2021 MRG Co-Op Board Out-of-State Candidate 
Trey Gregory
Woodbury, CT
Candidate Statement & Bio
I live in Woodbury, CT with my wife and have a 19-year-old son and 22-year-old daughter. I have been skiing Mad River since 1986 when a friend from college brought me to the Amateur Ski Club of New York to visit. His Dad was President of the club at the time, and the deal was that if we bartended for their annual party, we could each have a bunk for the weekend. Over that weekend, the Mad River Glen hook was set deep! It was one of those bluebird sky ski weekends and the hero snow covered the entire mountain. A true sunshine daydream that I will always remember!
Fast forward to 2009 when I was elected as the Treasurer, then Vice President and I just recently finished a 4-year term as the President of the ASCNY. And yes, you will still find me bartending for the club’s Presidents’ weekend because it is my favorite place to be at a party. If I look familiar to you, we probably met at a Grift concert, or at the SIPtemberfest, or the Vermont Gran Fondo, or maybe at a Rockefellers’ Challenge, or maybe just drinking a Sip of Sunshine from my mug in the Basebox. You see, I love this mountain and I am proud to be part of the community.
I first learned to ski at Sandia Peak in New Mexico. My earliest memories of skiing are from the seventies, riding in a Winnebago with my Dad to pick up his ski friends in their red, white and blue star covered ski gear! It was a scene right out of an early Warren Miller movie. We moved allot when I was young – all over America and we skied wherever we lived. Growing up, I remember skiing places like Purgatory Resort in Durango, Colorado and Snowshoe Mountain in Edray, West Virginia. Snowshoe is an upside-down resort, so the lodge is at the top of the mountain and you ski down to the lift and then ride back up. Later when we moved to Pittsburg, we had seasons passes at Seven Springs with its huge 750 ‘vertical drop. Next it was Peak and Peak where the ski lifts run until 1:00 AM on Saturday. My most recent ski adventure is my membership in the Thunderbolt Ski Runners in North Adams, MA.
Candidate Questions:
I like the simple concept that this is a skier’s mountain dedicated to the maintenance and preservation of Mad River Glen and General Stark’s Mountain. The Co-op has done a good job keeping MRG the way I first remember finding it; a rough gem with a big heart that provides a terrain that will challenge any skier.
I have a strong background in architecture that includes three decades of designing homes and a master’s degree in architecture from Syracuse University. Currently I work for a high-end builder and my employment responsibilities include working closely with the homeowner and the construction team to communicate all the design decisions to keep the job moving forward. I coordinate a team of office staff and work with them to prepare drawings, work out design details, prepare the necessary documents to obtain the building permit, review and approve all shop drawings, review payment applications, and work closely with our subcontractors to communicate the design goals that our client expects. With my design and construction background coupled with my diverse ski experiences I feel that I could be helpful on the Facilities committee, but I would be happy to pitch in wherever help is needed.
I can contribute three different perspectives that will make me a unique voice on the board. First, my diverse exposure to numerous small ski areas over my lifetime of skiing provides me with a broad spectrum of what makes a ski mountain inviting and challenging. Second, as an officer and a ski club member that stays in the club when I visit the mountain, I bring a different point of view to our ski community. Through our club races and social functions, I have had the great fortune to meet the families that discovered and created MRG and hear their stories firsthand. Third, with my skillset in architecture and the construction industry I understand what it takes to maintain, renovate, and repurpose a structure.
Make the improvements necessary to the infrastructure to make it code compliant and energy efficient. Keep up the progress in the warmer months on the mountain with the critical water erosion control measures like culverts, bridging, and drainage improvement. The better the mountain drains the better the skiing will be.
(B) Who should we be, what should we do?
Mad River should always be first and foremost a skiers’ mountain. However, I love Mad River year-round. The hiking, biking, swimming, boating and music scene is really fantastic in the summer and the fall. My feeling is that Mad River could take advantage of the other seasons and host a few more events. The Grift G-20 concert is a great example of how the Mad River bowl can be quickly transformed into a rustic outdoor music venue without too much effort. There is a vibrant ski club community on the Mad River campus and the time is right to encourage a deeper connection between the clubs and the mountain again. Continuing to keep the event calendar full and encouraging all types of skiers and visitors will keep our campus vibrant and healthy for years to come.
