Colorado Resort Selects Female Representative for Rise Up Challenge

According to a recent press release from Purgatory Resort in Colorado, the resort sent a team to compete in the fourth annual Rise Up Challenge, "an initiative celebrating the next generation of lift mechanics, sponsored by Leitner-Poma of America and Ski Area Management (SAM), a trade publication for the mountain resort market."

One of the key members of Purgatory's lift maintenance team is Anitra Harjo, a female team member representing a small subset of a normally male-dominated industry.

The resort's lift maintenance team is competing against five other resort teams for a $3,500 education grant prize.

The mission statement of RiseUp Challenge is that "a good lift mechanic is hard to find. Leitner-Poma of America wants to help the industry rise up to the challenge of supporting the next generation of lift mechanics, with the fourth annual Rise Up Challenge."

Besides Purgatory, five other lift maintenance teams have been chosen to participate in the fourth annual Rise Up Challenge: Berkshire East, Mass., Crystal Mountain, Wash.. Mt. Sunapee, N.H.. Palisades Tahoe, Calif., and Snowbird, Utah.

Purgatory's press release stated that "in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Purgatory is proud to support Anitra and the next generation of mountain operations professionals."

The six chosen resorts created videos, available to watch on the RiseUp website, "showcasing the rising stars on their lift maintenance crews, alongside mentors and teammates" and one will walk away with a $3,500 education grant from LPOA.

We are happy to see more representation in this industry. Best of luck to the Purgatory team! You can support Purgatory's maintenance team by voting here until August 16th, 2024.

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