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Legends of Showdown · The George Willett years, 1973–2020
1978 John Metrione bardtening in old Hole in the Wall Saloon
1978 John Metrione bardtening in old Hole in the Wall SaloonGeorge Willett Collection

John Metrione

On the 1978 triple-chair crew, behind the bar for a decade — and later administered Showdown's permit for the Forest Service

Legend of Showdown
Born
1955
First skied at Showdown
First worked here
on the triple chairlift crew, 1978
Years at Showdown
1978–1988
Positions
  • Triple chairlift construction crew, 1978, working for Joe Pinski
  • Bartender in the Hole in the Wall Saloon, 1978 to about 1986, then part-time to 1988
  • Ticket office, his first winter
  • U.S. Forest Service — administered Showdown's permit in the last years of his career, until he retired in 2020

What they did

7 entries
  1. Joined the crew building the triple chairlift, working for Joe Pinski, into November
  2. Kept a wood fire burning through the nights inside the new lift's terminal, by the loading ramp, so its concrete walls could cure
  3. Photographed behind the bar of the Hole in the Wall Saloon, beside its Ski Showdown price board
  4. Tended bar in the Hole in the Wall Saloon, full-time to about 1986 and part-time after, and worked the ticket office his first winter
  5. His last year behind the bar; by then he was working for the Forest Service on Mondays and Tuesdays, the days Showdown was closed
  6. The Forest Service's contact at the Belt Creek Ranger District in Neihart for Showdown's new-lift decision, as the Great Falls Tribune reported
  7. Retired from the Forest Service, having administered Showdown's permit in the last years of his career

Photographs

2 in the archive
1978 John Metrione bardtening in old Hole in the Wall Saloon
2000s John Metrione near top of mountain

All photographs of John Metrione in the search →

Also

  • Built the triple chairlift, 1978, on Joe Pinski's crew

Added by the people who were there