While life-work balance in Bend includes dreams of lunchtime laps on trails of snow, there’s a special commute when your office is Mt. Bachelor. For Cary Stanfill, Gary Camp and Terry Blaylock, and their cumulative 132 years of employment at the mountain, they share work at a place where they played in their youth, and an early morning drive they love. Whether arriving to see the lights of a snowcat grooming runs, the moon setting as the sun rises with an alpenglow, or a herd of elk seeming to float above a dawn’s fog as they graze, these three share reasons they first visited the mountain playground of Central Oregon, and why they stay:
NAME: Cary Stanfill
JOB TITLE: Director of Guest Services
YEARS AT MT. BACHELOR: 44
“I first visited Mt. Bachelor from Portland at age 10 for a weekend and told my family, ‘This is the most incredible place’”! Cary studied Forestry in college and took a job at Bachelor after graduating so she could ski, and she never left. She has worked and overseen almost every branch of service, from food and beverage to security, ticketing and transportation.
FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB: “Every day is different,” she says. She loves the people and the relationships formed with both casual guests and the deep relationships formed with best friends from her first days at the mountain.
NAME: Gary Camp
JOB TITLE: Building Maintenance Technician
YEARS AT MT. BACHELOR: 44
FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB: Gary has helped implement almost every chair on the mountain, and is referred to as “The Rememberer” by co-workers. He understands the many parts that make the mountain run with all the services of a small city, he explains. His mind is a resource for the technical details to keep things going. Gary first came to the mountain in 1976 and has skied plenty. He also has eight horses on his property east of Bend, but his favorite way to enjoy the mountain is, “Just being there.”
NAME: Terry Blaylock
JOB TITLE: Retail Operations Manager
YEARS AT MT. BACHELOR: 44
FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB: Terry remembers visiting Mt. Bachelor at age 12 when he’d be “turned loose” to explore. His many stories from the hill include skiing routes and places he and his friends called Cornice Land or The Notch that are parts of Avalanche or Outback we know today. “I can always find a perfect day,” he says. Even when it’s stormy, there is always a hidden glade for a late afternoon “stack attack” for those who know the mountain well.
A FAMILY AFFAIR: While the Mountain has grown since the days he worked for its founding families, his own family’s ski lifestyle has kept him here: he taught his daughter to ski on its slopes, and today, his three-year-old granddaughter is keeping up the tradition. Terry enjoys the people, whether ski industry reps, co-workers, or guests, “I still see generations of people I’ve sold skis to for years,” he says. “There is a whole Mt. Bachelor family.”
“I’m hoping to make it to 50, if not longer.” —Gary Camp