“People may recognize me from being out on the lifts as a lifty, helping guests load and unload every chair we have on the hill. Then more recently as the Lift Operations Supervisor,” he says.
So, what exactly does a Risk Manager do? Risk management is the identification, assessment and prioritization of risk, says Logan. “There is risk in everything that everybody does all the time. Ski hill operations are no different,’ he explains.
“Dealing with outdoor recreation such as we do, there can be all kinds (of risk),” he says. “Probably one of the easiest ones for our snow sliding guests to see and hear is the avalanche control that our Patrol Department does on a continual basis to manage the risk of an in-bounds avalanche.”
The loud booms that visitors hear in the early morning following a night of significant snowfall are the Patrol Members using explosives to trigger avalanches and reduce the risk of these avalanches being triggered naturally by a skier or snowboarder, Logan says.
Although Logan is the Resort’s Risk Manager, he says he is just one of many people who manage risk at the Resort. “I feel it is everybody’s responsibility to manage the risk to themselves and our guests in whatever areas they work or play in,” he says. “My position helps others focus on the things that need to be done to accomplish this.”
Logan loves his job, particularly because of where it’s located. “Mount Washington is one of the most spectacular places I have been,” he says. “The views, the natural environment are unreal in the summer or winter.”
Logan has taken many risk management courses from Selkirk College and the Canada West Ski Area Association over his years in lift operations and with the Resort’s WorkSafe BC Occupational Health and Safety committee. He says they prepared him for his job as Risk Manager.
“My experiences being the Lift Ops Supervisor and being exposed to so much that goes on at our operation outside really helped prepare me for what I am doing now,” he says.
“I was attending Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo working toward a B.A. in Physical Education. One of the credit courses they offered was skiing at Mount Washington. It was a no brainer, credit for skiing! I’ve since become a snowboarder.”
Away from the mountain, Logan enjoys everything the Comox Valley has to offer – everything from boating to barbecuing. “I really enjoy the snow and the sun and I use the time in the middle to get ready for one of those two,” he says.