Newman comes to Mount Washington from the West Coast surfing community of Tofino, where he ran the Ice House Oyster Bar. However, his heart has been in ski resorts for the past two decades.
“I’ve lived in most ski resorts in Western Canada,” says Newman: Banff, Golden, Lake Louise, and Whistler, among them. He is no stranger to Mount Washington, though. “I love the Island – the whole
thing. From Tofino I used to come down (to Mount Washington) on weekends, starting the day skiing and finishing mountain biking in Cumberland. “I live in Cumberland now.”
Newman will be overseeing food and beverage options resort-wide. “I’m not a chef, I’m more of a front-of-house guy,” he explains. “I have formal wine training as a sommelier.”
Newman envisions a few changes starting with the winter season. “I feel like it’s an exciting time here,” he says. “There’s going to be a few changes. I hope to bring a little bit of refinement to a few of our outlets.”
With his wine training, he will be making some changes to the wine list and adding more selections. People visiting resorts these days expect high-quality, casual fine dining, so his focus will be on
visitors’ desires. One change that is not in the cards: Chef James Clark remains in charge of the menu, and both he and Newman are working together on some new ideas. “We’re looking to update the fondue dinner and make it a little more interesting along with wines. The Eagle View Bistro is an area of concentration – the evening dinners. Those are two areas that will see a bit of change.”
When Newman is not thinking about food or wine, he surfs, rides off-road motorcycles and loves to play in the snow at Mount Washington. “Definitely I’m a skier. I’ve lived in ski resorts most of my
adult life, except for my time in Tofino.
That’s 20 years of ski resorts,” he says. His 12-year-old daughter is also looking forward to her father’s change of venue. “She’ll be up here skiing a lot.” Over at the bike park, Director of Sports, Retail and Guest Services Mike Manara says there have been a couple of exciting staff changes.
“The big one for us is we have a new supervisor in our trail crew in Paula Moore. She’s somebody who’s been with the trail crew for quite a few years. She did a great job for us.” Moore also manages the Terrain Parks for the Resort in the wintertime, “so it’s a nice fit for her.”
Beth Novak is another person with a new role at the Bike Park, but someone who has been with the Resort for nine years. Novak has been hired as Summer Programs Manager for the Bike Park, with
the goal to grow events and the Mountain Bike School. Novak was working as Sales Manager for the Snow School and Rental Area. “She was involved with the initial startup in the Bike Park three years ago.”
She will manage the Nordic Centre in the winter, then shift gears to manage summer programs at the Bike Park, work on events and also work with the new ZipTours. “She’s got a pretty diverse background and we’re pretty happy to have her rejoin us in a full-time capacity.”
Novak has worked as a guide with a zipline company in the past so she is familiar with operations, and will work in the business and operations end of Mount Washington’s new ZipTour when it opens in the summer of 2019. There is a new Retail Manager for the winter, as longtime Manager Chris Dennis has retired. Kris Uytterhagen has taken over Dennis’ duties