Craig Cimmons, named the new general manager of Eaglecrest Ski Area on Wednesday, is plenty familiar with trying to keep things running smoothly during a lengthy period of turmoil and transition at a small community ski resort.
Cimmons, a ski school and community engagement manager at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont since 2012, watched it fall victim to the biggest fraud in ski industry history, resulting in it operating under federal receivership between 2016 and late 2022. The resort’s two owners were jailed after being accused of defrauding foreign investors of $200 million, and the resort is now instead getting attention for a range of modern upgrades including new on-site hotels and an indoor water park.
“It’s been a rough road,” Cimmons said during an Aug. 3 meet-and-greet in Juneau when he was one of two finalists interviewing for the Eaglecrest job. But he said those years of struggle “did solidify the team” of employees who worked to recover from the scandal.
Cimmons, selected from 17 Eaglecrest general manager applicants, is scheduled on Sept. 30 to replace Dave Scanlan, who was ousted after seven years as general manager by the board as of June 1 for reasons that still haven’t been publicly specified. Erin Lupro has been serving as the interim general manager since Scanlan’s departure.
The new general manager will arrive amidst worries about a short preparation time for the approaching ski season, and longer-term concerns about a large-scale transition to year-round activities including the installation of a gondola and other facilities. During an Aug. 2 interview with the Juneau Assembly, Cimmons said the first words that came to mind about his managerial approach after meeting with employees, seeing the mountain and reviewing its finances were “simple and easy.”
“I know nothing’s easy and I know there’s nothing simple,” he said. But the words are based on a management principle of “knowing where people are coming from and having a plan for their success for everyone involved. So I’ve been managing that way for decades. I’ve probably trained hundreds, if not thousands, of people in that model.”
Initiating a plan once everyone’s input is collected is the complex part, Cimmons acknowledged. But he said his longtime ski resort experience has made him familiar with every aspect of operations from the geological features of the mountain to infrastructure to finances to guest/employee relations.
“Everyone I met yesterday was super-passionate about Eaglecrest,” he said. “So that’s why I keep saying it’s simple. Everything’s already in place. It’s just listening, observing and then making a plan based on what you can learn from them.”
Cimmons’ prior experience includes a variety of roles with ski and snowboarding education, and other environmental education and adventure recreation entities, according to a biography published by the City and Borough of Juneau, which owns and operates Eaglecrest. Cimmons holds a bachelor’s degree in Adventure Recreation from Green Mountain College.
The board is scheduled to formally appoint Cimmons as the new head of the ski area at an annual salary of $121,222 during a special meeting Thursday night, nearly two weeks after he and another finalist were interviewed by the Assembly and held the public meet-and-greet. The board initially planned to name a director a couple of days later at a meeting Aug. 5 — the same night record overnight flooding damaged nearly 300 homes in Juneau.
The other finalist was Julie Jackson Piper, who since 2018 has been the recreation manager for the City of Richland, Washington. Before that she was the aquatics manager for CBJ, youth and community outreach coordinator at Eaglecrest, and snowsports school supervisor at the ski resort.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
