Still Going DownhillLegends of Showdown · The George Willett years, 1973–2020
Richard Baker
More than twenty winters bumping chairs at the bottom of the double
Legend of Showdown
- Born
- First skied at Showdown
- First worked here
- lift operator, about the 2000-01 season
- Years at Showdown
- Positions
- Lift operator at the bottom of the double chair, from about 2000-01 — more than twenty winters
- A key part of the staff's customer-service training before every season
- Awards
- Employee of the Week, 26 February 2021
- Above & Beyond Award, 2021
- Employee of the Week, 3 February 2022
- Lift Operator of the Year, 2022
- Employee of the Week, 19 December 2022
What they did
8 entries
- About 2000-01His first winter at Showdown, by the mountain's own count: twenty seasons in February 2021, twenty-two years in December 2022
- 26 February 2021Employee of the Week: twenty seasons of putting guests first, and a key part of the customer-service training the staff take before every season
- 3 February 2022Employee of the Week again: hearing his booming “have a good day” as he left the lodge was, the card said, the best way to start every day
- 7 October 2022Showdown counted down the sixty-three days until he was back bumping chairs at the bottom of the double
- 19 December 2022Employee of the Week a third time, on a card that read “The Man. The Myth. The Legend.” and thanked him for making Showdown his winter home for twenty-two years
- With Jesse Gregory in the lodge, in Showdown's end-of-year photograph
- Built the minions that stand at the bottom of the double chair, all on his own in his free time, each with its own story
- A skier who had a hard time at the double chair got his go-ahead to get a hot chocolate on him in the lodge
In their own words
Photographs
5 in the archive
