burke week 4

This week at burke mountain i was in the grooming department. I rode along with head of grooming Randy Sanchez. Randy has been grooming at burke for more than 20 years, he knows all the ins and outs of the grooming department. Sustainability wise Randy takes all measures before and after grooming to ensure a long lifespan for all of the machines. Also randy is pro at conserving fuel used buy the groomers, he takes everything he does at precise speed and angle to ensure the machine doesent work more than it has to. When it comes to safety Randy knows the limits of the operator as well as the machines. If a trail is too steep, icy, or thin Randy will not risk the groomer or himself, in the end he makes the final call, oh and myself along with the operator always wore a seatbelt while grooming.In relation to the guests, if grooming does not take place than the trail conditions will he horrible especially with the horrible winter we are having the guests would not want to ski burke mountain. So the main point is grooming is everything!!!!!! In relation to management the big wig office admins rely on grooming because frankly, if theres no grooming, theres no customer, in turn theres no paycheck. simple as that. all in all i learned alot about grooming this weekend, the pre checks, the post checks and everything in-between........except driving one....bummer