The reward outweighs everything,” Tish says. “You get to bring people on this really cool adventure every single day, and you leave work feeling awesome.
Snowbird is known for many things—deep powder, steep terrain, and of course, its iconic Tram that takes guests from the base to the 11,000 ft. summit. The 1.6 mile ride takes just ten minutes. For Tish, the tram is what makes Snowbird special. “It takes you from the bottom to the top very quickly and you get to ski amazing terrain,” she explains.
But behind that seamless ride is an enormous amount of coordination and care. “We talk safety every single day,” Tish says. “Putting people in the right places, communicating with ski patrol—that allows us to get the mountain open as soon as we can.”
In a canyon known for its wild weather and avalanche danger, safety is always the top priority. “This mountain and this canyon is pretty wild as far as avalanches and how dangerous this mountain can be if you’re not safe and doing things with the right steps and communicating.”
Tish laughs as she tells us she has too many fun memories to share. But she says the best mornings are the early ones. “Really fun days for me is we get to take a small team up the tram and get to the lifts before ski patrol gets to do their avalanche mitigation. You get to ski in the dark, get to your lift and then it's go time. It's a mix of grit, teamwork, and sheer joy that keeps her coming back. If you want to join the ski industry, it's about teamwork, making friends, skiing fun terrain, and being down for adventure every single day, Tish says. Be adventurous. 
It’s this sense of adventure that got Tish on the mountain as a teenager. She grew up right here in Utah, though skiing wasn’t part of her childhood. “I didn’t grow up skiing or snowboarding. My parents don’t do any of that.” Like many kids in Utah, she was exposed to snow sports in one of the many programs offered to kids. “In junior high, there was a cool after-school program that I hopped on. I didn’t have the best equipment, but I learned how to snowboard,” she says. And now she spends her free time still at Snowbird with her own family. “Growing up without my family bringing me here - now with having a family I want them to come and do this.”
That spark led to a lifelong love of the mountains—and a career that’s become her calling. “I think I work in the best department,” she says proudly. “ We call our department TLG which is tram, lift, gates, and we’ve built this community base and this culture of what it means to work in the ski industry and what it means to be an operator of a lift or a tram or a gate.”
Even on the toughest days, Tish finds purpose in her work. “Tough days always come with good moments and good days after,” she reflects. “I ski every single day I work—it’s always my goal to ski every lift and say hello to as many employees as I can.”
Her advice to anyone who dreams of working or playing in the mountains? “You don’t have to be a hardcore skier. You can come here, be whoever you are, and learn along the way. As long as you’re down for the adventure, you’ll have a good experience.
