Mt. Ashland Is…

A community and nonprofit ski area dedicated to providing an outstanding alpine recreation experience for people of all ages and skill levels. As an asset to the community, we remain true to our core values: we are a local mountain with great snow, exciting terrain, providing access to a diverse alpine environment and a fun family atmosphere.  We are dedicated to introducing mountain sports to first-timers and beginners and growing our skiing, riding, and summer communities.

Our Philosophy is…

Outdoor recreation makes a difference.

Physical Fitness
Participation in mountain sports contributes toward lifelong health.  Learning these sports in a local and nurturing environment helps ensure individuals will participate for life.
Self Confidence
When people learn new skills and are able to do things that really challenge them, they raise their self esteem and learn to believe in themselves.
Sportsmanship
Mountain sports teach participants to respect nature, and to be respectful of others.  They learn that success takes work, and failures can be overcome.
The Environment
People today, and especially many kids, lack opportunities to explore nature.  Outdoor experiences are essential to create a positive relationship with nature.

Our Mission is…

To provide and promote a healthy quality experience in an alpine environment.

Our Vision is…

To remain a cherished community resource for generations to come. Mt. Ashland is most effective when it serves local residents and visitors alike, making them all feel welcome and that the mountain is their home. As an important member of the Southern Oregon community, we always strive to do better to provide enjoyment for the whole family, develop strategic partnerships, and care for our alpine environment.  Fiscal responsibility and affordability are important parts of all decision making.

To enhance the guest experience we promise to manage the ski area with customer service as a priority. Our goal is to help newcomers progress and develop the skills needed to negotiate our terrain. Our ski area provides adventures for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities. Each guest is seeking a different experience and we are dedicated to doing our best to ensure the visitor experience is enjoyable at every level.

Mt. Ashland is an exciting place to be outdoors.  Our skiing terrain is relatively small, but contains enough variety and receives enough snow that it is worth experiencing many times throughout the ski season.  Mt. Ashland is special in every season and is a perfect place to experience the mountains.

Mt. Ashland introduces mountain sports to the community.  We are committed to creating the next generation of skiers, riders, and outdoor enthusiasts. We provide a diverse range of instruction programs that are designed to meet people where they are – both in terms of skill level as well as economic means. We support our mission by building strategic partnerships and working with other organizations.

Mt. Ashland cares for our alpine environment.  We understand that we have a responsibility to care for the alpine environment at Mt. Ashland.  We carefully manage the ski area to encourage growth of our unique plants and animals, and steward our water, soil and air resources.  We recognize the very real threat of global climate change so we are dedicated to becoming leaders in managing all aspects of our environmental impact.

Mt. Ashland is a vital community of engaged citizens.  Mt. Ashland is dedicated to the communities it serves. Our goal is to provide fun and enjoyment for all demographics and social classes. Our community is made up of many different opinions. We celebrate everyone’s different views and will collaborate together to find the best solutions.

Mt. Ashland cares about our customers and donors.  We are committed to transparency in our decision making in order to build and maintain the trust of our community. We rely on the generosity of our community to help us provide great programs, keep prices within reach and make capital improvements. Our donors support Mt. Ashland because it is an affordable, unique experience that enhances the lives of Rogue Valley residents. Donations enable the ski area to remain accessible to a broader range of social classes.

Our Organization

The Mt. Ashland Association is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation.  Although association is in our name, we are not a membership organization nor a cooperative, but rather an organization created to operate Mt. Ashland as a community asset

Mt. Ashland is managed by a team of professional ski area operators.  Our Board of Directors delegates all management and ski area operations to our staff.  As a ski area operated by a nonprofit organization, our operational decisions work through this framework:

Our Board of Directors serve in a volunteer capacity, and do not receive any compensation; all proceeds from operations are reinvested into the mountain.  Our board is responsible for setting the strategic direction, stewarding the organization’s resources, facilitating fundraising projects, and determining the values and goals of the Mt. Ashland Association.

The Mt. Ashland Association conducts a great deal of their work through several operating committees, made up of both board members and community members-at-large:

• Environmental & Sustainability
• Facilities
• Finance
• Governance
• Four Seasons

IRS Form 990 for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2023: 2022 990 MAA

Our board can be contacted via email at boardmember@mtashland.com

Mary Smelcer graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry. After graduation she moved to the west coast to work for the US Forest Service in several locations in Northern California before landing her dream job as District Ranger in Ashland Oregon in 1988.  At that time, Mary oversaw the Mt. Ashland planning efforts which resulted  in the completion of the 1991 EIS and Master plan.

In 1994 she shifted roles to District Ranger of the Applegate Ranger District and became an active part of the Applegate Partnership, a community based collaborative effort.

In 2000 Mary became the Associate District Manager of the Medford BLM District overseeing the management of nearly a million acres of Public land until her retirement in 2014.

Mary also participates as a Planning Section Chief on a Pacific Northwest Interagency Incident Management team for managing large wildfires. She has been involved in fire management for over 27 years and continues her role as Plans Chief in retirement.

Mt. Ashland is where Mary taught her two sons to ski at the early age of 4. Weekend ski trips with a car load of young “alpha coyote” boys made for lifelong memories. She fondly remembers taking her sons and their friends into the bowl for their first experience with friendly encouragement of “pay you a dollar to ski the bowl!”

Mary feels privileged to serve on the Mt. Ashland Board and the opportunity to support family fun on the mountain for many years to come.

Adam has been snowboarding for over 30 years and his entire family also rides snowboards.  He is the president of the Oregon Interscholastic Snowboard Association Southern League and the Medford Snowboard team.  Adam and his wife Dawn and have 3 children: Lexy, a junior at Lewis and Clark, Kayla, a freshman at University of Colorado Boulder, and Deryk, a 7th grader at Hedrick Middle School.  In the summer they like to wake board and wake surf as well.  They have a variety of pets.  Adam is an avid NY Yankee fan (he is a native New Yorker) and collects classic cars and motorcycles. He and his family supports Mt. Ashland and have been season pass holders for several years.

Valri has been part of the Mt. Ashland community most of her life, learning to ski and spending most weekends on the mountain at the age of 11 or 12, being on the Ashland High School ski team, a MARA board member, an AHS Ski team board member, and most recently mother of the bride who was married on Mt Ashland. When she is not skiing, she enjoys hiking, camping, sailing, and playing with her grandkids.

Valri, with her degree in accounting, has worked with many small businesses and has served as treasurer as well as president for many local nonprofit organizations. She is excited to use her skills to support Mt Ashland now and for the future.

Valri chairs the Mt. Ashland Finance Committee.

Anne Jenkins was born and raised in Bend, Oregon. Anne has been on the slopes nearly her entire life, learning how to ski shortly after walking. She has been active in the outdoors downhill skiing, water skiing, running, and hiking. She enjoys sharing the outdoors with her husband and two children.

Anne attended Southern Oregon University and has been involved with the community for over 20 years. She spent 17 years with the tourism industry promoting the Rogue Valley and has a strong commitment to the community.

Anne believes Mt. Ashland is an important asset to the Rogue Valley. She feels with continued stewardship, the mountain can provide locals with the opportunity to learn and ski for many years to come.

Anne chairs the Mt. Ashland Governance Committee.

Curt Burrill is a native Southern Oregonian who grew up in the outdoors.  He learned to ski on the slopes of Mt. Ashland at the age of 8 and fondly remembers riding the T-bar and Poma lifts on the mountain.  Curt enjoys sharing his outdoor experiences with his wife and children who have also learned to ski on Mt. Ashland.

A graduate of South Medford High School and Southern Oregon University, Curtis has deep roots in the community.  His commitment to the community has included involvement with The Chamber of Medford/Jackson County, the Boys and Girls Club of the Rogue Valley, the Crater Lake Council – Boy Scouts of America, the Oregon Community Foundation Leadership Council and Walker Fund Advisory Committee.  He has been a commercial real estate broker and developer for over 20 years.  He understands and appreciates the quality of life our region has to offer and see’s Mt. Ashland as important asset to our economic vitality.

Riley was born and raised in Ashland, where he frequented Mt. Ashland and developed a deep appreciate for the many easily accessible outdoor activities the Rogue Valley offers. He also comes from a family of avid skiers, all of whom learned to ski at Mt. Ashland. After graduating from Ashland High School and college, Riley served in the US Navy for almost seven years where he was stationed in San Diego, California and Washington, D.C. After leaving the Navy, Riley attended law school at Georgetown University. Upon graduation from law school, Riley practiced at large firm in Washington, D.C. and clerked for a judge on the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.

Riley moved back to Ashland in 2020 and currently practices law in the Rogue Valley. Riley has deep roots in the Mt. Ashland community and great appreciation for the value it provides to the Rogue Valley and surrounding areas. Riley is happy to be a member of the Board, and looks forward to building upon the strong foundation Mt. Ashland has established to ensure that future generations can enjoy this very special space.

Riley chairs the Mt. Ashland Four Seasons Committee.

Ray Mallette grew up in Vermont and learned to cross country ski by joining the high school racing team. In the 1980s he moved to Silicon Valley where he earned degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering, raced sailboats on San Francisco Bay and learned to alpine ski at Lake Tahoe. In the 1990s he moved back to Vermont, introducing skiing to his two children at an early age at Bolton Valley and Sugarbush.

He was employed by IBM for 38 years working in semiconductor manufacturing and development, leading teams on yield management and customer delivery.

He moved to Ashland with his family in 2014, attracted by the beauty of the mountains, the climate and the close proximity to skiing, biking and hiking. Since retiring, he has focused his volunteer efforts on trail building and working with local organizations on the causes and impacts of climate change. He currently is a member of Ashland’s Climate Policy Commission.

He views Mt Ashland as a wonderful recreational and economic resource to the Rogue Valley and would like to see it continue to have an environmentally sustainable future for year-round outdoor activities.

Ray chairs the Mt. Ashland Environmental & Sustainability Committee.

Blair has a passion for Mt. Ashland and skiing where he has served on the board of directors for more than 20 years. Though he had skied a few other places, he basically learned how to ski on the slopes of Mt. Ashland as a middle-aged adult. The Mt. Ashland ski area is a treasure for the communities of Southern Oregon and Northern California and we are so grateful for your support.

Blair holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from Northern Arizona University and is a Presidential Field Forester, and Fellow of the Society of American Foresters. He recently retired after 38 years of practicing Forestry in both private industry and government land management agencies while working in the forests of Northern Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Southern Oregon.

Blair has served in leadership positions on numerous local non-profit community and regional professional boards. Those boards include Southern Oregon University, United Way of Jackson County, Society of American Foresters, Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative, Northern Arizona University Advisory Council for the College of Forestry, and the Oregon Logging Conference.

Blair chairs the Mt. Ashland Development Committee.

Allen Purdy is a native Oregonian.  His family moved to Medford before he was 1 and started skiing Mt. Ashland when he was 9 years old.  He has fond memories of his father driving a VW van full of kids, including his brother, up to the mountain almost every weekend day.  It was especially memorable because his father wasn’t a skier but would instead enjoy a good book or a nap in the lodge while they all skied.

Allen left Medford in 1987 to pursue a degree in Construction Management from California State University, Chico and ended up spending 26 years in Northern California.  He returned to the Rogue Valley in 2013 with his wife Megan and three daughters as a new owner of S&B James Construction Management.

Allen and his family enjoy skiing, mountain biking, hiking and soccer.  His favorite times are spending days on the mountain with them.

He also has been an active volunteer in many Rogue Valley organizations including the Medford/Jackson County Chamber, the Southern Oregon Sports Commission and Rotary.

Allen co-chairs the Mt. Ashland Facilities Committee.

Brian and his wife Lisa have lived in the valley since 2010. They met 32 years ago while Brian was a ski bum in Tahoe. They have two girls and one boy. Shawnee is an engineer in Reno, Cary is an SOU grad and in Marketing for On Running, and Sara is a math teacher at South Medford. Their youngest started high school at Ashland High and she is the fourth generation OSU Beaver Graduate. Brian’s dad and grandfather graduated with engineering degrees from OSU. Brian grew up in the East Coast and moved back to the west coast to attend college at OSU where he graduated. Lisa works for Alan DeBoer and is extremely active in the Rogue Valley. They have two dogs, a cat, two goats, a cow, seven chickens and a rooster.

Brian co-chairs the Mt. Ashland Facilities Committee.

Born in Boston, Dr. John “Jeb” Reid was raised in Massachusetts and grew up skiing the Berkshire and Green Mountains of New England.  After college he moved to Lake Tahoe and worked at Squaw Valley (Tahoe Palisades) for two winters in the late eighties during which time he met his wife, Nye, whom he has been with for over 35 years.

Jeb attended medical school and orthopaedic surgery residency at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland during which time he and Nye had two children.  Following residency, he completed his sports medicine fellowship in the Southern Rockies at Taos Orthopaedic Institute (TOI).

The Reid family would ultimately call Taos, New Mexico home for more than 16 years.  During his tenure at TOI, Dr. Reid would ultimately help train over 40 orthopaedic sports medicine fellows, publish extensively, and develop a feeder program for the US Ski Team physician pool.  While in Taos, he and Nye raised two young skiers that raced throughout the Rocky Mountains for the Taos Ski Academy.

Nye and Jeb returned to Oregon, Ashland this time, and joined the Asante team in late summer 2020.  Since his relocation Dr. Reid has continued to publish and travel with the US Ski Team.  He has also assumed the role of team physician for Ashland High School and Southern Oregon University following the retirement of Dr. Hal “Scooter” Townsend.  Over the past 3 winters the Reids have enjoyed skiing in the Siskiyous and becoming part of the Mt. Ashland alpine community.

Katharine grew up in New Hampshire with a love for skiing and the outdoors. After earning her Bachelor’s degree at the University of NH, she moved to Oregon to ski the Pacific Northwest.  Her professional path has included sales, marketing, consulting and media relations with over 20 years in the tourism industry.  She has been with the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, serving as the Director of Travel Ashland, the tourism branch of the organization, for 17 years. Prior to that she worked for Mt. Ashland, enjoying the many roles she served.

With tourism being a key economic driver to Ashland’s economy, she has a true passion for promoting the spectrum of year-round offerings in Ashland and Southern Oregon. She currently serves as the Board President of Oregon Destination Association, past-President of Travel Southern Oregon and board member of Rogue Valley Vintners. She lives in Ashland with her husband, Ray and their daughter, Grace.

A native of Grants Pass, Tripp fondly remembers regularly waking before dawn as a high schooler to make the drive to Mt. Ashland in a Navy-surplus Suburban with his closest friends. After returning to Grants Pass from college in New Mexico, Tripp decided he wanted to ski more and better, and to give back, and joined the Mt. Ashland Ski Patrol as a volunteer. After a decade of patrolling, Tripp now serves on the Patrol’s executive board, and is a skiing, tobogganing, and first aid instructor. You’ve no doubt seen him in uniform on the hill.

Off the hill, Tripp is a Sr. Finance Manager for Dutch Bros Coffee. In addition to his services on the MAA and MASP boards, Tripp is currently a director of the Redwood Foundation for Education, a member of the City of Grants Pass’ Budget Committee, and has previously served on the City of Grants Pass – Josephine County joint Economic Development Committee. Tripp holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe; and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.