Running Chair Lifts at Jay

This week at Jay Peak I worked with a team of guys running The Flyer, a detachable quad chairlift on the far right side of the mountain when looking at the mountain from the base.  While we had some experience at Stowe working the RFID system and checking out the terminals for the chairlifts there, I never really had the opportunity to actually run the controls of the chairlifts there.  However, at Jay, I was actually able to stand, watch, and operate the chairlift throughout the day on Friday.  I thought this was pretty cool but at the same time I was slightly anxious with it being the first time running a lift and I wasn't sure what was going to happen.  Despite my anxiety, the day actually ended up running really smoothly!  There were almost no issues throughout the entire day and besides a couple of falls by customers trying to get on the chair at the bottom there were almost no stops of the chair during the day.  I learned how to stop, slow, reset, and restart the chairlift while working The Flyer throughout the day.  I was supposed to go and run the tram during the second half of the day, however, one of the other lift attendants had called in on Friday, so I was needed at The Flyer all day.  This ended up being important because I became the number three employee at the lift.  Without my being there, the other two lift attendants would have had a much harder day since one of them would need to be operating the controls from the outside the booth while the other ran the controls for the RFID system.  This would leave them no time for breaks during the day, which can lead to a good amount of other issues like fatigue and loss of concentration.  Therefore, my presence alone was beneficial to the employees working at that lift because it made each of our jobs that much easier and allowed us each to take breaks when needed.  In addition to this, having someone constantly looking over the RFID system meant that should there be an issue with a customer's ticket, it could be addressed quickly and that can mean a lot in terms of customer service.  RFID systems can also be a great benefit for the mountain itself as well.  Having an employee to verify tickets and seasons pass holders is crucial to cutting down theft of services at the mountain.  If an employee working the RFID systems notices that a male is using a female's season's pass by the verification picture, that employee can take the customer aside while they wait for proper authorities to come and reprimand the customer committing the crime.  Because of situations like this, many mountains have been upgrading to RFID systems because of the benefits and ability to cut down theft of services.  Another benefit of this system is that only one employee needs to be working at the lift lines letting people through the gates while on a busy day there might be a need for multiple employees scanning lift tickets and organizing lines up to the chair.  This allows employers to cut back on the expenses of lift operations.  Overall, I had a great day working on The Flyer at Jay Peak on Friday.  I was able to work with some pretty funny guys and we had a smooth day with no major problems.  I gained some valuable experiences and learned a lot that day.  Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very well on Saturday and so I chose not to go to Jay.  Because of this, I missed out on working with the Ski Patrol and the Ski School that day.  I have seven years of experience in Ski School, so I don't think that I will have missed out on much there.  I am slightly disappointed that I missed out on Ski Patrol though because I've always been interested in the daily operations of Ski Patrol and what they do.  I guess it's something I'll need to do another time.  That's all for now and although the snow is melting, keep shredding the gnar!