two hotels and even more beds in condos spread around the mountain, combined with restaurants, bars and cafeterias in multiple lodges, it’s easy to see the need for 1,000 or more employees in ski season. Add in the ski shop and equipment rentals and the needs become even more obvious. Ski shops need a lot more than someone who can sell a pair of skis. Boot fitting is a highly skilled job and a shop on the mountain has to compete with other shops for this help. It used to be that young skiers would take a year off from college and “Ski bum.” They might spend nights tuning skis so they could ski during the day. Bartending is another occupation that went well with this idea. Work from 4 p.m. to midnight and ski for 5-6 hours. With lift tickets part of the pay it worked out. I talked with one off-mountain shop and was told that finding ski tuners was tougher than ever. 

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One thing that caught my attention most was the list of benefits. We think of these jobs as low-pay, part-time and lacking in benefits. It certainly varies with the nature of the particular job, the number of hours worked and whether the position is seasonal or year-round. It’s obvious the competition for employees has made ski-area employment opportunities come a long way. 

Lost Valley GM John Herrick told me, “We always need kitchen staff, lift attendants, ski school instructors and ski patrol.” He noted that in any given year they get 50-60% returning from the previous year. Winter employment balloons up to 160 plus, with 60-70 being ski school. Summer staff is 30 employees, with a mixture of full- and part-time (so much for summers being time off). He pointed out that Lost Valley doesn’t hire ski patrol, counting on its “great cadre” of 32 volunteers. Most come through word of mouth and are added as they come in because they lose a couple each year. 

This being up is an important opportunity for skiers. Volunteers are needed for ski patrol, ski hosts or ambassadors, and for the various handicapped programs at the state’s ski areas. This varies from one area to another, but you can get the details and find out who to contact at the area websites.  

Finally, an important message from the Mt. Abram website. Lift Maintenance Supervisor Jim Manson’s wife, Margaret, is slowly recovering from a severe stroke and the area has details of a fundraiser on the site to help with her rehab and care. This kind of support is typical of the close-knit community of Mt. Abram skiers and employees. Your support can help. 

Happy New Year and see you on the slopes.


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