Ski Area Vehicle Maintenance Institute
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SAVMI recognized and honored its 2010 award winners on Tuesday, May 18.

Kevin Legace with Beaver Creek Fleet Maintenance was awarded the Tim Crouse Memorial Award as the mechanic of the year. In his nomination letter, Jerry Gallegos, Beaver Creek Fleet Maintenance Supervisor, stated “Kevin is a hands on mechanic, always willing to learn something new each day and more importantly applies what he learns to improve the day-to-day operations of fleet maintenance.” Additionally, Jerry said “He leads by example. His goal is to provide all customers with quality service, seek methods of reducing fuel usage, work with all departments, reduce down time, share his job skills and work with training our younger employees.” Parts Manager, Ramon Montoya echoed Jerry comments by stating “I have worked with Kevin daily for the past eight winter seasons. This award is meant to honor a person who demonstrates the best of what a mechanic, and just importantly a person, brings to the table. In that light, I feel Kevin meets the criteria in every way!”
The Vehicle Maintenance Support Award was presented to Prinoth’s Carter Cowan. “Prinoth’s main objective for Carter this season was to support Aspen Skiing Company’s seven new cab Bisons. As common with any new product in our industry, there were some technical issues. Carter’s efforts ensured that with these issues, vehicle downtime was kept to a minimum.” said Rocky Mountain Service Manager, Jim Larson. “In addition to his responsibilities in Aspen, he played a strong role in the success of our introductory Beast demo season at other Colorado areas. He also found the time to assist other Prinoth customers during the course of the season.” Carter has been with Prinoth for five years and says he really enjoys the customer relationships he has developed. “I like the different challenges with my current position and the opportunities to travel to the different ski areas, including areas in Chile and Argentina.”

The Safety Award was once again given to Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard’s vehicle maintenance department for going 2,213 days without a safety violation. Keep up the great work!

The award luncheon ended on a high note as President, Johnny Green, recognized two of the SAVMI founders. Steve Stephens and Jim Touve were honored for their dedication and determination to create an organization that would bring together and educate ski area maintenance personnel from around the country (and now around the world!). What started out 25 years ago as a small gathering of Colorado resorts has now grown into a vital yearly event; with representation from 49 resorts from 13 states and 38 supplier companies. SAVMI owes these gentlemen a debt of gratitude as none of this would have been possible without their vision.

Congratulations to you all!

 
 
In conjunction with the National Ski Areas Association