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  1. #16
    gostan's Avatar
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    I know Valley House is new, but Do you really think there is such demand, other than during vacation weeks?


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  2. #17
    Hawk's Avatar
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    I would expect the new lift to run every weekend, vacation weeks, Holidays and when any of the other lifts shut down on mechanical or wind. During the mid week when there are no lines it makes no sense to run it because you can get to the terrain from Bravo.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  3. #18
    I would not run it regularly till the the weekend before mt. ellen opens then only days with lines at bravo or no bravo. Basically just weekends and holidays with some exceptions for powder days. Might be a good idea to give it a spin earlier. The stoke exchange did hint they might change the snowmaking plan.

    My hope is they just skip lower downspout since it is a pretty lame trail and open lower organ grinder instead. last year they made snow on lower grinder and gondolier all at once so it would not take any longer.

  4. #19
    Let's assume temps cooperate and they can make snow top to bottom for opening day. Obviously making snow off of HG is first purely due to temps. But once temps are colder lower down, do we think they would shift to get VH Traverse over to Spring Fling open instead of Lower Downspout and/or Lower OG? I'd have to say if temps cooperate that would not surprise me with the new lift. Some of the comments I'm seeing are people saying you have to make snow up top first. I don't think anyone is disputing that and I'm sure Sugarbush wouldn't deviate from that strategy either. The question is what do you make snow on once you have snow to the bottom of HG? Keep in mind that they have been top to bottom opening day the past couple seasons (although last year was actually only top of bravo to bottom due to the HG chair auxiliary motor/reinspection issue).

    As for when the lift would run, I really don't see a reason to run it mid-week unless Bravo is down for some reason. There simply isn't demand to justify it. I'd say the schedule of the new VH chair should match the schedule of the old VH chair. The only bonus now is that when Bravo is down, you don't have to hike up to the VH chair and the chair will also better handle the capacity in those situations.

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by cdskier View Post
    Let's assume temps cooperate and they can make snow top to bottom for opening day. Obviously making snow off of HG is first purely due to temps. But once temps are colder lower down, do we think they would shift to get VH Traverse over to Spring Fling open instead of Lower Downspout and/or Lower OG? I'd have to say if temps cooperate that would not surprise me with the new lift. Some of the comments I'm seeing are people saying you have to make snow up top first. I don't think anyone is disputing that and I'm sure Sugarbush wouldn't deviate from that strategy either. The question is what do you make snow on once you have snow to the bottom of HG? Keep in mind that they have been top to bottom opening day the past couple seasons (although last year was actually only top of bravo to bottom due to the HG chair auxiliary motor/reinspection issue).

    As for when the lift would run, I really don't see a reason to run it mid-week unless Bravo is down for some reason. There simply isn't demand to justify it. I'd say the schedule of the new VH chair should match the schedule of the old VH chair. The only bonus now is that when Bravo is down, you don't have to hike up to the VH chair and the chair will also better handle the capacity in those situations.
    I guess it depends if you think the new lift is going to be a/the catalyst for any such change. If yes, then it would seem to be an inefficient way to open the mountain insofar as you then need three lifts running (VH, SB, HG) instead of the normal two. If there were snowmaking on RT, then you could go with just 2 lifts, but there isn't. So that begs the question why they would change the snowmaking plan. If it's b/c they have a lot of conviction around the ability to open Snowball/Spring Fling quickly due to the recent snowmaking investments, that's a different story. But would still need to understand how it all comes together.

    FWIW, it was mentioned previously that you wouldn't due Snowball/Spring Fling early in part b/c it gets hammered by the sun. The reality is that in mid-November, the sun angle is equivalent to where it is in late January. Net/net, it's not the sun angle that's the problem early, it's the temps, and that impacts Lower Downspout just as much as any other lower mtn trail.

  6. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Woodsman View Post
    I guess it depends if you think the new lift is going to be a/the catalyst for any such change. If yes, then it would seem to be an inefficient way to open the mountain insofar as you then need three lifts running (VH, SB, HG) instead of the normal two. If there were snowmaking on RT, then you could go with just 2 lifts, but there isn't. So that begs the question why they would change the snowmaking plan. If it's b/c they have a lot of conviction around the ability to open Snowball/Spring Fling quickly due to the recent snowmaking investments, that's a different story. But would still need to understand how it all comes together.
    Well, I don't think the new lift "should" be a catalyst for a change, but the recent comment in the stoke exchange seems to indicate it could be. Good point about the lack of snowmaking on RT. You're absolutely right that they would always have to run SB as a result to get you access to HG via Downspout. Unless they do something crazy like make giant piles of snow at the entrance and exit to RT and try to push it around to cover RT...but I really don't see that being a good idea. As I'm typing this, I also realized that RT alone still wouldn't get you over to the HG chair since HG Traverse also has no snowmaking. So anyway you look at it, you need SB early in the season until the natural stuff falls to cover RT and HG Traverse.

  7. #22

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    If I were given the choice, I would rather ski early season laps on Snowball-Spring Fling than Deathspout-Jester-Lower Downspout-Gondolier. And in my opinion, Lower Dounspout and Gondolier are throwaways, and they are so long, the snowmaking effort must be huge. If they don't make early snow on them, they we have to download, which is no fun.

    If they blow off the top-to-bottom quest, I think the early skiing would be way more fun off of the new quad. No long boring runout. Then open HG when Ripcord, OG, and Jester are all ready.

  8. #23
    gostan's Avatar
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    There is not one of us who would not opt to avoid Deathspout, but it is a necessity we have to deal with. Personally, my 66 year old body & mind hate to deal with early season downloading. It is a disruptive PIA.


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  9. #24
    Hawk's Avatar
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    Personally I don't care what the configuration is. Deathspout, Downloading, walking, whatever. Just open the lifts as early as possible and then figure out what to do next. Lets face it. Most on here are not going to be up and skiing until there is top to bottom in early December anyway. It is my educated opinion that nothing is really going to change as far as snowmaking lineups and schedules. This new lift only adds additional capacity, convince and hopefully reliability.

    Also I honestly do not see what the big deal is with Downspout anyway. Everybody posting can ski well enough and it is only early season you have to deal with it. embrace it! it will make you stronger. Think of it as training.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  10. #25
    The VH lift should be open every weekend @ 9:00am with all other lifts, period, paid for it, built, run it. I use to ski at a resort that had two lifts that loaded in close proximity similar to these, they would wait until the lines were out of the corals before opening the other lift.
    VH chair should be the go to lift if Bravo is indicating experiencing any delays in opening at 8:00am. I must be thinking like a crazy man to think there is a contingency plan in place.


  11. #26

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    Here is an idea from way out in left field
    Certainly one with no historical precedence.
    In order to showcase the new quad what if they moved Steins up in the snow making schedule
    I am questing it is less than half the acreage compared to blowing Snowball to Spring fling ,and its northern exposure might help in preserving an early season base.
    On the downside it would probably appeal to a somewhat limited group of skiers as compared to Snowball

  12. #27
    Stiens is too steep. The last thing I want to do when I am getting back in my rhythm is ski a double black dimond goomer which with way too many people on it and a lot of ice. They need to start with an intermediate run.

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by skimore View Post
    The VH lift should be open every weekend @ 9:00am with all other lifts, period, paid for it, built, run it. I use to ski at a resort that had two lifts that loaded in close proximity similar to these, they would wait until the lines were out of the corals before opening the other lift.
    VH chair should be the go to lift if Bravo is indicating experiencing any delays in opening at 8:00am. I must be thinking like a crazy man to think there is a contingency plan in place.
    Is there any question it will run weekends/holidays?
    I mean it would be pretty insane to spend 3m on a new lift just to look at it and not use it.

  14. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Hawk View Post
    Personally I don't care what the configuration is. Deathspout, Downloading, walking, whatever. Just open the lifts as early as possible and then figure out what to do next. Lets face it. Most on here are not going to be up and skiing until there is top to bottom in early December anyway.
    I'm happy that they are planning to open the weekend before Thanksgiving (weather permitting of course). If they are open, my goal is to be there opening day like I did last year. After that I won't be back until probably the 2nd or 3rd week of December when I start using up all my remaining vacation days from work for the year.

    So for the most part you're right that it doesn't matter what is open that early.

  15. #30
    I think it will be weekends, holidays and when Bravo is having issues. I would like it to run everyday I am skiing because I get sick of doing that traverse over to Snowball and I enjoy the ride much more so than Bravo. The only thing Reverse Traverse is good for is a stopping point cming out of the woods, it's uphill!!!

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