EMPLOYEE guide book EDITION ONE
ORIGIN: NE
gezellig \’heh-SELL-ick\
CURRENT LOCATION: Gezellig
ETHERLANDS
the meaning spans everything from cozy to friendly, from comfortable to relaxing and from enjoyable to gregarious. Amsterdam is gezellig. Rotterdam is not.
ORIGIN
bacAn \ba-KAHN\
CURRENT LOCATION: Bacan
N: CHILE
rad-tastic.
ORIGIN: CRE
SEND \’send\
CURRENT LOCATION: Send
ESTED BUTTE
To propel or direct one’s self through the air with a sense of freedom. “man, he just sent that pillow line like a pro.”
ORIGIN:
yow \’yow\
CURRENT LOCATION: Yow!
: ICELAND
yes! as in stating success, awesomeness, rad-ness, gnarly-ness.
THE
SOUND FROM THE
COMING
PROPELLER BLADES
CURRENT LOCATION: Introduction
akes it seem as if the air is roaring from getting cut in half, I know it’s not a bad thing, that’s just how helicopters sound, but luckily these headphones do a great job of muffling that noise, allowing me to hear our guide’s wise words as we leave the chalet underneath us. He’s been skiing his whole life, the guide, even won a few World Cup races a while back, but now he is our adrenaline commander for the week. I met him last night, and I got to be honest, I’d trust him on any backcountry run with my newborn strapped to his back. The wife might feel otherwise, but she wasn’t sitting around the fireplace last night talking about all those little idiosyncrasies of the mountain that only he could know. Some people may call those imperfections, but no, that’s the good stuff.
m
“STRAP IN! Pretty tough headwinds down here but it clears up nicely near the summit. Loads of champagne powder up there, we’re in for a perfect day,” he yelled into his headset. Waist deep in cold smoke, we got to be the first to mark fresh powder with the signature of each run, the undisturbed glory of virgin snow. I’ve seen a lot of the world, been to places, remote, urban, jungle, beach, mountain, desert, underground, you name it -- but this was different. Champagne powder is something else, cutting down the backside of the mountain, I get a faceful of it on every turn. It’s too light to make a snowball, and it sparkles in the sunlight, making almost millions of little rainbows in the air. I don’t even bother getting my camera out, certain moments aren’t meant to be captured. In a way this represents freedom in it’s purest form, for I had forgotten about the rest of the world. At the bottom of the run we skied right up to the back, just past the door to the chef’s kitchen where he was smoking some duck for our upcoming meal. It smelled like heaven. But first, we had massages scheduled in the chalet. Our guide got the fireplace roaring and set out some Czech Pilsner for afterwards, a favorite of mine from my monthly business trips to Prague. They anticipated every notion of what I would expect to be the “Best day of my life.”
the mission O
ur purpose is to custom-make powerful experiences that impact the people who impact the world.
CURRENT LOCATION: The Mission
the unofficial mission s
best d of y o u r life CURRENT LOCATION: The Unofficial Mission Statement
tatement
day
THE
alpha explorer
CURRENT LOCATION: The Alpha Explorer
he Alpha Explorer! The tenacious innovator. Yes, the adventure capitalist. Behold the bullfighters of the business world. El jefe! Madame Matador! We await your arrival. These are the great lovers of life, and they will all come. We will serve them champagne powder and get them drunk on pure adrenaline. We will comfort their cohorts and coddle their companions. We will deliver something no one else on earth can: a wildly positive, deeply personalized vacation in a hidden corner of the world. An experience that is one better than all the rest. We are their safe haven from modern life. Eleven will be their go-to hideout.
T
hea ven ahead of
schedule
welcome t0
colorado hospitality
CURRENT LOCATION: Colorado Hospitality
his is the most important ingredient in the recipe; it’s our secret sauce. The easygoing campfire vibe of the Colorado backcountry is legendary. Here are a few pointers on perfecting the art of making people never want to leave.
T
No-Bad-Day Policy This is important. Unlike other resorts and guide operations, we don’t acknowledge “rain days.” There are no rain checks on these properties. Be prepared to improvise and be creative. They came to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and this is what they’ll get. Colorado Clairvoyance It’s not hard to provide a perfect experience. But you’ll have to think ahead of the game. Sense apprehension. Anticipate boredom. Be ready to offer a kind word or crack a joke if things get slow. Learn Five Bob Hope Jokes Nothing breaks up unforeseen monotony and puts people at ease like a Bob Hope joke. Practice these, and be ready to deploy one in a moment of blah.
soul full t’s a long, winding road, far from the nearest highway; nothing but mountains, ridges, trees—not another soul in sight. On the way to Chalet Pelerin, we passed a little clapboard chapel, it looks like it was built in the 1500s, medieval, run-down, no one had probably set foot in there for a 100 years. You could probably smell the mustiness inside too, damp, like an old cheese cellar. We pulled over and parked the Bentley off the the side of the road, out of harms way, and roamed around the centuries-old grounds. About a hundred yards behind the chapel on a winding riverbank, lay a beautiful picnic arrangement waiting for us: freshly baked bread, cured meats, and a cassoulet, which was a local duck and bean stew, softly bubbling in a black pot above the crackling fire. This odyssey to reclaim my spirit tasted good, a perfectly seasoned funk eraser, and I could feel that euphoria returning once again. Here, you talk about the soul and spiritual vision as if it were the most natural subject in the world. It’s in abundance. It’s everywhere.
I
CURRENT LOCATION: Soul Full
CURRENT LOCATION: The Eleven Pit Crew
the eleven pit crew he squad. The team. The glue. You can sniff us without any of the harmful long-term effects too. We are the ones inside the studio, the workshop, the kitchen. The ones orchestrating your best day ever. Our mission is to keep the wheels turning and the gears grinding to keep your fire alive. No matter the role, we burn the midnight oil so that you don’t have to.
T
CURRENT LOCATION: We’re All Guides
we’re all guides ight in the center of the molten-lava core of Eleven Experience, you’ll find Irwin Guides. The whole thing is wrapped around these guys. This small group of highly trained outdoor-adventure and angling specialists has been helping guests carve out extraordinary paths on pristine slopes and isolated river edges for over five years. Headquartered on a mountaintop with a commanding view of over 600 inches of yearly snowfall, the guides are hand-selected to introduce our guests to the next level. We all need to do this. Chefs, valets, housekeepers, directors, accountants and drivers; no matter your job title, we are all here to help guide something spectacular.
R
all we have is
time spend it
wisely
CURRENT LOCATION: Scarp Ridge Lodge
SCARP RIDGE LODGE Crested Butte, CO, USA
CURRENT LOCATION: Gezellig CURRENT LOCATION: Scarp Ridge Lodge
Le Miroir, France
CHALET PELERIN
CURRENT LOCATION: Chalet Palerin
CURRENT LOCATION: Chalet Palerin
CURRENT LOCATION: Canal Huis
CANAL HUIS Amsterdam, Netherlands
CURRENT LOCATION: Canal Huis
get
rich quic k scheme
under co
CURRENT LOCATION: Coming Soon
onstruction
CURRENT LOCATION: Bahama House Inn
Bahamas
Bahama House Inn 25 29’ 54” N / 76 37’ 57” W
CURRENT LOCATION: Deplar Farm
Iceland
Deplar Farm 65 57’ 0” N / -18 37’ 0” W
CURRENT LOCATION: Taylor River Lodge
Colorado
Taylor River Lodge 38 53’ 10.6” N / 107 6’ 25.2” W
CURRENT LOCATION: Rio Palena Lodge
Chilean Patagonia
Rio Palena Lodge 42 55’ 0” S / 72 42’ 0” W
CURRENT LOCATION: Quiz
be ready at any time to answer these questions. 1. Sum up Colorado Hospitality using only 6 words. 2. A fishing rod is not a pole. Explain. 3. When greeting our guests it is customary to give them a:
A. Chest bump
B. Firm handshake
C. Big bearhug
D. Fist pound
E. Whatever you think they are comfortable with.
4. You should always ___________ what our guests’ desires are.
A. Guess
B. Anticipate
C. Not care
5. Are there any bad days allowed at Eleven?
A. Yes
B. No
6. What’s the “Whipping Post?”
A. An Allman Brothers song
B. How we discipline unruly guests
C. The bar at Scarp Ridge Lodge
D. A and C
7. This is only a test (True/False)