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Thread: New VH lift

  1. #1

    New VH lift

    Uh, some big news for the new year from Win.

    Our main New Year's resolution is to keep making Sugarbush bettter for you and in 2015 the major item on our list will be a new Fixed grip quad to replace the Valley House double. If we're able to get it permitted, we want to have the loading area brought further down the hill for the convenience of everyone. - See more at: http://www.sugarbush.com/blogs/wins-....3QrVfqDU.dpuf

    Please tell tell. I think most everyone agrees having the loading area closer to the base is of great import. Are we talking significant alterations to the structure of the valley house? Interesting stuff. My take is, brand new lifts aren't installed often for obvious reasons. It's a major undertaking. So when you do it, best to do it right. A new quad will be tremendous enhancement in and of itself but having it easily accessible from the base would profoundly better.

  2. #2

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    That could be great news - seems now based on the comments they would like to have it go down closer to Bravo but permitting might be the hold up. Never could understand leaving it where it is - sure it will take a higher initial tower to get it over the ops building but three lifts from the main base of a major resort makes so much sense.

    some regrading of the base on that hill coming from VH but well worth the effort. I'm just thinking how much trouble excess regulations cause in this small ( owner owned - not even NF land) project. Holding up jobs, tax money, some big cap expenses, and waiting waiting waiting . . .I guess the regulators need something to keep them busy. Southern California would still be a desert if Hoover was attempted now. . . . . now for some natural snow. . . . . .

  3. #3

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    The plan is to take down the two MTN ops buildings downhill of the mushroom. There is a water plant that would remain but the rest of the area would maintain a retaining wall near where the existing foundation is and the area filled in with dirt and seeded. Loading would be approximately the middle of the mountain operations building. It would be spaced so as not to interfere with Bravo corral and the ski passage way from Gondolier past Bravo. it would provide great uphill out of the area.

  4. #4

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by win View Post
    The plan is to take down the two MTN ops buildings downhill of the mushroom. There is a water plant that would remain but the rest of the area would maintain a retaining wall near where the existing foundation is and the area filled in with dirt and seeded. Loading would be approximately the middle of the mountain operations building. It would be spaced so as not to interfere with Bravo corral and the ski passage way from Gondolier past Bravo. it would provide great uphill out of the area.
    Bravo ( no pun intended). Obviously, I'm a big fan of the extra effort to load at the base. Today is a perfect example of how helpful it will be to have a third lift at the base. Well worth the additional effort.
    Any reason to think getting it permitted will be an issue?

  6. #6

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    The only potential issue is that it mayl be closer than 50 feet from the Claybrook stream bank which is not allowed under the current ANR guidelines. Our position is we are grandfathered due to the existing building and we will be improving the areas because we will have less impermeable surfaces there. In our opinion is really will be environmentally better. This is very close to where the old Gondola bottom terminal once was.

  7. #7
    Sounds like a perfect New Year's resolution! Very good to hear that the plans are proceeding. Moving the loading area lower would be a truly great enhancement to the plan.

  8. #8
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    Smart smart smart. Howie nails it. Lift installs are expensive and happen only once every 20-30 years for a given lift line, so better to get it right the first time.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Woodsman View Post
    Smart smart smart. Howie nails it. Lift installs are expensive and happen only once every 20-30 years for a given lift line, so better to get it right the first time.
    20-30 years is too short! Castlerock ran over 40 years before it was replaced. Village Double is 50, Sunshine is 51, and Valley House is 54 this year. Heaven's Gate is 30 and will surely be asked to run another 20 more.


    All of this just reinforces the point of getting it right.


  10. #10

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    Everyone of those lifts needed to be replaced years ago.

  11. #11
    I skied the mall yesterday and noticed stumps sticking out of the snow on skiers left. It appeared the trail has already been widened in preparation for the lift replacement.

    btw the trail sucked and It was partially hawks fault that I skied it. You bastared!
    Last edited by Benski; 01-03-2015 at 07:41 PM.

  12. #12
    Hawk's Avatar
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    Was that you Ben. I said the first 6 turns were the best. It was skiable and was certainly better than steins and what I did over on Castlerock. Looks like we are dodging the bullet a bit with not that much R#$@. Maybe by next weekend thing will be improved.

    Lifts can run very efficiently for 50 years with yearly maintenance. if the towers, bases and top and bottom terminals have no structural defects there is no need to replace the lift. Motors, tower hardware, chairs, cable and electronics can all be maintained and or replaced at a fraction of the cost of replacement. You just have to stay on top of it.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Hawk View Post
    Was that you Ben. I said the first 6 turns were the best.
    Yes. I was in the "darker" green jacket.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  14. #14
    It looks like I'm in the minority, but I will come out and say how I feel, which is strong about this subject.

    There is simply not enough room for corrals at the bottom of the hill. It is already a nightmare on a busy day skiing from the VH side over to the Gatehouse side. This won't matter anyway when the chair sits rotting M-F.

    And I know clay brookers need to have first tracks on top of a constitutional right to not have to take more than 75 paces to a lift, to not have north be the spring venue even when it makes sense, etc and so on, but that still doesn't make this the "right" choice. Best of a bad situation? Maybe. It's probably too late to move Timbers and CB back about 300' to have a normal view of the hill and ease of getting around as a skier that other resorts have the luxury of. The whole base configuration is such that you'd think that Sugarbush was in a box canyon like Telluride.

    Now we're going to lose another couple of buildings that house patrol and equipment. Where is that stuff supposed to go? I guess I wouldn't mind if it took over the "CastleRock Pub" if the Valley House Lodge could get some of the attention it deserves. Like music in the mushroom, a view of the incredible mountain, and a far more passable spring venue with bumps on the Mall, fan guns on both sides of the Snowball and Spring Fling, and burgers and beers on the deck where the action is.

    I guess I just don't really get the short sighted abomination that is the top of steins, the gate house lodge positioning, and the soon to be civil war battlefield on the Bravo side of the hill.

    Oh well.

    All these people write stories about going back in time and preventing WWII. Makes sense, but I think I'd make a few stops along the way, first to put CB next to Sugarbush Village and then to convince the maker of "Low-E" guns to do something useful like basket weaving instead. Possibly drop a polite suggestion in the bush comment box about RFID being a better option than the hand scanners. Or at least, have one person scan while other people make the lines move.

    Now everyone get back to the kissing the status quo's butt like Killington hasn't done a 180 in the past ten years. When Jay got a new Tram and waterpark. And I wonder how Smuggs is going to look when Okemo or Windham gets their hands on it and puts HSQ's from base to summit. They only have ratniks so far but at least they feed them a lot of diesel. Sugarbush has done a lot too, like watch almost every decent restaurant go out of business in the valley while the mountain somehow scooped up all the real estate on the access road so we can enjoy $15 cheesesteaks in moms basement at the hill.

  15. #15
    Hawk's Avatar
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    Wow, I guess my request for more snowmaking on exiting snowmaking trials is a small request.

    Can't go back in time. We must go forward. Not much we can do here to affect change. I do agree with some of what you say here but definitely not all of it. The low E guns work fine when they manage them. In fact the whole industry is converting and you will not see anything else in the future. The layout that they have at the base could work fine with the new lift if they manage it well. I would rather see the new lift then not so I will live with what they do. What does Sugarbush have to do with restaurants going out of business? If you are talking about the Warren House, I think the owners just got tired of doing business and closed up. That building sat on the market for a couple of years before the mountain bought it. I own at Lincoln peak so I totally disagree with the whole Mt. Ellen Spring Skiing thing. Besides Steins is a much better option as it is straight fall line and longer than skiing FIS. I enjoy skiing it.

    I agree entirely about the Castlerock Pub. Shawn and Rich are good people to me and I enjoy the atmosphere with my friends......but they had a chance to design and build this lodge from the ground up. IMO they totally miss it with the layout. It is way too small, the layout does not work with the amount of people and it has no view. They leave thousands of dollars on the table every weekend because people can not get served and leave or do not come at all. Not the case for me but that is the common complaint. Why they didn't put the pub on the upper level with a huge glass wall look out on the hill is beyond me. My guess is the focus was on the wedding venue and the Pub fell to a secondary status.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

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