New Job with American Skiing Company

Well it's official. I've given my notice at my current job with Whitney Advertising in Park City. Starting March 16th, I'll be the new "Interactive Media Designer" for American Skiing Company. Headquartered on Historic Main Street in Park City, ASC owns The Canyons, and Steamboat (CO), as well as New England Resorts Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Killington, Pico, Mount Snow, and Attitash/Bear Peak. The corporate office employs a streamlined marketing department, to service each resort as a group of clients. So although I'll be leaving agency life behind, there are many similarities.

My role will predominantly entail high-end Flash and new media design, rather than general web design. I will also be working with several great developers to execute and populate sophisticated interactive applications. Our goal will be to find new, slick and useful ways to integrate rich Flash media into the ASC sites. So it should force me to step up my game a bit. But there will also be opportunities to take courses to advance my skills.

And while the money and benefits associated with this job are attractive, it also seems a logical progression for the transformative process Sarah and I have undergone in the past year. Although I don't plan on completely becoming a "Ski Bum" per se, being here in the mountains puts things in a new perspective. Moving here was a way of proclaiming our priorities of life over work. And while I expect to continue to work hard, it makes sense to apply my passion to an industry that inspires my personal pursuit of happiness. ASC seems to understand that its employees are very lifestyle oriented and they encourage people to take advantage of the outdoors. I'm even told that a "powder day" is a perfectly acceptable reason to be out of the office. No questions asked.