Undercover Boss (2010) s04e11 Episode Script
Squaw Valley
This week on Undercover Boss The CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows Ski Resorts hits the slopes on some of the most extreme snow terrain in the world and goes undercover as a struggling computer programmer hoping to win enough money to start an extreme new career.
Holy shmoly.
His employees think he's on a reality show featuring olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley.
I'm just kind of providing cover, so you don't get uncovered.
I guess I'm not supposed to hit the thing, huh? By working side by side with his employees You gotta move faster! He's underneath the snow! He's not breathing! The boss hears the ugly truth about what his employees really think.
I could tell you horror stories, man.
And how will the boss react when he's caught off-guard? Dude.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x11 - Squaw Valley Original air date March 8, 2013 Located in scenic Lake Tahoe, California, Squaw Valley is one of the largest ski resorts in the United States.
Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows offer skiing and snowboarding to experts and beginners on more than 6,000 acres of terrain.
And sitting at the top of this $100-million mountain is one man.
My name is Andy Wirth.
I'm the president and CEO of Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley ski areas.
Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows are located in north Lake Tahoe, California.
Squaw Valley is really a legendary, big mountain, hosted the 1960 winter Olympics, and is arguably the epicenter of all of big-mountain skiing.
You're just as likely to bump into, literally, an olympic gold medalist, like Jonny Moseley, as you are to bump into your best friend.
Alpine Meadows, which is just on the other side of the ridge from Squaw Valley, is our new ski resort, and it has great, groomed slopes for all ability levels and is a really family-friendly terrain.
So really, what Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley offer in combination is somewhat unparalleled in the mountain business.
One of the real guiding influences for our family was my grandfather, Conrad Wirth, and he was director of the National Park Service for 11 years.
And initially, I went to follow in his footsteps in natural resource management, and as I was finishing up my undergraduate degree, I ended up doing this internship at Steamboat Ski Area in Colorado, and that's when I realized what a great business this is.
I've been with Squaw Valley now for about 2 1/2 years, and I was able to bring in experience from working with over 20 other ski resorts.
And a big part of our work at Squaw Valley is to take this legendary, big mountain and make it a little bit more approachable frankly, a little bit less intimidating.
When I first came in as CEO of Squaw Valley, the vast majority of our customers were expert skiers, so to broaden our customer base, we decided to purchase the neighboring mountain, Alpine Meadows, which attracts a more intermediate and family-friendly customer.
We really phrase it as two great mountains, one lift ticket, one pass, and over 6,000 acres of skiing.
Our goals are to be top five ski resorts in the world.
There are some folks that think we can't pull that off, but it's not a question of "if"" it'll be a question of "when.
" I'm absolutely anxious about being found out.
We see each other in these small communities, and so for that reason and more, yeah, I think it's going to be a neat trick to hide me.
- Hey, Andy.
- What's up, man? - What's going on? - How's your day, man? Oh, excellent.
How about you? Yeah? Good.
I've known Jonny Moseley for quite a while.
In fact, I got to know him when he was a youngster, training in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
This is a small town.
Everybody knows each other.
If they thought you were doing a show, then we might be able to pull it off.
It'll be as if I'm hosting a reality show, but what's really going on is I'm just kind of providing cover, so you don't get - Uncovered, right? - Oh, got it.
- Right? - Yeah.
So it'll be great.
The only thing I ever notice on TV is that I'm never as cool as I think I am.
As CEO of Squaw Valley, I'm certainly proud to be in the position to lead the company, but over the past couple of years, I've gone from being really engaged to less engaged than I would care to admit.
So do you want a French braid or a fishtail braid? Following the acquisition of Alpine Meadows, we dealt with the understandable fears of some of the staff members.
I think there was a general concern of loss of their jobs, frankly.
I can't say that we took into account everything, but at the same time, we managed the situation with a very respectful hand.
Here we go.
I absolutely want to hear what's not working.
The true sign of a healthy company is being open to the truths and to what can improve.
Holy shmoly.
While undercover, I'll be posing as David Sandell, a computer programmer from Greeley, Colorado.
Throughout my undercover journey, the employees will be tricked into thinking they are on a reality TV show featuring Jonny Moseley, where regular people compete for the opportunity to win extreme jobs.
They think they are going to give feedback to the show's judges on whether or not David deserves to win.
Hi, I'm Jonny Moseley, and we're at Squaw Valley.
My hope is that Jonny Moseley will be a big enough distraction that my employees will have no idea that this is secretly Undercover Boss.
Karen.
Oh, my goodness.
You have a mullet, Andy.
- And you have a fu manchu.
- I know.
Andy is very determined.
He's very motivated.
Oh, my goodness.
I don't think anyone's ever going to know who you are.
I think he'll have a very difficult time not being the boss.
I think he'll have a hard time not taking charge.
I think it's going to be hard for him to to dumb it down to that level so that he's believable.
We'll see how he does.
We're here with Bennett, who's a kids' snowboard instructor.
Now, we've got David coming in.
What's the first thing you're going to do with him? Probably have him teach a beginner lesson 'cause that can be the most stressful lesson, you know, of your career.
This is a great opportunity for me to see, in this case, from the snowboard up, how good our instructors are.
We're actually trying to get more people into snowboarding because we think we're missing part of the market.
Hey, what's up? Are you Bennett? I am.
How's it going? Hey, Bennett.
Good, man.
How you doing? I'm David.
- David, good to meet you.
- Good to meet you, man.
So why don't you, uh, tell me a little bit about yourself first? Well, I'm not a big-time snowboarder.
- Yeah.
- I've ridden a little bit.
- I'm mostly a skier.
- Mm-hmm.
First impression of David, the dude is a hippie.
Long hair.
But that's good.
Those are the kind of people that fit in really well up here.
So will the kids that we're teaching that you're teaching today are they beginners? They are never ever snowboarders, yeah.
Got it.
Just know that you are a role model for these kids, you know.
Everything you do, they're watching, like helmet.
Even though we're I'm out here - Oh, that's right.
- I always wear a helmet.
You know, this is my seventh season here now, maybe.
- Yeah.
- Squaw did just buy this place.
Squaw was actually right there.
So now we're super short-staffed on snowboard instructors.
Oh, how come? Because the way it used to be run, any leftover instructors were just, like, hanging out, kind of waiting for an actual lesson.
Squaw bought us out, and they changed everything.
Oh, really? And it was kind of like, whoa, guys.
Squaw's just trying to take over, and we're Alpine over here.
We're a completely different mountain.
When I first met him, Bennett started speaking to the changes of ownership here at Alpine Meadows.
There were some concerns about the number of snowboarding instructors being decreased.
It's certainly something I want to look into.
Uh, yeah.
So here they come.
Oh, my God.
We got a big group.
This is like a showdown right now, huh? Yeah.
Do they know that I don't know how to snowboard? I don't think so.
Don't tell them, though.
Hey, what's up, Tyler? Not too much.
How's it going? Doing good.
Here are your kids for the day.
Hey, guys.
My name is Bennett, and this is David.
There was a lot of kids that showed up.
He's going to be helping out.
It was a little bit intimidating at first.
So why don't we come right on over here? And we'll strap our board in.
Here we go.
No, we're just going to keep one foot in for now.
- Oh, just one foot? - Okay? My mistake.
And so when we walk, remember, our nose and our tail.
Just like a dog, the tail is going to follow the nose, right? Okay, guys.
Follow David.
Okay, we're going to make a figure eight, guys.
How's it going? Give me some of that.
Give me some.
Hi.
Oh, that's what I'm talking about.
Cool.
So now we're going to do what's called a straight glide, okay? Now we're going to have our foot on our bindings, and we're just going to kind of ride down the hill here for a little ways.
- Feel good? - Yeah.
- Okay, let's go.
- Put your foot on and go down.
Yeah, buddy.
This guy's loving it, I can tell.
- Okay, here we go.
- Go for it.
Surfer girl.
Yeah! David seems like he really likes working with kids.
- Whoa.
- Okay.
Come to a stop.
Good.
- I tried to.
- You did great.
Maybe give him, like, one or two more days of shadowing a class, and, yeah, I think he'd be good to go.
She's, like she's got the form of a surfer girl.
There's no dou oh, goodness.
Ow.
You want your goggles on, buddy? You okay? It's pretty bright.
You need your goggles on.
Did your mom and dad put sunscreen on you? - No sunscreen? - Uh-oh.
Put his goggles on.
I'll put my goggles down too, okay? Everybody, goggles down.
Bennett was awesome.
He's focused on three things, and he kept saying that.
It's about safety.
It's about fun.
It's about education.
- I'm wearing my goggles.
- And I loved it.
I was thrilled with that.
So you guys did a really good job today.
Did you guys all like David? - Yes.
- Yeah! Thank you, thank you.
You guys are awesome.
Bye.
See ya.
How long you been teaching snowboarding here? - Almost ten years.
- Oh, really? Nine years now.
What would be your dream job? - Oh, dude.
- 'Cause, see, if I I want to be an Alaskan ski heli-guide, like, doing it.
So would you get your pilot's license and learn how to fly? - Yup.
- Oh, really? Going to work on that.
I really want to be a climbing instructor too.
- Are you certified for that? - I am not.
- Oh, really? - That takes a lot.
Look at this.
How cool is that? Yeah, these guys these guys do great.
So sorry I didn't wear a helmet today.
I didn't even think about it.
No, no.
That's fine.
Actually, you know we have the ski team one of the head coaches over there doesn't wear his helmet with the team.
- Oh, really? - Which is, like, an outrage.
You know, like I was telling you, we are role models for these kids.
So they really look at every little thing we do, and it's like, "oh, if he does it", "it's okay for me to do it.
" Alpine used to give out helmets.
Oh, really? And it was mandatory that we wore helmets.
And now, since Squaw has bought us, they don't require them anymore, which I am, like, I'm furious about, actually.
Oh, really? How come? I could tell you horror stories, man.
Alpine used to give out helmets, and now Oh, really? Since Squaw has bought us, they don't require them anymore, which I am, like I'm furious about, actually.
Oh, really? How come? I could tell you horror stories, man.
Like what? Like, two years ago, this helmet got brought into my locker room, and it seriously looked like somebody took a samurai sword and tried to cut the thing in half.
Oh, goodness.
Really? And if that guy wouldn't have been wearing a helmet, he would have been dead, you know? In our case, we've chosen to actually allow helmet use by staff to be a personal choice, but I was thrilled to hear Bennett bring up something today I had not really thought of, and that was that we're role models for these kids in this case, so the helmet policy on the mountain is one that I may need to give a lot more thought to.
They also make me fill out my paperwork every single year.
It's like, you don't you guys don't have my birthday on file? I've been working here for seven years, dude.
- Well, what keeps you here? - The snow.
I love the backcountry.
Each mountain has its own sense of place and soul and character, and I'm definitely getting the impression that the employees of Alpine Meadows feel we're trying to change them.
But in fact, we very much celebrate the uniqueness of each mountain.
- All right.
Cool.
- Yeah.
So, yeah, we got one more lesson.
Right on, right on.
Tonight, I'm here at Alpine Meadows as the swing shift crew and the night crews come on board, and one of the crews I want to work with is our terrain park crew.
Terrain parks are features sometimes jumps, sometimes rails that are made out of snow and fabricated materials, and skiers and snowboarders slide on them, do tricks off of them, catch air off of them.
And it's really just yet another way to enjoy our mountains.
Hey.
I'm David.
I think I'm supposed to check in with you.
Hey.
I'm Christi.
- Christi.
- It's nice to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Do you know what this is? - Uh, no.
- Okay.
So it's a wallride.
Okay.
So we're going to end up building a jump, and you actually just ride up it, land on the top - Uh-huh.
- Stall it's called a stall, - where you just, like - You know.
And then ride down.
So what we're trying to do right now is level it, and, uh, we just want to make sure that we get the perfect takeoff.
David had no idea what he is getting himself into.
Okay, so I want this line all the way across, if you want to just start shoveling that out of my way.
Oh, okay.
Sure.
Whoops.
I guess I'm not supposed to hit the thing, huh? No, and you're going to want to make sure the back Look how nice and flat mine is.
Okay.
I want it to look picture perfect.
Oh, really? Should I go slower? - Yeah.
- Okay.
- Well, not that slow.
- Well, this is like Mine's not very flat.
That's because you messed it up.
- Make sure - So move Look at yours.
Yours does not look level.
Yeah.
Oh, it's not looking level? - No.
- Like here? Looks like the left side's up a little more, yeah.
What I see in Christi is a great smile, a great laugh, it's an infectious laugh.
How am I doing? My wall doesn't look as good as yours.
- I had no immediate answer.
- Oh.
Silence is not good, huh? So maybe you should win this contest more than me.
All I need is 10 grand for a snowmobile, and I'll call it even.
Oh, really? So what happens if I do this better than you? Oh, you're going to try to take my job? - I don't know about that.
- I don't think so.
Do you want me to fix your side? Nice try, buddy.
David is slowing me down.
I have this guy that doesn't know what he's doing.
But I look over at his side, and, man, it is just jacked up.
And I was like, "crap.
" "I hope I don't get in trouble for this.
" Where do you live? Do you live near here? I actually live in Reno, so I commute about 47 minutes exactly.
You drive up from Reno every day? Yup.
I live with my brother, who's a drug addict, and, um, that's rough.
It's hard.
It's hard to watch that.
Oh, man.
Oh, man.
Is he on, like, really hard drugs? Um, it's, like, pain medication.
I'm, like, the last one in the family to take care of him, and it's so hard, man, to see a drug addict every day.
And then my dad passed away a month ago.
Oh, jeez.
I'm sorry for that.
It's okay.
It's life.
Life happens.
But that's why I do what I love, you know? Yeah.
And, uh, snowboarding makes me forget about all that all that kind of crap, you know? If you're not doing what you love, then you'll just be thinking about all the bad stuff, and therefore, you'll be just attracting more bad things in your life.
Christi is wonderful.
She's got a great attitude.
She's got a great demeanor.
It's remarkable to see somebody this young with this kind of wisdom, in terms of how to deal with it.
Do you split rent with your brother? Um, actually, my Because my brother was in school, my dad was paying our rent.
Oh, he was? So now I don't know what I'm going to do.
You know, it's hard.
So what would you do for your brother, if you could? If I could do anything? I would probably just send him to rehab.
After spending the night with Christi, working in the terrain park, I can imagine that's got to be a challenge for her, day in, day out, to move through what she's dealing with and still carry herself so well.
Ahh! There goes my shovel.
I'm going to jump down and get it.
Is that okay? - Yeah.
- Whoo-hoo! He's not breathing, man! You gotta keep searching! I got a signal, got a signal.
The boss digs deep during a search and rescue mission.
Okay.
I got a head.
And later You found something there.
He gets an earful of bad news.
We get here at 6:00 or 7:00.
We don't have breaks, lunch, or anything until those lifts are open.
Andy Wirth, the CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows Ski Resorts, is a boss undercover in his own company.
Whoops.
I guess I'm not supposed to hit the thing, huh? His employees think he's a contestant on a hosted reality show, trying to win money to begin an extreme new career.
Surfer girl.
Yeah! I'm here at Squaw Valley, and today I'm really excited because I get to work with the prestigious Squaw Valley Ski Patrol.
Ski Patrol see to a number of different duties, including setting up boundary markers, running snow control, and of course, if one of our customers gets hurt, they're right on the scene to help them.
Hey, man.
- How's it going? - Good.
Are you Tucker? I'm Tucker.
Are you David? Hey, man, I'm David.
How you doing, man? Nice to meet you.
Welcome to Squaw.
Thanks, man.
It's good to be here.
So we're going to do a little bit of intro to some Ski Patrol tasks.
I'm a little bit nervous about my cover being blown because this is a really tight-knit community, so I'm going to wear the goggles and keep them down almost the whole time, just so I can maintain cover.
All right, David.
We're going to do a little avalanche rescue teaching, and then, hopefully, have you do a simulated rescue.
Okay.
This is kind of the tools that every patroller carries with them.
So it's a beacon, a shovel, and a probe.
The way this thing works, every patroller is skiing around with it, but what it's doing is sending out an electromagnetic signal.
- Got it.
- So if you were to be buried underneath the snow, we can home in on that.
So there you go.
I want to put David through a simulated beacon search, avalanche rescue scenario.
It's one of the most important things we do here at Ski Patrol.
This'll set you up for success.
This is kind of how it's going to look.
You're going to be looking down a run.
There's trees on your right and left.
The buried beacon's only about this deep.
I just went and found it earlier.
So here's the thing to be thinking about.
Something that's buried under the snow? - Yeah? - 15 minutes is your number.
You want to be have them all the way uncovered.
Otherwise, their chance of survival goes down.
They're running out of air under there.
You have the opportunity to save a life right here.
All right.
You ready? - Yep.
- All right, David.
There's been an avalanche.
My friend's buried down there.
He had a beacon on.
I need you to go get him.
What are you doing, man? He's down there.
You gotta move faster.
You gotta find my buddy! I was a little bit worried, you know.
He was definitely a little bit tentative.
You know, we put our lives in each other's hands, and you need to know for sure that the guy you're traveling with is going to be able to do that if you were to be caught.
My buddy's buried! He's not breathing, man! - All right, man.
- He's down there.
- Let's go.
- He's underneath the snow.
You're in search mode? - Yes, sir.
- All right.
Let's go find him, man.
He's under there.
- Okay.
- He's not breathing! He's not breathing, man! Keep moving, keep searching.
You gotta move faster.
He's underneath the snow.
He's not breathing! As soon as we start the avalanche beacon search, he starts yelling at me, which is perfect, because that's putting the pressure on me.
He's just trying to make it real and doing a great job.
I got a signal.
Got a signal.
- You got what? - Got a signal.
He's got a signal.
All right, follow your signal.
I'm getting confusing signals.
I wouldn't send David out patrolling right now.
He definitely has a ton more to learn, and he kind of got a little bit flustered.
Gotta keep moving.
My buddy's buried.
He's not breathing, man! Get that gear out real fast! You don't have any extra time! Get that probe set up.
- Give me the probe.
- All right, here's your probe.
- I got a tap, I got a tap.
- All right, you gotta strike.
Here's your shovel.
Leave that probe in place, so we know where it is.
You got him? Right down here.
Let's get that airway clear! Okay.
I got a head.
All right, we got an airway.
I got air.
I got air.
He's talking to you.
All right, take a breath.
Nice work.
- Good deal.
- Nice job, David.
There's no doubt that Tucker's probably responded to avalanches in real life.
These guys are pros.
This is what they do for a living, and his training, his experiences show.
All right.
Let's grab your skis.
Okay.
We're just going to be hiking in boots for the first bit.
Okay.
We have legendary and premier steep skiing runs here at Squaw Valley, and so nobody gets hurt, we really need to make sure that these chutes have the proper signage at the top.
It's a very critical part of what a ski patroller does.
Um, so this is where we're headed up to, - the top of Squaw Peak.
- Okay.
Just go slow, and be sure of your steps.
- Done deal.
- So where are you from, man? Greeley, Colorado.
It's really boring skiing, but it's, uh, skiing.
Uhhuh.
I'm not a great skier, but I love the mountains.
It's not the most lucrative job in the world.
I hate to break it to you.
I mean, the great thing is you're out on the mountain all day.
That's your job is get up in the morning, click into your skis, and you don't click out of them until it's time to go home.
So you like what you do? Oh, I love it, man.
First people on the mountain in the morning, last off in the evening.
Spend your whole day out here.
Little breezy up here, eh? It's getting a little bit Western, as they say, huh? Yep.
So there you go, that's the main chute, with closed discs on it.
Yeah.
The thing we don't want is somebody to come up, and this thing's fallen over, they go in and ski it.
Yeah, they ski something that ends up being unsafe.
Got it.
So pack it down and stick it in? Yeah, perfect, yeah.
Just stomp on there.
There.
There we go.
Got nice, deep snow here.
Right on.
So you can see come to the edge here, and you can see why this thing you know, again, be careful.
Yep.
So you can see why this thing is closed.
It's still quite rocky, a big cliff drop.
Yep.
That's pretty steep, man.
So as we're on top of Squaw Peak and we're checking these signs, the wind's blowing My pulse is racing.
With the wind like this, uh, we'll probably keep it closed all day.
The Ski Patrol is risky business.
We're looking down what is nothing short of a cliff.
When the wind is howling, they're out there, making it safe for our team, our staff, and of course our guests.
All right, David, here's our headwall patrol shack.
Let's head on in there and warm back up.
We've been up in the wind for a while.
Got some hot coffee in here.
- Awesome.
- Always good after the, uh, the windy hike.
That was cool up there, man.
Thanks for taking me.
- Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
- That was awesome.
You married? - Um, engaged.
- Are you really? Getting married this winter, yeah.
On the slopes at Squaw is the plan.
Oh, you're kidding me.
That's awesome.
So that's exciting.
Where are y'all going on your honeymoon? We're hoping to go skiing in Europe.
Oh, really? So let me get this right.
You spend day in, day out in the snow, and you're not going to want to go to Costa Rica? No way, man.
Let's go skiing.
All right, David, you ready to go back to work? - I am, man.
Let's go.
- All right.
- Let's do it.
- Hey, thanks for the We're going to go walk the boundary.
- Thanks for the coffee.
- Hey, no worries.
That was awesome.
Coffee and burritos, an important part of the Ski Patrol diet.
Hi, I'm Jonny Moseley, and we're at Squaw Valley.
I'm standing here with Charles.
Charles is a lift mechanic here, and David is going to get the chance to spend a day with Charles.
Charles, what are you going to do to him? Well, we're going to let the victim meet us here at 5:00 in the morning Uhhuh.
And we're going to see if he can keep up with us, live a day in our shoes.
- Morning.
- Hey.
- Are you Charles? - How you doing? Yep.
- Hi, I'm David.
- David, nice to meet you.
Good to meet you, man.
We're just going to go through our normal routine of, uh, opening a couple different lifts.
Okay.
Guess we can load up and head out.
The lift maintenance team does everything they can to test the lift, to run the lift, make sure that they're working, and make sure that they're going to run throughout the day safely.
Here at Squaw Valley, we have a total uphill lift capacity of over 58,000 skiers per hour.
So our lift maintenance crew help our customers get up the hill in as safe a fashion as possible.
Here we are, at the top of the world.
Holy cow.
It's beautiful up here, man.
All right, all right.
Shirley Lake Express.
This is one of our nice, new lifts.
Okay.
So we take a lot of pride in this one.
That's cool.
So I'm going to have this victim, as we've been calling him, see if he can keep up with us, and, uh, we'll see where it goes.
Basically, all of this is being spun around this bull wheel right here.
Uhhuh.
You get your power coming into here, which then comes through the gear box, through all these drive shafts, into the tire banks, which then, in turn, turns the tires, which then, in turn, turns the lift.
So we're going to inspect the tires.
For starters, we're just going to hit the tires, and you'll know if it's flat.
I mean, it's you know, just like a car tire, you're going to know it.
Okay, got it.
So what's your story? Where are you from? I'm from Greeley, Colorado, and I, uh, I had this chance to be on this show.
If I win, I get a bunch of money 'cause I'm in kind of a tough spot financially.
Aren't we all? So that's my deal.
How about you? Where are you from here? Originally, Richmond, Virginia.
What did you do in Richmond? Worked on cars and then, uh, kind of decided to keep that as a hobby.
Got a job offer from here, and here we are.
- Way cool.
- Yeah.
So, yeah, keep on coming.
Now this one's a little bit - Oh, yeah.
- What do you think about that? You found something there.
You want me to just take them off? - Yep.
- The four? You're gonna start taking those lug nuts off.
That's pretty good.
That's on there good.
Uhhuh.
With cold hands, it's not the easiest thing in the world, is it? Are you cold? It's not cold.
No, no, I'm kidding.
This isn't too bad at all.
David looked a little familiar, even with the Joe Dirt hair and the disguise glasses.
I could tell something was up.
- We good? - Yup.
All right.
From here, we're going to go back to the shop.
So, yeah, this is our beautiful shop.
We're just going to start tearing this bad boy apart.
Probably taking a little bit longer than you hoped.
Sorry about that.
That's it happens.
I notice that Charles is looking at me out of the corner of his eyes.
I think he might be a little bit suspicious of me being Andy Wirth, CEO.
So I'm going to grab a basket to start putting all these nice, clean parts in.
I think I hear Charles using my name in the other room.
And at this point, I think my cover's blown, but I still want to really see what's going on, what these guys are thinking and saying and doing.
So I need to confront him.
So, dude, you've been looking at me a certain way.
So, uh do you, uh Yeah, I recognize you.
- Oh, do you? - Yeah.
- Who who am I? - What you're the CEO of this company.
Even with the hair and the disguise glasses, you could still see right through that and know that it's Andy Wirth.
This is not my normal hairdo.
I wanted to call you Joe Dirt, but I didn't think that was good.
Joe Joe Dirt would be about right.
So Charles figures out who I am.
My cover's blown.
But I'm still very much interested in hearing what he has to say about the company.
Yeah, I'm sorry to kind of deceive you, but there was a good, honest purpose.
So I would ask you right now what we could do better.
Oh, boy.
What do you think we could do better? How could we make you guys 'cause you guys It's a touchy subject, just because, uh, my department directly does so much around here for everyone.
Yeah.
Right.
Anytime anyone needs help or needs something built or needs something fixed, they come to us.
They call lift maintenance.
If it's a big storm day, we're up here in machines, plowing out the lifts.
None of us are ever sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, you know.
- Right.
- Like we get here at 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning, drop our things, put our lunches in the fridge, and we're back out the door.
Unfortunately, you guys did lose two great mechanics this summer because of the way things are going, - as far as the company.
- Right.
I mean, even the lift ops don't really see what we truly do.
- Yeah.
- We don't have breaks.
We don't have lunch or anything until those lifts are open.
I appreciate what you're saying about being underappreciated and not acknowledged enough, based on what you're saying.
Yeah.
Right on.
Let's get this done.
- All right.
- All right.
As we move forward, I really need to find a way to make sure that they know they're valued because I just can't afford to lose another mechanic, particularly one as dedicated as Charles.
This week, I've learned a lot about myself.
I've learned a lot about our team, from their point of view, how the mountain comes to life.
I've understood our shared passions.
But even with that, there's so much more we can do.
The mole disappears.
In our business, you can only be as good as your mountain.
We still have a way to go, in terms of being as great as our mountains are.
One more step.
The mullet's going.
Coming up, the employees think they're meeting with olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley to decide David's fate.
How will they react when David reveals that he's really the boss? I'm Andy Wirth.
I'm the president and CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.
No way.
All of the people that I worked with over the past week think that they have been called here to give feedback to Jonny Moseley on whether or not I earned the right to trade in my desk job.
They have no idea why they are really here.
I'm going to meet each person one by one and reveal my true identity to them.
Bennett, how you doing, man? Hey, how are you? I'm doing great.
I was expecting to see Jonny Moseley.
So what did you think of David? How did he do up there? You messing with me? You look a little different.
What do you think? David's a pretty good guy.
- Really? - Yeah.
You're David, aren't you? I know you're David.
I remember that smile from a mile away.
I'm not David.
I'm Andy Wirth.
I'm the president and CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.
No way.
What? All right.
Cool.
This is Undercover Boss, huh? There you go.
Wow.
You pulled that one off pretty pretty clean.
I think I like this look better.
- I think I do too.
- Yeah.
Charles, I was so impressed by your work.
So the number one thing I want to convey to you is a really deep and sincere appreciation for what you've done, what your team does.
- You guys are awesome.
- Thank you.
One of the things that would strike a great deal of fear in me would be losing you, so I want to make sure you stay here.
I want to make sure that you're developed into a leadership role, and I'm going to see to that personally.
Wow.
Thank you.
That's really good to hear, 'cause within the last year, you know, I have explored other opportunities.
But to hear that, that you know, most certainly will keep me here.
And I think it'd be a good thing if you start showing your face around more.
- Done.
- That's good, that's good.
So you shared with me that you spun a wrench.
Yeah, I've got a '37 Ford that I'm just building basically into a hot rod.
That can be kind of pricey, huh? Yeah.
Absolutely.
Well, how about if I put 25 grand on a credit card for you? To help you make that '37 Ford what you want it to be, and maybe more.
Yeah, I could get some things done with that, I think.
That's unbelievable.
There's no doubt you've earned it.
Thanks so much, brother.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, be well.
Just kept my head down here and did the job the best I could for the last few years and finally getting noticed, I guess.
But we work as a team, so the whole department will definitely like the fact that he's starting to acknowledge us.
So, Tucker, I will tell you this.
You were tuned into safety.
You were thinking about that at all times.
You know, again, be careful.
Quite rocky.
Big cliff drop.
- Yep.
- I thought you did great.
- Cool.
- Back in my 20s, somebody said to me something that still sticks with me today, and that is you earn the right to live in the mountains.
Sometimes that's tough.
Sometimes it's remarkably rewarding, isn't it? Mmhmm.
A lot of the time.
There you go.
We stood at the top of Squaw Peak in 60-mile-an-hour winds.
It was still awesome up there.
Yep.
I totally dig on your passion.
It's here with me.
You helped re-ignite some of that passion.
Anytime you want to go skiing, you come find us.
And I dug the fu manchu, man.
You should bring that thing back.
That was stellar.
Tucker, you talked with a real spark in your eyes of your engagement.
You talked of getting married here at Squaw Valley, which I just think is the coolest thing in the world.
But clearly, you guys have not seen to your honeymoon, and that's where I'd like to step in and help.
So I have a pair of first-class tickets for you and your soon-to-be wife - to fly over to Chamonix - Whoa.
And put you over there for a couple of weeks.
It's gonna be over $30,000, but it's all on me.
Whoa.
I'm I'm blown away.
I don't even know what to say.
It's amazing.
I don't know what to say other than thank you.
- All right, brother.
Be well.
- All right.
- Sounds good.
Thanks, Andy.
- Take care.
- Hey.
- Hi.
The show wasn't really Jonny Moseley.
Yeah? It was Undercover Boss.
So the guy yesterday was Andy Wirth.
- You know who that is? - Yeah.
And he wants to show his appreciation by sending us skiing for our honeymoon in the Alps.
- No way.
- Right? Are you kidding? Are you kidding me? Oh, my God, that is so incredible.
Isn't that cool? My God! Bennett, I was really impressed by your performance on the hill.
You're a really, really good coach, and you're a really good instructor.
- Thank you.
- And I have to say, I really appreciated and respected all of your thoughts.
Mmhmm.
After the acquisition of Alpine Meadows, we had to really dig down and manage the business, and it took a lot of time away from me to get over there to Alpine.
But I want to make sure you know you'll be seeing a lot more of me at Alpine Meadows from now on.
I think that's a great idea.
I mean, yeah, we never see you over there, you know.
You're the Squaw guy.
Oh, man, that kills me.
It kills me.
We talked about the paperwork - filling out the paperwork.
- Yeah.
There's a great reason why we had to have everybody fill out the paperwork.
The good news is, going forward, you won't have to do that again.
Yeah, that'd be wonderful.
The other piece that you shared with me were helmets.
'Cause you and I both know that's a big deal.
- Mm-hmm.
- We're doing everything we can to make helmets easily available, at cost, to all of our staff.
Safety, fun, education.
- Yeah.
- And a big part of that - is gonna be wearing a helmet.
- Oh, yeah.
So I want to do a couple things for you.
You have some pretty cool big dreams.
- Yep.
- And you also voiced interest in alpine climbing.
So, Bennett, I'm gonna pay for you to become a certified climbing instructor.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
That's a big step forward for me right there.
- Good deal.
- Yeah.
Well, there's one other thing I have lined up for you.
You want to get up to Alaska and start a heli-ski operation with a friend.
- Yep.
- So, Bennett, I found out who the best instructor is to get you your pilot's license, - and it's about 15 grand.
- Wow.
But I'm gonna take care of that for you and make sure that you can get one step closer to that dream of having that helicopter ski operation.
Oh, my God.
This is pretty crazy.
I sure hope this doesn't mean - we'll lose you as an instructor.
- No.
Good deal.
Dreams are really coming true.
- That's great, man.
- Thank you.
All right, buddy.
Be well, man.
Fly safe.
Oh, yeah.
Always.
I mean, I gotta learn how to fly first.
Right on.
I don't even think words can describe the feelings right now.
I'm gonna be smiling a lot more the next couple weeks for sure.
Wow.
This is just incredible.
Christi, I really enjoyed working with you.
You want me to fix your side? Nice try.
For somebody of your age, you have kind of a wisdom, a strength about you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
I like that.
And you have just an incredible laugh.
So, you know, life can provide us great opportunities.
In your case, you've dealt with a heck of a lot over the past little while, the passing of your father.
The other part we talked about was your brother.
Those those things are really tough, they really are.
When we visited, you talked about him hitting rock bottom.
You think we're there yet? I don't know.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
That's all right, darling.
- Here.
- Thanks.
It's all right.
It's all right.
- Yeah, it is.
- Sorry.
- It's all right.
- Yeah.
I just want him to be better.
Yeah.
- I understand.
- Yeah.
My guess is you've been carrying a ton of this weight too.
Yeah.
Definitely.
So I want to do something for you and help you carry some of this weight, 'cause my guess is if he's anything close to what you are, he's really an outstanding person.
And so I want to work with you to research some of the great rehab opportunities there are, and I'm gonna put $25,000 towards that rehab to help you, help your mom, help your family, and most importantly, help your brother.
- Okay? - That'd be awesome.
Thank you so much.
You talked about living in the mountains, how much you love the mountains, and I want to help you out.
So I'm gonna put $10,000 to help cover moving expenses, rent, new furniture.
Let's go ahead and get you up here so you don't have a 47-minute commute.
No way.
That's so cool.
But there's one more thing I gotta do for you.
One of the things you shared with me is you love going to the backcountry.
Yeah.
So I got you an absolute rock star, backcountry snowmobile I have sitting for you outside.
No way! Here are the keys.
You gotta pinch me.
You gotta pinch me.
Is this really happening? - Feeling good? - I'm feeling - I'm on top of the world.
- Good.
- You're amazing.
Oh, my God.
- Take care, darling.
You're too good to be true.
Thank you so much for everything.
- You bet.
- You saved my life.
Keep smiling.
Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom! Andy is a great guy.
And I always knew he was, and now I just I'm so happy to have him in my life.
No way.
Whoo! That's pretty cool.
Holy shmoly.
His employees think he's on a reality show featuring olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley.
I'm just kind of providing cover, so you don't get uncovered.
I guess I'm not supposed to hit the thing, huh? By working side by side with his employees You gotta move faster! He's underneath the snow! He's not breathing! The boss hears the ugly truth about what his employees really think.
I could tell you horror stories, man.
And how will the boss react when he's caught off-guard? Dude.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x11 - Squaw Valley Original air date March 8, 2013 Located in scenic Lake Tahoe, California, Squaw Valley is one of the largest ski resorts in the United States.
Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows offer skiing and snowboarding to experts and beginners on more than 6,000 acres of terrain.
And sitting at the top of this $100-million mountain is one man.
My name is Andy Wirth.
I'm the president and CEO of Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley ski areas.
Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows are located in north Lake Tahoe, California.
Squaw Valley is really a legendary, big mountain, hosted the 1960 winter Olympics, and is arguably the epicenter of all of big-mountain skiing.
You're just as likely to bump into, literally, an olympic gold medalist, like Jonny Moseley, as you are to bump into your best friend.
Alpine Meadows, which is just on the other side of the ridge from Squaw Valley, is our new ski resort, and it has great, groomed slopes for all ability levels and is a really family-friendly terrain.
So really, what Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley offer in combination is somewhat unparalleled in the mountain business.
One of the real guiding influences for our family was my grandfather, Conrad Wirth, and he was director of the National Park Service for 11 years.
And initially, I went to follow in his footsteps in natural resource management, and as I was finishing up my undergraduate degree, I ended up doing this internship at Steamboat Ski Area in Colorado, and that's when I realized what a great business this is.
I've been with Squaw Valley now for about 2 1/2 years, and I was able to bring in experience from working with over 20 other ski resorts.
And a big part of our work at Squaw Valley is to take this legendary, big mountain and make it a little bit more approachable frankly, a little bit less intimidating.
When I first came in as CEO of Squaw Valley, the vast majority of our customers were expert skiers, so to broaden our customer base, we decided to purchase the neighboring mountain, Alpine Meadows, which attracts a more intermediate and family-friendly customer.
We really phrase it as two great mountains, one lift ticket, one pass, and over 6,000 acres of skiing.
Our goals are to be top five ski resorts in the world.
There are some folks that think we can't pull that off, but it's not a question of "if"" it'll be a question of "when.
" I'm absolutely anxious about being found out.
We see each other in these small communities, and so for that reason and more, yeah, I think it's going to be a neat trick to hide me.
- Hey, Andy.
- What's up, man? - What's going on? - How's your day, man? Oh, excellent.
How about you? Yeah? Good.
I've known Jonny Moseley for quite a while.
In fact, I got to know him when he was a youngster, training in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
This is a small town.
Everybody knows each other.
If they thought you were doing a show, then we might be able to pull it off.
It'll be as if I'm hosting a reality show, but what's really going on is I'm just kind of providing cover, so you don't get - Uncovered, right? - Oh, got it.
- Right? - Yeah.
So it'll be great.
The only thing I ever notice on TV is that I'm never as cool as I think I am.
As CEO of Squaw Valley, I'm certainly proud to be in the position to lead the company, but over the past couple of years, I've gone from being really engaged to less engaged than I would care to admit.
So do you want a French braid or a fishtail braid? Following the acquisition of Alpine Meadows, we dealt with the understandable fears of some of the staff members.
I think there was a general concern of loss of their jobs, frankly.
I can't say that we took into account everything, but at the same time, we managed the situation with a very respectful hand.
Here we go.
I absolutely want to hear what's not working.
The true sign of a healthy company is being open to the truths and to what can improve.
Holy shmoly.
While undercover, I'll be posing as David Sandell, a computer programmer from Greeley, Colorado.
Throughout my undercover journey, the employees will be tricked into thinking they are on a reality TV show featuring Jonny Moseley, where regular people compete for the opportunity to win extreme jobs.
They think they are going to give feedback to the show's judges on whether or not David deserves to win.
Hi, I'm Jonny Moseley, and we're at Squaw Valley.
My hope is that Jonny Moseley will be a big enough distraction that my employees will have no idea that this is secretly Undercover Boss.
Karen.
Oh, my goodness.
You have a mullet, Andy.
- And you have a fu manchu.
- I know.
Andy is very determined.
He's very motivated.
Oh, my goodness.
I don't think anyone's ever going to know who you are.
I think he'll have a very difficult time not being the boss.
I think he'll have a hard time not taking charge.
I think it's going to be hard for him to to dumb it down to that level so that he's believable.
We'll see how he does.
We're here with Bennett, who's a kids' snowboard instructor.
Now, we've got David coming in.
What's the first thing you're going to do with him? Probably have him teach a beginner lesson 'cause that can be the most stressful lesson, you know, of your career.
This is a great opportunity for me to see, in this case, from the snowboard up, how good our instructors are.
We're actually trying to get more people into snowboarding because we think we're missing part of the market.
Hey, what's up? Are you Bennett? I am.
How's it going? Hey, Bennett.
Good, man.
How you doing? I'm David.
- David, good to meet you.
- Good to meet you, man.
So why don't you, uh, tell me a little bit about yourself first? Well, I'm not a big-time snowboarder.
- Yeah.
- I've ridden a little bit.
- I'm mostly a skier.
- Mm-hmm.
First impression of David, the dude is a hippie.
Long hair.
But that's good.
Those are the kind of people that fit in really well up here.
So will the kids that we're teaching that you're teaching today are they beginners? They are never ever snowboarders, yeah.
Got it.
Just know that you are a role model for these kids, you know.
Everything you do, they're watching, like helmet.
Even though we're I'm out here - Oh, that's right.
- I always wear a helmet.
You know, this is my seventh season here now, maybe.
- Yeah.
- Squaw did just buy this place.
Squaw was actually right there.
So now we're super short-staffed on snowboard instructors.
Oh, how come? Because the way it used to be run, any leftover instructors were just, like, hanging out, kind of waiting for an actual lesson.
Squaw bought us out, and they changed everything.
Oh, really? And it was kind of like, whoa, guys.
Squaw's just trying to take over, and we're Alpine over here.
We're a completely different mountain.
When I first met him, Bennett started speaking to the changes of ownership here at Alpine Meadows.
There were some concerns about the number of snowboarding instructors being decreased.
It's certainly something I want to look into.
Uh, yeah.
So here they come.
Oh, my God.
We got a big group.
This is like a showdown right now, huh? Yeah.
Do they know that I don't know how to snowboard? I don't think so.
Don't tell them, though.
Hey, what's up, Tyler? Not too much.
How's it going? Doing good.
Here are your kids for the day.
Hey, guys.
My name is Bennett, and this is David.
There was a lot of kids that showed up.
He's going to be helping out.
It was a little bit intimidating at first.
So why don't we come right on over here? And we'll strap our board in.
Here we go.
No, we're just going to keep one foot in for now.
- Oh, just one foot? - Okay? My mistake.
And so when we walk, remember, our nose and our tail.
Just like a dog, the tail is going to follow the nose, right? Okay, guys.
Follow David.
Okay, we're going to make a figure eight, guys.
How's it going? Give me some of that.
Give me some.
Hi.
Oh, that's what I'm talking about.
Cool.
So now we're going to do what's called a straight glide, okay? Now we're going to have our foot on our bindings, and we're just going to kind of ride down the hill here for a little ways.
- Feel good? - Yeah.
- Okay, let's go.
- Put your foot on and go down.
Yeah, buddy.
This guy's loving it, I can tell.
- Okay, here we go.
- Go for it.
Surfer girl.
Yeah! David seems like he really likes working with kids.
- Whoa.
- Okay.
Come to a stop.
Good.
- I tried to.
- You did great.
Maybe give him, like, one or two more days of shadowing a class, and, yeah, I think he'd be good to go.
She's, like she's got the form of a surfer girl.
There's no dou oh, goodness.
Ow.
You want your goggles on, buddy? You okay? It's pretty bright.
You need your goggles on.
Did your mom and dad put sunscreen on you? - No sunscreen? - Uh-oh.
Put his goggles on.
I'll put my goggles down too, okay? Everybody, goggles down.
Bennett was awesome.
He's focused on three things, and he kept saying that.
It's about safety.
It's about fun.
It's about education.
- I'm wearing my goggles.
- And I loved it.
I was thrilled with that.
So you guys did a really good job today.
Did you guys all like David? - Yes.
- Yeah! Thank you, thank you.
You guys are awesome.
Bye.
See ya.
How long you been teaching snowboarding here? - Almost ten years.
- Oh, really? Nine years now.
What would be your dream job? - Oh, dude.
- 'Cause, see, if I I want to be an Alaskan ski heli-guide, like, doing it.
So would you get your pilot's license and learn how to fly? - Yup.
- Oh, really? Going to work on that.
I really want to be a climbing instructor too.
- Are you certified for that? - I am not.
- Oh, really? - That takes a lot.
Look at this.
How cool is that? Yeah, these guys these guys do great.
So sorry I didn't wear a helmet today.
I didn't even think about it.
No, no.
That's fine.
Actually, you know we have the ski team one of the head coaches over there doesn't wear his helmet with the team.
- Oh, really? - Which is, like, an outrage.
You know, like I was telling you, we are role models for these kids.
So they really look at every little thing we do, and it's like, "oh, if he does it", "it's okay for me to do it.
" Alpine used to give out helmets.
Oh, really? And it was mandatory that we wore helmets.
And now, since Squaw has bought us, they don't require them anymore, which I am, like, I'm furious about, actually.
Oh, really? How come? I could tell you horror stories, man.
Alpine used to give out helmets, and now Oh, really? Since Squaw has bought us, they don't require them anymore, which I am, like I'm furious about, actually.
Oh, really? How come? I could tell you horror stories, man.
Like what? Like, two years ago, this helmet got brought into my locker room, and it seriously looked like somebody took a samurai sword and tried to cut the thing in half.
Oh, goodness.
Really? And if that guy wouldn't have been wearing a helmet, he would have been dead, you know? In our case, we've chosen to actually allow helmet use by staff to be a personal choice, but I was thrilled to hear Bennett bring up something today I had not really thought of, and that was that we're role models for these kids in this case, so the helmet policy on the mountain is one that I may need to give a lot more thought to.
They also make me fill out my paperwork every single year.
It's like, you don't you guys don't have my birthday on file? I've been working here for seven years, dude.
- Well, what keeps you here? - The snow.
I love the backcountry.
Each mountain has its own sense of place and soul and character, and I'm definitely getting the impression that the employees of Alpine Meadows feel we're trying to change them.
But in fact, we very much celebrate the uniqueness of each mountain.
- All right.
Cool.
- Yeah.
So, yeah, we got one more lesson.
Right on, right on.
Tonight, I'm here at Alpine Meadows as the swing shift crew and the night crews come on board, and one of the crews I want to work with is our terrain park crew.
Terrain parks are features sometimes jumps, sometimes rails that are made out of snow and fabricated materials, and skiers and snowboarders slide on them, do tricks off of them, catch air off of them.
And it's really just yet another way to enjoy our mountains.
Hey.
I'm David.
I think I'm supposed to check in with you.
Hey.
I'm Christi.
- Christi.
- It's nice to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Do you know what this is? - Uh, no.
- Okay.
So it's a wallride.
Okay.
So we're going to end up building a jump, and you actually just ride up it, land on the top - Uh-huh.
- Stall it's called a stall, - where you just, like - You know.
And then ride down.
So what we're trying to do right now is level it, and, uh, we just want to make sure that we get the perfect takeoff.
David had no idea what he is getting himself into.
Okay, so I want this line all the way across, if you want to just start shoveling that out of my way.
Oh, okay.
Sure.
Whoops.
I guess I'm not supposed to hit the thing, huh? No, and you're going to want to make sure the back Look how nice and flat mine is.
Okay.
I want it to look picture perfect.
Oh, really? Should I go slower? - Yeah.
- Okay.
- Well, not that slow.
- Well, this is like Mine's not very flat.
That's because you messed it up.
- Make sure - So move Look at yours.
Yours does not look level.
Yeah.
Oh, it's not looking level? - No.
- Like here? Looks like the left side's up a little more, yeah.
What I see in Christi is a great smile, a great laugh, it's an infectious laugh.
How am I doing? My wall doesn't look as good as yours.
- I had no immediate answer.
- Oh.
Silence is not good, huh? So maybe you should win this contest more than me.
All I need is 10 grand for a snowmobile, and I'll call it even.
Oh, really? So what happens if I do this better than you? Oh, you're going to try to take my job? - I don't know about that.
- I don't think so.
Do you want me to fix your side? Nice try, buddy.
David is slowing me down.
I have this guy that doesn't know what he's doing.
But I look over at his side, and, man, it is just jacked up.
And I was like, "crap.
" "I hope I don't get in trouble for this.
" Where do you live? Do you live near here? I actually live in Reno, so I commute about 47 minutes exactly.
You drive up from Reno every day? Yup.
I live with my brother, who's a drug addict, and, um, that's rough.
It's hard.
It's hard to watch that.
Oh, man.
Oh, man.
Is he on, like, really hard drugs? Um, it's, like, pain medication.
I'm, like, the last one in the family to take care of him, and it's so hard, man, to see a drug addict every day.
And then my dad passed away a month ago.
Oh, jeez.
I'm sorry for that.
It's okay.
It's life.
Life happens.
But that's why I do what I love, you know? Yeah.
And, uh, snowboarding makes me forget about all that all that kind of crap, you know? If you're not doing what you love, then you'll just be thinking about all the bad stuff, and therefore, you'll be just attracting more bad things in your life.
Christi is wonderful.
She's got a great attitude.
She's got a great demeanor.
It's remarkable to see somebody this young with this kind of wisdom, in terms of how to deal with it.
Do you split rent with your brother? Um, actually, my Because my brother was in school, my dad was paying our rent.
Oh, he was? So now I don't know what I'm going to do.
You know, it's hard.
So what would you do for your brother, if you could? If I could do anything? I would probably just send him to rehab.
After spending the night with Christi, working in the terrain park, I can imagine that's got to be a challenge for her, day in, day out, to move through what she's dealing with and still carry herself so well.
Ahh! There goes my shovel.
I'm going to jump down and get it.
Is that okay? - Yeah.
- Whoo-hoo! He's not breathing, man! You gotta keep searching! I got a signal, got a signal.
The boss digs deep during a search and rescue mission.
Okay.
I got a head.
And later You found something there.
He gets an earful of bad news.
We get here at 6:00 or 7:00.
We don't have breaks, lunch, or anything until those lifts are open.
Andy Wirth, the CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows Ski Resorts, is a boss undercover in his own company.
Whoops.
I guess I'm not supposed to hit the thing, huh? His employees think he's a contestant on a hosted reality show, trying to win money to begin an extreme new career.
Surfer girl.
Yeah! I'm here at Squaw Valley, and today I'm really excited because I get to work with the prestigious Squaw Valley Ski Patrol.
Ski Patrol see to a number of different duties, including setting up boundary markers, running snow control, and of course, if one of our customers gets hurt, they're right on the scene to help them.
Hey, man.
- How's it going? - Good.
Are you Tucker? I'm Tucker.
Are you David? Hey, man, I'm David.
How you doing, man? Nice to meet you.
Welcome to Squaw.
Thanks, man.
It's good to be here.
So we're going to do a little bit of intro to some Ski Patrol tasks.
I'm a little bit nervous about my cover being blown because this is a really tight-knit community, so I'm going to wear the goggles and keep them down almost the whole time, just so I can maintain cover.
All right, David.
We're going to do a little avalanche rescue teaching, and then, hopefully, have you do a simulated rescue.
Okay.
This is kind of the tools that every patroller carries with them.
So it's a beacon, a shovel, and a probe.
The way this thing works, every patroller is skiing around with it, but what it's doing is sending out an electromagnetic signal.
- Got it.
- So if you were to be buried underneath the snow, we can home in on that.
So there you go.
I want to put David through a simulated beacon search, avalanche rescue scenario.
It's one of the most important things we do here at Ski Patrol.
This'll set you up for success.
This is kind of how it's going to look.
You're going to be looking down a run.
There's trees on your right and left.
The buried beacon's only about this deep.
I just went and found it earlier.
So here's the thing to be thinking about.
Something that's buried under the snow? - Yeah? - 15 minutes is your number.
You want to be have them all the way uncovered.
Otherwise, their chance of survival goes down.
They're running out of air under there.
You have the opportunity to save a life right here.
All right.
You ready? - Yep.
- All right, David.
There's been an avalanche.
My friend's buried down there.
He had a beacon on.
I need you to go get him.
What are you doing, man? He's down there.
You gotta move faster.
You gotta find my buddy! I was a little bit worried, you know.
He was definitely a little bit tentative.
You know, we put our lives in each other's hands, and you need to know for sure that the guy you're traveling with is going to be able to do that if you were to be caught.
My buddy's buried! He's not breathing, man! - All right, man.
- He's down there.
- Let's go.
- He's underneath the snow.
You're in search mode? - Yes, sir.
- All right.
Let's go find him, man.
He's under there.
- Okay.
- He's not breathing! He's not breathing, man! Keep moving, keep searching.
You gotta move faster.
He's underneath the snow.
He's not breathing! As soon as we start the avalanche beacon search, he starts yelling at me, which is perfect, because that's putting the pressure on me.
He's just trying to make it real and doing a great job.
I got a signal.
Got a signal.
- You got what? - Got a signal.
He's got a signal.
All right, follow your signal.
I'm getting confusing signals.
I wouldn't send David out patrolling right now.
He definitely has a ton more to learn, and he kind of got a little bit flustered.
Gotta keep moving.
My buddy's buried.
He's not breathing, man! Get that gear out real fast! You don't have any extra time! Get that probe set up.
- Give me the probe.
- All right, here's your probe.
- I got a tap, I got a tap.
- All right, you gotta strike.
Here's your shovel.
Leave that probe in place, so we know where it is.
You got him? Right down here.
Let's get that airway clear! Okay.
I got a head.
All right, we got an airway.
I got air.
I got air.
He's talking to you.
All right, take a breath.
Nice work.
- Good deal.
- Nice job, David.
There's no doubt that Tucker's probably responded to avalanches in real life.
These guys are pros.
This is what they do for a living, and his training, his experiences show.
All right.
Let's grab your skis.
Okay.
We're just going to be hiking in boots for the first bit.
Okay.
We have legendary and premier steep skiing runs here at Squaw Valley, and so nobody gets hurt, we really need to make sure that these chutes have the proper signage at the top.
It's a very critical part of what a ski patroller does.
Um, so this is where we're headed up to, - the top of Squaw Peak.
- Okay.
Just go slow, and be sure of your steps.
- Done deal.
- So where are you from, man? Greeley, Colorado.
It's really boring skiing, but it's, uh, skiing.
Uhhuh.
I'm not a great skier, but I love the mountains.
It's not the most lucrative job in the world.
I hate to break it to you.
I mean, the great thing is you're out on the mountain all day.
That's your job is get up in the morning, click into your skis, and you don't click out of them until it's time to go home.
So you like what you do? Oh, I love it, man.
First people on the mountain in the morning, last off in the evening.
Spend your whole day out here.
Little breezy up here, eh? It's getting a little bit Western, as they say, huh? Yep.
So there you go, that's the main chute, with closed discs on it.
Yeah.
The thing we don't want is somebody to come up, and this thing's fallen over, they go in and ski it.
Yeah, they ski something that ends up being unsafe.
Got it.
So pack it down and stick it in? Yeah, perfect, yeah.
Just stomp on there.
There.
There we go.
Got nice, deep snow here.
Right on.
So you can see come to the edge here, and you can see why this thing you know, again, be careful.
Yep.
So you can see why this thing is closed.
It's still quite rocky, a big cliff drop.
Yep.
That's pretty steep, man.
So as we're on top of Squaw Peak and we're checking these signs, the wind's blowing My pulse is racing.
With the wind like this, uh, we'll probably keep it closed all day.
The Ski Patrol is risky business.
We're looking down what is nothing short of a cliff.
When the wind is howling, they're out there, making it safe for our team, our staff, and of course our guests.
All right, David, here's our headwall patrol shack.
Let's head on in there and warm back up.
We've been up in the wind for a while.
Got some hot coffee in here.
- Awesome.
- Always good after the, uh, the windy hike.
That was cool up there, man.
Thanks for taking me.
- Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
- That was awesome.
You married? - Um, engaged.
- Are you really? Getting married this winter, yeah.
On the slopes at Squaw is the plan.
Oh, you're kidding me.
That's awesome.
So that's exciting.
Where are y'all going on your honeymoon? We're hoping to go skiing in Europe.
Oh, really? So let me get this right.
You spend day in, day out in the snow, and you're not going to want to go to Costa Rica? No way, man.
Let's go skiing.
All right, David, you ready to go back to work? - I am, man.
Let's go.
- All right.
- Let's do it.
- Hey, thanks for the We're going to go walk the boundary.
- Thanks for the coffee.
- Hey, no worries.
That was awesome.
Coffee and burritos, an important part of the Ski Patrol diet.
Hi, I'm Jonny Moseley, and we're at Squaw Valley.
I'm standing here with Charles.
Charles is a lift mechanic here, and David is going to get the chance to spend a day with Charles.
Charles, what are you going to do to him? Well, we're going to let the victim meet us here at 5:00 in the morning Uhhuh.
And we're going to see if he can keep up with us, live a day in our shoes.
- Morning.
- Hey.
- Are you Charles? - How you doing? Yep.
- Hi, I'm David.
- David, nice to meet you.
Good to meet you, man.
We're just going to go through our normal routine of, uh, opening a couple different lifts.
Okay.
Guess we can load up and head out.
The lift maintenance team does everything they can to test the lift, to run the lift, make sure that they're working, and make sure that they're going to run throughout the day safely.
Here at Squaw Valley, we have a total uphill lift capacity of over 58,000 skiers per hour.
So our lift maintenance crew help our customers get up the hill in as safe a fashion as possible.
Here we are, at the top of the world.
Holy cow.
It's beautiful up here, man.
All right, all right.
Shirley Lake Express.
This is one of our nice, new lifts.
Okay.
So we take a lot of pride in this one.
That's cool.
So I'm going to have this victim, as we've been calling him, see if he can keep up with us, and, uh, we'll see where it goes.
Basically, all of this is being spun around this bull wheel right here.
Uhhuh.
You get your power coming into here, which then comes through the gear box, through all these drive shafts, into the tire banks, which then, in turn, turns the tires, which then, in turn, turns the lift.
So we're going to inspect the tires.
For starters, we're just going to hit the tires, and you'll know if it's flat.
I mean, it's you know, just like a car tire, you're going to know it.
Okay, got it.
So what's your story? Where are you from? I'm from Greeley, Colorado, and I, uh, I had this chance to be on this show.
If I win, I get a bunch of money 'cause I'm in kind of a tough spot financially.
Aren't we all? So that's my deal.
How about you? Where are you from here? Originally, Richmond, Virginia.
What did you do in Richmond? Worked on cars and then, uh, kind of decided to keep that as a hobby.
Got a job offer from here, and here we are.
- Way cool.
- Yeah.
So, yeah, keep on coming.
Now this one's a little bit - Oh, yeah.
- What do you think about that? You found something there.
You want me to just take them off? - Yep.
- The four? You're gonna start taking those lug nuts off.
That's pretty good.
That's on there good.
Uhhuh.
With cold hands, it's not the easiest thing in the world, is it? Are you cold? It's not cold.
No, no, I'm kidding.
This isn't too bad at all.
David looked a little familiar, even with the Joe Dirt hair and the disguise glasses.
I could tell something was up.
- We good? - Yup.
All right.
From here, we're going to go back to the shop.
So, yeah, this is our beautiful shop.
We're just going to start tearing this bad boy apart.
Probably taking a little bit longer than you hoped.
Sorry about that.
That's it happens.
I notice that Charles is looking at me out of the corner of his eyes.
I think he might be a little bit suspicious of me being Andy Wirth, CEO.
So I'm going to grab a basket to start putting all these nice, clean parts in.
I think I hear Charles using my name in the other room.
And at this point, I think my cover's blown, but I still want to really see what's going on, what these guys are thinking and saying and doing.
So I need to confront him.
So, dude, you've been looking at me a certain way.
So, uh do you, uh Yeah, I recognize you.
- Oh, do you? - Yeah.
- Who who am I? - What you're the CEO of this company.
Even with the hair and the disguise glasses, you could still see right through that and know that it's Andy Wirth.
This is not my normal hairdo.
I wanted to call you Joe Dirt, but I didn't think that was good.
Joe Joe Dirt would be about right.
So Charles figures out who I am.
My cover's blown.
But I'm still very much interested in hearing what he has to say about the company.
Yeah, I'm sorry to kind of deceive you, but there was a good, honest purpose.
So I would ask you right now what we could do better.
Oh, boy.
What do you think we could do better? How could we make you guys 'cause you guys It's a touchy subject, just because, uh, my department directly does so much around here for everyone.
Yeah.
Right.
Anytime anyone needs help or needs something built or needs something fixed, they come to us.
They call lift maintenance.
If it's a big storm day, we're up here in machines, plowing out the lifts.
None of us are ever sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, you know.
- Right.
- Like we get here at 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning, drop our things, put our lunches in the fridge, and we're back out the door.
Unfortunately, you guys did lose two great mechanics this summer because of the way things are going, - as far as the company.
- Right.
I mean, even the lift ops don't really see what we truly do.
- Yeah.
- We don't have breaks.
We don't have lunch or anything until those lifts are open.
I appreciate what you're saying about being underappreciated and not acknowledged enough, based on what you're saying.
Yeah.
Right on.
Let's get this done.
- All right.
- All right.
As we move forward, I really need to find a way to make sure that they know they're valued because I just can't afford to lose another mechanic, particularly one as dedicated as Charles.
This week, I've learned a lot about myself.
I've learned a lot about our team, from their point of view, how the mountain comes to life.
I've understood our shared passions.
But even with that, there's so much more we can do.
The mole disappears.
In our business, you can only be as good as your mountain.
We still have a way to go, in terms of being as great as our mountains are.
One more step.
The mullet's going.
Coming up, the employees think they're meeting with olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley to decide David's fate.
How will they react when David reveals that he's really the boss? I'm Andy Wirth.
I'm the president and CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.
No way.
All of the people that I worked with over the past week think that they have been called here to give feedback to Jonny Moseley on whether or not I earned the right to trade in my desk job.
They have no idea why they are really here.
I'm going to meet each person one by one and reveal my true identity to them.
Bennett, how you doing, man? Hey, how are you? I'm doing great.
I was expecting to see Jonny Moseley.
So what did you think of David? How did he do up there? You messing with me? You look a little different.
What do you think? David's a pretty good guy.
- Really? - Yeah.
You're David, aren't you? I know you're David.
I remember that smile from a mile away.
I'm not David.
I'm Andy Wirth.
I'm the president and CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.
No way.
What? All right.
Cool.
This is Undercover Boss, huh? There you go.
Wow.
You pulled that one off pretty pretty clean.
I think I like this look better.
- I think I do too.
- Yeah.
Charles, I was so impressed by your work.
So the number one thing I want to convey to you is a really deep and sincere appreciation for what you've done, what your team does.
- You guys are awesome.
- Thank you.
One of the things that would strike a great deal of fear in me would be losing you, so I want to make sure you stay here.
I want to make sure that you're developed into a leadership role, and I'm going to see to that personally.
Wow.
Thank you.
That's really good to hear, 'cause within the last year, you know, I have explored other opportunities.
But to hear that, that you know, most certainly will keep me here.
And I think it'd be a good thing if you start showing your face around more.
- Done.
- That's good, that's good.
So you shared with me that you spun a wrench.
Yeah, I've got a '37 Ford that I'm just building basically into a hot rod.
That can be kind of pricey, huh? Yeah.
Absolutely.
Well, how about if I put 25 grand on a credit card for you? To help you make that '37 Ford what you want it to be, and maybe more.
Yeah, I could get some things done with that, I think.
That's unbelievable.
There's no doubt you've earned it.
Thanks so much, brother.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, be well.
Just kept my head down here and did the job the best I could for the last few years and finally getting noticed, I guess.
But we work as a team, so the whole department will definitely like the fact that he's starting to acknowledge us.
So, Tucker, I will tell you this.
You were tuned into safety.
You were thinking about that at all times.
You know, again, be careful.
Quite rocky.
Big cliff drop.
- Yep.
- I thought you did great.
- Cool.
- Back in my 20s, somebody said to me something that still sticks with me today, and that is you earn the right to live in the mountains.
Sometimes that's tough.
Sometimes it's remarkably rewarding, isn't it? Mmhmm.
A lot of the time.
There you go.
We stood at the top of Squaw Peak in 60-mile-an-hour winds.
It was still awesome up there.
Yep.
I totally dig on your passion.
It's here with me.
You helped re-ignite some of that passion.
Anytime you want to go skiing, you come find us.
And I dug the fu manchu, man.
You should bring that thing back.
That was stellar.
Tucker, you talked with a real spark in your eyes of your engagement.
You talked of getting married here at Squaw Valley, which I just think is the coolest thing in the world.
But clearly, you guys have not seen to your honeymoon, and that's where I'd like to step in and help.
So I have a pair of first-class tickets for you and your soon-to-be wife - to fly over to Chamonix - Whoa.
And put you over there for a couple of weeks.
It's gonna be over $30,000, but it's all on me.
Whoa.
I'm I'm blown away.
I don't even know what to say.
It's amazing.
I don't know what to say other than thank you.
- All right, brother.
Be well.
- All right.
- Sounds good.
Thanks, Andy.
- Take care.
- Hey.
- Hi.
The show wasn't really Jonny Moseley.
Yeah? It was Undercover Boss.
So the guy yesterday was Andy Wirth.
- You know who that is? - Yeah.
And he wants to show his appreciation by sending us skiing for our honeymoon in the Alps.
- No way.
- Right? Are you kidding? Are you kidding me? Oh, my God, that is so incredible.
Isn't that cool? My God! Bennett, I was really impressed by your performance on the hill.
You're a really, really good coach, and you're a really good instructor.
- Thank you.
- And I have to say, I really appreciated and respected all of your thoughts.
Mmhmm.
After the acquisition of Alpine Meadows, we had to really dig down and manage the business, and it took a lot of time away from me to get over there to Alpine.
But I want to make sure you know you'll be seeing a lot more of me at Alpine Meadows from now on.
I think that's a great idea.
I mean, yeah, we never see you over there, you know.
You're the Squaw guy.
Oh, man, that kills me.
It kills me.
We talked about the paperwork - filling out the paperwork.
- Yeah.
There's a great reason why we had to have everybody fill out the paperwork.
The good news is, going forward, you won't have to do that again.
Yeah, that'd be wonderful.
The other piece that you shared with me were helmets.
'Cause you and I both know that's a big deal.
- Mm-hmm.
- We're doing everything we can to make helmets easily available, at cost, to all of our staff.
Safety, fun, education.
- Yeah.
- And a big part of that - is gonna be wearing a helmet.
- Oh, yeah.
So I want to do a couple things for you.
You have some pretty cool big dreams.
- Yep.
- And you also voiced interest in alpine climbing.
So, Bennett, I'm gonna pay for you to become a certified climbing instructor.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
That's a big step forward for me right there.
- Good deal.
- Yeah.
Well, there's one other thing I have lined up for you.
You want to get up to Alaska and start a heli-ski operation with a friend.
- Yep.
- So, Bennett, I found out who the best instructor is to get you your pilot's license, - and it's about 15 grand.
- Wow.
But I'm gonna take care of that for you and make sure that you can get one step closer to that dream of having that helicopter ski operation.
Oh, my God.
This is pretty crazy.
I sure hope this doesn't mean - we'll lose you as an instructor.
- No.
Good deal.
Dreams are really coming true.
- That's great, man.
- Thank you.
All right, buddy.
Be well, man.
Fly safe.
Oh, yeah.
Always.
I mean, I gotta learn how to fly first.
Right on.
I don't even think words can describe the feelings right now.
I'm gonna be smiling a lot more the next couple weeks for sure.
Wow.
This is just incredible.
Christi, I really enjoyed working with you.
You want me to fix your side? Nice try.
For somebody of your age, you have kind of a wisdom, a strength about you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
I like that.
And you have just an incredible laugh.
So, you know, life can provide us great opportunities.
In your case, you've dealt with a heck of a lot over the past little while, the passing of your father.
The other part we talked about was your brother.
Those those things are really tough, they really are.
When we visited, you talked about him hitting rock bottom.
You think we're there yet? I don't know.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
That's all right, darling.
- Here.
- Thanks.
It's all right.
It's all right.
- Yeah, it is.
- Sorry.
- It's all right.
- Yeah.
I just want him to be better.
Yeah.
- I understand.
- Yeah.
My guess is you've been carrying a ton of this weight too.
Yeah.
Definitely.
So I want to do something for you and help you carry some of this weight, 'cause my guess is if he's anything close to what you are, he's really an outstanding person.
And so I want to work with you to research some of the great rehab opportunities there are, and I'm gonna put $25,000 towards that rehab to help you, help your mom, help your family, and most importantly, help your brother.
- Okay? - That'd be awesome.
Thank you so much.
You talked about living in the mountains, how much you love the mountains, and I want to help you out.
So I'm gonna put $10,000 to help cover moving expenses, rent, new furniture.
Let's go ahead and get you up here so you don't have a 47-minute commute.
No way.
That's so cool.
But there's one more thing I gotta do for you.
One of the things you shared with me is you love going to the backcountry.
Yeah.
So I got you an absolute rock star, backcountry snowmobile I have sitting for you outside.
No way! Here are the keys.
You gotta pinch me.
You gotta pinch me.
Is this really happening? - Feeling good? - I'm feeling - I'm on top of the world.
- Good.
- You're amazing.
Oh, my God.
- Take care, darling.
You're too good to be true.
Thank you so much for everything.
- You bet.
- You saved my life.
Keep smiling.
Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom! Andy is a great guy.
And I always knew he was, and now I just I'm so happy to have him in my life.
No way.
Whoo! That's pretty cool.