<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_green.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_green.svg" width="40px" /> What follows was also published on LinkedIn, June 2024.

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Hi friends, colleagues, fellow ski bums,

I figured that since it’s June and many of us are boiling in what appears to be a record-setting heat wave, it’s the perfect time to share some ski area news: this past Saturday, at the most recent meeting of the Mad River Glen Board of Trustees, I stepped down from my role as President.

If you know Mad River Glen by its reputation, you might assume the reason had something to do with frustration at an antique ski area out-of-step with modern life and business, crippled by yankee frugality and reticent to spend on capital projects, wilting under the irrepressible heat of climate change and delusional about the prospects for natural snow, populated by aging people who are too busy drooling into their bellybuttons to attract and engage the next generation of skiers and community leaders.

Friends, none of that is true. The facts:

  1. We revised the Cooperative’s Strategic Plan in 2022, which is the product of hundreds of hours of community interviews.
  2. Last year, we set a new record for revenue and it looks like we’ll break it this year.
  3. Over the past 3 years—some of the warmest on record—skiers bought shares in Mad River Glen at a rate we haven’t seen since the inception of the Cooperative.
  4. At the Annual Shareholder Meeting in April, our skier owners approved the development of a mid-station for our Sunnyside Double chair, which among other things will provide access to skiable terrain for younger skiers and their coaches, especially in the early season when natural snow is limited at higher elevations.
  5. Our young skiers continue to grow into world beaters; year over year, Mad River Glen skiers compete for podium positions at freeskiing competitions around the world.
  6. Last year, Mad River Glen celebrated its 75th year as an independent business, and it’s 29th year as a skier-owned Cooperative. Unlikely achievements in any era, never mind this one, so defined by market pressure to consolidate.
  7. Going into the 2023-24 season, Mad River Glen was voted number 1 in the East by the readers of SKI magazine.

Sure, Mad River Glen has a reputation for being a “ski museum” and at 75, it’s undeniably long-in-the-tooth. But one could also argue that Mad River Glen has never been more vital. In fact, that’s what I’m arguing, and it’s why I felt the time was right to move aside.

As ever, to keep the Single Chair humming along, we need people to get off to make room for the people who are ready to get on.[1]

To be very clear, Mad River Glen’s success isn't about me at all. Mad River Glen’s durability through the ups and downs of the last 75 years comes down to the collective effort of the people of Mad River Glen, no one person. The people of Mad River Glen share the pleasure of the place and the responsibility of stewardship, and pass it on. And that, my friends, is the point.[2]

Though the Board is generally made up of older and, one hopes, wiser people, there’s plenty of wisdom to borrow from the younger among us at Mad River Glen: when asked about the perennial strength of MRG’s Freeski Team, Ry Young, the program’s director, said, “We never have to rebuild. We just reload.”

In that spirit, I’m pleased to report that our VP, Andrew Carey, has picked up the gavel[3] for the upcoming year. In his positions as Board member, Treasurer, and VP, Andrew has led and meaningfully contributed to a variety of strategic initiatives, and in so doing worked with people from every corner of the community—staff, management, shareholders, guests, partners, Board members, and me. I’d say he’s plenty warmed up.[4]

As for me, I’m looking forward to supporting Andrew in my final year on the Board and in my new role as Past President. I’m also looking forward to bearing witness this upcoming Winter as Andrew completes a newly devised-by-me rite of passage somewhere skier’s left of Paradise.

Footnotes

  1. Paradoxically, the Single Chair is an apt symbol for the Mad River Glen Cooperative.