November 5, 2014 at 3:02 p.m.
Babcock continues education in ski hill management
Babcock continues education in ski hill management
Amy Babcock first wowed the prep snowboarding world while at Rhinelander High School. She graduated in 2010 and, over the past four years, her journey has taken her from Wisconsin to Colorado and back again. She's gone up the mountain, back down and home again.
She lived in Milwaukee for a time and even moved west to work in Colorado.
"My time in Colorado came from me living and working my butt off in Milwaukee," she said. "I always wanted to work at a ski resort. I just didn't know how to go about it. I went online and looked for different jobs at different ski resorts. I had already been to Keystone (a resort in Colorado) before on a trip, and I liked it. I applied for about 10 jobs there and I got one. I started as a housekeeper there which wasn't great. I did that for about five months, and then in December, I started in the lift operations program. It was a training course and there was a big test. I had to do a physical test to make sure I could snowboard and do a mountain job. I passed all that and right after the new year, I started as a lift operator."
After working at Keystone for a time she eventually decided to move back to the Midwest, but before long, she heard the mountain calling again. This time though, she's found an opportunity to connect her passion for skiing to her developing professional career.
Babcock is enrolled in Gogebic Community College's ski area management program where she's learning the ins and outs of running a ski hill.
"I always knew about the program," she said. "My parents told Andrew (her twin brother and fellow snowboarder) and I about it before we entered high school, but I never though much about it. Snowboarding has been such a big part of my life for such a long time now. It wasn't that I was unhappy in the dental field (which she tried before entering the ski area management program). I just knew I wanted to wake up every morning and love going to work. What better way to do that than to go into a field where my love is. I thought giving this program a try would be something I could live with even if it doesn't work out. It started out as something to try, but now I'm completely in love with it."
From the very first day, Babcock said it was clear she was around like-minded people.
"Honestly, it's hard to explain," she said. "The first day we had class we had to introduce ourselves and say why we were interested in this. One thing I mentioned to the other SAMs was that when you're up there on the mountain, wherever you are, you just get this free feeling. They all nodded their heads. We all get that same feeling. People who have experienced the mountains and the wilderness, the powder and riding know that feeling. You're out in Mother Nature and you're a free spirit. You just let yourself go. It's a great feeling."
Although Babcock is only in her first semester in the program, she's learning a lot about what running a ski hill requires.
"We're learning a little bit of everything from management up," she said. "We're learning the terminology that comes along with the management side of it. We've been learning about the (human resources) side of it. We're learning the fundamentals of snowmaking. We're studying the chemistry behind it and how snowflakes are formed. We just learned how to run all the snow-making operations at our resort, which was cool. We need to log 20 hours of snowmaking and 20 hours of grooming. We'll get that experience. We're learning about everything that ties together the whole mountain operation."
It's a career that could take Babcock around the country. In fact, to graduate, she'll have to complete a six-month internship at a ski hill. She's got her sights set on some of the best spots in the nation.
"I'm not sure where I want to do my internship yet," she said. "They require a 15-credit internship and I'm going to try to get out to Eaglecrest in Alaska for my six-month internship, but if that doesn't work out, I could end up anywhere. I have Lake Tahoe in mind. I have Copper Mountain (in Colorado) in mind. My main choice is Eaglecrest though."
When she finishes her internship and earns her degree in Ski Area Management, that's when the real decisions will have to be made. She can continue in school or enter the workforce. Either way, Babcock sees big things in her future.
"There are more higher paying jobs with a bachelor's degree, so I plan on going as far as I can with that, and there are even some (master's degree) programs out there, so there are a lot of different opportunities," she said. "I'm not sure what I want to do exactly yet. My goal is to within five years have some kind of outdoor operations job and maybe work with some kind of Olympic department or race team. I could help plan events for Olympic athletes. That's definitely a route I want to go with."
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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