New Brass on the Mountain
Three weeks to the day after firing Matt Janney, who served as Mt. Bachelor’s president, the ski resort has announced the hiring of Dave Rathbun to take the top position at the mountain.
After what Mt. Bachelor described as a “nationwide search,” the result was the hiring of yet another POWDR Corp. (Mt. Bachelor’s parent company) employee in Rathbun, who has previously worked as director of marketing, sales, reservations and golf at Killington Resort and Pico mountain, both located in Vermont. Rathbun, who was touted as having more than 20 years of resort experience, will serve as both president and general manager at Bachelor.
POWDR purchased Killington resort as a joint investment with SP Land Co. The pair had plans for a large scale resort development at the base of Killington – not unlike what POWDR has discussed for Mt. Bachelor. However, SP Land backed out of the deal earlier this year over what it said was community opposition, according to the Rutland Herald.
Back in Bend, POWDR is touting Rathbun as the man to lead a turnaround at Bachelor.
“…He brings a collaborative perspective, progressive management style and guest services background that make him an ideal fit for the positive direction in which Mt. Bachelor is headed,” remarked POWDR Corp.’s Chief Operating Officer Herwig Demschar in a press release.
While it remains largely unknown what “direction” Mt. Bachelor is headed, Rathbun’s hiring is the first public move the mountain has made since letting go of Janney and three other top-ranking employees on May 20.
What’s in a Fist Bump?
He can poundAfter finally wrestling a concession out of Hillary Clinton last week, Sen Barak Obama celebrated with a victory speech in St. Paul, Minn., the site of this year’s Republican National Convention and a state where Obama had a strong showing among working class and white collar voters. Obama highlighted the long and hard fought primary with Hillary Clinton and the road ahead as the presumptive nominee, but it was a moment before the speech that captured some of the television media’s attention. That’s when Obama and his wife, Michelle (the America hater) shared a brief moment of solidarity on stage with a fist bump, one of the most common forms of greeting and celebration in contemporary culture. But apparently nobody told that to places like MSNBC and Yahoo, which showed a feature segment on the fist bump moment produced by a network affiliate in Chicago.
Watching this Ron Bergundy-esque piece, Upfront had to check our watch to make sure it was 2008 and not 1978. Among the, “I-can’t-believe-I’m-hearing-this” moments during the “news” program, was a assurance by the producer that someone who holds their fist out to you isn’t necessarily going to hit you…..they might just be saying “hi”.
No Sh*t, huh?
The MSNBC segment that attempted to probe the meaning of the fist pump found its origins in the ‘hood where African Americans apparently refer to its as simply a “pound” – imagine that…
Diving deeper, they found that the gesture had previously been described by none other than the New York Times as a “closed-fist high five”
OMG! Was Jason Blair the only black person working at that paper?
Seriously though, FOX “Fair and Balanced” News took the cake with their analysis segment in which a female anchor wondered if the fist bump was a new form of a high five or a “terrorist fist jab.”
After all his middle names is Hussein…
We’re not making this up, folks.
Park My Rolls in the Jewel Case, Mr. Urban Hiker
This way to the jewel boxIt seems like there’s always someone bitching about parking in downtown Bend during summer’s tourist-infused months and coming to quell the bitching (which is often unwarranted) is the newly unveiled Bend Valet. But before we get all pumped up with Sundance celebrity delusions of cavalierly tossing our keys to the nearest tuxedoed 18 year old, let’s slow down a second. Valet in downtown Bend? Is it really that hard to find a parking space? How about that relatively new parking structure in the center of town?
There are a few valid explanations for a valet service downtown, even though most restaurants and businesses are within a few blocks of the parking garage. There’s, of course, elderly folks who might not be able to walk far, but we also need to think of our outrageously lazy residents who don’t mind dropping cash to have someone park their 1995 Toyota Corolla, Doritos crumbs and all. But also, we need to institute this sort of classy service in the event that P-Diddy, Sean Combs and Puff Daddy roll down Wall Street in an Escalade town looking to mix it up in style.
We’re not knocking the entrepreneurial spirit behind this venture, but the company’s website (www.bendvalet.com) seems to have fallen victim to a recent and dangerous trend of “over-hipping” which is marked by a near-obsessive effort to present oneself, or in this case, one’s business, as cool. The most noticeable case of over-hipping is Bend Valet’s practice of referring to its workers not as valets or even car jockeys, but “urban hikers,” despite the fact that this phrase is also attached to a Reebok women’s walking shoe. The site also lists some “Urban Hiker Lingo” that is almost certainly contrived, as it would be hard to imagine any self-respecting valet referring to a prime parking spot as a “jewel case.”
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2008.
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What is so “nationwide” when the guy came from “within”. What do they think? We are stupid or something? Why don’t they hire PR firms that actually have brains…..
Another load of crap for sure. They better hire alot of people to work on maintenance and safety this summer – they need to pour so much $ in Flatular before their insurance company will consider it a safe enough place to lower their premiums, of they ever do. Finding out why that happened is interesting and really scary for all the folks who board and everyone who loads on a lift. So incredibly unsafe up there – if the paying public ever knew the details they would be appalled. Shame on you Bach!!!!!!!!!!!
Again we are all insulted as local skiers and boarders. It is clear from the recent article ( yellow cover) in the newest Bend Business Review, the sequel to the Kevin Max article that clearly states from eyewitness testimony of the blatant disrespect for our mountain safety on the chair lifts at Mt. B.. The woman who came forth in this article is my kind of hero. She clearly has the experience to have been able to determine that the lifts were dangerous to all of us. The comments from John Cummins are shocking. As a local I am sick of being patronized and talked down to by people who are putting my kids lives in danger with no maintenance, no safety and with profits as their only motivation. I am sure the story would be different it if were his own kids that got injured or killed on one of his own lifts, then I am sure he would react quickly and fix the problems. I am going to take the word of the woman who verified the years of no maintenance at Mt. Bachelor. The lip service and empty promises do not mean a thing to me, just more hype, propaganda and lies.
Seriously to actually believe that putting this new guy in as the mountain president is laughable as well as sad. The only positive quality of the new manager is he is going to know how to run marketing as he actually has some expertise in this area and will not be trying to bring back the Silver Surfer as the latter manager came up with the first year she was at Mt. B. violating all kinds of copyrights and plagerizing someone elses artwork for her own gain and besides that what does the silver surfer have to do with skiing?
Speaking for myself I will NOT buy a pass up at Mt. Bachelor until they hit 399 for a season as if Mt Hood Meadows can do this and make money, then Mt. Bachelor can do it also. However my family and I are done and will not contribute another dime to the ski area until the changes are in effect and lift records public for all to see. Not that BS about the Forest Service being able to sign off of them as in the past with the former three managers as the Forest Service locally cannot be trusted as they have allowed such low standards for the last two decades and we all are paying their salaries.
So my suggestion to all of Bend’s skiers and boarders is to do as we are this winter and not buy season passes and ski other local areas where they actually care about us as human beings, as people who are keeping their resort operating and making a profit. Mt. B. and Powdr are a thing of the past for me and I do not expect more than just empty promises and more lies as before.
Bringing in someone from their inside operations is no shock as they would be truly intimidated to have someone who could think for themselves and actually implement ideas and action to the ideas. Powdr crew should have thought this thru better, but apparently did not as it reeks of the idea if we bringing in a new manager ( coming from the existing Powdr business philosophy) then we locals are going to be fooled into believing changes will happen.
Finally the comments from John Cummins in the Bend Business Review is just more proof that ski areas to him are a funny thing and something about lifts and ski areas beng amusing to him.
Spending more dollars at the local mountain is how we all agree to the continuation of this mess. We can stop it with our dollars.
Wow…amazing!. More bullshit. Nothing is going to change with another person from the Powdr Corporation in this position. They are all the same and this guy was hated in Vermont as being the one that ruined the resort there.
It is obvious to me we are being bullshitted again as we have in the past.
My money is being spent in the community next year and not at Mt. B.
Just more proof that they are truly arrogant and simpley stupid.
I am done and have been done for the last two years. Perhaps in two to five years I will see how the perform and how they make progress.
The article about the lifts having been unsafe for years I was told about solidifies my concerns and will lead to me believing it when I see it and have gone thru a few years of no breaks downs, no jimmy rigged chair lifts.
If they do the same as other ski areas and offer the passes at 400 bucks a year, then this whole community can ski again and support the future generations of the ski industry
Re: Valet Parking: Some folk will find it useful, some not. If Bend Valet wants to act all hip and cool in their promotional literature, it needn’t bother one. I, for one, wish them good luck in this venture. Some days I might feel like parking in the new structure, some days I might want to cruise around until I find a spot right in front of the restaurant, some days I might want to play big shot and toss a valet my keys. Options are good. Employment for youth is also good.
Matt, Carly and the other two had to go. It was a long time coming and Matt should have never come back here.
Recent article proves from documentation that lifts have not been fixed in years and we were once again lied to.
The new president is looking at a season where no one is going to buy a pass and locals are going elsewhere as we all should seize spending our money at Mt. B. and see how it turns out in the next few years…as it will take a lot of time to fix all of the problems up there.
So as one said…they did not do an extensive job of finding and hiring someone from within. A very stupid move.
This is our mountain and we are taking it back
After reading the recent article in BBR, it sounds to me like Caroline is looking for her 3 seconds of fame. She was not at all in charge of, or working with lift maintenance, her position was to oversee the people who bumped chairs, shoveled snow, and monitored the tubing area. She was by no means an expert the mechanics or design of ski lifts. It is also important to note the the lift log samples on the BBR website are dated through March or 2007, they do not even relate to this past season.
Also, most of the lifts at Mt. B have redundant safety loops so that one can be disconneted, broken, iced-up, etc. and still allow the lifts to run safely. The stops listed in the lift logs that result from guests falling are at the loading and unloading stations and are a result of Carline’s poor training of her chair bumping staff, not mechanical related problems.
The concerns that Kevin Max again brought up in his article are not new. We as a community have openly voiced them for several years, the Forest Service is aware and obviously if Carloline’s emails are true Mt. B’s insurance company is aware. With that said, I find it hard to believe that serious problems exist with the lifts that Mt. Bachelor has not already addressed.
My vote is to give this new guy Dave a chance. By reading his resume he has only worked for Powdr for 1 year and has 19 years of experience with other well respected ski resort operators. He also has no ties to Bend, be that good or bad, but the past few GM’s have had long ties to the area and did not manage to succeed. Maybe new blood will bring new expectations.
Here here…. they should open ALL their records, not just the lift maintenance. How about injuries up there caused by budget cuts and people thrown into positions of responsibility who lack the background, skills and knowledge to do things right. They hire too many kids who lack experience and we are all putting our lives and kids lives in their hands – they have no clue how unsafe they are. If they have a clue then they are gutless, unethical and criminal minded people – all about greed.
So, let me get this right: the problem is not in how the mountain operates, but how it communicates? It used to be that ski areas and resorts were there for skiing and the skiing public. Now they are an instrument to drive other corporate interests (read that to mean real estate development) and the interests of the skiers be damned.
Jon left the same response on other forums… my guess he is a PR person for Mt. B posting wherever he can get his 2 cents in…. smear someone trying to change the mtn. for the better.. nice old fashioned taqctic isen’t it.
Good comment Stephen. Communication vs Operation. What a joke that place has turned into. They are unsafe in so many more areas than just lifts and maintenance. Anytime you cut costs for the sake of cutting them, safety is threatened. Liability breeds responsibility. They need to get their act together or get out of this business altogether. Cumming – go back to designing clothing!!! Their PR people are a joke – everyone inside and whoever they contract with outside. Give us some substance in your communication. I like hundreds of others will boycott that unsafe accident waiting to happen place. What a loss.