PROVO • Since before Sundance Mountain Resort was established in 1969, back when the ski area was known as Timp Haven Ski Resort, Jerry Hill has been maintaining the slopes of Mount Timpanogos.
“There’s no real typical day,” said Jerry Hill of his jack-of-all-trades skillset and varied work assignments at Sundance Mountain Resort, where he now stands as the director of mountain operations.
Hill unassumingly began cultivating his love for snow sports and the mountains at the age of 14, when he and his father helped out S. Paul Stewart and his family, who were family friends of the Hills and owned Timp Haven Ski Resort.
“My dad came up to help him on Saturdays to run the lifts, and so he brought me up too,” said Hill. “Then pretty soon I borrowed a pair of skis and thought, boy, I’ve got to do this again next week, and just fell in love with it.”
Hill then went to work shoveling snow at the resort, and gradually accrued more seasonal duties as he worked on the weekends while going to school. “There were no snowcats or anything back then,” said Hill. “We started out with a couple of little snowmobiles that we maintained and progressed into the snowcat world in the early 1960s.”
In August 1968, famed actor Robert Redford purchased the entirety of Timp Haven, and in 1969, the slopes reopened as Sundance Mountain Resort. Redford asked Hill if he could stay on year round, and he did.
Hill, then 25 years old, began doing more technical maintenance work, “right off the bat,” he said. “I not only ran the lifts, but had to take care of them too. I would start in the early fall with them and help do the maintenance on getting them ready for the winter,” explained Hill. “We were also in charge of the parking lot, the lodges, and keeping all the lodges’ equipment running.”
According to Hill, in those early days of Sundance, how the mountain was maintained and how people recreated on it was vastly different than how it is today.
“Skiing was a lot different than you guys know today,” said Hill. “There were no groomed runs back then. Long, straight skinny skis and no groomers. I don’t think anybody can ski it nowadays like that.”
Hill explained that the lack of groomed runs was because much of today’s modern grooming equipment hadn’t been invented yet. According to Hill, snowcats were primarily for transporting goods and people up and down the mountain at first, and slowly began developing maintenance capabilities.
“We did start dragging a drag behind snowcats for grooming. No blades on it or anything, we just progressed from there. We went from small ones, to bigger ones with blades, to these monsters that we have now,” said Hill. He remarked that basic machines back then would cost roughly $10,000, and that today, high-tech, sophisticated equipment can cost as much as $500,000 per machine.
Jerry explained that he picked up all of his maintenance know-how working on the mountain, with some helpful guidance. “We do go to seminars, classes on different things in the spring,” said Hill. “All departments got some real good training programs out there for your guys through the National Ski Area Association.”
In the early 1970s, expanding operations and new programs called for more specialized departments and more employees. Jerry estimated that back in the early days of Sundance, the whole resort had at most 100 employees. Today, he estimates that mountain operations, which takes care of the natural and mechanical needs of the mountain and only accounts for a portion of the workforce, has at least 200 employees.
For Jerry, no two days at work are exactly the same, and that’s how he likes it.
“Myself and my maintenance crew, the first thing we do is we look at any notes left from any breakdowns with the snowcats, and that’s our first priority to get those maintenance problems fixed,” said Hill. “Any broken snowmobiles, or if there’s any major problems on the lifts, we all jump right in with those guys and help them.”
Once Sundance Mountain Resort closes, three or four snowcat operators begin grooming the mountainside to tidy up runs in preparation for the next day’s visitors. “Depending on the night, they can usually clean the mountain up pretty good in an eight-hour shift,” said Hill. “With heavy snowfalls, they’ll still be here when we get here in the morning.”
Jerry has spent many a long night in the past grooming the slopes around Mount Timpanogos, and today he holds a more managerial role, but still spends plenty of time working out and about at the resort.
He usually starts his day at 7:30 a.m., but can come in as early as 5 a.m. on a day with heavy snowfall, and heads home around 4:30 p.m. What he does during his shift largely depends on what needs attention, which is nearly always unpredictable and changes throughout the day. “It’s just a matter of keeping the wheels running,” said Hill.
Today with more lifts, more visitors, and more machines with more technology than the early days of the ski area, Jerry is thankful for his hard-working crew. “Especially now I’ve got all these good guys under me helping me on this, and it takes a big load off of me,” said Jerry of his varied work duties. “I couldn’t even come close to doing what I used to do by myself. We’ve expanded; everything’s expanded.”
When there’s no specific tasks to take care of, Jerry sometimes patrols the mountain to check up on lifts and runs.
“I can’t run a mountain sitting down in the shop, or my head in a snowcat,” said Hill. “Up there, he can see what the ramps look like, what the lift operators are doing, where we need a little extra grooming, where it’s over groomed, and so on.”
If everything checks out on his patrol around the mountain, and there’s nothing else to be done for the moment, Jerry takes some laps on his skis.
“Out of probably a 120-day ski season, I ski 90 days probably,” said Hill. “I try to make a point to get out every day. Sometimes it’s just to ride each lift and ski a few runs, and other days when the snow’s a little better, I take a few extra runs,” he said with a laugh. “It definitely keeps you in shape, but I think it also keeps you mentally in shape. I think it gives you a mental adjustment, to get out and ski.”
Of all the things Jerry does at work, he explained that the scenery, freedom and good company of his co-workers are what make him happiest at Sundance.
“Being up here on the mountain is probably my favorite thing, but also the interactions with my co-workers and the freedom,” said Hill. “Unless something’s on fire, I’m pretty free to be my own boss and go the directions I need to go. The views never get old. There are always great views, and then there’s the great, great views when the sunlight is just right, and the evening light too. I’m pretty lucky that way,” said Hill.
After 61 years of maintaining the mountainside, Hill has countless memories to look back upon.
The area is where he fostered his love of skiing and the outdoors, where he’s made his living his entire life, and also where he met his wife, who thoughtfully stuck with Jerry through 56 years of marriage when snowstorms would trap him at the resort for a few days at a time, or when skiing a potent powder day made him a little late getting home.
These days when he’s not working, Jerry likes to hike, fish, backpack and camp with his wife, three children and five grandchildren.
Throughout his life Jerry, has kept his passion for his work and life alive and foresees no retirement in sight. “Because of the variety of my job and my interest I have in it, it hasn’t been bad at all,” said Hill. “I’m good for another 60 years.”