The mountain post thaw. How is it?

[WWF-VT]

FWIW - plenty of unhappy campers complaining about snow making at a Maine resort that is much more dependent on it....

http://community.sundayriver.com/for...s/snowmaking-2

[gostan]

There is a similar post over at Sugarloaf Today website. Let's all hope that February natural snow fall and snow conditions are better than January for all of the NE ski areas.

http://www.sugarloaftoday.com/chat/v...php?f=2&t=5760

[HowieT2]

There is a similar post over at Sugarloaf Today website. Let's all hope that February natural snow fall and snow conditions are better than January for all of the NE ski areas.

http://www.sugarloaftoday.com/chat/v...php?f=2&t=5760

Ahh this weather blows. Time to work on the bourbon part of my preseason goals.

[Soundrulz]

Following the radar, looks like all the rain (can I mention that word) missed most of SB. Here in Ontario, we got lots of it. Also see a good band of snow in behind this front. Here's to hoping things change after this! We are coming up for a week on Sunday.

[HowieT2]

Following the radar, looks like all the rain (can I mention that word) missed most of SB. Here in Ontario, we got lots of it. Also see a good band of snow in behind this front. Here's to hoping things change after this! We are coming up for a week on Sunday.

unfortunately I think the bulk of the precip is forecasted to fall tonight.

[DIRK PITTS]

History shows that the best early and late season skiing in Vermont is at Mt Ellen
Mt Ellen was called; “The King Of Spring” and for good reason Your Mother Nature rules

Anyone who has spent time skiing the Valley knows this and always looked forward to skiing the soft spring bumps on FIS and Exterminator as well as the other trails at Mt Ellen. After skiing, while soaking up the spring sun, beer flowed and the BBQ was great on the deck of the base lodge. A good time had by all

After acquiring Sugarbush, Win Smith, using his superior wisdom basically legislated that he now ruled and that by his decree, Lincoln Peak had the best early & late conditions. Why ?---- to support his real estate projects at Lincoln Peak.

The problem here is that Mother Nature really does rule. Nothing has changed accept of course pulling away of the support that Mt Ellen needs to function properly Mt Ellen is considered the weak sister, the outpost, out of sight & out of mind and a drain on the purse strings. GMVS gets more TLC than the people who loved to ski Mt Ellen and supported that ski area. Many of those people have left

Mt Ellen has great terrain, is a great place for a family and has a friendly atmosphere that Lincoln Peak simply cannot match. The best thing that could happen to Mt Ellen is for someone to buy it and run the operation as it should be

[Hawk]

I own at LP so I don't have much to say about the ME and being the King of Spring. All I know is that I have fun skiing both. Actually i think there are many other places that have a way better spring sking sceens. Hey it's his place and he does as he sees fit. Whatever as long as lifts spin. Your post will fall on deaf ears as all the other ones before you. Sorry.

[Roadkill]

Is there money left in the snowmaking budget to repair tonight's disaster?

[Hawk]

Is there money left in the snowmaking budget to repair tonight's disaster?

Good question Road Kill. Now that is the real question going forward.

I always hear the ME only people lamenting about the lack of attention. I hate to say it but if you got a full pass then you could ski where the skiing is best on any given day. I ski both with about a 70-30 split with ME on the 30 side. Quite frankly, I think that i would get bored of ME if I skied there any more than that. And as for spring skking, I like the continuous vert of Ripchord, Organgrinder, Stiens and Mall way better than the broken up vert of ME.

[HowieT2]

thaw over. good bye and good riddance.

fwiw-my take on the whole ME neglect issue. If there was demand for development at mellon, one would think it would happen. seems to me, its taking time to sell the 12 units they are building at rice brook. If there was more demand, they would have built the rest of the LP village project already. If there is money to be made building condos at mellon, someone would be doing it. I'm sure SV would like nothing more than to make some money at mellon and put some of it into new facilities there.

back to my snow dance.

[HowieT2]

thaw over. good bye and good riddance.

fwiw-my take on the whole ME neglect issue. If there was demand for development at mellon, one would think it would happen. seems to me, its taking time to sell the 12 units they are building at rice brook. If there was more demand, they would have built the rest of the LP village project already. If there is money to be made building condos at mellon, someone would be doing it. I'm sure SV would like nothing more than to make some money at mellon and put some of it into new facilities there.

back to my snow dance.

[SkiVideoGuy]

Maybe ME needs to be built out in a different way. Terrain Park is over there, why not build a super pipe and more terrain stuff and really make it a snowboard destination mountain? I don't board so that's not coming from my personal point of view but might be something viable. MRG is ski only, what about making ME snowboard only?

I'm not trying to start a fight, just throwing out marketing ideas.

OR

Given the proximity and potential connection to MRG, connect them. I know, tons of business stuff to figure out to make that doable for MRG but it would make ME more viable. Maybe make the interconnect for ME only passholders only? Just thinking out loud here.

Summer Potential - what summer activities would ME support that don't work so well at LP? Might there be a summer angle?

How would any of that affect or shape a residential development at ME? What would make bedrooms viable at ME?

[HowieT2]

I dont know. with the terrain park over there with its dedicated lift, it is a boarding destination already.

I was just commenting on the sentiment expressed above that the powers that be are stupidly neglecting mellon. I'm pretty confident that if they thought they could do something now to develop mellon, they would. and if there was anyone else in a position to do so, who wanted to, that would happen. as it stands, they have a lot of work to do over at LP.

[WWF-VT]

Mt Ellen gets a pretty good crowd of both skiers and snow boarders at the terrain park. The terrain park has gotten accolades from a few magazines and the staff has done a great job with all the jumps, rails and features this season. A superpipe is a big waste of snowmaking $$ and needs expensive equipment to maintain.

I am always amazed that all mountain pass holders will complain about lines at LP on holiday weeks and peak days but don't venture over to Mt Ellen where most lifts are practically ski on most days.

[Tin Woodsman]

As I asked before, is there actually land that Sugarbush owns that can be developed over at ME?

I'm pretty certain that Summit Ventures owns, at a minimum, the land where the parking lots sit at ME. I believe there are other plots further towards the South, sort of downhill and around both the bottom of Sunny D and the old terminus of Lower FIS. Just the parking lots alone, which are rarely if ever full even during the holidays, would suffice. Regardless, that's got to be 10-15 years off in the distance at least. First they need to achieve full build-out at LP with all phases of Rice Brook. If there is sufficient demand thereafter, I guess I could see some developments at ME but it won't ever rival the $100M + they have and will invest in LP Village base.