Welcome to the February edition of Snow People, our monthly roundup of happenings to prominent people in the mountain resort industry.

Tracy Bartels, Keystone, Colo.

Tracy Bartels is now senior director of mountain operations at Keystone. Bartels, who joined Vail Resorts in 2000 as manager of the children's ski and ride school at Breckenridge, has also held the health and safety manager role for both Keystone and Breckenridge during her career.

“I'm thrilled to welcome Tracy to the Keystone Resort team,” said Mike Goar, vice president and COO at Keystone. “I'm confident that her experience and leadership abilities will be incredible assets for our mountain operations department and the broader resort team.”

Joshua Bettis, Devil's Thumb Ranch

Devil's Thumb Ranch Resort & Spa welcomed Joshua Bettis as its new executive chef, taking the lead role for all food and beverage operations at Devil's Thumb and its two sister restaurants in Winter Park, Colo. Bettis will be charged with sourcing local and sustainable ingredients as he develops new menus that showcase authentic and creative ranch and alpine-style fare.

Bettis has more than 18 years of culinary experience, most recently serving as executive chef for The Brown Hotel in Louisville, Ky., a AAA 4-Diamond Historical Destination Hotel.

Gary Black Jr.

Longtime publisher and CEO of Ski Racing International, Gary Black Jr., died at the age of 75 over the weekend. Black purchased a small publication called Ski Racing magazine following the 1984 Olympic season, which began his career as the premier voice of snow sport competition.

The magazine went through several iterations over more than two decades under Black's watch, and now operates digitally as SkiRacing.com. Among his awards are the Blegen Award, the FIS Journalist Award, the International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS) lifetime achievement award, and the International Skiing History Association (ISHA) lifetime achievement award

Bud Fischer

Ernest Max (Bud) Fischer III died Dec. 30, 2016. Bud's career in the ski industry spanned more than 40 years, beginning in 1974 when he joined Lift Engineering and developed some of the lift technologies still in use today.

In 1992, Bud joined the team at Brian Head Resort in Utah, becoming involved in all technical aspects of ski resort operations.

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