Mt. Washington has added two senior executives to its team. Long-time employee Daniel Caley will take on the role of Director of Maintenance & Facilities, and Layne Marett has been hired as the new Director of Mountain Operations. Both positions are replacing retiring Director of Operations, George Trousdell, who has been a stalwart at Mt. Washington for the past 37 years.
Caley has been with the resort for over 26 years, most recently as the Manager of Maintenance. In 1993, Caley started his career as an entry-level lift operator and progressed through the mountain’s apprenticeship program, obtaining his Red Seal Millwright certification in 2001.
“Dan was a natural choice as we install snowmaking infrastructure from the base area to the top of the Whisky Jack chairlift since he has been intimately involved with the snowmaking equipment testing we’ve been doing for the past couple seasons,” said Dean Prentice, general manager at the mountain. “He’s also been involved in the installation of the new ZipTour, and his leadership on that project makes this a great next step for Dan and for us.”
Caley credited Trousdell’s tutelage for preparing him for the expanded role at the mountain.
“Our career paths have a lot of parallels,” Caley said. “George and I both started as lift operators and worked our way up. I’ve learned a lot from him over the years, which gives me the confidence to take on this expanded role and contribute to the resort’s evolution.”
While Prentice indicated he was happy to elevate a long-time staffer like Caley, he expressed equal satisfaction at being able to strengthen the resort’s executive ranks with fresh ideas and strong experience from outside the company. Marett’s career began at Cypress Mountain in Vancouver where he headed up the terrain park and events programs. He expanded his knowledge base by attending Selkirk College’s Lifts program in 2008. He obtained his Red Seal Millwright certification in 2011. From Cypress, Marett gained further experience at Mt. Seymour as both maintenance manager and operations manager. Prentice noted Marett’s operational experience in the North Shore mountains and his educational background will be helpful as Mt. Washington expands its summer operations and builds out its snowmaking infrastructure in the coming years.
“With the ZipTour opening this summer and the snowmaking being installed, this will be an exciting and challenging endeavour,” Marett said. “It’s a bonus that my family is delighted to spend more time on this mountain.”
“Guys like Dan and Layne don’t interact with guests every day, but it is really easy to understand the importance of their work when you see perfectly groomed slopes and well-running lifts,” Prentice said. “Adding Dan and Layne to the resort’s senior executive team positions us well to lead Mt. Washington into its next chapter as a unique year-round destination.”