Bromley GM Prepares to step down
By Cherise Forbes, Manchester Journal Updated
PERU – Bill Cairns trained to become a teacher one day. Now, as he prepares to step down after 40 years at Bromley Mountain Resort, he says that’s ultimately what he “grew up” to be.
On paper, Cairns has been the President and General Manager of Bromley since 2011. Before that he served in a medley of capacities, including lift attendance and later maintenance, snowmaking, management and more. Between his passion for business and love for skiing, Cairns says that the last four decades have flown by.
“My nature is: if I’m in, I’m all in,” Cairns said. “Right up to the end here, I just gave it everything I’ve got to have this mountain be in the black year after year, through challenging weather and challenging times.”
Cairns is a longtime member of the mountain community, though his early years were spent just outside of Boston. His father – an avid fisherman, author, and photographer who played an important role in the development of the Orvis Fly Fishing School – moved the family to Manchester in the 1960s. It didn’t take long for the young Cairns to enroll in the Junior Instructional Ski Program (JISP) at Bromley, and the rest is history.
“I learned how to snow plow from a high school teacher named Angus Black right over here on the school slope,” he reminisced, pointing just outside of his office window. “From there, you’re outside on a mountain with skis on your feet and snow. I just thought this was the greatest thing.”
His work at Bromley began “by accident,” Cairns explained, when a friend called him down from Burlington to help him paint a chairlift. A recent graduate, Cairns had been laid off from his construction job on Lake Champlain and was eager for the work.
“We got more brown paint on us than on the lift,” Cairns laughed. Through this extemporaneous job, however, he met Bromley’s General Manager, Frank Johnson, who offered him a job. Though he didn’t realize it at the time, Cairns had signed on for a career-long vocation – one which he has only grown more attached to.
“To be a steward of a local asset, where this mountain is very important to the locals, I took that responsibility at a very high level,” Cairns said. “I knew it was important to me and I knew it was important to many people.”
During his tenure, Cairns can point to a number of Bromley’s features that he helped bring to life. Multiple lifts, a modernized snowmaking system, expanded spaces for children and families, and more than 70 acres of skiing – especially on Bromley’s east side, of which Cairns is a big fan – have kept Bromley bustling in a competitive region.
“We don’t have any of the ‘est’ words like steepest, whitest, longest,” Cairns said. “We’re not that. We’re a great hill where you learn to ski.”
Countless skiers have taken their first strides at Bromley, and many claim the resort as one of their first jobs. From his vantage point behind the scenes, Cairns has watched generations of skiers making memories on the mountain.
“I’ve seen kids come to the Bromley kids center, the daycare, then in their teens they’re ski instructors for us,” Cairns said. “Then when they’re parents, they’re bringing their kids back.”
Summer features like Bromley’s Alpine Slide, introduced by former General Manager Steig Albertson in the 1970s, allowed some members of the mountain’s staff to stay on year-round. Some have remained there for decades. Between the “old guard” and an oscillating slate of seasonal employees – some coming from as far away as South America – Cairns beams when talking about the community and culture that he’s built.
“I’ve gone through almost every job you can do here,” Cairns said. “My philosophy is to always be willing to do what I’m asking the employees to do. The people of Bromley are its number one asset.”
Alongside the staff, Cairns has also enjoyed a close relationship with Bromley’s homeowners, who he enjoys “first tracks” with each Saturday morning. Other groups like the Bromley Outing Club have further fleshed out Cairns’s community.
Though the world he’s built is hard to step away from, Cairns says that the “timing was right.” His two children are grown, Cairns said, and other adventures are calling. The last two winters have been remarkably warm, he added, posing a significant challenge “right on the heels” of the COVID pandemic.
“The winters have changed,” Cairns admitted. “You can have the best technology in the world, but it still has to be cold to make snow. The cold air is just different now.”
Snowmaking is an integral part of Bromley’s business, and Cairns admits that the process is evolving in the era of climate change. The mountain is well situated with more than 350 pounds of water pressure under its peak, he says, and a fresh perspective will help the resort continue to leverage that asset.
Still, snowmaking is perhaps one of the hardest things to leave behind, Cairns said, joking that he suspects he’ll return as an engineer in another life.
“I’ve always liked taking stick season and making winter happen,” Cairns reflected. “When people ask what I’ll really miss: I’ll miss November. I’ll miss transforming the mountain into winter.”
Upon his departure on April 5, Cairns expects to meet an open road. He wants to keep working on the side or maybe volunteer in the community, he said, but looks forward to some free time first.
“I know there will probably be a trip or two that my wife wants to take,” Cairns added with a chuckle.
Josh Witkin, who has served on Bromley’s Ski Patrol for over a decade, will take over as General Manager this spring. For the last year, he’s worked closely with Cairns to ensure a “seamless transition.”
“Whenever there’s an opportunity to educate, Bill was always readily available,” Witkin said. “I hope to carry that same torch and focus on learning as well as teaching.”
“I know he’ll do a great job,” Cairns said about Witkin. “Josh has the support of our veteran team who will rally around him. I feel very good about Bromley’s future.”
As it turns out, Cairns’s earliest ambitions ultimately came to fruition – leaving behind a legacy of learning and teaching passed down from coach to skier, manager to trainee, and so on.
“When I went to UVM, I wanted to be a teacher-coach,” Cairns reflected. “In some respects, that’s exactly what I ended up doing.”