SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD
Near Provo, Utah · Ski resort operations · On-the-job training
Original reporting: Shae Lake, Fortune · October 14, 2026
Victoria Madsen was studying English at Utah Valley University and planning to become a lawyer when she took a seasonal job at Sundance Mountain Resort during her junior year, Fortune’s Shae Lake reports. When the ski season ended, the resort asked whether she would stay on as an off-season mechanic.
“I don’t have any mechanical skills at all,” Madsen recalled telling them. The resort said it would train her on the job. The role paid $3 an hour more than her previous position, according to the report, and Madsen left school after realizing she was already earning more than she expected to make after graduating.
About five years later, the 25-year-old works as a lift mechanic, starting the lifts at dawn on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos. She told Fortune she was the only woman on the crew when she started and that her colleagues were “so willing to teach me things”; more women have joined since. Madsen says the job let her rent her own apartment for the first time and buy a new car, and that she now earns more than most of her friends.
“I love telling people that I’m a mechanic,” she said. She also told Fortune she still worries about whether she will be able to buy a house or have children.
Location Decision takeaway
Madsen’s path ran through an employer’s willingness to train a seasonal hire with no mechanical background, not through a formal program. Resort and tourism economies often struggle to hold year-round skilled staff; converting seasonal workers into trained maintenance technicians is one way an employer builds that bench from within. This is our analysis; the facts are as reported by Fortune, and pay comparisons are Madsen’s own.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Shae Lake, Fortune, October 14, 2026.
This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.