Austin Nelson
Dept: Building Maintenance
Nominated By: Branden Gardella
Austin went above and beyond to help a stranded motorist after hours. The customer had a flat tire and Austin spring to the rescue by driving his personal truck and the compressor back out to the customer to blow his tire up and get him back out on the road
Jake Dellevoet
Dept: Vehicle Maintenance
Nominated By: Dave Ferguson and Colby Dick
#1 Jake has stayed on top of the bus fleet all season and they're running better than ever. I reported a bad headlight switch and he fixed it the same day while I was at lunch!
#2 Jake and Kody were headed home after a long day at work earlier this week when they came across a car on HWY 88 that slid off the road and hit a tree stump totaling the car. Jake and Kody stopped to see if they were injured thankfully no one was. They stayed with the guests and transported them to the Kirkwood Inn so that they could make towing arrangements and get warm. Thank you both for an amazing Job!
Justin Gross
Dept: Employee Housing
Nominated By: Yannah Preta and Brian Bigley
#1 3 J-1s were here for their first day yesterday. They had housing allocated, but due to unforeseen circumstances, their rooms had not been assigned and no one from housing was on-mountain to help them. After connecting with Security, and learning that the rooms available for them had not been cleaned, Justin drove up from Gardnerville at 4pm on his day off to clean the rooms himself and make sure our J-1s had somewhere to sleep for the night. Thank you for helping these new employees to have a better experience on their first day and for providing Epic Service!
#2 Justin drove straight from the airport at 6:00 PM after a vacation to clean rooms for three hours and move in some J-1 employees in who arrived from Ecuador. Thank you!!!
Shane Gibbons
Dept: Security
Nominated By: Cindy Fuqua and Stephanie Padilla
#1 I was pulled over on highway 88 putting on my chains. Shane stopped and helped me put on my chains and made sure I arrived safe. I have worked here for three winter seasons and this is the first time anyone has stopped to see if I needed help. I was so impressed that he took his time to help me. He lives Epic Service not just while on the clock but on his own personal time. I just want to thank him for being so kind and generous.
#2 On Monday, February 19, Shane was doing a last minute patrol of the village before heading to lunch. He received a call to assist a woman at the Wall Bar who felt she was experiencing a panic attack. The woman explained that she had lost her family somewhere on the mountain and couldn't get in touch with them, so Shane offered to remain with her until her family was located. Shane escorted her to the guest services where a ticket seller offered to locate their pass scans. Unfortunately their passes hadn't been scanned yet and the response from the ticket seller sent her into even more of a panic, but Shane reassured her that her family would be located and he would stay with her until they were. She then placed her head on Shanes' shoulder and resignedly said, "just tell me everything will be alright". Shane did. Shortly after, as Chris Hostnik began to assist in sending a hotlist notification for her family to contact her, her family called. She was grateful to hear they were fine(as she had visions of them falling off a cliff) and went to Monte Wolfes to meet them when they returned from the backside. Shane, still keeping his promise, stayed with her until she was reunited with her family. He could've simply told her to wait at Monte Wolfes on her own, but he had the understanding that she was still in such a state as not to be left alone. Shane delivered EPIC service and I, for one, and extremely thankful to have such an understanding gentleman on staff for Kirkwood. It takes a special person to be able to take a step back, evaluate the situation, and act accordingly. Thank you Shane!
AND THE WINNER IS . . .
NICK PILIAE!
Dept: Village Rentals
Nominated By: Alex LaVallee
Nick planned a field trip for his entire staff at Village rentals. He paid to rent a car, picked up all his employees, drove them to Kirkwood to snowshoes, then drove them to Grover Hotsprings, and ended the day at Lakeview commons to host a Brazilian barbecue. Nick did this entirely on his own, and got his store covered so that he could make this trip possible. He was once an international employee in New Zealand and wanted to go above the call of duty to make a special day for his J1 staff to provide them an experience of a lifetime. The act was selfless, and required a lot of planning on nicks own time. Truly Epic.
CONGRATS NICK AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO TO MAKE THE MOUNTAIN PROUD!