This summer, Dr. Dan Richmond, founder and director of Outdoor Adventure, Parks and Recreation (OAPR) at Salt Lake Community College, helped usher in the program’s first-ever ski lift maintenance course.
With the launch of Ski Lift Maintenance Level 1 (OAPR 1024) SLCC became one of four colleges in the country to offer such a program, joining Colorado Mountain College, Oregon State University and Gogebic Community College.
Richmond advocated for the program, which resulted in SLCC receiving a total of $290,000 in grants. $240,000 was seeded from the state of Utah’s Talent Ready Program. An additional $50,000 grant came from Ski Utah, a local nonprofit representing Utah’s ski and snowboard industry.
“Folks have been in the industry for 25 [to] 30 years now, and they’re starting to leave,” Richmond said.
Over the 2023-24 season, the Utah ski industry generated $2.7 billion — illustrating the need for experienced technicians. For many years, the industry had no pipeline or standardized training for the role. According to the National Ski Areas Association, there has been a national push to formalize an apprenticeship pathway with the U.S. Department of Labor.
According to the SLCC catalog, the Level 1, 12-credit course provides an overview of detachable ropeways, conveyors, basic hydraulics, and introduces basic rigging equipment and tools. The theoretical and hands-on training should prepare students to enter the workforce at an entry-level position, which can pay up to $34 an hour in the state of Utah, according to Glassdoor.
In a July 29 article for the Park Record, reporter Klara Meyer interviewed ski lift mechanic Brad Dopp, who enrolled in the course, to get his perspective.
“It’s something that the resorts should really be investing in as they hire people and think that they’re a good candidate, to help bring them up to speed,” Dopp told the Park Record. “Instead of it taking two years for somebody to reach this kind of understanding, they’ve got a three-month course that can bring people up to speed a little faster.”
Alongside facilitating a job pathway for SLCC students in the ski industry, the OAPR program has recently been added to the General Education catalog and covers a range of interdisciplinary interests, including fashion design, environmental science, and outdoor leadership.
When Jason Stewart, a film production student, was asked what keeps him from outdoor recreation in the area, he said: “I feel like in the circles that I’ve surrounded myself in, which aren’t doing as well financially, we can’t really go up there and do that, since you need, like, a nice car to drive up the mountain and then have everything there.”
With the barrier to entry often being financial, SLCC offers classes for credit that include skiing, hiking, rock climbing, and mountain biking, which provide gear and instruction.
Richmond’s goal for students is “to identify their values and learn how they want to incorporate that into their work.”
“Just in my experience … if you don’t have a good alignment, you’re not going to be happy, you’re not going to be motivated. [In our coursework] we cover broader topics like happiness and meaning and aligning our work with our values,” Richmond said.
For more information on class offerings, students can visit the OAPR program catalog or contact Dan Richmond.
