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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    in the troughs and between the trees
    Posts
    45

    A Great Mountain

    I love Sugarbush but as a passholder I am really frustrated. Among other problems that exist at the mtn, Quad Packs are ruining the Sugarbush experience. I know they are wildly popular and good for the bottom line (60,000 x $200 = 12 million dollars at the start of the season) but they do nothing for us loyal pass holders.
    Lift lines are out of control, there is no room in the lodge for all these people and the trails are getting worn out early each day. This was not the case prior to Quad Pass sales. What i want to know is when will this money be invested into the mtn? I buy two all mtn 7 passes every year in the spring at the lowest rate i can get and help the mtn by giving them money 6 months before they are used. Thats a $20,000.00 investment i have made into the mountain and i get crap conditions now by people who spend $200. Please tell me there is a plan that will improve my experience. Replacing Valley House is a start but we need much more . A lot more, what is the plan for the next 5 years? Is there one? A great mountain should not have to give away the skiing experience..

    Last edited by Chewbarka; 01-27-2014 at 06:59 AM.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    waiting for winter :(
    Posts
    156
    +1, would love to hear what the 5 year plan is. One could argue that air for snow making might be more important then a new lift, but the reality is this mountain needs a lot of work. So what is the plan, as season pass owners for 10 plus years as well, we do deserve that don't we????

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ice Coast
    Posts
    145
    The Five Year Plan: Ski it like it is.............

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    waiting for winter :(
    Posts
    156
    Quote Originally Posted by ahm View Post
    The Five Year Plan: Ski it like it is.............
    Agreed, that is why we will leave. Look at Stowes report this morning. Making snow for the spring time, what a novel concept!

  5. #5
    The lift that was robbed a North was the summit chair. Northridge was broken and being worked on at the time. You would have thought someone would have used a caliper to check the bearing before ripping a lift apart. Northridge is so decrepit I won't get on it unless the temp is above 20`and the winds are light.
    Also the snow report states "Slide Brook Express will not be running, due to conditions in the Basin." but you may have noticed lift mech. snowmobiles at the return terminal. In talking to said lift mechs it was revealed that SBE has not even been inspected this year.

    I'll third the Qpac sentiment, giving the mountain away fro $53 has turned Saturday into a sh**show and the mountain is still a ghost town Mon-Friday. I can only handle skiing till 9 or 10 before going home instead of watching the Clay Brook Elitists get two runs while I slog through the maze with the 2nd class citizens. Everyone I have shared a chair with this year[on Sat.] has complained about how long the lines are, poor quality of snowmaking and the lack of good access to the summit.

    Don't get me started on how sh**ty the icemaking is at the mountain, did anyone see the new tree destruction on Sleeper? Ice coated trees eveywhere some coated to 60' and toppled over needing to be chainsawed and pitched off the trail.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    behind plow
    Posts
    418
    Not sure I believe they sold 60k Qpac's.. Um that would be 240k skier days....What's their average per year 350k?

    One fact I do know, having a relative that was a night snowmaker at ME, all snowmakers at ME were laid off last tues.

    Shitty year = shitty talk = shit show

    Let It Snow

  7. #7
    What % of Quad packs were purchased by pass holders? Also, I wonder what the redemption of Quad numbers look like vs. last year?

    It would be easy for example to find out what the percentages were on this past Saturday with Pass Holders, Quads, and Dailys..... Guess I would like the data before pack up my Condo...

  8. #8
    Icemaking? I think that's a little harsh...

    I know what you're talking about on Sleeper. Sleeper is a difficult trail to make snow on, with the trees in the trail and how narrow it gets in some spots. Running towers sometimes, the wind can change and blow back on themselves, thus coating the trees on skier's left. The weather in New England can change in 5 minutes... that includes the wind direction. It's not physically possible to be monitoring a trail that has snowmaking running every 5 minutes. We do our gun run, adjust the guns accordingly given the present conditions, then move on. By the time we get back to that trail for the next run (whether it be 30 minutes, an hour, etc), the wind could totally change. On trails like Hot Shot, Birdland, and Lwr Downspout, we have to really monitor snowmaking due to lifts, powerlines, etc. A wind change there could be devastating.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    waiting for winter :(
    Posts
    156
    Quote Originally Posted by shadyjay View Post
    Icemaking? I think that's a little harsh...

    I know what you're talking about on Sleeper. Sleeper is a difficult trail to make snow on, with the trees in the trail and how narrow it gets in some spots. Running towers sometimes, the wind can change and blow back on themselves, thus coating the trees on skier's left. The weather in New England can change in 5 minutes... that includes the wind direction. It's not physically possible to be monitoring a trail that has snowmaking running every 5 minutes. We do our gun run, adjust the guns accordingly given the present conditions, then move on. By the time we get back to that trail for the next run (whether it be 30 minutes, an hour, etc), the wind could totally change. On trails like Hot Shot, Birdland, and Lwr Downspout, we have to really monitor snowmaking due to lifts, powerlines, etc. A wind change there could be devastating.
    Its not, really. No offense to your efforts but the snow making is bad its more ice then snow. Sorry,

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    in the troughs and between the trees
    Posts
    45
    My gripe is not with the snow making (which I think has been improved this year!) but with the lifts and the overcrowding. I was stuck on the Summit chair twice yesterday for about 10 minutes each time at -18 degrees. Fortunately I was dressed for it. Unfortunately, the best snow I had seen this year were on Black Diamond, Upper FIS and Exterminator and could not access it consistently. Northridge was showing on delay, but I saw them bringing parts to it and knew it would not run all day. I was correct. Doing laps on GMX is a waste of time after the first hour. After second stoppage on Summit, I left for the day around 2:30, frustrated and unsatisfied due to lift issues, again. It wasn't really windy out either. Saturday at LP was a CF. Granted, it was windy and to be expected, but it just seems endless this year. Why do our lifts keep breaking down? The only ski area that I am familiar with having lift issues like this is Magic. At least they have an excuse!

  11. #11
    Where did you get the 60,000 number for Quad Packs ? I had heard that there was about $1 million worth of Quad Packs sold about the same value of For20s passes. I avoid Lincoln Peak on Saturdays especially when the Castlerock, North Lynx and Slidebrook chairs aren't running to help disperse the crowds. The Northridge chair running is critical at Mt Ellen. It's a real PITA to have to take the GMX and Summit chairs to ski Bravo and Exterminator. It's funny that people will bitch about the crowds at Lincoln Peak but won't take a quick drive or the Mad Bus to ski at Mt Ellen.

  12. #12
    For years, I chose the Bush primarily because of the amazing terrain and lack of crowds during weekends and holidays. There were actually many occassions I thought too few people were there and I want the mountain to do well financially.
    Since the $50 lift ticket (aka "the Quad Pack") a normal Saturday sees crowds that were only reserved for the busiest holiday weekends, a few years ago. I agree with WWF-VT, Mt. Ellen is an option. However, almost half the days this season, the North Ridge Chair is broken and North does not ski well without it.
    In short, I hope the mountain can strike a better balance as the current situation is tough to get used to.

  13. #13
    I think if the lines at mount Ellen and Lincoln peek were equal then there would not be much of a problem. Also without the woods and limited bump runs people have to take more quick runs causing them to get in line more frequently.

  14. #14

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    waiting for winter :(
    Posts
    156
    What everyone seems to be missing is the elephant in the room. The issue is the mountain has been neglected for a long time. The snow making needs an overhaul, they need to rent compressors again, the lift system needs to be drastically overhauled, and they need to stop selling quad passes as they do not have the infrastructure on the mountain and in the lodge to handle it. So really its not a great mountain today as we speak!

  15. #15

    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ice Coast
    Posts
    145
    Great Mountain translates to great terrain. It does not include the infrastructure to operate it. This season what most are experiencing is the lack of skiing variety which is putting extra pressure on the lift system because it is really only groomer skiing. Without a healthy dose of natural allowing skiers to have greater trail/off trail variety, all of the areas that need significant improvement become all the more obvious: Lift mechanical system and preventative maintenance, snowmaking, quad packs and clay brookers. What it may translate to is skiing different hills in lean snow years and the bush when there is ample natural................maybe everyone should just go with quad packs allowing the freedom to ski elsewhere when the conditions are not prime. For the power snowmaking hills in NE, the terrain is ample, well covered, and most of the "boiler" has been chewed up by groomers. As weather patterns change, power snowmaking hills may be where skiers tend to go. That could force either an upgrade of critical systems at SB or a continued MRG approach to the actual "ski" product.

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