Very Productive Day

The idea was Brandan's - he volunteered 5 guys to help with FireSmart work in the village. This is part of his efforts to build a better relationship between mountain staff and the community.

Wildfire Mitigation Specialist Dan Stevens selected the area where the labour could be best utilized.

Twenty-one loads of dead and down fuels were hauled out of the corridor between the end of Blue Jay, and the power line. Thanks to Alf Kole and Doug McMynn for allowing us to go through their properties to get the stuff out.

This project has given a boost to the adjacent land owners, making it easier for them to deal with debris on their properties, and is a start on reducing forest fuels in a loaded area. The adjacent owners may choose to get together at some point and look at hiring a machine to make a more level access.

Both Doug and Alf support FireSmart practices, and will likely allow neighbours to continue to haul out debris, after a courtesy call.

Only two power tools - Tom's saw, and Sam's toy - the Makita pruning saw. The rest was plain hard work carrying and dragging stuff out.

The six young guys were amazing, and the silver haired village contingent pulled their weight too.

Thanks to Hilary and Hannah for being "sandwich artists", and building custom order sandwiches for the crew. (Fresh buns from Big Al's)

L-R Hannah, Tom - Ski Patrol, James (FS Ctte), Trevor - Jack of all trades, Ross Potter, Brandan(mgr), Vance Potter, Chris (Maintenance Lead), Alf Kole, Quinn (Asst Mgr), Marian, Parker (electrician), Hilary (FS Chair) and Tom.

We shared a few stories over lunch  - including short bios of the Baldy BMR team. Quinn worked at Hemlock for several years, and did his SROAM work term at Grouse when Parker was working there. Parker has worked at 4 ski areas, and is happy that he transitioned his career to more interesting stuff than residential construction. Chris is an engineer, who worked on pipelines. He was exploring other career options when covid hit, and decided to leave Edmonton and move to the mountains.

Tom patrolled at Blue Mountain, and worked for contractors before coming west, where he met Hannah. Tom is clearing the lot to build next summer.

Trevor and Quinn grew up together in Mission - Trevor came to Baldy to visit Quinn, and stayed. He "never wants to work indoors again."

Brandan's family has had a cabin at Apex for a very long time - after his Business education in Adventure Tourism at College of the Rockies, he applied at a couple of hills, was hired at Baldy and stayed.

Alf and Vance are owners along the project, and where Vance goes, Ross seems to get roped into working too. 

Staff retention has always been a challenge - kudos to Brandan for assembling this team - they want to be here.

No small loads - we piled them as high as we could, then strapped them down.

I tried to trade with Vance - my utility trailer for his toy truck - he wouldn't go for it.