Also called: Director of Mountain Operations
Leads lifts, snowmaking, grooming, and ski patrol at a ski resort.
A mountain ops director decides at 4 a.m. which runs open after a storm, coordinates snowmaking and grooming crews, and works with ski patrol on avalanche safety.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 10 years after high school. Bachelor's in recreation or business plus years of resort operations.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Recreation Management, Business.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Tracks entertainment and recreation managers.
Low risk for 10 years. Snowmaking and grooming get more automated, but leading lifts and patrol stays human.
Classes: Business, Earth science, Physics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-9072.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.