by Michael Patmas, main photo credit: Sherri Harkin Photography/Tamarack Resort
Forecast: Powder
As irony would have it, the forecast called for a storm with significant accumulation, perhaps as much as a foot of new snow, on the day the lifts closed for good at Tamarack Ski Resort. For locals, employees, customers, homeowners, even guests with reservations for the upcoming spring break, March 5th 2009 will be a day not soon forgotten. Only five days earlier, Tamarack’s court appointed receiver announced he was shutting the resort, “permanently”, with no plans for any future operations. Nearly 300 people lost their jobs, resort homeowners lost value and useless season passes ended up as memorabilia as a resort full of promise went belly up. The news wires had been running innumerable articles for months detailing Tamarack’s woes, but on that fateful day, the story reverberated around the world. Lost among the stories of Tamarack’s demise however was the inside story of what it was like to work there as a ski instructor during its’ last two seasons of operations. Despite Tamarack’s closure, working there was a genuine pleasure. Before the memories go stale, I wanted to capture them and let folks know that even though Tamarack may be gone, it was a great place to be a ski teacher.
Birth of a Resort
The mountains of west central Idaho are immense and capture a lot of snow. West Mountain near Donnelly had long been known to back country skiers as a great place to skin your way up and enjoy untracked powder runs. A few folks had talked about one day creating a ski resort there. Some scoffed and said it would never work. With Brundage Ski Resort and its excellent terrain and snow a half hour’s drive north, near the town of McCall, yet another resort would only dilute the customer base to everyone’s detriment was a common concern.
Nevertheless, two developers saw something very special in those mountains and had a vision of new and very elegant four season resort targeting an affluent international clientele. French born developer, Jean-Pierre Boespflug and Mexican Alfredo Miguel Afif, would pony up millions of their own dollars and secure some $250 million more in loans to begin construction of what would become the next great ski resort. The plan made sense in those heady days of the real estate boom. Develop a luxury real estate project around a four season resort and use the profits from real estate sales to pay off the loan for construction of the village and facilities. A Swiss bank was willing to make the loan and dozens of investors lined up to buy lots and build spectacular mountain homes, among them, tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
In a very short time, the dream came to fruition. High speed lifts were installed, a four star hotel was built, a world class golf course was put in and some of the best mountain biking trails anywhere were cut. With 5,000 acres of guided back country powder skiing, Tamarack was on its way.
I moved to Idaho in 2007 for a new opportunity in my “other job” and visited Tamarack in the summer to check things out with my family. I liked it immediately but my two teen age daughters were all excited because Hillary Duff was in the general store at the resort. Since I didn’t know who Hillary Duff is, I suppose I was under whelmed. I was there to shop for my next ski school, not to ogle over celebrities though quite a few seemed to show up there. Even a certain President, known for his love of mountain biking was spotted there that summer.
I met with ski school director Craig Panarisi and signed on for the upcoming season. The first thing I noticed was just how small the ski school was. At the first organizational meeting in the fall, there were no more than twenty instructors. Having previously worked at resorts with large ski schools numbering hundreds of instructors, Tamarack’s small size was a very different experience. The second thing I noticed was that there wasn’t a huge hiring clinic or a lengthy new hire training program. I quickly realized why. Tamarack’s ski school was staffed with a very small number of some very fine instructors who were all veterans in their own right and didn’t need a whole lot of training. The ski school director, Craig Panarisi, a PSIA Nordic Team member and coach was enthusiastic and quite entertaining. He emphasized Tamarack’s intense commitment to extreme levels of customer service and cautioned, “if you see a famous celebrity, don’t act like a fool…give them their privacy.”
The thing that I will most take away from my time at Tamarack was the wisdom and quiet genius of the ski school director, Craig Panarisi, who recognized the value in instructor’s kids.
The 2007 – 2008 season was spectacular. January saw almost daily dumps of perfect powder. The ski school was busy and I saw first hand how a small ski school with a handful of great instructors could handle a demanding clientele with aplomb. Veteran instructors like Loren Livermore, Jerry Peterson, Steve Butterworth and Bob Young were a joy to work with. Nearly all the lessons were half day privates and I got to take my time and really plan out great lessons. I enjoyed teaching there immensely and made more money on weekends than I had ever made anywhere else. I met people from all over the world.
But here’s where it gets really interesting. Christmas was really busy. The kids ski school was pretty well maxed out and we were short of instructors. My then 18 year old daughter (Cert level 1) was home from college and worked over the holiday. But Panarisi noticed my then 12 year old son and 13 year old daughter skiing and said, ”Hey, they can ski and I need them as chair lift riders and instructor assistants. Do you mind if I put them to work?” They were thrilled in their new found unofficial “jobs”. But their days as chair lift riders were short lived. Now that they were part of the ski school, they attended lineup and skied frequently with the senior level 3 instructors who took them under their wings and made the most of every opportunity to clinic with them. I saw my little ones grow in maturity and in their skiing ability as they quickly became part of the ski school. As they developed, their roles began to evolve as well. They became less chair lift rider and much more ski instructor. As I would ski around with my clients, I would spot my kids having an opportunity to demonstrate a task or make a contribution to a lesson. It was an astonishing and heartwarming experience.
Storm Clouds
The 2008 – 2009 season started off on a sour note as the economy weakened, the real estate market collapsed and Tamarack’s owners defaulted on a loan payment. Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf pulled out of the resort and negative press was all you could read. A court appointed receiver was named to run the resort but we were assured the resort would complete the season. To make matters worse, the snow gods were being stingy. My kids however continued to thrive. My 14 year old got her level 1 and my 13 year old continued to improve as skiing every day with great instructors was becoming quite evident in his technique. Even the ski school director took a personal interest in their development and made time to ski with them.
By late February, the sagging economy and bad press were taking a toll on the resort. As losses mounted, rumors of an imminent closure were flying. We were all praying that someone would come in and buy the resort. But on March 1, we all got the bad news. Tamarack would cease operations on March 5. The look on my kids’ faces at lineup said it all; the dream was over.
Lessons Learned
I won’t pontificate on what went wrong from a financial point of view. I suppose it was just really bad timing. Trying to build a world class resort just as the global economy was collapsing was the ultimate cause of the resorts demise. But rather than focus on the negative, I prefer to take away something positive. I learned things at Tamarack that should be useful to other instructors and other ski schools.
Customer Service
The level of customer service I saw at Tamarack was well above anything I have seen anywhere else. We delighted in giving our clients the very best lesson possible. Because nearly all the lessons were long and private, we really had time to craft a great lesson plan. I think I gave the best lessons of my career there. The thought of going back to huge groups and 1 hour lessons is admittedly unappealing right now.
The Children Are The Future
The thing that I will most take away from my time at Tamarack was the wisdom and quiet genius of the ski school director, Craig Panarisi, who recognized the value in instructor’s kids. He included them in ski school life, made them a part of the ski school family and in fact, put them to work. In so doing, he deepened their love of the sport. Their interest in skiing skyrocketed as a result of their inclusion in the ski school and they are well on their way to becoming experienced ski instructors at a very early age. In fact, most ski schools won’t even admit kids to new hire training until age 16. My kids were very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be instructors assistants at 12 and 13 and by 14 were competent to teach on their own. I found myself wondering what ski schools across the country would look like if there were a specific strategy to reach out to and involve instructors’ kids in ski school activity. It may be a terrific way to develop, recruit and retain future instructors. If there is one take away lesson from Tamarack, it is to look at instructors kids as a potential source of future instructors and proactively and strategically involve them in ski school. If Tamarack weren’t closing, Panarisi would have secured some of his future staffing needs by doing so.
Phoenix Rising
For now, we are all cleaning out our lockers and moving on. But, there are rumors that as the value of a shuttered resort continues to decline, eventually, the price gets low enough and maybe someone, a “white knight” will come in, buy the resort and bring it back to life. If so, I know at least one aging ski teacher and his kids who will be at lineup. M
Michael Patmas, MD is a practicing internal medicine physician and an unemployed PSIA-NW Alpine Certified Level 3 instructor. He is currently considering his terrain options for the upcoming season.
Note: According to Ski Area Management several bids were placed for Tamarack in June 2009. A deal to re-open could be close at hand.