At the recent NSAA Trade Show at Snowbird and Killington, Mile Lane and Earl Saline of NSAA lead a presentation of the Lift Maintenance Training Guide (LMTRG).
The LMTRG, and I quote from the opening page, “has been developed with the intent to help areas of all sizes develop and structure training programs for their lift maintenance staff. This guide does not speak to how maintenance is to be performed, rather it outlines the spectrum of knowledge, skills, and abilities that lift maintenance personnel should possess.”
This guide is a huge step and took herculean efforts from many people but especially Michael Weise and Sid Roslund. Their efforts should be applauded by all in the ski industry for making this happen.
Every mountain ops manager, ski area owner, GM and lift maintenance manager need to review this guide and provide feedback to Mike and Earl at NSAA. If you are in contact with ski areas that are not members of NSAA, please share the LMTRG with them, and encourage them to review and provide input. This guide will be better with your input. The LMTRG will be available online via NSAA.org
Anyone who has read past Steep Management Newsletters knows that I have been a strong advocate for stepping up training for lift maintenance within the industry and bringing consistency to that training across the country. This is a very significant step in attaining both of these objectives.
The reaction to this guide at Snowbird and Killington and the efforts that Mike and Earl are putting in to make the guide the core of raising the bar on lift maintenance training is very encouraging. I believe that from this effort there will be a national framework for lift maintenance training. Being a lift maintenance tech will become a profession that people will be proud to set as a life long career.
