DMC 3700

Story

The DMC 3700 was the workhorse of ski areas throughout the 1980s. Blackcomb acquired its first four machines from Aspen Corporation just as I became the mountain's first heavy-duty mechanic apprentice.

I had enrolled in a four-year apprenticeship program, and there was no better machine to learn hydraulics on than the 3700. From the day I began servicing them, I developed a close relationship with every one of those machines. Of the 5,000 hours I logged during my apprenticeship, I probably spent two or three thousand working on the DMC 3700s. I came to know every hydraulic circuit, every adjustment, and nearly every nut and bolt.

Years later, after becoming a printmaker, it seemed only fitting to create a print of the machine that had carried me through my apprenticeship and launched my career. After earning my journeyman certification, I moved into lift maintenance as a millwright—but that's another story.