Ski Bum Job Alert: Zermatt Park Shaper/Driver

Twig

Twig

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Can you drive one of these?

[img=]847587[/img]

Fancy chilling out with BMack, shaping one of the most flowy and fun parks on the planet, all the while living in one of the most beautiful resorts on the planet?

[img=]847588[/img]

Zermatt head shaper Marcel, just hit me up to let me know they are advertising for a cat driver for this winter. Send your CV to snowpark@zermatt.ch or PM Snowpark Zermatt.
 
I need to make the drive to Saas Fee and Zermatt to go check things out. Not much of a park skier but these look like so much fun!
 
13754107:Jibberino said:
What's a yoke cat?
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North America seems to be the only place that runs sticks almost all the time over wheel cats. Personally I hate wheel cats. Cars have wheels, cats should have sticks.

Last time I was over in Euro Land most fleets where all wheel cats. I remember they had one new 400 at the time with sticks and it just sat there. No one wanted to run it. They also did park with wheel cats which is crazy in my eyes.
 
13753984:SkiBum. said:
Crazy Euros shaping parks with yoke cats.
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What company builds the parks there? or does the mountain do it's own thing?

I have a similar job setup for Austria but the government is giving me the run around on my visa a bit.

Are they down to hire people from outside of Europe?
 
13754124:theabortionator said:
What company builds the parks there? or does the mountain do it's own thing?

I have a similar job setup for Austria but the government is giving me the run around on my visa a bit.

Are they down to hire people from outside of Europe?
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No idea. Never been to Zermatt. Didn't even read the add. I would assume they just do their own thing, but they could contract it out to someone over there. Shoot them an e-mail, everyone is desperate for a skilled operator in the states...could be similar over there?

And to anyone that has no experience and wants to run a cat...go find your local hill, especially if they are a larger one. They will hire you unless you are a complete idiot. Even this late in the game. You'll get paid low, but its a better job them frying burgers or bumping chairs.

I haven't looked into anything, I'm just assuming.

I also have no idea what cats they run. Just a good assumption they are running PBs with wheels, its the majority over there.
 
13754129:SkiBum. said:
I also have no idea what cats they run. Just a good assumption they are running PBs with wheels, its the majority over there.
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Yeah PB is huge. Interesting that they run the yokes though. Wouldn't have thought that. I almost went up to Norway for september october and they were running a cat with a wheel. I figured it was just an older cat though.

Wondering why the preference though. The place I was in NZ they used to run wheels but my boss was doing summers at squaw and running sticks. He got them to change one of the cats over, and then after trying it out it the big boss eventually decided to go all stick.

I'm hoping the Austrian gov throws me a bone in time to still get over there. I've never worked a northern hem winter abroad.

Probably will be still holding out with my existing job when they fill the zermatt job.
 
13754186:theabortionator said:
Yeah PB is huge. Interesting that they run the yokes though. Wouldn't have thought that. I almost went up to Norway for september october and they were running a cat with a wheel. I figured it was just an older cat though.

Wondering why the preference though. The place I was in NZ they used to run wheels but my boss was doing summers at squaw and running sticks. He got them to change one of the cats over, and then after trying it out it the big boss eventually decided to go all stick.

I'm hoping the Austrian gov throws me a bone in time to still get over there. I've never worked a northern hem winter abroad.

Probably will be still holding out with my existing job when they fill the zermatt job.
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Regarding what company runs the park I'm not sure if there is one or if it's all the mtn but I do know that BMACK and LeeB from the bunch are the head park guys down there. Last year bmack could do whatever he wanted pretty much.
 
13754274:-Dan said:
Regarding what company runs the park I'm not sure if there is one or if it's all the mtn but I do know that BMACK and LeeB from the bunch are the head park guys down there. Last year bmack could do whatever he wanted pretty much.
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That's pretty sick actually
 
13754315:theabortionator said:
That's pretty sick actually
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Can confirm at least that the mountain runs the park, and that those guys get pretty much free reign to design whatever. It might be worth chucking in an email and seeing what they have on offer. The park guys there are rad, the park is typically so much fun and there is a reason Zermatt is considered one of the world's 'great' ski resorts.
 
13754120:SkiBum. said:
North America seems to be the only place that runs sticks almost all the time over wheel cats. Personally I hate wheel cats. Cars have wheels, cats should have sticks.

Last time I was over in Euro Land most fleets where all wheel cats. I remember they had one new 400 at the time with sticks and it just sat there. No one wanted to run it. They also did park with wheel cats which is crazy in my eyes.
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I've done both, and I have no real preference. I never understood the hate on park building with wheels, if you're a good operator you should be able to do both. I'll be running sticks exclusively this year, so maybe I'll agree with you when the season is over, haha.

I think it all comes down to the way we do things in Europe, there's a lot of handshaping and not much cat work on features. So basically many places don't even have a dedicated park cat, someone will come in and groom the park fairly quick and then go and groom trails. For building it's often the same thing, the cat will come in and push some rough shapes, and then there's a butt load of hand work. I'm trying to get resorts here in Norway to realise the advantages of using the cat more, both in building and in maintaining. It's an uphill battle, but I'm slowly getting there.
 
13754460:Jibberino said:
I've done both, and I have no real preference. I never understood the hate on park building with wheels, if you're a good operator you should be able to do both. I'll be running sticks exclusively this year, so maybe I'll agree with you when the season is over, haha.

I think it all comes down to the way we do things in Europe, there's a lot of handshaping and not much cat work on features. So basically many places don't even have a dedicated park cat, someone will come in and groom the park fairly quick and then go and groom trails. For building it's often the same thing, the cat will come in and push some rough shapes, and then there's a butt load of hand work. I'm trying to get resorts here in Norway to realise the advantages of using the cat more, both in building and in maintaining. It's an uphill battle, but I'm slowly getting there.
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Ahh, the SPT way of doing things.

I've always seen and done opposite. Good operator with sticks and you don't even need a hand crew.
 
13754478:SkiBum. said:
Ahh, the SPT way of doing things.

I've always seen and done opposite. Good operator with sticks and you don't even need a hand crew.
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Yeah

8+ years ago that was totally cool. Now I cringe if the takeoff isn't at least decent. Fuck 10 years ago I remember basically building them by hand, some completely actually.

I've def seen some really fucking awesome operators and some people I wouldn't trust in bumper cars.

I do feel like if it's a decent cat, the snow isn't the worst shit ever, and not completely fucked, you should be able to get a decent rough in. Then you're just moving snow around, adding some, taking other spots away, and getting it solid instead of building it from a snowbank. That and straight cutting the sides after shes tested is about all the work.

One of those, you can do it that way, but why not make life easier.
 
How does one become a snowpark shaper/builder? How did you guys get into that? Where you all regular groomers before? How does that work? Sounds like a pretty interesting job.
 
13754478:SkiBum. said:
Ahh, the SPT way of doing things.

I've always seen and done opposite. Good operator with sticks and you don't even need a hand crew.
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I don't think one is necessarily better than the other, I find that a combination of the two is the way forward. You need hand crew for daily checks, reshapes etc, so you might as well use them for everything. A rule of thumb for me is i leave the last 1 to 1,5 meters of the take off for the hand crew, everything else I try to do with the cat. It's a symbiotic relationship with hand crew, I help them and they help me. I'm also limited by time as I'm not "allowed" to spend the whole night in the park, even though I would probably use a couple of more hours if I could. In terms of making things look super clean, I find that hand crew also comes in handy.
 
13754661:BrawnTrends said:
How does one become a snowpark shaper/builder? How did you guys get into that? Where you all regular groomers before? How does that work? Sounds like a pretty interesting job.
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I can only really speak for Europe/Scandinavia.

I spent a couple of years on hand crew and as a manager of snowparks. So I worked my way up, watched and learned, showed a genuine interest (there is a surprising lack of this from a lot of shapers) and rode along in the cat a lot. Eventually I got to operate a cat, and then worked my way up in that department. Generally I would say that real motivation for buiding and riding features, good work ethic and passion and desire to learn is the most important parts of becoming a shaper/park operator/snowpark manager.

Not really sure how it works in America, I've got a feeling that the road can be a lot bumpier?
 
13754667:Jibberino said:
I can only really speak for Europe/Scandinavia.

I spent a couple of years on hand crew and as a manager of snowparks. So I worked my way up, watched and learned, showed a genuine interest (there is a surprising lack of this from a lot of shapers) and rode along in the cat a lot. Eventually I got to operate a cat, and then worked my way up in that department. Generally I would say that real motivation for buiding and riding features, good work ethic and passion and desire to learn is the most important parts of becoming a shaper/park operator/snowpark manager.

Not really sure how it works in America, I've got a feeling that the road can be a lot bumpier?
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Interesting. I'm also in Europe, so your experience is even more so valuable.
 
Fuck it, I sent an email. I'm still hoping Austria decides to be slightly faster or some wizardry happens and I can take the job I already have, but it doesn't look so good at this point.

Hopefully I can find a decent gig somewhere if it all implodes.

Ugh.
 
13754734:BrawnTrends said:
I'm in France, Northern Alps. I usually ski in the Portes du Soleil area.
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Go and talk to the park crew, look into getting a job there. That is probably how most people started.
 
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