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A self-proclaimed “lift nerd.” A calm-as-a-cucumber-in-a-crisis assistant patrol director. A “gifted clinic leader.” A viral content creator. Lifelong skiers and riders, and snowsports industry newbies. Undaunted problem solvers. Passionate leaders with big potential. This is the “10 Under 30” class of 2024.

They come from as far south as Tennessee and as far north as Alberta. Some have racked up nearly a decade in the industry, while others are crushing it in their first gig out of school. All of them have made an impact on the peers and employers who nominated them. 

Read on to get to know these inspiring young people.

As dispatch communications specialist at Stratton Mountain, Vt., “Swiss Army Sam,” aka Sam Altavilla, plays an important role in mountain ops at the resort. At only 20, he’s also a patroller and a former lift operator.

Altavilla grew up skiing in the East and became a junior patroller at Stratton in 2019. After high school, in summer 2022, he was offered a paid internship “under the wing” of Stratton’s VP of mountain ops. That winter, he was hired as a mountain operations dispatcher, where he learned the workings of the lift ops department. He returned in winter 2023-24 as a dispatcher, this time with added responsibilities.

The “voice of Stratton,” his “passion for mountain operations extends beyond his job title,” says a nominator. “He is a self-proclaimed ‘lift nerd’ and anyone that spends 15 minutes talking with him knows he will likely be the youngest person to run a ski resort.”

Altavilla is heavily involved with the development and revision of standard operating procedures for dispatch. “Part of this is management of our radio system and all of our internal communication equipment along with the recordkeeping of radio/telephone directories,” he says. 

The dispatch department is technically a division of patrol, and Altavilla is one of a team of two. “I’m more focused on the maintenance of our recordkeeping and communications, whereas my counterpart does the majority of the day to day,” he says.

Altavilla calls the resort’s radio system “my baby,” for which he “jointly oversees two repeater sites, roughly 300 radio units, crosspatch link with our area EMS dispatch, and our base station consoles.” He came on board right after the initial installation of the system, and he was heavily involved with the development and revision of standard operating procedures for dispatch, including implementation of a centralized inventory and asset management system for keeping track of all the equipment and programming.

A student both at the resort and in real life, Altavilla will be in his third year at Vermont State University this fall, where he studies resort and hospitality management. He envisions continuing in mountain operations and says if he had to pick a specific job, he would be a lift operations manager somewhere. “If I can score a corner office and at least two runs a day, I’ll be perfectly content.”

CJ Buehler’s is the classic mountain town story: come for a winter, stay for a lifetime. Buehler, 27, is the workforce housing manager at Palisades Tahoe. The New Jersey native ended up there by way of the University of Alabama, where he earned a degree in business administration. He moved to Tahoe having never been to California, was hired by Palisades as a kids’ ski instructor, and broke his wrist the first day. “I started wondering if I was in over my head but told myself that everything happens for a reason,” he says. “And, boy, was I right.”

Buehler moved to Palisades’ sales department and came back the following season as a supervisor. Though he loved Tahoe, he had the same issue as so many others in the area: finding affordable housing. In less than two years he moved five times before finding a long-term place to live. While it wasn’t a path he’d considered before, when the workforce housing manager position became available in July 2022, Buehler says he knew “I had the experiences and knowledge to truly make an impact for the company and our employees.” 

Today, Buehler and his team oversee all things employee housing at the resort—from the acquisition of new beds to working with residents upon move-out to finance, legal, maintenance and beyond.

The team has tackled the critical issue of expanding the bed base for resort employees in part by partnering with local businesses, property management companies, and extended-stay motels. “By providing beds in alternative options, the demand for seasonal leases from short-term employees is reduced and the housing availability for long-term residents increases,” says Buehler. “In my opinion, this is the problem to solve for communities in seasonally transient areas: how to alleviate the pressure on the local renting market with seasonal tourism.”

Since 2022, Buehler has increased the inventory of employee beds from 38 to 235. “His compassion for our staff, problem solving skills, and leadership has enabled Palisades Tahoe to positively impact housing for thousands of employees,” a nominator says. “CJ has (created) a housing department of three additional people to support housing services. He implemented a modern online system to track applications, deposits, rents, etc.”

“I came to Palisades Tahoe to chase a dream of making a life in the mountains,” says Buehler, “and now I can use my experience to help people with that same dream.”

Chris Hoffmann, senior manager of mountain operations at Homewood, Calif., has worked his way up through the ranks of ski patrol, lift maintenance, and F&B to where he is today. 

According to one nominator, Hoffmann, 29, was “the leader that the mountain needed” last season—one in which the weather was particularly challenging. “Preseason, Chris trucked in snow from surrounding businesses to open our beginner terrain, saving our pre-Christmas opening day,” says the nominator. “Midseason during the ‘big storm’ (7 feet in 48 hours), Chris led the team, fixed equipment, shuttled employees who were stuck, and made the correct safety calls when closing the mountain. He has shown incredible grit and maturity.”

Growing up in North Lake Tahoe, Hoffmann knew he was meant for the ski industry early on. His dad worked weekends at Palisades Tahoe to get season passes for the family. Hoffmann graduated in 2016 with a BS in ski business and resort management from Sierra Nevada College under the tutelage of Tim Cohee, who helped him gain an internship on the ski patrol at Homewood. His senior project was a theoretical ski resort master plan.

Hoffmann just finished his ninth winter at Homewood, having served as assistant patrol director and lift maintenance manager before assuming his current position last November. He now oversees all mountain operations departments and also serves as the resort’s snow safety manager—he restructured Homewood’s avalanche training program a few years back and holds the Avalanche Pro II forecasting certificate. 

He’s found that most of being a manager is listening to people and solving problems. “More times than not, people just need to be heard,” he says.

Hoffmann’s work last winter earned him Homewood’s “Leader of the Year” award. The storm especially tested his knowledge, relationship building, and “ability to fix anything that kept breaking,” Hoffmann says. “I’ll always look back on [last] season and be proud.”

Hoffmann is grateful for Homewood and all the opportunities it has given him. Of working in the ski industry he says, “My favorite part is the people—it attracts people who want to be here.”

Lydia Montanino, 27, general manager of Timber & Torch (T&T) at Steamboat Resort, Colo., was first exposed to restaurant life as a senior in college, when she worked as a server at a local restaurant and for event staff at George Mason University, where she played lacrosse and majored in sports management.

Her first job at Steamboat, where she landed in 2020, was as assistant building manager at the resort’s on-hill Rendezvous Lodge, a position she held for three years before her promotion to the role of GM at base area establishment T&T.

The move to the base area was an adjustment, says Montanino. “While the previous lodge I worked at was very busy, T&T was a different beast.” It was her first year working directly with banquet teams for events that occurred in the restaurant. “I also oversaw all of our Bud Light concerts, which took place every weekend in the spring.” The increased responsibility, she says, helped her become more flexible and a better communicator. “I also learned the importance of delegating responsibilities, as I realized I could not be everywhere at the same time.”

In her first year as general manager of the restaurant, “she drove record revenues, amazing engagement scores, and the highest guest satisfaction throughout the season,” says a nominator. Montanino is “a driven, passionate, and incredible leader,” the nominator adds. “She will always do what it takes to make sure that the job gets done well and that her team is set up for success."

Montanino is most proud of her staff retention/satisfaction rate. “I believe I helped with turning T&T into a great place to work, and I did everything I could to work with my servers, bartenders, and support staff to make them feel heard and happy,” she says.

“Lydia is enthusiastic about the ski industry and wants to ensure visitors that come to Steamboat have an incredible experience and keep coming back,” says a nominator. “She is a breath of fresh air and her passion and commitment to the industry will take her anywhere!”

One of this year’s youngest nominees at age 22, Owen Pelletier was named assistant patrol director at Pats Peak, N.H., at just 20 years old. Pelletier grew up skiing and began six years ago as a junior patroller, during which time he completed his Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) training and worked part time at Pats Peak. “I just fell in love with it,” he says. He joined the patrol full time when he graduated high school.

Pelletier works hard to increase his knowledge. He achieved his senior OET (Outdoor Emergency Transport) and senior OEC last season to become a full senior patroller, and he works with New Hampshire’s young adult patrol program. Pelletier also earned his EMT certificate last October, and is currently working as an EMT both for the state and on the bike patrol at Highland Mountain Bike Park in nearby Northfield.

At Pats Peak, where he’s winter-seasonal, in addition to the medical aspect of patrolling, Pelletier deals with “everything on the hill,” from opening trails to risk management to protecting hazards to working with grooming and mountain ops to overseeing the morning lift check. “I’ve taken a step back from the medical aspect to give new people more experience,” he says.

Pelletier “possesses all the qualities that we look for in everyone we recruit, but brings it to the next level in terms of personality, leadership, and skills,” says a nominator. “He has an innate ability to interact with guests and help them in their time of need.” 

During a challenging call this past winter, Pelletier was faced with an unstable patient needing a difficult extrication, says a nominator. “He seamlessly led his team of inexperienced patrollers and managed a crowd of bystanders by giving them all roles and provided care and guidance with his normal calm demeanor.”

One of the best parts of his job, says Pelletier, is the people. “It’s a whole different environment at the ski mountain, getting to connect with not only my fellow employees but the guests,” he says. “It’s a great culture to be in.”

When it came to promoting snow sliding early last season, resorts across North America were faced with an uphill battle. Castle Mountain Resort in Alberta was no exception, but first-year content and social media coordinator Lizzy Reimer managed to increase the resort’s reach and boost engagement despite the dry slopes.

“In a year that threw many weather challenges, Lizzy was able to make lemonade from lemons,” says a nominator. “When there was very little good news, she managed to create something. Always one step ahead, Lizzy brought a great vibe to our team and our guests.”

Reimer, 23, spends a typical day checking forecasts, capturing video and photo content (fingers crossed for powder), editing, planning, and posting to Castle Mountain’s social media feeds. A big part of her job, at which nominators say she has excelled, is to come up with fresh ideas that get attention. One video she created last season utilizing various staff members went viral, getting a million views on Instagram.

Lessons she’d learned while studying media and marketing management at the Whistler Adventure School in British Columbia played into building an honest voice that the public could trust from day one. “When most of December was warm, that included looking on the bright side and explaining to the public how hard the team was working,” she says.

“That transparency worked out well,” says Reimer, reflecting on her approach to last winter’s unseasonable weather. “We also had amazing buy-in [from resort leaders] right from the start, because the resort didn’t want people to show up excited and be upset,” she says.

Her favorite part of the industry after her first year, she says, is the community. “Everyone’s really excited to be there, and the shared love of skiing and snowboarding is contagious.” That was clear in the making of the video that went viral, with staff members “super willing to be part of it, which made it so much easier and way more fun,” says Reimer.

Halley Riley-Elliott, 23, may just be the only ski area maintenance shop employee to also compete in beauty pageants. The vehicle maintenance manager at Killington Resort/Pico Mountain, Vt., holds the title of Miss Vermont Volunteer 2024. While pageantry is new, tinkering on engines has held her attention for quite some time. 

“When I was a senior in high school, my first vehicle was a Jeep Wrangler that needed a lot of work,” says Riley-Elliott. “I started working on it myself and fell in love with it.” 

That passion spurred Riley-Elliott to attend Vermont Technical College, where she majored in diesel powered technology. She’d been a snowboard instructor at Okemo, Vt., since high school and eventually transitioned into the maintenance garage and started working on snowcats there before moving to Killington’s shop in 2022.

At Killington, Riley-Elliott oversees a department of 10 mechanics with 26 snowcats/groomers and a fleet of small engine vehicles. Eighty percent is managing while 20 percent is hands-on, she says. Her favorite part of the job? “The feeling you get when the mountain opens in the morning, and I know that the equipment that I oversee did that.”

A nominator says she’s used her organizational skills to tighten up processes to make the busy garage function more efficiently. “Halley has worked hard to foster improved and continuous communication with not only the vehicle maintenance team but also grooming,” the nominator adds. “Not to mention that she is a young woman in a male-dominated arena.”

Riley-Elliott says being female in a male-dominated profession is “tough but rewarding.” In school she was the only woman in her program; now she’s the only woman in the maintenance shop at Killington. 

Off-hill, Riley-Elliott is committed to efforts that promote self-esteem in young girls, including Girls on the Run, for which she coaches and sits on the board for the Vermont chapter. She got into pageantry in 2021. “It gives me an excuse to get all dolled up, and also gives me an opportunity to support all of the causes that are dear to me, such as Girls on the Run,” she says. Miss Volunteer America focuses on responsibility, volunteerism, and empowerment, and Riley-Elliott represented Vermont at the Miss Volunteer National Pageant in Tennessee in June.

Much like training new mechanics at Killington, she says, “it’s a chance to give back.”

For Lyndsay Ward, 28, who first got on skis at age 3, skiing and snowboarding have been lifelong passions. So much so that Ward, education and certification manager for the Professional Ski Instructors of America and American Association of Snowboard Instructors Central Region, started instructing at a local resort while in college in Wisconsin and was named snowsports director there while still a full-time student.

Today, Ward’s primary responsibilities include planning and overseeing all on-snow and virtual events within the PSIA-AASI Central Region, which spans the Midwest. In season, Ward also onboards and trains examination staff, coordinates with resorts hosting events, and manages post-event results, assessment forms, and education histories, among other things. She currently holds Snowboard Level 3, Children’s Specialist Level 2, and Alpine Level 1 certifications, and she’s an active snowboard and children’s specialist examiner.

Ward is “a gifted clinic leader,” says a nominator. “During on-snow clinics, she displays creativity, care, and keen process observation skills. Lyndsay consistently models what effective, engaging, and supportive coaching looks and feels like.”

“Lyndsay demonstrates outstanding interpersonal and organizational skills,” says another. “She is very creative while working with students and other educational staff members. She is highly sought after as a leader for on- and off-snow events.”

Ward says she used to struggle with a fear of making mistakes in the workplace. “I have made it my mission to show my young staff members grace and kindness when they inevitably make mistakes and celebrate the learning that comes out of it.”

She motivates staff through daily positive reinforcement and by expressing interest in and appreciation for each individual. “I have come to understand that people, of any age, will do their best work when they feel valued and appreciated.”

When it comes to career aspirations? “In 10 years, I would be honored to be leading PSIA–AASI Central Region, a snowsports school, or working in upper management at a resort,” says Ward. “Most of all, I’d like to still be involved in children’s instruction and education.”

Reed Weimer joined Red River Ski Area at age 22, and in seven years has grown into a role that extends beyond his marketing manager title.

The shift into his current role was progressive, says Weimer, 29. What started as a seasonal photography job at Jack Frost Big Boulder in his native Pennsylvania parlayed into a year-round opportunity doing similar work at Red River, where he started as social media and event coordinator. “The only thing I knew about New Mexico at the time was ‘Breaking Bad,’” he says.

As Weimer learned more about marketing, his job expanded to include events, a website rebuild, some guest services, and—as marketing manager, a title he gained in 2020—working with outside agencies on ad design, placement, and media buys. In 2021, Weimer assumed IT responsibilities and inherited “three major hardware and software upgrades that were happening around the same time.” All would be key in evolving Red River’s marketing, point of sale, ticketing, e-commerce, and guest services. “They all had to work cohesively with each other,” he says. “That year was a lot of waking up at one in the morning and making lists on my phone.”

“He keeps the back-of-house sales running great while at the same time waking up to measure snow, get the snow report out, and hop in with a groomer to get some shots to post on pow days,” says his nominator.

Weimer appreciates that every day on the job is different. “It’s not just coming in and sitting in a cubicle working on an Excel sheet from 9 to 5.” And Red River—the resort and its community—is a great fit. “I love working at a smaller ski area that’s family owned and operated,” he says. “It’s hard to see myself anywhere else.”

“Reed has a love for snowboarding, and you can see him on the hill almost every day. He is also a big piece of our town,” says a nominator, noting that Weimer volunteers with the local parks and trails committee, represents the ski area on the Economic Development Committee and Lodgers Tax Advisory Board, and sits on the board of a local charter school.

Growing up in South Florida, Elatia Wiles wasn’t raised skiing or snowboarding, but she did have a history in communications when she landed her job as social media manager at Tennessee’s Ober Mountain last year.

Wiles, 27, earned a BA in communication from the University of Tennessee after starting college at Florida International University in Miami. While working as social media manager for an e-commerce company after college, she vacationed in Gatlinburg. “I remember wishing I could experience that beautiful drive through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park every day,” she says. “Nearly one year later, I found the job at Ober Mountain, and now I make that drive every day.”

The move to Ober meant transitioning from remote work to an in-person role. Because she worked mainly from home, Wiles says, “I felt like I wasn't inspired or growing until I found Ober. Working closely with a marketing team who is plugged into the community made me realize how much I thrive when I am in an environment where I can bounce off other creative thinkers.”

At Ober, Wiles manages social media content creation, including capturing and editing video and photos, editing, online reviews, brainstorming content, influencer outreach, and interacting with guests online and in person. “I love being able to go to work every day and feel like I have the opportunity to make a positive impact in people’s lives,” she says.

Wiles says she felt challenged stepping into the snowsports industry with no prior hospitality and tourism experience and as the minority in a mostly white- and male-dominated field. “I feel like I overcome what I view as challenges daily by remaining open-minded, viewing each new experience as an opportunity to learn, staying inspired, and sharing my experience with others that look like me and aspire to be in a similar position,” she says. Wiles has spoken to multiple student groups interested in entering the hospitality and tourism field.

“Elatia is truly a rock star in her 20s,” writes a nominator. “She is eager to perfect her craft and talent communicating our company brand to guests on multiple social media channels and is always up for new tasks and adventures. With her positive attitude and willingness to learn, the sky is the limit.”