Working The Pump House

Jay Peak is going above and beyond what other mountain resorts are doing to become a destination, four-season resort.  One of the essential part of their plan to make their mountain desirable throughout the year is the new Pump House water-park. By having an indoor water-park, Jay Peak is able to not only provide skiers and riders a fun outlet when the slopes close at 4 PM, but when they close for the season as well.  Having something like the Pump House also means that you are adding a new customer base to the resort.  There are people going to the resort now purely for the water-park with no desire to ski or ride.  While this can be disappointing to some of the die-hard skiers and employees who've known Jay to be a riders mountain, the resort ultimately benefits from the additional customers and that money can be put towards new investments in the future like the planned West Bowl expansion.  My experience working in the Pump House was experiential in the fact that I had to actually work in a floor position all day because another employee had called in and they were short staffed.  I don't mind doing this, because I think that work experience is never really a bad thing.  Anyways, I rotated around a few different positions on the floor.  I started working at the bottom of "La Chute," the massive red "looping" water-slide that is one of the main features of the water-park.  The thing is huge!  Riders actually have to stand inside a release chamber before the floor drops out underneath them, sending them down the tube, around the loop, and finally to the bottom.  It is very important to note that between every "launch" there needs to be communication between the employee working the controls at the top, and the employee at the bottom to ensure that the rider made it around the loop and has reached the bottom and safely exited.  The reason for this is because there is a chance that the rider does not make it fully around the loop.  If another rider was to be launched while someone was still in the tube, the results would be disastrous.  There is an opening on the top of the tube on the lowest point of the loop, so that if someone does not make it, they can simply step out and be let out of a gate.  This gate prevents the slide from a new launch unless the system has been reset and we are sure that nobody is in the tubes.  This is why the radio communication between the employees is crucial for this ride.  It keeps the customers safe, as well as keeping the mountain free from potential injuries and the lawsuits that would surely follow them.  In addition to working "La Chute," I also was able to work the FlowRider Double Barrel.  This is an artificial wave that customers can learn to surf and boogie-board on.  It is a lot of fun!  I was able to teach a lot of customers how to boogie-board and that was a lot of fun.  I worked back and forth between these two positions all day and it was actually really nice getting wet in the nice warm water-park instead of being outside getting wet in the rain.  Ultimately, with the addition of the water-park, Jay Peak is leaps and bounds ahead of its competition for making their resort an attractive destination during any season of the year.  And, thanks to good training and attention paid by the employees, it can be fun and safe for the customers.  Next week I believe I will be working in the hotel and food services, so we will see how that goes.  The snow is pretty much gone everywhere except Jay Peak, so we'll see how long they can last. Until then, shred the gnar!