Killington Parks’ Erin Alexander takes the rake

By Brooke Geery, Killington Resort

Erin Alexander, 21, stands alone as the only woman on the Killington Parks crew this season. Back in December, she got the chance to travel to Trollhaugen, Wisconsin, for a unique event bringing together female park builders and shapers from around the country called Take the Rake. It’s an annual gathering to give women the opportunity to work together to build their dream park. This year’s event brought 17 women to Wisconsin, Dec. 8-17.

This is Erin’s fourth year on the Killington Park Crew, but this was her first time attending Take the Rake. She nabbed her slot via an application process on Instagram and was the lone representative from the state of Vermont.

“They try to pick women from every state, one person from each state,” she said.

Alexander said it was an awesome opportunity to work with all women, especially after spending the rest of the season in a male-dominated environment.

“It was really fun to go build with girls for a week and be able do things like the singing the Frozen soundtrack in the car on the way there.”

Although she is used to being the only girl in her regular life, Alexander said the experience of working with all women was great. “It’s definitely more lighthearted,” she laughed. “Like obviously we’re all trying to get a job done and we’re serious about it and passionate, but we’re also having a lot more fun while we’re doing it. I’ve also found working with girls, the communication is a lot easier. We’re a lot more straightforward with things.”

She also said the camaraderie was second to none.

“We’re all looking out for each other all the time — making sure that we’re all drinking water and we’ve all had food and stuff and making sure all your friends are all safe, having a good time and everybody is on the same page,” she said.

The crew would work all day, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Alexander said they did everything from fixing broken rails to building new features. They each brought their own drawings and ideas to the table, then met in groups to determine which features would be built. The park they created is called Valhalla, and it’s the largest of Trollhaugen’s offerings. Each build stays up for about three weeks, giving local riders enough time to dial in all the features. The Take the Rake version of the park is the only one of the season built entirely by women.

“People ask me, ‘oh well like it was all girls digging but you must’ve had a guy in the [snow]cat, right? Like a guy, you know, welding or something,’ but it was all girls.”

Erin Alexander is now back at Killington, working with the crew of 20 as the lone female. “I’m so used to it at this point that it’s not super hard for me, but I do kind of wish that I had another girl sometimes especially after doing that. It was really fun to go build with girls for a week,” she said.