Thirty years in ski resort operations will teach you a few things. What works, what doesn’t, and exactly why most consulting advice misses the mark.

I’ve been a lift operator, a department head, and a GM. I’ve managed multi-million dollar budgets, rebuilt broken teams, navigated ownership transitions, and turned underperforming mountains into profitable ones. Mission Ridge was my classroom — and running it taught me that independent ski areas don’t need more theory. They need someone who’s actually done the job.

Mountain Mindset Advisors exists because independent mountains deserve the same quality of strategic thinking that the big resorts take for granted — without the corporate overhead and the generic playbooks.

My approach is simple: tell you the truth, build a real plan, and stay in the fight until it works.