Rod Elwell Wins SAVMI Lifetime Achievement Award
Rod Elwell retires this month after more than 40 years at Kässbohrer, having taught more than 400 PistenBully Service Schools.
On Tuesday, May 20th, 2025, Rod Elwell received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ski Area Vehicle Maintenance Institute (SAVMI), an honor that few deserve more than Rod. Over the course of his impressive career, Rod has taught over 400 PistenBully service schools and been an instructor at every single SAVMI gathering since the conference was instituted 39 years ago. After more than 40 years of service to PistenBully and Kässbohrer All-Terrain Vehicles, Inc., Rod retires at the end of this month.
Rod Elwell was raised in Preston, Idaho, a town just over the border from Logan, Utah. He had never been to a ski area, but his father, Don, worked in research & development for LMC. LMC was one of the only other snowcat brands at the time, based out of Logan. Rod didn’t have much interest in snowcats specifically, but he’d been to the LMC factory a few times. At the factory, Don would help Rod make parts for his vehicles as a teenager (Rod got his drivers license at 14 and owned a pickup truck).
After high school, Rod attended college at Idaho State University and graduated in 1979 with a degree in Technical Auto and Diesel Mechanics. His first gig out of college was working at the local Chevrolet dealer. In the Logan newspaper, he saw an ad from Heavenly Valley Ski Area looking for a heavy-duty diesel mechanic, with special interest in someone who came from the LMC factory. Rod called Jack Wildburger, who was Heavenly’s Vehicle Maintenance Manager at the time. Jack told Rod to come down for an interview. Don was excited for Rod – Heavenly was a big customer for LMC.
Don and Rod’s mom drove Rod down to South Lake Tahoe and within an hour of speaking to Jack, Jack offered Rod a job. Rod and his parents quickly found an apartment, and Rod moved to California the next weekend. At Heavenly, though Rod was still a teenager, he was talented and had advanced knowledge and skills compared to others in the shop. His coworkers called him the “teenage foreman.”
After 5 years at Heavenly, Rod got the opportunity to work at Valley Engineering, which was based out of Sparks, Nevada. (Valley Engineering is the original North American branch of PistenBully, now known as Kässbohrer All-Terrain Vehicles, Inc.) When Rod’s dad found out that Rod was working for PistenBully instead of LMC, it caused a huge rift in their relationship. Don didn’t speak to Rod for three full years.
Despite this, Rod was very successful in his new role with Valley Engineering. He was quickly promoted to the role of Service Manager for the Sierra Branch, covering all of California and Nevada. He left Valley Engineering for just a brief period between 1986 and 1987 for a short stint at Sierra Ski Ranch near Lake Tahoe but in 1987, he returned to PistenBully this time as the Service Manager for the Grand Junction, Colorado territory.
In the late 80s, Rod went on his first trip to Germany, where PistenBully’s global headquarters are located. He had travelled extensively for the company already, but this was his first time out of the country. He was nervous, meeting all his German counterparts in their business suits. That nervousness faded with time, though. Rod has traveled to Germany up to 3 times a year in his time with PistenBully, and estimates that he’s been there for work more than 40 times.
PistenBully created the first self-contained, 360-degree rotating/assisted winch in 1984, a major innovation for the snow grooming industry. Rod tested, demoed, and worked on these first winch machines. To date, this project remains one of his favorites. When North America received their first 200DW winch, Rod recalls that it “hardly worked,” but through the feedback he and others gave, he was able to watch PistenBully winches grow into the incredible, powerful machines that they are today.
By 1992, Rod was promoted again, this time to the role of North American Service Manager for PistenBully in Gray, Maine, where he had already been living for a few years. In Maine, Rod was on the road frequently. As he describes it, he “knew where every pay phone in 5 states was, and which ones had a roof on them and had a few hundred phone numbers memorized... and I could unfold read and fold backup a paper map without even slowing down.” Additionally, Rod met his future wife Sherry, who was also a PistenBully employee, while living in Maine.
After several years in New England, Rod and Sherry returned to Sparks, Nevada once again. Rod was now overseeing the North American Technical Service Department. When Rod first started in the Technical Service Department, one entire wall of his living room was a bookcase of PistenBully books. Nothing was digital yet, so he needed a paper copy of everything – one for every model and piece of equipment. Digitization changed and improved his job completely. No more walls of books in the living room – just a computer. Today, Rod’s department is known for its 24/7 ability to respond to any urgent issue.
One of the stories that adds to Rod’s legend status is the incident in 2006 that left Rod with a metal plate in his head. Rod is always the first to arrive at work, often before 5am. One morning in September, he arrived early as usual and was the victim of a robbery. He was shot in the head while in the Kässbohrer parking lot. Rod was in surgery for many hours that afternoon and went home against everyone’s desire the next day. He was very upset to miss almost a whole week of work.
Rod has been instrumental in all aspects of making Kässbohrer All-Terrain Vehicles, Inc. the successful company it is today. He has always set the standard for what work ethic and customer support should be. His masterful touch is the reason behind many of the things that make PistenBully great, from improved technical capabilities of our machines to the availability of the 24/7 service hotline. Though his career is winding down, his presence and contributions will be felt forever. Thank you, Rod, for everything.
