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Mt. Ashland Ski Area has new leader By Mark Freeman Updated: Nov 15, 2022 05:09 PM A A ASHLAND — Mt. Ashland Ski Area didn’t have to reach past its own slopes to find its new general manager. Ashland resident Andrew Gast, a veteran of the ski industry who helped resurrect a mothballed Wyoming ski area before moving to Ashland, was named Tuesday to the top post at the ski area he and his family have frequented since moving to town in 2017. Gast, 41, spent the past five years as Southern Oregon University’s director of admission and finance but always knew his real calling was the outdoor and ski industry. “For me, this really is what I always wanted to do and hoped I would do,“ Gast said in an interview Tuesday. A Georgia native, Gast studied ski-area management at Colorado State University and worked at a range of both large and small, public and private ski areas in the Southeast and West, according to the ski area. He also has a master’s degree in tourism business administration and an undergraduate degree in outdoor recreation. He was the executive director tasked with rejuvenating a small nonprofit ski area in Sheridan, Wyoming, that had been closed for a dozen years, finishing that task in 2017 before moving to Ashland. That work, along with his experience dealing with nonprofit boards and the U.S. Forest Service, as well as his presence on Mount Ashland, helped Gast rise to the top of a field of two finalists whittled from 14 applicants, said ski area board President Curt Burrill. The ski area operates under a Forest Service conditional-use permit, so that experience was “a big thing,” Burrill said. “He checked most of the boxes, and the nice thing is he was here all along skiing our mountain,” Burrill said. Gast’s two children are members of the Mount Ashland Racing Association ski-racing program, Gast said. “My kids grew up on Mount Ashland,” he said. Gast is set to take the helm Dec. 21. The ski area is expected to open around Dec. 10. Burrill declined to reveal Gast’s salary or other terms of his contract. During recruiting, the ski area touted the general manager’s salary as ranging from $100,000 to $115,000, with a chance for bonuses. Gast replaces Hiram Towle, who left after seven years to become general manager of the nonprofit Bridger Bowl Ski Area, a 2,000-acre area with eight chairlifts and four lodges outside of Bozeman, Montana. During his tenure, Towle helped overcome a financial deficit despite a few lean snow years. The ski area upgraded millions of dollars of equipment and renovated the aging lodge, including shifting the lodge bar out of the 1970s to something worthy of a ski joint in a craft beer world. The ski area set records for annual passes and attendance and even socked money away under Towle. Burrill said Gast and another finalist from the West Coast were vetted during in-person interviews on Mount Ashland with staff, board members and others from the public earlier this month. “We’re really excited,” Burrill said. “I think he’ll definitely be able to take us to the next step.” Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Reach him at 541-776-4470 or by email at [email protected].