By Dan Balkin
Question: How far is it to travel to work in the ski industry from Vernon Valley NJ to Lake Tahoe CA, return to NJ, go back to Tahoe, then go from Tahoe to the legendary Timberline Lodge in OR – and then go from Timberline to Purgatory CO? Hold on, we’re not finished – and then from Purgatory to HoliMont? We’re waiting … yes, we knew you would come to it, or I would come to it with help from Google Maps … its 11,732 miles! That is the remarkable resort journey of HoliMont’s GM Ed Youmans.
As we know at HoliMont, Ed has ski area management in his veins. Ed’s ski story begins in his home state of NJ. Ed began skiing at nine at a ski area called Vernon Valley / Great Gorge. Straddling some of the grounds of the ski area was a summer attraction called Action Park – a novel “adventure” park where adrenaline-soaked activities like Bungee Jumping were the norm. Ed thrived there. In 1984, young Ed began his resort management journey as a liftie in the winter and a ride attendant in the summer at Action Park. At the same time, Ed was attending college and earned his degree. By 1987, Ed was the Rental Shop Manager in the winter and had another management role at Action Park in the summer. Ed ascended the rungs of the corporate ski ladder at Vernon Valley and by 1990 was the Mountain Manager (winter) and Ride-Ops Manager (summer). Ed was responsible for 700 seasonal staff in the winter and 1,000 in the summer. He was only 25 years old. The seasons whirled, the pace was relentless, and in 1995 Ed decided to move to Lake Tahoe.
Ed could afford to relocate as he was both a successful manager and a successful entrepreneur. Ed had a side business called “Over The Edge” that manufactured Bungee cords. At this time Ed would stop by the office, pick up his royalty checks, and head to Yosemite for a week or two to do some serious climbing. Fate, however, intervened. Seeing an ad for a ski area management position in a newspaper his roommate had left open, Ed applied for a job at the family-oriented Diamond Peaks Ski Resort at Incline Village Lake Tahoe. Ed became the GM and beyond his everyday duties oversaw a resort master plan that upgraded the facilities and the snowmaking system. There was, however, another master plan that Ed was not yet aware of: In 2004 he met his wife to be, Kim. They married in 2008, and in 2010, one of HoliMont’s future Freestyle skiers was born – their son Edward.
In 2011, Ed moved back to his home ski area in NJ which had been renamed Mountain Creek. He became the resort’s Chief Operating Officer, worked enormously long days, and longed to spend more time with baby son Edward. That desire prompted Ed and the family to move back to Tahoe, where Ed began a tandem paragliding business. His flexible schedule allowed him to be a doting dad. Ed, however, eventually returned to ski area management at the legendary Timberline Lodge in Oregon. At Timberline, the summit snowfields have a snowpack of roughly 40-60 feet all summer, allowing for extended season recreational skiing and competitive ski racing / freestyle camps. Ed’s destination before HoliMont was as the VP for Mountain Operations at the Purgatory Ski Resort in Durango CO. Leafing through a trade magazine called Ski Area Management, Ed saw an opening for the GM position at Holimont.
Ed had never heard of HoliMont and gave it little thought – until he casually mentioned it to his neighbor at Incline Village, Kim Sterns, owner of Mountain Uniforms. To Ed’s surprise, Kim knew HoliMont well and raved about it. Why? She supplies our Snowsports jackets! Ed had enjoyed a long tenure as GM of the Diamond Peaks ski resort in the Lake Tahoe region. Kim told Ed that Diamond Peaks and HoliMont are very similar because of their kid friendly and family appeal. Ed was intrigued, applied, and landed in Ellicottville. A happy ending? No, a great beginning…