Spring Stirrings--Ice Off

Teton winters tend to be pretty long, and the early signs of spring can be difficult to recognize with eyes desensitized by months of nothing but the colors snow white and moose brown , but we're here to tell you, Spring is on its way. These gray, rainy days may not make us feel like tiptoeing through the tulips, but they do serve an important function--they are great at melting snow. For example, in just a few weeks, the snow banks in the Signal Staff Housing area have shrunk from head height to hip height. Progress!

For the staff here at Signal Mountain Lodge (not to mention JH locals and longtime guests), perhaps the biggest and most important harbinger of the coming Teton summer is know as Ice Off--the date on which the SML Marina portion of Jackson Lake is completely free of ice. Predicting the official Ice Off date has become something of a competition among Moran Locals. But when will it all actually melt? It's hard to say for sure, but here are some images to help gauge your expectations. More importantly, they may just convince you that GTNP is indeed creeping towards springtime....



Here's what Jackson Lake looked like on March 8th...

And here's what it looks like today!

Here's the restaurant building in March

April 25th!



Finally, here's our parking lot snow pile the day it was plowed for Nacho Night, March 7th.

TODAY!  Quite a bit dirtier but noticeably reduced in size : )

We know these aren't exactly the kind of jaw-dropping scenic photos we usually post on the blog, but we hope they provide some encouragement to those who, like us, are still crawling out of Winter's icy grip. (Or for our readers in warmer climes, perhaps they will merely provide an afternoon's worth of schadenfreude...)

Either way, hang in there, friends, stay warm, and we'll see you May 9th!!!!

Nacho Nacho Night!

NACHO NIGHT 2014!!!

For those of you not in the know, Nacho Night is a benefit put on by Signal Mountain Lodge and Moose Corner Daycare in order to help fund Moose Corner Daycare which offers affordable daycare services to GTNP residents and employees. It is also the premiere social event of the Jackson Hole winter season, at least for us Park dwellers : ) SML staff prepare the food and Moose Daycare staff wait table and sell tickets.

Near-record snowfall in the month of February had the NPS road crews working overtime and brought into question for a while whether the event was even going to take place at all, but at the last minute they came through and we were able to move forward (which was fortunate as we had already ordered the food!) All in all we sold 123 plates of Nachos, and were able to raise of $6100 for Moose Corner Daycare. We would like to thank the following folks for their generous donations, both material and temporal: Nicholas Food Service, Sysco Food Service, High Country Linen, Teton Coca Cola, Snake River Brewing, Osprey Distributing, NPS Roads Dept

Thanks to everyone who came out, and we hope you'll enjoy some behind-the-scenes images from the night!

Executive Chef Andrew digs into the Nacho Beef/ Our shovel crew worked all day to dig paths into the dining room for  the event. Nice walls, guys!

Shenanigans in the dish pit

Beautifully plated condiments (if we do say so ourselves)

Pre-melting

Now where are these going?

Bar Manager Mike, Accounting Manager Steve, and F&B Director Erik are ready to pour you a margarita!

Chief Nacho Architect Danny Cornell and his faithful assistant Toby take a well-deserved break

 

These ladies know how to top a Nacho!

 

 

Great Ideas Get Rewarded

At Signal Mountain Lodge, we are always striving to improve, and we know that the best ideas often come from our amazing staff. For this reason, we have an incentive program to encourage seasonal staffers to come up with ideas to make SML a safer, greener, and better place. Staff are invited to submit suggestions throughout the summer, and after the season is over, the management team selects one winning suggestion in each of the following categories: Health and Safety, Environmental policy, and Customer Service. The winner in each category receives a cash prize, as well the satisfaction of seeing their idea put into practice. Today, we are proud to introduce the winners from the 2013 season:

Health and Safety--Phyllis Dwyer, Employee Dining Room

"We should put hand sanitizer dispensers next to the gas pumps at the General Store."

Environmental Policy--Weston Kropelin, Housekeeping

"A compactor for aluminum cans would significantly reduce the number of trips to town to drop off recycling."

Customer Service--Jim Conroy, Restaurant

"We need a sign at the host stand letting guests know that even though the Trapper Grill closes for an hour every afternoon for cleaning, The Deck and Deadman's bar are still open and serving food."

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed ideas last season! We had lots of great suggestions, and many of those that did not make the top three will still be implemented and will contribute to making SML better and better every year. 

2014 Employment Opportunities

Howdy folks and Happy New Year!

New Years--a time of reflection and planning, when we look back on what we've accomplished in the past twelve months and begin thinking about what we'd like to achieve in the coming year. Perhaps this year, one of your resolutions might be to spend the best summer of your life in one of the most beautiful places in the entire world...

to apply now visit http://www2.coolworks.com/signalmt/

The Signal Mountain Lodge Human Resources Department is back in the office and ready to start building our staff for Summer 2014. Positions are wide open and now is a great time to apply. In general, the sooner we receive your application, the better your chances of being offered a position with us. Here are some other tips for a successful application:

1. Fill out the application as completely as possible, including accurate contact information for AT LEAST two references, and most importantly, accurate contact info for yourself.

2. Choose your references carefully. Ideally they should be people who can speak about your character as well as any work experience you may have that is relevant to the positions for which you've applied. Examples of good references include current or former employers, former clients, volunteer leaders, scout leaders, and other mentors. Coworkers are okay too. Examples of not so good references include current or former romantic partners, friends with whom you've never worked, people without phones or email addresses, people with whom you've had no contact in over five years, and your parents (unless your work experience is with a family business).

3. DATES DATES DATES. Signal Mountain Lodge will be open from May 9th-Oct 19th, 2014. The first staff arrive about a week before we open to help set up, and the last staff leave a few days after we close for the season. Although we have a limited number of positions beginning in late May/ early June and ending in mid August/ September, the vast majority of positions are full season and we give preference to applicants who can stay the whole time. We cannot offer employment to anyone who cannot commit to the dates required by our staffing plan.

4. Consider carefully the positions for which you apply. Some positions are more competitive than others and require experience. Be sure to include any relevant experience you have on your application, and let us know if you are flexible with the types of jobs you will accept. 

5. When we look at your application, we are trying to get a sense of who you are, so don't be afraid to inject some personality into it! We want to know about your life, your interests, and why you want to spend a summer in the Tetons. Work experience is important, but we are all more than the sum of our resumes, and at SML we endeavor to hire people, not just workers.

We are excited to begin the process of reviewing your applications, and we ask for your patience as we more forward. There are a lot of applications, and we read and attempt to contact references for every single one. Feel free to pester HR at any time via phone or email to let us know if you are still interested in working with us and to check the status of your application : )

Here's that link again: http://www2.coolworks.com/signalmt/
And here's our phone number: 307-543-2831
Direct email inquiries to: mlandberg@signalmtnlodge.com OR hrasst@signalmtnlodge.com