Tom Day, who weathered a firestorm, leaves Gunstock in a position of strength

GILFORD — When it comes to retirement, Tom Day has a poor track record. Prior to taking his most recent job as general manager of Gunstock Mountain Resort, he had retired twice — only to be pulled back into the workforce. This time, he says he means it.

Last week, Gunstock named his successor, Robert Drake, who will start on Monday, Aug. 5. Day, 70, will stay on for a week or two, then will make another attempt at slowing down.

“This is my third retirement,” Day said Monday, sitting on a rocking chair on a porch in front of the ticket window, and looking out over the newly paved parking lot.

Day, who grew up in Falmouth, Maine, began his ski industry career in 1978 as a lift attendant at Waterville Valley Resort. In 1997, he had worked his way into the role of general manager and vice president at Waterville, a post he held until 2010.

Day left the ski business to help run a small manufacturing company, which was supposed to be the last chapter of his working life. He was talked back into work by Rusty McLear and Alex Ray, who had won a contract with the state to build two highway welcome centers, and needed someone to set up their operations. He retired a second time after fulfilling that contract.

In 2020, though, Gunstock was in need of a new GM to replace Greg Goddard. Rusty McLear was one of the Gunstock Area Commissioners, a board of local people appointed to govern the country-owned recreation area. McLear knew Day could be tempted by an intriguing challenge, and he was able to frame the Gunstock job in just the right light.

“It seemed like an interesting job, so I unretired again,” Day said. He said he came to Gunstock because he saw an opportunity to improve its financial operation, and he certainly has achieved that. Since Day took over in 2020, Gunstock has increased revenue from $12 million to $20 million, and has invested $18 million in capital improvements “without borrowing a dime,” he said.

He ended up getting more than he bargained for, though. Two years into his stint at Gunstock, the Belknap County Delegation — all of the state representatives from Belknap County — took a turn toward the libertarian philosophy, and packed the Gunstock Area Commission with people opposed to the idea of the government owning and operating a ski area.

“Things went sideways after a couple of years, it was a very odd situation,” Day said. Meetings with the GAC and top Gunstock staff went from being businesslike and efficient to long, confrontational affairs. Day didn’t need the aggravation, so in the summer of 2022, he walked off the job in protest, and his executive team followed in solidarity.

What happened immediately afterward revealed to Day just how much Gunstock meant to the people who live nearby.

“It was politics, it was weird. There were some strange people,” Day said. “The good thing that came out of was that it woke everybody up to the representatives in their towns who had a different agenda than working for their constituency.”

Several local legislators lost their seats as a result of the campaign to save Gunstock, and those who remained on the delegation realized they had better be part of a solution. The delegation reformed the GAC with some more reasonable commissioners, and Day and his team got back to work.

Despite the 2022 fiasco, Day can look back on his time at Gunstock with a sense of accomplishment. Some of the improvements have been subtle — such as building a porch with rocking chairs outside the ticket window, instead of having people line up in the parking lot — and others have been more significant, such as a sit-down bar and restaurant near the Panorama lift, new rental buildings and improved maintenance facilities.

“I think we really made a lot of improvements in the cosmetic, general, overall appearance,” Day said. “I think it looks pretty crisp.”

Four years after taking the job, Day said he has a new appreciation for Gunstock, a ski area he said can compete with the corporate conglomerates precisely because that’s what it isn’t. Day’s team limited weekend ticket sales to prevent overcrowding, and added free bag checks to prevent a cluttered lodge. The terrain is welcoming to families with beginner skiers, but there are some trails that will engage the skills of even veteran skiers, he said.

Day had skied at Gunstock a couple of times prior to taking the job, he said, but failed to grasp the deep connection, often several generations deep, that binds the mountain to its fans.

“Everyone you run into has a story about Gunstock,” Day said. “I didn’t realize it really is a community ski area.”

Day said he’ll split his retirement between Park City, Utah, and an island off the coast of Maine. He said he feels “comfortable” with the operation he’s leaving for Robert Drake.

“Everybody that comes in has a different idea for stuff, everyone has fresh eyes. We’ve done a lot here, capital-wise, fiscally we’re in really good shape. [Drake] can come in and see what I didn’t,” Day said. “I’m comfortable handing the reins over to a new guy.”

'Mutual respect'

Doug Lambert, current chair of the Gunstock Area Commission and one of the commissioners who helped to resolve the 2022 crisis, wrote in an email that he developed a relationship of "mutual respect and trust" with Day, who he came to see as both an expert in the ski business and a respected leader of the mountain's staff. Those interpersonal relationships were crucial in finding a successful resolution to a situation that could have ended in disaster.

Lambert said Day's fingerprints are seen all over the mountain, through improvements to the built infrastructure, the quality of the skiing there, and to the strength of the finances.

"The financial growth and stability under his stewardship has been a great and welcome change for Belknap County, reversing years of relying on tax dollars to maintain solvency. I have enjoyed these past several years of working with Tom and sharing in his passion for business and skiing and will greatly miss his presence," Lambert wrote. "He cares deeply for Gunstock and the legacy he will leave behind. This was evident in the effort and care he has put in as we searched for his replacement. He made it known that he wasn’t going to leave until he believed we had the right person in place to continue to lead his great team and preserve that legacy. We are happy to say we have succeeded in that goal with the hiring of Robert Drake. The Commission bids Tom farewell and wishes him the best of luck in his retirement."