Season 2: #3 Mike Giorgio: Stowe Mountain Resort General Manager

This week we sat down with Mike Giorgio, General Manager at Stowe Mountain Resort. Mike started his career at Mt Snow as Executive Chef and Head of Food and Beverage. He then was promoted to run resorts in the Midwest for Vail before joining Stowe as GM in November 2024. Mike has now been at the helm for almost a year and we are thrilled to have Mike on the podcast - to learn more about his background, what it's like to be the GM and get his perspective on all things Stowe Mountain!

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This episode of the Octagon Podcast is brought to you in part by Archery Close and Union Bank. Hey, this is Chris and Taste from Archery Clothes, your go-to boutique. For men's and women's fashion, we carry a curated selection of clothing, footwear, and gifts from unique and emerging brands. We're proud to sponsor the Octagon and even prouder to be local business owners here in Stowe. We love how the Octagon captures the history and characters of this incredible town. After coming off the slopes or the trails, stop by archery close. Located at 1650 Mountain Road in Stowe. Open seven days a week, or always open online@archeryclose.com. Since 1891, union Bank has made banking a little bit easier and more convenient for you by investing in the success of its local community. Your community headquartered in Mooresville Union Bank has 18 branches and three loan centers throughout Northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Union Bank is a proud supporter of the Octagon Podcast, as well as many fantastic community oriented endeavors such as the STO Trails Partnership, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, and the STO Land Trust to name a few of the over 200 nonprofits they work with. To learn more, go to ub local.com. Welcome listeners to the Octagon Podcast, where we explore the stories, people, and places that make Stove mon so legendary. I'm your host, Mike Carey, joined by my co-host Ted Thorndyke. We are excited to introduce our guest today, Mike Giorgio GM at STO Mountain Resort. Mike started his career at Mount Snow as executive chef and head of Food and Beverage. He was then promoted to run resorts in the Midwest for Vail before joining STO as GM last year in November. Mike has now been at the helm for about a year, and we are thrilled to have him on the podcast to learn about his background, what it's like to be GM and get his perspective on all things sto. Welcome, Mike. Yeah, thanks so much guys. It's awesome. It's an honor to be on the podcast. Yeah. Thanks. Are you, getting ready for fall foliage up at the mountain? yeah, for sure. I think we're always getting ready for something, what's next? but yeah, we're excited for the leaves to be turning and I know it's gonna get pretty busy here shortly, so we're excited. Yep. That Golas gonna get a workout for sure. I guess you probably got a little feel that at Mount Snow at your time there. Yeah. But maybe it's a different scene there. Yeah, for sure. Time of year. Yeah. No, certainly leaf beers, You get it all, I think all over New England really. but yeah, we got that, that big boom, that scenic chairlift rides would go up. And festival season comes around during that time and so yeah, you'd see the tour buses rolling in and people getting out and taking pictures and traffic slowing down and route 100 down there. So I'm quite used to it. yeah. Nice. For sure. Good to have that experience. So the GM of Stove Mountain Resort probably is one of the most important positions in all of Stowe. We just had the town manager on, but you're probably right there as one of the next most important, maybe share your journey. Sure. How do you get to be GM of Stow Mountain Resort? Yeah, I think I probably have a pretty unique journey in this industry. I think a lot of people grew up skiing since I was young and it's, I've always wanted to do this kind of thing, for me. I always was on a board of some sort and so I would grow up like surfing and skateboarding and stuff like that. So I fell in love with snowboarding at a younger age, but didn't really get into it until later. so I don't have that, that initial connection that was always for a lot of people, for me it was through the hospitality industry. So I went to culinary school, I worked in restaurants my whole life and I was in hotels for a long time after leaving like smaller restaurants and I fell in love with just the service industry and leadership and and through that I got an opportunity to, take the role at Mount Snow randomly a guy who was working with me served tables there for a pass and he's Hey, they need an executive chef. You'd be great. I know you're trying to get outta the city. You should move up. And so I applied, which city was that? I was in Providence, Rhode Island. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I've lived quite a few places, but I was in Providence. I went to Johnson and Wales University. So I went to culinary school, like I said, and Nice. yeah, I just drove up in the middle of February and interviewed for this and just, I had been to a ski resort before. I'd been to Mount Snow before, but I just didn't understand everything that went into it. And, yeah, then fast forward, another 12 years went by and I was the director of Food and Beverage for a while, and Vail acquired, Mount Snow and this whole world opened up of leadership and I got this awesome opportunity to go run Midwest Resorts and I was like, damn, I can do this. I was really as gm? As gm, wow. yeah. Went right from food and beverage to Wow. To running a resort. Wow. you were doing something right, obviously. I, like what they saw. I think just, I learned a lot. I didn't realize how much I learned just through osmosis. Just through being around so many, amazing mountain operators and people who've been in the industry for so long. I was on an SLTI, I still make this joke that anytime I go to a ski event, there's always, someone from Mount Snow at that event. Huh? literally, yeah. it's crazy. Like Kelly Pollock, who's the, she just stepped down as the president of NSAA National Ski Area Association, was the GM there at the time, and hired me into my role. Yeah, I don't know. I fell in love with the industry. I started snowboarding a hundred plus days a year and like I was like, I can do this. Yeah, this is awesome. And yeah, now I'm back in Vermont and I'm really stoked to be here, yeah. yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. with all those experiences, you talk about food and beverage and then your next step to becoming gm, how would you feel all that has shaped your leadership style? here at sto, I think everybody has different leadership styles. You obviously manage a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah, I learned early in my career, that, I'm very much a, a visible person. Yeah. I try to be as visible to the guests and the employees as possible. Being out, walking around the base areas, riding the lifts, going to all the patrol houses, going to all the different places, and just making sure that you talk to your team. Talk to people and understand hey, like what's going well? What's not working? What tools do you need? what can we do better at what, what's working? like just being curious about things is really important to me. And, I think that the most important thing in my leadership style, no matter what is that I spend a lot of time getting to know my team and building trust with them. And that's paramount to everything else'cause. Even if you gotta tell somebody something they don't want to hear. Yeah. As long as they trust that it's coming from the right place, they trust you. that's really important. So Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. That's good stuff. Yeah. Thanks. So tell us about the day in the life, and it's been obviously different in seasons, but what's the day in the life of a gm? I should, because it sounds hard to me. It really does sound hard to me. Yeah. I should preface this with the fact that I am also a husband and a father of two boys. you're a GM there too. no, my wife's, yeah, assistant gm, she is, I, first of all wouldn't be able to do any of this without her. Like my wife Anna is just amazing and makes so many sacrifices for me to be able to do this. So that's huge. no day is the same. Yeah. Really. I know it's cliche, but it really is. And in the winter, I try to be dialed, I try to be there by a certain time. I try to be there by around seven 30. Yeah. earlier on the weekends, I try to go outside, touch base with the employees, go to the locker room, Walk around, you're also looking at things like, are the ropes tight? Are the signs straight? Like, all that kind of stuff. And again, just be visible. Just go check everything out. if they need help pushing cabins onto the line to get the gondola open, then I'll go help out there. Yeah. and then I just spend a lot of time meeting with the team, right? I spend a lot of time talking with my team and talking with those folks who actually report to the people that report to me. I try to create a lot of space to, to. Just be available Yeah. For the team. and there's all the stuff that you, just like the decision making, right? Yeah. all the stuff that is just happening. The first week I was here, there was a fire at the cliff house. I literally was in my office and I was on a call with some of my colleagues talking, and Scott Reeves comes in my office and goes, there's a fire at the cliff house. And I just sat there for a second. I'm like. He didn't just say he, there's no way he just said those words. so yeah. Oh, good thing. You're involved with the fire department, you, Scott, boy, I, yeah, I say that often throughout the year. yeah. and then in the off season it's a lot of planning. I often say it's eight months of planning, for four months of execution. Yeah. So although we're always operating right, There's always something going on. yeah. It's budgets and hiring and just what are we gonna do this year, making sure that, we're working through any menu changes and just all the things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And do you know, so like in a winter's day, I would imagine like MLK weekend. Yeah. You're like, all right, we're expecting 9,000 visitors, or, and so there's a whole different mentality than a random Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's often a sentiment in our industry. I. At least the people I'm around a lot say this. It's like sometimes it's just easier when you're busy. Yeah. You just know what to expect. Like when you're going into a big holiday weekend, regardless of the weather and what happens. It's gonna be busy. Yeah. And like we're gonna need our full team, we're gonna need to, we put our heads down, right? put the computers away, be outside. Be in the operation. You just yeah. Yeah. It's just easier. It's those like random midweek days that Yeah, everybody just shows up because there is a storm or something like that where you're maybe a little off guard and we do plan well for that kind of stuff, but yeah, the inconsistency is difficult, so those days that are just really busy are almost easier just because you know what to expect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think what might be helpful for our listeners is, obviously your gm. Yeah. Do you essentially have touch points with every facet. Up at the mountain, ski patrol, mountain ops, food and beverage, everything. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I literally, I can't understate the amount of time I just spend talking to management and leaders about what they're struggling with. What they're thinking. Yeah. Like capital planning projects or, whatever it may be. we have these meetings I call skip levels, essentially, where, I have my directors that report to me, or the directors that report up through me. And then, there's folks management all the way down. that, that report up through that structure. And I spend time at least with most of them, at least once a month. And then I'm just always out in the operation walking around. Yep. and yeah. I wanna hear their plans. I wanna know why are we making snow here and not there? what happened last night? We have a snow plan meeting that we do. I think Andre mentioned it at 11 o'clock every day. And we're rigorous. And we question everything about ourselves. Like we, we need to make sure that we're making the best possible decision. That's how you get better. Yeah. Of course. How you improve. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I do love that question though. What happened last night? Yeah. I, I literally, when I walk in, in the morning, especially on the weekends,'cause I'm usually there a lot earlier and those guys are still there reporting, it's the first place I go to, I turn on my radio, but before I do anything else, I walk over to Matt or Andre or Scott or whoever's there, and it's either take the headphones off and tell me everything. Or it's Nope, thumbs up. Things are good, plan is complete. Everything went well. And so it's just like that first sigh of relief or okay, this is where my day's gonna go today. that good first touch point. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Yeah, Was. Ow different than the Midwest? Or is it the same thing? Just maybe Yeah. Bigger and grander. Yeah. I think, or is there unique here? There's a lot of unique things about every ski resort. Yeah. Especially this place, right? Yeah. and there's a lot of things that are just really similar about ski resorts, regardless of the size. I often make the joke, or just say 80% of what we do is the same at every ski resort, right? we make snow, we groom snow, we serve burgers and chicken tenders. Yeah. these things are just, so paramount to what we do that Yeah, they look a little bit different. Your resources are different, right? the amount of snowfall and how many times you have to resurface a trail with snowmaking is different. the Midwest is unique because it's like the gateway to this sport, right? Yeah. and that's where a lot of people find the passion for this sport. because yeah, like our communities in Vermont are small, right? And not a lot of people have daily access to'em. This place is unique solely, first off, just because of the train Mount Mansfield, obviously, and everything in between Mount Mansfield and Spruce and just the passion that comes from everybody that's here. and it's a ski resort town, so it's, it is quite unique and, and there's a lot of things that just feel normal at times to me. yeah. Yeah. And this mountain changes, I always say this mountain changes more than any mountain. We go from powder. Yeah. To firm. Yeah. To grass, back to powder. That can all happen in a week. I'm quite familiar with that. Fortunately, I can say that last year we didn't have much of that. No, exactly. That was great. That was a good first winner. Oh man. That it was a, it was killer. I know. You gotta take credit for that. I can't happen. I can't, I make the, Thank you, Mike. there's a lot of hard work that went into that. Mother nature absolutely. Was on our side. Oh. but, I say I, I'm not gonna take the credit for a good year because then I gotta take the blame for it. Exactly. Everything else. we'll blame you. I can't control the rain or anything else, so I'll Yeah. But with a lot of snow comes its own problems, right? Yeah. Like snow removal is a heck of a task, right? Yeah. It takes a lot of effort to make sure the parking lots. Yeah. We see those Percy guys. Yeah. Working hard, Every day bucket loaders. Yeah. Yeah. And Working with other people to, to support us. Making sure that contractors, yeah. V transits is on top of the road, right? Yeah. Talking with the town, making sure, there's nothing unforeseen, but just physically, the team's digging out lifts, right? Yeah. it snows and then the wind blows the snow, and maybe it didn't snow last night, but the wind still blew the snow, so you gotta dig out the lifts and then you gotta dig out all the chairs like. Yeah, all the stairs and the decks and all this other stuff. So it's just, it's a lot of work. Yep. So as you reflect on, your first season, first winter, any surprises that you can think of? Was it harder, easier than you were expecting? I don't think there was anything crazy. you've been in the industry for a while, so I guess that helps. Yeah. we just talked about the fact that there was a fire the first week that I was here, that's always a surprise. That could be at the top. there's always operational challenges, right? it just, it always happens. I shouldn't be surprised by this because looking back, now I know how amazing this team is, but, the team here, the welcome and the way they made me feel, like part of the family, like I've been here forever so quickly, and then even folks in the community, not that I should expect anything else, but we did our first community day. I was probably Two weeks, three weeks into being here and everybody just came up and was they were just so gracious and just welcoming and anything you need, that was just amazing. Yeah. unexpected. I don't know, I, I wasn't expecting to have a really great snow year because I've lived in Vermont a long time. Yeah, And just was like, especially in January, right? Wasn't it? Is that the biggest January, February, as far as the numbers go, I think it was almost like 60 something days that it didn't get above 30 degrees. So there was Yeah. No thaw freeze. No thaw, freeze. Yeah. That was unexpected. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll say that. Had you skied STO before? Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. because stow is different than mounts snow. Oh, snowfall, absolutely. There. Terrain. Absolutely. Yeah. yeah. Yeah. No, I think all the mountains in Vermont are unique, right? Mount Snow's a great place. Yeah. I love it. there's some pretty aggressive terrain there if you know where to go. Yeah. I've been to OW a bunch. my wife and I would come up and we'd go to like Waterbury and go to Burlington and I, we'd ride here. Yeah. And then, one of my good buddies got married at Spruce Camp, I don't, like 10 years ago or something like that. So yeah. I've been here a bunch. Nice. Awesome. So I think people think there's a perception of STO within Vail Corporate, so I, we wanted to just touch on Sure. Like at Vail when you go to the Vail meetings Yeah. The corporate meetings. what's their perception of Stowe? Is it this. Little resort in New England? Is it marquee? what sort of yeah. It's a great question. I think it's really important to know that every resort in our, portfolio, in our family is unique and holds value and it's there for a reason, right? Yeah. Midwest is there because it's the entryway, right? And then obviously some of the most, prolific places in the country, in the world, really. Yeah. STO is rightly so positioned as the premier resort in the East, right? Yeah. and, When we're talking about some of the places that we try new things, o is often one of the places that we talk about. And so we talk about how important the community is here, how passionate the folks here are it's a special place and that's known for sure. Good. Cool. Yeah. No doubt about it. Yeah. And I think from our lens, and this is the octagon lens, which is the most important. Yeah. I think last winter, even though we winter before, vibe, it was good. We feel like it's improved, Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. As locals and feel like the growing pains. There was some growing pains when veil first shook over and people, yeah. If, but we did have, we've talked about this Yeah. And the vibe on the mountain with the employees. Just the overall Yeah. the sto kind of seems back and we didn't know if that was, anything purposeful. anything going on up at the mountain or operations or if maybe that is just time of adjusting to Vail. I know that's a big question, but just floating it out there. So that's great to hear. So first like that from especially, guys like you who are always there and have been here for a long time, that's awesome to hear. I'd like to say that there's intention around everything we do and I think there is to a certain degree. yes. it is with intention, right? Like one of the things I know this team has been talking about, and they were already talking about it when I got here in November, is How do we bring back fun? COVID just changed so much at times. and yeah. The transition, and acquisition, just things change and I I'm sure a lot of those changes were good. and I'm sure we, we stumbled at a couple times, right? Because nobody's perfect. and yeah, I think that, the team has been talking a lot about it. I, what are some of the things we used to do? And let's start to like, why, should we do that again? should we bring back the Spring Bash, The Pon skim and bring back the pon skim, And, I did that. Yeah. made it across good. Awesome. barely. so yeah, I think we're always focused on too, one of the things that I think is important is Always trying to make the employee experience better because when your employees are happy hundred percent, then like they're gonna hundred percent like, you know when people are just happy, they do a better job and they wanna be there and that's ripple effect. It's exactly. Yeah. So couldn't agree more. Yeah. yeah. And yeah, even little things, right? The employees get to park up there. Yeah. There's even just some little purse, And open a week later. Yeah. The mountain was open a week. The extension, it act, think there's mixed reaction to some of the employees there sometimes, but like things like that go long way, these little things For sure. yeah. Trying, yeah, we're trying and we're open to feedback, right? So like that's the thing like. I wanna know, What do people love about this resort that we could do better or do more of? Or what do you miss about, the old days or whatever. that, that feedback is very valuable to us. I've heard some rumors. That the Midway Lodge is getting a little facelift. Yeah. A new plan. I know that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like most things, we have a phased approach because it's just time and effort and, prior to everything takes money too. Everything takes money and prioritization and planning. Yeah. Permitting and other things. Absolutely. the one thing we heard, I heard specifically more than anything else is Midway. Midway used to be so much fun dead, like Midway was awesome, and people have their perspective Oh, when it was a Mexican place. Yeah. The Cantina. That's why. and, yeah. And right. And so everybody has their feeling. But ultimately what I heard over and over again was. This place used to be so awesome, and we used to love going here, and the vibe has just changed. And I go there on a Saturday and it's just not busy. It's not busy the way Mansfield or Spruce Camp is. Yeah. Or or one of the summit lodges and, and yeah, it was just like, okay, people maybe don't know this place exists or the people who don't find it, appealing enough to To come here. Yeah. So how do we change that? And so new menu, a new improved focus on the draft list. Okay. maybe a rebranding of the full service restaurant altogether. And, and, a cool new logo and all that stuff. I'm not gonna, yeah, okay. Share all my secrets right now, but. and then putting the events front and center, right? we can talk a little bit about the events we're planning on doing here, but, yeah, the deck is right there. It's right there. It can be ski on, ski off, right? If we think about it appropriately and put snow where it needs to be and fire pits and like the parking lot is always active, right? Yeah, I know you guys know that. And so this is the spot to bring fun back and operate too. Nice. And we've been talking a lot about it and, the building maintenance team and the food and beverage team have worked really hard, planning and I'm excited for what's gonna come season. Awesome. I know for that, Mike's looking for a dj. Dj. Oh yeah. we talked about this before. You go to Europe a few times, European style, that's next level. Let's maybe phase that in, think, but you're not wrong, right? think about the little things like. Okay, maybe we just stay open later on Fridays and put an acoustic person playing music. and just to talk about it enough. Right? Yeah. And, and so like those little things and test it out and make sure that people do like it. And then, uh, and then yeah. Continue to, to, to grow it. Any other operational insider secrets you can share? for next year? I think there's nothing, nothing like real big. Yeah. As far as like changes going on at the resort. Yeah. we've been doing a lot of the unpretty Yeah. Capital work this year. Totally. A lot of digging in the ground. Yeah, like replacing pipe and And, we're replacing our stormwater. Which is a massive project that, that is just essential and necessary for not quite as sexy, but Yeah. Very important. It's like replacing the roof on your house. You're like, no one cares, except I don't wanna leak. Exactly. so not like this big, shiny thing to point to by any means. Yeah. But certainly again, Really focused on the vibe and looking at all the, the culinary aspect, right? Looking at the events. Yeah. Making sure we're celebrating, the STO Park's 30th anniversary this year, so that's a big one. So we plan, we're gonna, we've been talking to GMA and some other folks about how can we do some cool events, bring back some things that, that we haven't done in a long time. And then also it's the 90th anniversary of the Ski and Ride school. Oh, wow. Yeah. Which is huge. you know that, yeah. 1930. So a lot of celebrating this year. Yeah. Which, cool. Which has a food and beverage guy I'm pretty good at, Yeah, totally. could you speak a little bit to. recruiting employees. Sure. And just what does that process look like? do you see any challenges, obviously as we do talk about in some episodes there's affordable housing Sure. Challenges. Yeah. And just where are people coming from? Just that whole aspect. Yeah. I think it's always challenging. I think one of the things that I'm really, proud of is the investments that we as a company have made in our employees, right? The investment in our wages and, our benefits, mental health benefits, the Epic Promise Foundation gives away hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to folks in need, for those things that just come up that you all of a sudden need to deal with. and so I think like always looking at our benefits and our proposition for those folks of why to choose us over someone else is. Is powerful, of course you get an epic pass, so you get to ski and ride as much as you want. and then, because of those things and because of, treating people right and in the spirit of continuous improvement around everything we do have a really high retention rate. so that's really, yeah. That's great. That's really great. there, there's people that have been God this mountain. Yeah. So long, like the senior manager of Lift maintenance, Mark Fletcher, he just casually said the other day to me, he's Yeah, today's 45 years for me. And I'm just like, mark, you gotta tell me these things. come on, we wanna celebrate you, man. and that is a long time. It is a long time. That's probably the single chair he was maintaining. I that dude's stories are just, are awesome. but so many of'em, right? Brian Linder, like you had him here, right? and just there, there's so many people. I know Rory Burke. Rory Burke. Absolutely. Man. Yeah. Up legend. Total legend, Legion of groom, right? Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and they're so passionate, right? So making sure that we create a place that people have pride in and wanna show up every day is really important. yeah. And it's still challenging, right? and without the J one Visa employees and the H two B Visa employees, which has always been the way as long as I've been in this industry, are just essential. Yeah. And I was down at the Jersey Shore,'cause I'm originally from Jersey this summer for vacation, and it's the same down there. You go to the boardwalk and the places, all the restaurants are all J one Visa students. And, yeah. you, we do what we have to make sure that we're. A hundred percent staffed. And, and, yeah, and I'm very fortunate that people love to, to work at resorts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. so just at the Veil Corporate, the old CEO is now back as the new C Rob Kaz. yeah. Is there any goals coming out of Vail, CEO level, like that he's now focused on and coming back in? Yeah, I think the focus is the same, right? it's, the priorities will always be the same for us, right? our priorities are our employees, our guests, the community, the environment, right? Like these big things that we talk about. and, and on top of that, yeah, I think there's a renewed focus on guest experience, a renewed focus on operational, excellent. Making sure we are the best and if we're gonna say that we're the best, that make sure we are the best. Yeah. And, and yeah, I think, personally for me, Rob, I've had a ton of respect for, for Kirsten Lynch, right? she's an impressive person. Rob just brings this vibe that just incites your desire to. Be the best. Yeah. And I just don't know another way to put it. Yeah. It's so inspirational. yeah. Yeah. I think we're still focused on a lot of the same things Yeah. And just reinvigorated maybe. I saw the, I know there's the ski with a friend. Yeah. And there was always a confusing mix of ways people could Yeah. But I think this year it simplified. Yeah. Yeah. So I think Rob does a really good job and the whole team really of trying to simplify things. what do people want? How do we make it easier? We talk about our desires to bring more people into the sport, right? diversity is the future of this sport, right? and access is the future of this sport. yeah. It's really difficult when it's okay, how much is this? I wanna bring a friend, right? I wanna bring a friend. I can use it. When can I use this? How many times did I get to do? Is it there, are there blackout days on this one and this one? and so it's just okay, let's get rid of all that noise and let's just give it a friend. It's 50% off. Regardless of what the rate is, keep it clean. Yeah. Or what the date is so much better. Yeah. And just, and here you go. and it's, it seems so, simple after, now that it's done I think it takes a certain level of, there's a certain amount of risk and like thoughtfulness into just making changes across a big company. and so it's, yeah. Yeah. It's a powerful statement for him to do that, I think. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. speaking of being the best, sure. Epic Resorts. Yeah. When you look at Icon Resorts, fierce competitors are you buddies with the Icon folks or what's that all like? A anybody doing work, like I said, anybody doing work to bring people to this sport. and to be good stewards of the places we love. Yeah, absolutely. They're competition is good. It's healthy, right? it's, they're here for the same reason we are. And, there's no, they're like, it's also like they're doing the same work. Absolutely. Especially if, people at other resorts, like they, they know. Yeah. If you know a GM from an icon resort, you're like, oh, yeah. I know what you're dealing with. We, and we do, right? I sit on the board of VSAA, so of Vermont Gary Associations and there's folks from all over Vermont there. And and they're dealing with the same stuff that we're dealing with, right? so there's a, you go out and I, one of the first people I met with Tom Rogers put me in touch with Win Smith who ran Sugar Bush for. Ever. Yeah. And I got to go sit down and have coffee with his, pick his brain icon, right? Yeah. This legend. and just talk through things and it's like still dealing with some of the same stuff. yeah. And you always will be. Yeah, we always will be. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. This episode is sponsored by Edelweiss Mountain Deli located on the mountain Road. I know for me it is the perfect stopping point after day on the hill to grab my favorite Waitsfield sandwich and a cup of coffee, and for me grabbing my favorite Sweet Sensation bar. Whether you're looking for fresh Vermont pastries, farm to table prepared meals or local Vermont products to add your barbecue, make sure Edelweiss Mountain Deli is your next stop. When it comes to luxury real estate in Stowe Trust, Meg Kaufman of Land Vests, Christie's International Real Estate. Meg Kaufman knows the market inside and out. She's been a part of the Stowe community for over 20 years. Whether you're buying or selling, Meg Kaufman offers a concierge level of service. Taylor, just for you. Backed by the power of land vests and Christie's International. She brings proven success and local insight to every transaction, luxury real estate, local expertise. Meg Kaufman and Land Vests are the team you want on your side. What are some of the most common misconceptions people have about Stowe and Vail and that relationship? I think there's a feeling that everything comes from Colorado headquarters and gets passed through, and we have no say, but is that a misconception? It, yeah, it is a misconception. Yeah. I'd say the one I get the most is it true that there's someone in Colorado that tells you when to make snow? And I can tell you a hundred percent there is not. There is absolutely not. I don't even tell the snowmakers when to make snow. we have a plan, right? Yeah. But these are people that have been doing it for a long time. and, and they know when and when not to do it. And, yeah, I think we get that a lot. I think the other thing I've learned, is obviously I'm so ingrained in the ski industry and so I, I just, I think. Maybe people know more about what we do just in the industry, than they actually do. and not from just from like when I was talking to someone the other day just about like wind holds and like how we make those decisions and stuff. And something that seems so commonplace to me. They were like, oh, I never thought about that and I didn't understand that happens and you have to do these things. And I'm like, yeah, we just gotta educate people more about what we do. And that's, yeah. So that's right. That's what I try to do. But you don't wanna shut a lift down. it would be great if come, Thanksgiving every lift just opened with all the snow and come may one everything. Not how that would be great. I tell people all the time, I assure you. I do not want this lift to be closed right now. there's nothing, I want more than for that lift right there to be spinning right now. yeah. Yeah. Could you speak a little bit to. The paid parking, that's obviously, been a shift over the last few years. do you feel like it's, delivered the goals that it was there to create? shuttles? Carpools? Yeah. it definitely seems like traffic has reduced, so just didn't know if you could speak to that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we, we have a lot of data on it, right? We track everything and we actually work really closely with the a and r, the, agency of Natural Resources and folks in Montpelier to, to talk about how we're, like, what we're doing and Charles, right? I meet with Charles quite often. I know he's on the podcast. I just listen to that. yeah, because we all want the same thing. we want the things to be the best they can for the folks who are here, whether they live here Or they're visiting. And that program's made a big difference, right? the amount of, ridership on the 1 0 8 on the Green Mountain, transit shuttle has gone up. and, there's always a plateau effect with things like those, right? it goes, it spikes real high the first couple years and then settles. But we're still seeing increase, right? Yeah. I made a commitment, that this year I'm gonna ride the GMT every single day to work, so Oh, wow. But maybe I'll just do that on paid parking days, That's a big commitment. and the carpooling too, right? there's always gonna be people that find workarounds and, we're not gonna spend our time on that, but it's definitely made a big difference. we used analytical data that tracks peak, travel time and on your Google maps when you see if it's red or whatever. And so we know like how many days this week was, did it take longer than 15 minutes to get From Mansfield parking lot to Loose Hill, right? Yeah. And so we look at all of that stuff and the data says yeah, it's working. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Maybe unpopular, but it fi it solved the problem. Yeah. And I do love that last ride down to, the cross country center. Yeah. That's like the most peaceful way to end the day to me. That's great. Yeah. It's a good rundown. Yeah. And I think there's always room for improvement, right? We're always talking about what can we do. Like for me, I grew up in a city area and. public transportation's really important I think, and How can we, make it not just something you have to ride, but like the preferred mode, right? Yeah. And so we're talking how do we make it better? How do we make the buses better? we make the joke that we're gonna put a bartender in the bus, so like we just what ridership went crazy, but Yeah. You gotta think outside the box sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. And like even down to the shelters on the side of the road, right? Yeah. Like we, how can those be improved? We need shelters on the side of the road. But, and there's a lot of folks to consider, right? there's the people who own land on one oh eights vRAN, there's the town, there's just a lot of consideration. We wanna make sure we're doing it the right way. Yeah. and that we can support in that effort in any way. but yeah, we're constantly looking at ways to just, it's continuous improvement. Small, continuous improvement. Yeah. Or even the route like, I'm close, but it's not, I can't quite get to a shuttle stop, and where do you park? It would depends. Yeah. The parking as, as well. Depending on where you're trying to pick it up as well. Yeah. Again, another consideration. yeah. Exactly. Yeah. There's always, yeah, there's a lot to consider when making those types of decisions. Yeah. you talked about analytics. I'm interested, in technology, Sure. Guys like me and Ted Ski a lot. There's other people that ski five days a year. And you must treat marketing and everything differently. do you see guys like me? You're like, Hey, we don't have to worry, we don't have to worry about marketing the bike. He's skiing a lot. Do you have those kind of analytics? Is there a lot that you have access to say, Hey, let's get this person come back this year? Yeah, we work really closely with our marketing teams. Whether it's brand marketing or in resort marketing, field marketing managers, that kinda stuff. and yeah, we're always, I think each it. Each individual guest requires something different. And I think that's really hard. to be everything all at once is, is sometimes impossible. Yeah. one of my colleagues said this recently, Shaar Edelman, he's the, GM at Heavenly. We do really great at, in, at an industry level. We do really great with the core and we're really not so great with the curious folks, right? Yeah. And so I think that's something that we're always focused on is Yeah. How do we say, okay, this person only skied twice this year. yeah. How do we get them to come back? Yeah. and it's something we're always thinking about, and we have a lot of data. One of the things that's most powerful for us at the resort level is our guest experience data. So our surveys, I read every single comment that every guest writes that chooses to fill out that data, that, that survey. And they score us. They score us on. Lyft, they score us on parking, they score us on food, they score us on rentals, they score us on ski and ride school. They score us on everything. And they are honest, like really direct. Yeah. And, and, and so we take that, we look at it and we actually have a team that meets and discusses the data biweekly and says, okay, we're seeing, during this period that, the, the lift, whatever it may be over here was not great. So how do we make it better? Yeah. So we're always looking at that stuff. Yeah. Cool. There's a lot of data out there for sure. So if you were to have a GM wishlist, ooh, there'd probably be a lot of things on that boy. maybe even looking over the next five years, I know you talked about just some big, infrastructure changes. Yeah. Things like that. Anything else down the pike. Yeah. And new lifted toll house, daytime skin root just didn't, ski, just, and that, it's GM wishlist. So Yeah. Wishlist. if we're really talking, can I choose to, I would love to control the weather. that's, yep. That would be top priority without a doubt. Yeah. when I think about actual tangible things, yeah. Always looking to better the guest experience and one of the things that I am really interested in and the team is really interested in, we're talking a lot about is Mansfield Base Lodge. Just like, how do, what can we do? Yeah. What can we do there and there? There's limits there. It's a historical building, right? Yeah, totally. It's Brian Linder's, bedroom. It's his house. and it's not just that it makes it difficult, but it's also something we wanna preserve, right? Yeah. Like it is a easy Has a charm. Yeah. Fine. Kind to balance has a charm. Yep. Charms a great word for it. Yeah. and I like and you wanna keep that right? Like that quintessential Vermont Feel is so important. And we wanna make sure that there's enough space for folks who show up here. And we wanna make sure that we have enough space to maybe introduce a bigger menu there. And maybe put more bigger live bands in there. Yeah. And maybe make the bar a little bit better. I know. and for every decision like that, there's people who are like. Don't ever touch the den. and if you touch the den, you will ruin my life. And then there's people that are like, you should just, raise it all and, and build a brand new building. and it's somewhere in between there. Yeah. but I, yeah, I think we're, I'm just always looking at how do I make the guest and employee experience better. Yeah. Cool. So you've been here about a year, how do you stay busy? Yours? I know you're a snowboarder. Yeah. What else do you do in the winter, in the summer? Staying busy? in the winter. Yeah. in the winter I am at work. Yeah. Pretty much. You're not just lounging around cross country skiing and, I cross country skied for the first time this year. You did? Nice. Yeah. All right. It was awesome. Planned to do a lot more. Yeah. when I'm at the resort, I'm hyper-focused on what I'm doing. I get to snowboard. Yeah. I go out almost every day. that's really important. I literally block time on my calendar. Nice. and it's not, I, I'll go out for an hour and maybe take two runs because a lot of it is just like going to the places where the employees are and checking in and talking to them and that. but, and then it's every moment that I'm not there, I'm with my family. Yeah. So that, that's there. I run a lot, so I do yeah, I see some Strava, it's Strava via Instagram. Oh yeah. I'll see. I've seen some years and I'm like, this guy's. This guy's getting after it. Yeah. Yeah. Some legit runs. I was a lot better at it, in years past, I fell off and, I'm back in beer country right now, so that, that takes its toll as well. but Mike can be a good guide for you. Oh, beer guide. It's pretty easy here. I ran food and beverage in, Vermont Ski Resort for almost 11 years, so I've had my time with Vermont here for sure. but, Yeah. I just, I try to be outdoors as much as possible. I try to spend time with my family. Yeah. and, the rec path is amazing. How old are your kids? So they're nine and seven. Nine and seven. Yeah. They're in still elementary. Yep. Yeah. Yep. So that's what's like fourth grade, second, fourth and second, which is crazy to say soccer. Soccer. Yeah. Right now the Jambo right here. Yeah. I was at the Jamboree yesterday watching my nephew play. Yeah. Shout out to him. He had two goals. All right. Porter Junior. Yeah. we were in the polo fields for practice the other day and I was talking to my wife and I was like, I think that's the house that I'm going to do podcast at it. You could see it. Nice. Yeah. in general, how do you feel you and your family are settling into Stowe? Just the town, the community, and, obviously anytime you move it's, yeah. It's an adjustment, so Yeah. For sure. Know how that was all going for you. it's going great. it's always hard. this is the second time we've moved. And we're really stoked that we were, we're back in Vermont. that was a intentional decision. and yeah. moving is just difficult. just for all the reasons. Yeah. No way around it. Yeah. Yeah. but, I grew up on the East Coast. My wife's from the East coast. Our family is close by, so we have family in mass, in Jersey and Rhode Island. we have a lot of friends in the state of Vermont. Yeah. we have a lot of, history in this state. my kids were both born in Bennington Hospital in In Vermont. So it does feel like being home. and this place is just a, it's just a special town. It's so amazing to be able to live here. It's pretty sweet. Yeah. And yeah, like we're finding community through our kids, which has been really awesome. they're the gateway to making friends and stuff like that. So that's for sure. Yeah. Great to hear. That's great. Yeah. Thanks for asking. I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great to hear. Should we do a little rapid fire? Yeah. Yeah. Alright. you're in the hot seat. In the hot seat. I guess you have been, but this is, oh. It's all good. No, this would be great. All right, here we go. Alright. Kick it off, Mike. Yep. winter powder day or Spring Bluebird. Perfect. Groomer day boy. it goes, I'm not really hesitant. it's a powder day. Yeah. Without a doubt. every single time. I do, I love, a perfectly groomed run. Yeah. I don't love spring skiing as much as everybody else. Oh, okay. For me, because I think it means that it's coming to an end for me a little bit. Yeah, that's fair. And I think also I just, yeah. Always about dad. My brother's like that spring hits and I'm all excited and he's it's ending. I do love the increased sunlight though, I'll tell you that. Yeah. It's, I know Vitamin D. Alright. Goat star or lookout, if you have to pick one. Lookout actually. Nice lookout's the place for me if you play the winds left side. Yeah. The all time. Yeah, I know. And it's not one of the front four. I have a friend, he's always it's like the stepchild, like the, it's not one of the front four, but it should be. Yeah. Because it is just like that. I think it's a special run. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good one. Nice. All right. We don't know if you've done either one of those. We're just gonna go for it here. Okay. Summer hike. Halbrook or Pinnacle? I have. All right. actually was up at the chin with the family yesterday. yeah. That's a hard one. Pinnacle's great for the views. I like a challenge. Halbrook is the answer. Yeah. Yeah. Same. Yeah. Picasso Pizza or Matterhorn wings. Oh boy. I really love chicken wings. but I'm gonna say Picasso just because, we have a tradition. Sunday slices is a thing that we do. Nice. I grew again, grew up in New Jersey. Yeah. I'll say it like a million more times probably. But, and so sitting down with the family and Heaven Pizzas is a special time for us. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. All right. Octagon, late morning pit stop. Breakfast sandwich or cinnamon bun. Oh, boy. breakfast sandwich all the way. Yeah. Cinnamon buns are good. They are good. They are good. Yeah. There's something special about a, the Octagon breakfast sandwich. Yeah. Get a little protein. Yeah. Nose Dive Glades or Tre Amigos? Tre Amigos. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. All right. Gondola or four runner quad. Oh boy. That's it's like choosing which kid you like better. People usually do have a favorite. There's people that never ride the gondola. I know. I know. and that's like me. Yeah. They serve on occasion. Yeah. Quad. they both serve purpose, right? They both get you up the hill. I picked the quad. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Cold, windy day. Toll house. Double or lookout. Double. Ooh. you get a lot of thinking done on the toll house. I have an affinity for those old RT chairs, so I'll say the lookout. I do as well. Yeah. Yeah. I love that lift. Yeah. Lift mechanics. Maybe don't feel the same sometimes, but, that's okay. Yeah. I love those old fixed grips. Yeah. They're just so special to me. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And we got a dude up there that's been there 45 years, so Yeah. yeah. he knows it. Exactly. Yeah. yeah. Exactly. and Tollhouse, whenever I am on that lift, I look down thinking, I think I could skin up this almost as fast. all right. Mid-winter, the whole mountain is open and we just got a sleeper, 10 inches of powder. Oh yeah. The GM gets to ride five minutes before everybody else. What do you do first? Geez. so I, I love hayride. It's one of my favorite trails. Me too. Yeah. I'm liking this guy. I really do like Hayride. The best ride I had last year, I actually got up, I went one of our longtime patrollers. I went and did line check with him on the gondola right after we just got about eight inches. Yeah. And, to bottom Perry Merrill before anyone else was there. Yeah. Was just heavenly was fresh on top of the groomer. That's it. That's the ticket was just, it was the best one. You're like, I love my job. Everything. You gotta find balance in everything. Totally. I love Hay Ride. Yeah. hay there. That is your favorite. It is my favorite. The Perry Merrill though is Yeah. Yeah. The view halfway on Hayride. I'd stop at that Knoll and just, I think it's gonna be hayride ultimately without a doubt. if it's just perfect and untouched. That's where I'm going. Yeah. Nice. I'll pray. Ride. Beverage of choice. Yeah. Heady Topper. Trap Pilsner or PBR, or other. Yeah. Oh, you can go off script here. I'm a cocktail guy. I like a really good cocktail. I've drank my fair share of beers. I love Trap Dunkle. It is one of my favorite beers. Okay. For sure. Nice. Yeah. Nice. All right. A chairlift, chatty talker or chairlift science. Just listening to nature. me. Am I am a chatty. You're the chatty talker. Always. I, it's just such a good way to just learn right about H how's your experience or on a ride with a ski instructor or a patroller and learn about like the curiosity. I just goes a long way. I wanna know about everything. Yeah. So yeah. Skiing with music or just the sounds of the mountain. Oh, sounds of the mountain without a doubt. Yeah. Yeah. I don't like music. Do you ever, you don't ski with music? No. Yeah. Not my thing. All right. Winter storm blizzard warning on President's Day excitement or stress blizzard? Yeah. I guess a little bit of both. Yeah. I want the, the stress is always about, folks get into the mountain, right? A car goes off the road, something like that. and a little bit of extra work. But yeah, it's what people come here for, right? Yeah. yeah, I think I, there's no right answer there. I don't know. All right, so this next question, it's if you're off GM duty. Okay. No friends on a powder day or No man left behind. yeah, it's probably, it's no person left behind. Yeah. Oh. although, my wife, I will tell you otherwise for a couple different runs, but no man left behind as long as you're fast. Yeah. That's a caveat. Yeah. What are you a I'm more of a no man left behind. I like being with my buddies, like skiing powder and yeah, I am too, but I'm also a no friends on a powder. if I'm a minute or two off and I have to wait eight minutes for'em. oh, yeah. I'm just not doing that. I'll wait. I'll go solo. Yeah. I think the other thing too is if it's a fresh powder day, I am in the woods and you have to stay with the person, Oh, yeah. Safety. Absolutely. and so I'm a big advocate for safety and, always going to the, into the woods with somebody. As long as it's not a long wait. I like yeah. Be in there with my buddies. you get to the quad and they're like, we're at the top. wait for us. Do you wait the seven minutes for them to come down? Oh, not se Oh no, not seven. if they were like, if they were like, there's caveats, right? That's right. Yeah. There's caveats. I think the tip they're like back is you wait down there for me, I'll be there in a second. yeah. And then both people just ignore each other. If I'm hearing like 10 chairs behind, 15 chairs behind, like, all right. But yeah, beyond that though, yeah. At that point, it's just gonna be like, I'll just see you for a beer at three. Exactly. Except if it's your wife, then you wait. Of course, that's a different story. Of course. All right. Old lodges, like the Den or New lodges, like Spruce Camp. Oh, boy. geez. I think they both have their place. I'll tell you why I'll pick the Den because of the amount of history that's there. yeah. And it's where the team goes after a long day to have a beer, right? Yeah. And, yeah. So I'm gonna pick that for that reason. Yeah. Keep SMUGs separate or connect the mountains. Oh boy. that's, you may have to be Switzerland on this one. I'll leave that for greater minds to decide about. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair, Mike. Yeah. Yeah. We didn't think we'd get a those Snuffy is an amazing place. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Bruce Trail or Angel food. Ooh. I will say Angel food. Yeah. Yeah. I, yeah. you're a borderer too, so Bruce Trail. Bruce trail's hard at the Yeah. Unless you do it with poles. Yeah. Favorite Epic Resort besides Sto? Ooh, boy, that's a hard one. I love Veil Mountain. there's places I haven't been. I really wanna go to Whistler Black Home, like with all my heart and soul. oh, you've never been, I've never been to Whistle, no. Oh yeah. that is a times one place that I just haven't made it to yet. but I just, I really love Vail Mellon. Vail's incredible. It's such an incredible place. Blue Sky Basin. It's magical place. It really is. It seems like it always gets snow every time I go. There's fresh snow there. It, I think we were beating them for snowfall this past, winter for a little bit. Yeah. I'm not sure if that kept up, but yeah. Yeah. All right. Most unique thing about Stowe 8:00 AM start time or world class detailed snow report. nice shout out. That was good. I will say they're both unique. They are very about Stowe. Yeah. I, I'm gonna say this shouldn't be a surprise, and I don't, I'll say it's not unique for this reason. It's not unique at. Stowe, the, it's the trail report. But I'm saying it's not unique because every employee at that mountain works or takes their job so serious and is so driven to do the right thing and be really the best. That it doesn't surprise me that they guys go through what they go through to make sure that they're spot on. Yeah. Yeah. But it is, I've never seen people so detailed and specific in my life. Yeah. It's crazy. It's awesome. It's awesome. And the 8:00 AM start time, I don't, does any other Vail resort have an 8:00 AM yeah, I guess I don't know. I don't think so. Like every day. Yeah. obviously a lot of resorts open earlier on the weekends. Yep. I know that there's some other resorts that do it. They're less frequent than us, so I don't, it's an amazing thing. It's gotta exist out there as a remote worker. Yeah. It's an amazing thing. yeah, I think, what did Matt Testa say? He goes, we have a receipt for every inch of snow that's fallen on this mountain. I don't doubt it, man. Yeah. Meticulous. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. It's great. Alright. That was a good round. looking ahead in the next, five to 10 years, we always ask all of our guests, what would you say, and this is twofold for you, what is your hope for Stowe as a mountain and as a town? Yeah. it's twofold question and just I guess the relationship between both. Yeah. I'm always just, harmony, right? Like making sure we both rely on each other and we're both so important. I don't even like talking about them like, as these two separate things. just make sure that, that there's, just continue to do our best to make sure that everybody, whether they're, longtime locals or first time here feels welcome at the resort and in the town for sure. And I, be a good steward to the community is something that I just am hyper-focused on and I think we're doing a great job, in my opinion. And we're trying to always do a little bit better and, and just continue to build that bond and yeah, that's my hope. Cool. Yeah. Hang on. Alright. anything we missed? Anything you're hoping we'd ask you? or anything we missed that you wanna talk about? Yeah. Hey, we just announced this, seasons at Stowe kind of events thing I saw that we're doing over the year. Yeah. Almost like a foliage harvest. Yeah. so kind event. Okay. Harvest Fest we're doing at the end of, of fall. So it's in mid-October. It's October 18th, so it's the last day of operations for us and we're, it's right outside the Midway Base Lodge. We're gonna have a bunch of local vendors. Yeah. We're gonna have food, we're gonna have, I saw that. Local food, trucks, beer. Nice. A whole bunch of different stuff. And It's free. there's gonna be live music, so you come have a beverage and and hang out, listen to music or just come sit down and listen to music. And it's just a celebration of Yeah. The end of fall and the beginning getting fired up. Yeah, exactly. and and yeah, there's gonna be face painting and kids, family stuff as well. And we're doing more of those, right? So we're gonna have these events like very in intentional events that celebrate the different seasons. That's awesome. yeah. And so Spring Bash is gonna come back, right? And just continuing to do more of that stuff is, yeah, I'm excited for it. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So one thing I did want to ask about Sure. Is, are there ever discussions about mountain biking up at the mountain downhill mountain biking? yeah. Yeah, there are Not right now. Yeah. I know that there was always a thought that of putting in, at the time when it was the triple, before it was the double, triple as everyone affectionately refers to it as, Yeah. The, there was, yeah. A lot of the work was done. Yeah. and it, right now our priorities are focused on other things. Yep. I'll never say never to anything, but it's not something we're talking about right now. Yeah. Cool. All right. We do wrap up all of our episodes with one question. This is gonna be a tough one for you. I like, if STO did not exist, that does not exist, the mountain, the town, where would you be living? I'm out of a job. I think so. Moved back in with my parents, No, places you've been in the world Yeah. Are just, I mean I love Vermont. Yeah. I. I really love Maine. I grew up going to Maine as a kid. Some cool spots there. My, my father always took me, to Rangely. My uncle lived up there and I just, I have this, I don't know, I've always wanted to like, live in Maine for some reason. Yeah. It's got the coast. It's got I ski resorts, so that's Saddleback. Saddleback. I'm heading up there for a few days this winter. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So Aqua, I know that area so well. Aquas and I was actually just up there, I think it's Black Bear Cove, campground, but. Yeah, I just love Maine. Yeah. Nice. I think I'd probably live in Maine. I don't know how my wife would feel about that, but, yeah, probably that's a good choice. Yeah, I think so. that was my choice too. Yeah. That's Ted. Yeah, it's true. Yeah. I think if, yeah, if it wasn't Vermont, it'd be, yeah. Yeah. Good call. Awesome. thanks Mike. Thank you so much. Thank you guys. We're getting ready. It's gonna get cold next week. Yeah. We're guns will be firing up before we know it. I can't wait. yeah. Thanks so much. Looking forward to a great season. Thanks, Mike. Thank you.