We've been orientated...

The last two days Laura and I have been on the grind, pushing through two long and somewhat entertaining days of JHMR (Jackson Hole Mountain Resort) orientation. We survived, and are now officially Jackson Hole employees! Check out our sweet IDs below, see what happens when you ask if you have to smile and they say no? :P


With our passes, we can now ride the city bus to the resort for free, ski for free at JHMR/Snow King/Grand Targhee, and get discounts all around town. Being a resort employee definitely has its perks!

Although the orientation was somewhat grueling and extensive, Laura and I see this as a good thing. Most of the companies we have previously worked for have lower expectations for their business than we had for our work there. Its great to work for people who really care about the quality of their product, love what they do, and have made many sacrifices to be where they are. They made it clear to us right away that if we couldn't deliver, we would be replaced in a heartbeat. This year they said it was VERY competitive, and a lot of people were not offered jobs. They said if we didn't show that we wanted these jobs, they had the applications of 40 outstanding prospects sitting on their desks that would love to take our jobs off our hands.

We met the top figures from all the departments from sales to food to dispatch and ski school. Today we even got a speech from the president of the entire resort. We were graced with information, insight and media of the new tram and the process the resort has been going through. The new tram cost 31 million dollars, and is the most expensive lift ever to be built in North America!

At the end of the orientation, we were given our lift assignments for the season. Laura got Thunder lift, and I got Casper Lift. Its good that we arent on the same lifts, because if we werent we could never be off on the same days. We also wouldnt be able to go to big sky with the snowcats because we would both be gone for a week at the same time, so its a bittersweet scenario. You can see which lifts we are working on the the trail map below, I marked it for your convenience! (Click on the image to view the full size)


We went into this orientation with no idea what to expect, but now we think we are going to be really happy with our employment. All the bosses and coworkers are very relaxed and easy to get along with!

The JHMR opens this saturday, and we will definitely be hitting the slopes! Because Laura and I work on the upper mountain lifts, we won't start working until mid December. So until then, we get to enjoy the snow!