Mike Lewis, senior director of base area and village operations for the past eight years at Park City Mountain, has been named the next vice president of mountain operations as Shaydar Edelmann takes the general manager role at Heavenly, Vail Resorts announced Wednesday.
Effective June 24, Lewis will oversee patrol, mountain safety, trail crew, vehicle and lift maintenance, lift operations, snowmaking, grooming, terrain parks and competition services, and share oversight of dispatch services.
Lewis oversaw the rollout of paid reservation parking at the Mountain Village base area in 2022, which resulted in an average 63% carpool rate (four or more occupants per vehicle) in its first season and led to a reduction in traffic congestion in and around the base area. He has also served as the executive champion for the resort’s philanthropic and sustainability work in Park City through Vail Resorts EpicPromise since 2017 and as a member of the board of directors of SOS Outreach, an outdoor-based youth mentorship nonprofit, since 2018.
Prior to joining Vail Resorts, Lewis started his career in the ski industry as a volunteer ski patroller in upstate New York. After moving to Utah in 2000, he spent 15 years in mountain operations at Alta Ski Area, working on patrol and, later, as founding director of the Alta Environmental Center. He gained experience in large-scale multinational operations during a six-year stint at Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper Mine. He has an MBA from Westminster University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bucknell University, where he competed on the ski racing team.
Park City’s current vice president of mountain operations, Shaydar Edelmann, takes on the role of vice president and general manager at Heavenly, in South Lake Tahoe, upon the retirement of Tom Fortune. Park City’s senior director of base area operations job will be posted internally and externally in the next few days, resort officials said.
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