radarman Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Spectacular winter bluebird at Sugarbush. Crowds limited the vert, but definitely got our workout in with wall-to-wall moguls. Good day to be alive. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRVexpat Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 18 hours ago, Angus said: Skied today at Cannon. It was a zoo getting into the parking lot. They announced they sold out. The line of cars at the exit to Loon was more than 1/2 mile down 93... Basically, Cannon was one big bump run at the end of day. Ton of fun but exhausting skiing like that on back-to-back days. They opened everything including DJs - which IMO is nuts. After two days of skiing this stuff, I'm whipped. Can confirm Cannon was amazing yesterday. Made the prudent decision to get there before 8 yesterday and snagged a spot in the front lot. Don't know the resort terrain all that well but managed to snag 3 great runs prior to going off to check out Tucker Brook and some other side country. Bummed to have missed the opportunity to ski the tramline, but it was hard to complain after what was the day of the year. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCWarrior Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 I often ask myself why I don’t live in Rangeley. There really is no where else like it in New England. Skiing was totally incredible, two days of bliss! Saturday was classic storm skiing, constant refreshers all day long. Untouched in Casablanca way into the day. Sunday was over 20”(way more up high) of blower powder. Some places were pretty wind blown but often as you got lower and in the woods it got better and better. Mule skinner was insane, knee deep turns on the fat waisted skis. I could have walked away from my season after that run and said “I’m done!” It did get pretty busy Sunday but you would never know it, the Rangeley was ski on and the Kennebago had a 5 min wait after we had skied many runs. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 https://www.instagram.com/reel/C44Hr65voxI/?igsh=NGpuYXVkcHIzMXF6 Stowe Avalanches 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Also Loaf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 2 hours ago, Ginx snewx said: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C44Hr65voxI/?igsh=NGpuYXVkcHIzMXF6 Stowe Avalanches John was real lucky there. I mean not sure what he was expecting to be honest. Two weeks of snow and once the rocks are covered it’s a steep snowfield… up there during max precip rates following a huge wind-loading event. Avalanches are most likely during the period of heaviest QPF loading and that’s exactly when he was up there. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCWarrior Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I made a quick trip today to Mount Snow. Legs were still a bit cooked from the weekend but I managed just fine. Skiing was pretty good. Weather was not so good. Cloudy, spitting rain and breezy. Groomers were very nice, natural was good where it had been skied but very manky in some of the off map stuff. Couldn’t stay too long because I had to go to work, but I felt satisfied none the less. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 Absolutely insulting decision by sugarbush to close half of Lincoln peak April 1st to install a new summit quad. Not announcing it until now and not keeping Ellen open as an alternative make this unforgivable. Also the idiotic decision to prioritize opening on time v ending the season early when the better skiing is almost always Spring! I hate to say it but after 30 years enjoying sugarbush I think I’m done with them forever after this. Unless they change their mind and fix this somehow I’ll probably never ski there again. If you agree please call and send them an email letting them know how horribly they’ve screwed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRVexpat Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 9 minutes ago, psuhoffman said: Absolutely insulting decision by sugarbush to close half of Lincoln peak April 1st to install a new summit quad. Not announcing it until now and not keeping Ellen open as an alternative make this unforgivable. Also the idiotic decision to prioritize opening on time v ending the season early when the better skiing is almost always Spring! I hate to say it but after 30 years enjoying sugarbush I think I’m done with them forever after this. Unless they change their mind and fix this somehow I’ll probably never ski there again. If you agree please call and send them an email letting them know how horribly they’ve screwed up. The disappointment is for sure understandable and they could have handled the communication of it better, but there's a lot more to it than meets the eye here. First and foremost as it relates to permitting for this type of work and them being on state land. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 1 hour ago, MRVexpat said: The disappointment is for sure understandable and they could have handled the communication of it better, but there's a lot more to it than meets the eye here. First and foremost as it relates to permitting for this type of work and them being on state land. They waited until yesterday to announce this. That alone is unforgivable. People made plans. If they can’t keep Ellen open due to state lands then the decision to close Lincoln early is even more idiotic and insulting. If they can’t get the summit of Lincoln open on time who cares. They have Ellen. Plus early season sucks. There is no way to spin this that is any less horrific in terms of their calculus and communication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 I don’t know a lot about ski area operations but I bet they looked at how much money they make early vs April. No excuse for the lack of communication though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 I wonder if Wachusett will open up again next weekend if a decent storm happens. They are officially closing this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCHurricane Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 1 hour ago, mreaves said: I don’t know a lot about ski area operations but I bet they looked at how much money they make early vs April. No excuse for the lack of communication though. This is one of the potential downsides with the proliferation of passes sold by Ikon / Epic. Late season, I can assure you the mountains know their mix of clientele. With that mix likely skewing to passholders vs. lift-ticket purchases, it's a massive conflict when it comes to the right customer decision vs. right corporate decision. Throw in the fact that many mountains have already sent home their out-of-country employees, and they have even less ability to run at full capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 3 hours ago, mreaves said: I don’t know a lot about ski area operations but I bet they looked at how much money they make early vs April. No excuse for the lack of communication though. 53 minutes ago, CCHurricane said: This is one of the potential downsides with the proliferation of passes sold by Ikon / Epic. Late season, I can assure you the mountains know their mix of clientele. With that mix likely skewing to passholders vs. lift-ticket purchases, it's a massive conflict when it comes to the right customer decision vs. right corporate decision. Throw in the fact that many mountains have already sent home their out-of-country employees, and they have even less ability to run at full capacity. Oh I am 100% this decision was the best for their bottom line (in the short term) given the factors you both stated. But it was the wrong thing to do in the long run. They screwed all their loyal customers who make up a disproportionate % of late season visitors. Sometimes you need to just do what’s right by your people and in the long run it will work out in terms of $. Problem is too many corporations are only worried about the next quarters numbers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtski Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 It has everything to do with the permit allowing them to cut trees and blast for foundations. The lift is square within Bicknell habitat, so they have a lot of work to do before mitigation season starts (may 15- August 1) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radarman Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Magic is teasing a bonus powder day opening mid next week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 19 minutes ago, vtski said: It has everything to do with the permit allowing them to cut trees and blast for foundations. The lift is square within Bicknell habitat, so they have a lot of work to do before mitigation season starts (may 15- August 1) Then why not keep Ellen open instead like they used too? That’s the better spring skiing mountain anyways. And why the lack of communication until yesterday when they were selling post April 1 discount tickets all season and people were making reservations? And why are you the one explaining this and not them? Im sure there are reasons. I doubt they just shook a magic 8 ball to bet this decision. But they botched the whole thing. Maybe it would have gone over better if they announced this months ago and explained the reasoning and offered some discount on spring passes. But they did none of that. Sorry this is an indefensible and imo unforgivable act. And unless they do something to rectify (either reverse the decision to close Lincoln or keep Ellen open) I am done with them forever. There are plenty of other good mountains that don’t behave this way and have never left me feeling this screwed over. They can keep their new summit quad. I’ll never be on it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 @vtski and why are they replacing a triple that works fine when they have major infrastructure issues on Ellen? I never experience the number of lift issues anywhere else that I do at sugarbush. But it’s not the HG lift. Plus can Lincoln peak even withstand the increased traffic from a quad? There aren’t many runs off the summit. There is so much about this that seems off. It the unforgivable part is the lack of communication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwt3650 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 [mention=3254]vtski[/mention] and why are they replacing a triple that works fine when they have major infrastructure issues on Ellen? I never experience the number of lift issues anywhere else that I do at sugarbush. But it’s not the HG lift. Plus can Lincoln peak even withstand the increased traffic from a quad? There aren’t many runs off the summit. There is so much about this that seems off. It the unforgivable part is the lack of communication. Im sure the plans for that lift replacement have been a few years in the making. There’s permitting issues, labor, and probably just fitting into the lift duopoly’s schedule. It’s April and they had no way of knowing there would be a monster storm coming. They are upgrading their infrastructure to improve the skier experience. Lifts are extremely expensive and the fact that they have determined that the lift was past its life and opened their pockets before it started having major issues is a good thing; not a bad thing. I’m told there is a waiting list for some lift replacements by doppylmeyer. And April/may is more killington and jays game. It’s your money so I applaud you for voting your displeasure with your wallet and the communication probably sucked, but I have a different take on it.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwt3650 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Im sure the plans for that lift replacement have been a few years in the making. There’s permitting issues, labor, and probably just fitting into the lift duopoly’s schedule. It’s April and they had no way of knowing there would be a monster storm coming. They are upgrading their infrastructure to improve the skier experience. Lifts are extremely expensive and the fact that they have determined that the lift was past its life and opened their pockets before it started having major issues is a good thing; not a bad thing. I’m told there is a waiting list for some lift replacements by doppylmeyer. And April/may is more killington and jays game. It’s your money so I applaud you for voting your displeasure with your wallet and the communication probably sucked, but I have a different take on it..https://blog.sugarbush.com/mountain/a-deeper-dive-into-the-heavens-gate-lift-replacement/And here’s the answer…they really didn’t have to explain all this, but wow, nice write up!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radarman Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 8 minutes ago, bwt3650 said: https://blog.sugarbush.com/mountain/a-deeper-dive-into-the-heavens-gate-lift-replacement/ And here’s the answer…they really didn’t have to explain all this, but wow, nice write up! Meh, their Ellen ops have sucked for years and I seriously do love the place so I take no pleasure in saying that. All their staff leaving isn't a circumstance beyond their control, especially knowing they'd have to close portions of LP early this year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 2 hours ago, bwt3650 said: Im sure the plans for that lift replacement have been a few years in the making. There’s permitting issues, labor, and probably just fitting into the lift duopoly’s schedule. It’s April and they had no way of knowing there would be a monster storm coming. They are upgrading their infrastructure to improve the skier experience. Lifts are extremely expensive and the fact that they have determined that the lift was past its life and opened their pockets before it started having major issues is a good thing; not a bad thing. I’m told there is a waiting list for some lift replacements by doppylmeyer. And April/may is more killington and jays game. It’s your money so I applaud you for voting your displeasure with your wallet and the communication probably sucked, but I have a different take on it. . You have neglected to touch on the one part of this that makes it unforgivable. The fact they waited until yesterday to tell us. Meanwhile they were selling April passes and taking reservations. And people were making plans. I could have planned out my winter and spring differently had I known. That is the part that is inexcusable. Also the part about staff is totally their choice. They allowed that to happen. That’s an excise and not a valid one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 @bwt3650 do you work for SG? Otherwise I don’t understand why you would have this attitude. Yes they have reasons. Yes finding way to compensate with a plan b (keeping Ellen open, starting the project later) would have cost them money and been difficult, but that’s their responsibility to their customers. It’s not my job as the customer to care about their logistical problems in providing me with the promised service. That’s their problem. Instead they made a bunch of excuses why they are basically choosing not to do anything and make their logistical issues my problem by offering less service than is acceptable and was implied when they sold their season passes. You shouldn’t have to explain why they are screwong us over. It’s their job to wind a way NOT to screw is over. They had options. Instead they made excuses why they didn’t choose those. Yes it wolf have cost them money. That’s their problem. They chose their bottom line over providing the expected experience to their loyal customers. For that we should hurt them the only way that matters. They won’t ever get my money again! I am urging anyone else who agrees the way they handled this was unacceptable to do the same. don’t give your money to someone that treats you like this! On Facebook it seems most agree with me. Hopefully this will end up hurting them enough that it serves as a lesson the next time a resort wants to do something stupid like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwt3650 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 [mention=10397]bwt3650[/mention] do you work for SG? Otherwise I don’t understand why you would have this attitude. Yes they have reasons. Yes finding way to compensate with a plan b (keeping Ellen open, starting the project later) would have cost them money and been difficult, but that’s their responsibility to their customers. It’s not my job as the customer to care about their logistical problems in providing me with the promised service. That’s their problem. Instead they made a bunch of excuses why they are basically choosing not to do anything and make their logistical issues my problem by offering less service than is acceptable and was implied when they sold their season passes. You shouldn’t have to explain why they are screwong us over. It’s their job to wind a way NOT to screw is over. They had options. Instead they made excuses why they didn’t choose those. Yes it wolf have cost them money. That’s their problem. They chose their bottom line over providing the expected experience to their loyal customers. For that we should hurt them the only way that matters. They won’t ever get my money again! I am urging anyone else who agrees the way they handled this was unacceptable to do the same. don’t give your money to someone that treats you like this! On Facebook it seems most agree with me. Hopefully this will end up hurting them enough that it serves as a lesson the next time a resort wants to do something stupid like this! Dude, I don’t work for sugarbush nor any ski resort. I’m just a guy who loves skiing and is trying to present a different perspective. Again, your dollar, your vote, but I think they presented several reasons why they chose to do this project when they did. They don’t have to explain, but they did…which is great. Could they have communicated sooner and better; sure. But I don’t think it’s some corporate greed scheme out to get you. They are still operating in April, which is a loss for any ski resort. Ellen always closes this time of year and ski resorts use tons of J-1 visa students to staff and if they aren’t there anymore, they can’t just go hire 30 people for 2 weeks. Ski resorts are complicated places to run with more moving parts, environmental issues, permitting issues, staff issues, weather issues than most other businesses. Sugarbush is spending money to replace a 40 year old lift and to improve the skier experience, with the cost to the skier being a loss of a few trails for what usually is about 2 weeks in April before conditions get iffy anyway. Im ok with sacrificing a few trails in April for that..you’re not.I wouldn’t put as much stock into “angry Facebook” as you. Facebook is a cesspool for people to bitch. I’d be shocked if most of those “never going to sugarbush again” Facebook comments aren’t back next year. It’s the same people who light up social media about wind holds, but have no clue what the winds are like at 3500’ not how to operate a ski lift in the northern greens. I’ll still ski sugarbush and you won’t. We have different views on this..and that’s ok. One perspective is not better than the other. . 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psuhoffman Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Last spring I visited Sugarloaf mid April and they had groomed everything. I was incredibly disappointed as I love bumps. I actually left a day early and went to killington on the way back and they had plenty of mogul runs! Does anyone know of this is a common issue? I was at sugarloaf in years past during Spring and I remember them having some natural terrain with moguls. I asked the resort and got a very non answer like “we focus on safety and please check out conditions page for trail info”. planning a trip in 2 weeks and just don’t want to drive 10 hours and have the same thing happen. Sugarloaf is a better mountain but if they are going to groom the whole thing into a boring flat surface again I’ll go to Vermont! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcglups Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 1 hour ago, psuhoffman said: Last spring I visited Sugarloaf mid April and they had groomed everything. I was incredibly disappointed as I love bumps. I actually left a day early and went to killington on the way back and they had plenty of mogul runs! Does anyone know of this is a common issue? I was at sugarloaf in years past during Spring and I remember them having some natural terrain with moguls. I asked the resort and got a very non answer like “we focus on safety and please check out conditions page for trail info”. planning a trip in 2 weeks and just don’t want to drive 10 hours and have the same thing happen. Sugarloaf is a better mountain but if they are going to groom the whole thing into a boring flat surface again I’ll go to Vermont! Not sure. Last year I want on April 22 and looking down the mountain, the right side was ungroomed with moguls (steep too) and the middle likely had moguls but was groomed and bumps developed during the day, and the left side was groomers that looked like they were groomed daily. I suspect that each season, scenario, and daily considerations lead to different outcomes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 I skied (ski) SLoaf from mid-late March until mid-late April regularly. Last year I skied April 10-12, there were bumps everywhere. Ripsaw, Winters Way, White Nitro, Bubblecuffer, Misery Whip, Sheer Boom, Skidder, Double Bitter are places to go standardly. SLoaf has so much terrain open during spring time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HIPPYVALLEY Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 10 hours ago, psuhoffman said: Last spring I visited Sugarloaf mid April and they had groomed everything. I was incredibly disappointed as I love bumps. I actually left a day early and went to killington on the way back and they had plenty of mogul runs! Does anyone know of this is a common issue? I was at sugarloaf in years past during Spring and I remember them having some natural terrain with moguls. I asked the resort and got a very non answer like “we focus on safety and please check out conditions page for trail info”. planning a trip in 2 weeks and just don’t want to drive 10 hours and have the same thing happen. Sugarloaf is a better mountain but if they are going to groom the whole thing into a boring flat surface again I’ll go to Vermont! I spring skied there at least once almost every April from 97-2005 and there were plenty of bumps and plenty of groomers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 On 3/29/2024 at 8:22 PM, vtski said: It has everything to do with the permit allowing them to cut trees and blast for foundations. The lift is square within Bicknell habitat, so they have a lot of work to do before mitigation season starts (may 15- August 1) Can’t do a lot up high during the Bicknell’s Thrush time frame… it makes sense operationally. You don’t want a lift replacement at that elevation to start off behind schedule either. You know issues will crop up over the summer and fall too, these lift replacements are tough. If they decided it was not possible to complete on time without cutting the current season short, it’s a sound long-game plan. I just imagine if a Vail-owned mountain did this (announce days prior a main lift closure, stopping summit access, especially ahead of the eclipse)… would be a bloodbath. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 On 3/29/2024 at 10:29 PM, bwt3650 said: https://blog.sugarbush.com/mountain/a-deeper-dive-into-the-heavens-gate-lift-replacement/ And here’s the answer…they really didn’t have to explain all this, but wow, nice write up! . This communication is solid. The eclipse and late-season nature of this season makes the short notice harder in the public eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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