Colorado Ski Country USA

Snow Conference Committee Bios

Resort representation:

Committee Chairman
Jim O'Loughlin - jimo@powderhorn.com
Managing Director of Resort Operations
Powderhorn Resort
Jim started his ski industry career in 1973 at the age of 18 loading lifts at Cannon Mt. Ski Area in NH. He than moved on to Waterville Valley, NH as the Director of Operations where his duties included Lift Operations, Ski Patrol and Base area operations. In 1982 he found himself moving west to a position at Vail in the Mountain Operations department, which he held for 12 years.
Jim is currently the Managing Director of Mountain Operations at Powderhorn Resort in western Colorado a position he has been at for the last 11 years. Jim has been on the organizing committee for our Snow Conference for 10 years. He also serves on the CSCUSA Operations Committee and the RMLA Board of Directors. He currently lives in Mesa Colorado.

Committee Vice Chairman
Brad Brooks - brooksb@coppercolorado.com
Slope Operations Supervisor
Copper Mountain Resort
Brad started at Copper Mountain in 1979 working as a bellman while attending college at CMC Leadville. He began working Slope Maintenance trail crew in1980 and learned all sides of slope maintenance working his way up to Grooming Foreman then Supervisor. With over 30 years of slope Operations experience he still enjoys the work at Copper Mountain and being outdoors in the high country. Brad lives on the Front Range with his family where they enjoy traveling and just about every outdoor sport imaginable.

Cindy Dady - cdady@echomt.com
General Manager
Echo Mountain
Cindy Dady, an industry veteran with over 18 years of experience in ski area operations and management, is the General Manager of Echo Mountain ski and snowboard area. As general manager, Dady, 47, is one of only a few women to hold the highest-ranking position at any Colorado ski resort, representing a growing trend of women serving in high-level posts within the state's ski and snowboard industry.
Dady's career path includes eight years with Intrawest Corporation as the Ski and Ride School Operations Manager at Winter Park Ski Resort and Vermont's Stratton Mountain Ski Resort. In that role, Dady created an operationally excellent business unit that consistently exceeded volume, revenue and profit expectations and successfully developed and implemented a registration process resulting in a 20% increase in overall guest satisfaction over a three-year period. Prior to Intrawest, Dady spent nine years leading the youth ski and snowboard programs at Greek Peak Ski Resort in New York. "Dady's track record is one of achievement."

David Hunter - david.hunter@eldora.com
Director of Operations
Eldora Mountain Resort
David has worked in this industry for his entire career, currently in his 23rd year. He started off at Mt. Tom Ski Area in his hometown of Holyoke,, MA where he started at the bottom and worked his up. Doing everything from managing Rentals, Tickets, all aspects of Mountain Operations and of course picking up trash and cleaning bathrooms. He eventually became Assistant General Manager in 1995-96. He then moved to Colorado and began working at Eldora in 1998. He was hired as the Snowmaking Manager and worked graveyard shift for 6 years. This proved to pay off as he then took over as Mountain Manager in 2004. He is now serving as the Director of Operations.
What David loves most about his job is the satisfaction of making a difference. "In this business our efforts have a direct impact on our guests experience. Nothing can substitute for having Passion for what you do."
Eldora makes snow longer than most in the state. They begin in late October and often operate through January.
When David is not working he enjoys spending time with his family and playing golf.

David Crisler - dcrisler@steamboat.com
Director of Slope Maintenance
Steamboat Resort

Steve Fischer - sfischer@aspensnowmass.com
Trails Director
Aspen/Snowmass
Steve was born in Glenwood Springs and started with the Aspen Skiing Company in December of 1990 as a groomer on Aspen Mountain. He became lead operator within three years and manger in four. In 1996 he became summer and winter trails manager and then in 1997 Steve was promoted to Trails Director which at that point took over the snowmaking department as well.
His time away from the ski industry is spent mostly on the water. He guides on the Gunnison, Roaring Fork and Colorado River as a Fly Fishing Guide. If he's not on the rivers, he's at Lake Powell water skiing, wake boarding and bass fishing. Away from the water, Steve can be found in the mountains hunting big game in both the rifle and archery seasons.
"I love where I grew up and consider myself very lucky to have an office in the mountains."

Mark LaFlamme - markl@a-basin.net
Snow Maintenance Manager
Arapahoe Basin
Mark is the Snow Maintenance Manager at Arapahoe Basin where he's been battling the long season ski season since arriving from Keystone in 2002. His experience standing under a snow gun goes back to New Hampshire where he started making snow at Waterville Valley in 1994. At the Basin, he presides over snowmaking, grooming and vehicle maintenance. When the mountain finally closes, he enjoys recycling the snow from the hill in the form of rafting on various rivers and sailing on Lake Dillon. When he's not skiing, he'd rather be on the beach. When he's not making snow, he'd rather be on the beach. When he's not grooming snow, he'd rather be on the beach. In September 2010, he'll be married. On the beach.

Ron Richards - ron_richards@skiwinterpark.com
Slope Supervisor
Winter Park Resort
Ron came to Winter Park in 1978 to spend a winter skiing. He was hired onto a grooming crew that winter and loved the mountain. There, he groomed for about 25 years and eventually took over Supervisor job when Bill Wolvin quit. Ron has been at Winter Park for 32 years. Off the mountain, Ron enjoy friends, fishing, and family.

Mark Voegeli - mvoegeli@cbmr.com
Manager Snowmaking/Grooming
Crested Butte Mountain Resort
Mark started working in the ski industry at age 19 and 20 years later, he's still loving it. He has worked most all aspects of mountain operations including lift construction, snowmaking, grooming, summer trail maintenance, even assisting with avalanche mitigation with ski patrol. Currently Mark is the Assistant Mountain Manager and Snowmaking/Grooming Director at Crested Butte Resort.
In his free time, Mark also volunteers for his local fire department where he is a Captain and a publicly elected board member. Every other spare moment he can find, he spends with his wife and two kids.

Vendor Representation:

Jason Sawin - jsawin@chssnowmakers.com
Owner
CHS Snowmakers
When Jason was a teenager, he decided to make snow at home. He had been a skier since 1975 and always loved the snow. A friend of his worked at a plumbing store where they got a few parts together and made a small snowmaker. That was December of 1989 in Southern California and it only got cold enough a few times a winter. One morning it was 18°, so he started it up and made a 1/4" of snow on a 10' by 10' area.
A year later Jason moved to Steamboat Springs, CO and in November 1993 he got a job as a snowmaker at Howelsen Hill Ski Area until March of 2000. March of 2001 he and his wife, Kelly, moved to Littleton, CO (it doesn't snow very much here) and she asked Jason to make snow the following November. He got out that 12 year old homemade snowmaker from California, made some changes and started making snow. Everyone was so excited that he was making snow and wanted to make their own, so, like a kid in a candy store, he spent all winter testing prototypes. He had such great results that he hired a machine shop to manufacture the final design.
A short time later he built the Cornice II Snowmaker and needed snowmaking hose for the portable system. That lead to CHS Snowmakers beginning to represent Niedner Snowhose, Turbocristal Snowmakers, HTM Group products and Drift. Now they have our own line of products including Quick Snow, the Cornice III and their custom multi-purpose wheeled carriages. They are proud of all the products they represent and believe in them 100%.

Joe Clark - joe.clark@prinoth.com
Regional Sales Manager
Prinoth, Inc
Joe has been involved with the Ski Industry for over 40 years. He began his 10year career at Vail Resorts as a parking lot attendant during high school and held several positions ranging from Groomer to Lift Supervisor and Lift Construction Supervisor. After leaving Vail, Joe was the Assistant Mountain Manager at Kirkwood Ski area before taking the job as Regional Manager for LMC in California. Upon returning home to Colorado he left LMC to become the Regional Manager for Bombardier, now Prinoth, where is currently employed.

Terry Fix - tfix@pistenbullyUSA.com
Regional Sales Manager
Kassbohrer All Terrain Vehicles, Inc
Terry has been with PistenBully now for 11 years. His title is Regional Sales & Operations Manager. He enjoys my summers riding his Harley Davidson Motor Cycle and spending more time with his wife.
He proudly represents PistenBully who has sold some 71,000 snow cats during their 40 years of operation.

Colorado Mountain College:
Jason Gusaas - jgusaas@coloradomtn.edu
Professor
Colorado Mountain College
Jason is the Instructor of Ski Area Operations at Colorado Mountain College
He started his career in the industry just out of high school when he helped on all phases of construction of Huff Hills Ski Area south of Bismarck North Dakota. From there he was educated in Ski Area Management at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, Michigan. His internship was at Copper Mountain, where he stayed for 10 years. During his time at Copper, Jason was the Terrain Park and 1/2 Pipe foreman for the cat crew. In 2003 he left to go to work for Planet Snow Design and Snow Tools. He worked for them for 5 years, traveling around the country building parks and pipes for ski areas, putting on nationally televised events, as well as operator training and consulting.
In his free time Jason enjoys hunting and fishing and he is looking forward to spending a lot of time with his family, he and his wife are expecting a little boy any day now

Colorado Ski Country USA:

Amy Thieme - amy@coloradoski.com
Pass Program Manager
Colorado Ski Country USA
Amy started with Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) in the fall of 2002. She worked seasonally with the 5th & 6th Grade Passport Programs, offering all 5th graders in Colorado the opportunity to ski for free. After coming back for 3 seasons, Amy was hired full time in the Marketing Department and now runs both passport programs as well as all the other pass programs offered by CSCUSA. Additionally, she is the point person from CSCUSA managing the Snow Conference. When not in the office, Amy enjoys Colorado's well groomed slopes with her husband and their 4 kids.

Members at Large:

Curt Bender - cbender@coloradomtn.edu
Groomer & Winch Operator
Copper Mountain Resort
Currently Level III Groomer and winch operator at Copper Mountain (been there part-time since 2005), Curt
started grooming at Taos Ski Valley 1977 in 2100 Thiokols pulling mogul cutters. Curt started teaching snowmaking and grooming at CMC 1981 (retired 2009 and now living the dream)
He had the opportunity to groom during the World Championships at Vail both in 1989 and 1999.
Curt has also been on several ski area consulting trips to China (1986), Russia (1999), and Korea (2004). When Curt is not playing in the snow, he likes to spend his time fly fishing, golfing and spending time with family and kids

Wayne Ragland - wayne@snoco.com
Western Sales Manager
SMI Snow Machines