3 Thoughts from me about last weekend

[shadyjay]

You may not like it, but the job of the scanners is to scan every ticket. You know that getting past the scanners once allows you to ski all day, without a ticket.

Lostone's got it. Most of our regulars get it as well.

[Tin Woodsman]

You may not like it, but the job of the scanners is to scan every ticket. You know that getting past the scanners once allows you to ski all day, without a ticket.

Lostone's got it. Most of our regulars get it as well.

I don't think anyone, be they a regular or a never ever, would advocate having no scanners. Who is even making that argument?

[skibum1321]

As a matter of fact, when there are lines, the scanners generally advance thru the lines, scanning long before people get to the merges. I see very little of chairs going up empty because of scanning problems.

True - and they also usually let you go within 10 seconds if your pass doesn't scan. My issue here was that they didn't let her go and therefore held up the line. Maybe I'm way off base here but it seems like the priority should be to fill the chairs before scanning every ticket.

[MntMan4Bush]

I have no idea what type of scanners they have at Snowbird, but they can hit you from 10 feet away behind their backs while doing a handstand on a Russian donkey. Everyone gets scanned and no one gets held up. How about we look into those bad boys to holster up?

Also one quick comment on whether a liftie is perceived as good or bad based on POV. Perhaps what was meant was that some lifties recognize the season pass holders (as opposed to Sugarcard) and allow them to go through if there is a stubborn scan. It's no loss of revenue for season pass holders to slip in by and lifties often recognize us from year to year and regular appearances.

Lastly I had to laugh Shady and I only hope you meant it as a joke.

"Seriously, unfortunetely from what I've experienced, the following effect the scanners:
* snow
* direct sunlight
* rain
* cold "

The only thing missing is air. Are there any other conditions in the winter. This statement alone should be reason enough to send those things to the bottom of the dumpster.

[Lostone]

I don't think anyone, be they a regular or a never ever, would advocate having no scanners. Who is even making that argument?

I don't think anyone was, or that I was saying they were. I was saying that, if you get past once, you can ski the upper lifts all day without being scanned again. Thus the rule to scan every ticket.

[Tin Woodsman]

I don't think anyone, be they a regular or a never ever, would advocate having no scanners. Who is even making that argument?

I don't think anyone was, or that I was saying they were. I was saying that, if you get past once, you can ski the upper lifts all day without being scanned again. Thus the rule to scan every ticket.

Then why respond that "they must scan every ticket" when the discussion is about how unfortunate it is that they have scanners sensitive to all known meteorological conditions? It's a given that they should be trying to scan all tickets. The only question is how best to go about that, and whether the need for scanning outweighs the need to avoid empty chairs on busy days.

[Lostone]

Where I came in was the statement that the better lifties give up after 10 seconds.

I totally agree that the scanners are a pain, but I've been called to sit in on the job, and the procedure was not fuzzy. "Every ticket, every time."

There was no time limit, or exceptions for weather. Not my rules, but I was explaining the rules as a reply to that statement. Should they decide to change the rules it won't bother me.



Today, in the line for Gatehouse, a couple, ahead of me asked the scanner why Slidebrook was closed, and how to get to North. He took the time to explain the reason and about taking the bus. While he was doing so, our line was stopped. The line to the right was moving toward the lift.

I was itching for him to get back to scanning, and let us go. Then I told myself to just cool it. He was being helpful. Were I them, I'd want him to be so. It really didn't set us back that long.

But I understand. Nobody comes to stand in line. When you are waiting for the lift, every minute seems like 3 to 5. It would be great if the scanners worked first time, every time. But even tho it is known they don't, and haven't ever, the job description given is always the same.

And for the record... My pass sucks. They have problems with it 1 out of every 3 times. And they know me. Many adress me by name. But they still scan me. I don't give them any grief. It is their job.

[mattlucas]

Hey guys - i wasn't saying don't scan.

I'm out in co right now and they got the RF. I assume Vail resorts has more $ than we do but there must be a break even point. Lifties scan everyone, and then yell next in line when all corrals have been scanned and the staging area has cleared. All eight corrals go in sequence. No chairs end up empty, no one gets cut, and I like it. It's the future and I hope 09 has it.
But I'm not being critical. As far as I'm concerned, every complaint is a present to management and they can use them to be a top ten resort ANYWHERE or say, f those guys. I'll still ski here, because the terrain and snow and people rule.

---

I don't like everyone saying "you ski out east, I'll never do that again." What a bunch of closed minded ijiots out here. Guess they don't read the TR's of the last couple weeks before the thaw!

What would be AWESOME is if your pass / ticket had a login and pass for a web database so you could lookup the vert and lifts you skied. That would really rule for passholder looking back on the season. It could include cost/day and other tidbits. If Sugarbush invested in couple programers, it could be as awesome as adding 60 inches to the yearly snowfall.

[HowieT2]

Hey guys - i wasn't saying don't scan.

I'm out in co right now and they got the RF. I assume Vail resorts has more $ than we do but there must be a break even point. Lifties scan everyone, and then yell next in line when all corrals have been scanned and the staging area has cleared. All eight corrals go in sequence. No chairs end up empty, no one gets cut, and I like it. It's the future and I hope 09 has it.
But I'm not being critical. As far as I'm concerned, every complaint is a present to management and they can use them to be a top ten resort ANYWHERE or say, f those guys. I'll still ski here, because the terrain and snow and people rule.

---

I don't like everyone saying "you ski out east, I'll never do that again." What a bunch of closed minded ijiots out here. Guess they don't read the TR's of the last couple weeks before the thaw!

What would be AWESOME is if your pass / ticket had a login and pass for a web database so you could lookup the vert and lifts you skied. That would really rule for passholder looking back on the season. It could include cost/day and other tidbits. If Sugarbush invested in couple programers, it could be as awesome as adding 60 inches to the yearly snowfall.

'nothing bothers me more than skiers complaining about how inferior eastern skiing is. We had a couple up to SB last year who had only skied out west for the last 15 years. The conditions were mediocre at the time and all they did was complain. My wife was ready to kill them. The east has its great days and some not so great days. They're all good to me. Skiing is like sex or pizza. When it's good it's really really good and when it's bad...it's still good. Would I love to be waist deep in Utah powder all the time? sure I would. But I've also flown out there when there hasn't been snow. It happens. But given that I live in NY, I'd rather ski 30-40 days a year then only 5 days out west. If the time comes when I win the lottery and can fly at a whim, I'll be heli skiing often, but until that day, I'll enjoy the good with the not so good of eastern skiing.

[djd66]

RFID! Look, the technology is out there that will take care of this problem. I know I get p.o'd when there are scanner issues. I always turn to my wife and say " why don't they use RFID?" If it would get me through the line faster, I would be willing to pay bit more for my pass so I do not have to deal with the scanner. (Kind of like and Easy Pass/Fast Lane for RFID pass holders) I have not done much research on the sytem, but I know the technology exists. It would make my experience as a customer much better and I think it would be much more effective then the current system.

Win - is this any reason why you would not go to an RFID ticket system? Very least - use them for the pass holders?

[ridelikeme]

Tin Woodsman would not have his castle rock annex this year if the resort went with RFID. It is a very expensive undertaking and the resort is most likely focusing on other areas of improvement of the guest experience ahead of RFID.
First time poster, long time lurker.

[Tin Woodsman]

Tin Woodsman would not have his castle rock annex this year if the resort went with RFID. It is a very expensive undertaking and the resort is most likely focusing on other areas of improvement of the guest experience ahead of RFID.
First time poster, long time lurker.

How expensive? We're really talking about needing it for Bravo, GH, Inverness, GMX and I suppose VH.

[ridelikeme]

Tin Woodsman would not have his castle rock annex this year if the resort went with RFID. It is a very expensive undertaking and the resort is most likely focusing on other areas of improvement of the guest experience ahead of RFID.
First time poster, long time lurker.

How expensive? We're really talking about needing it for Bravo, GH, Inverness, GMX and I suppose VH.

about 20k per lift plus the cost of pass media and software to make it all jive.

[Tin Woodsman]

Tin Woodsman would not have his castle rock annex this year if the resort went with RFID. It is a very expensive undertaking and the resort is most likely focusing on other areas of improvement of the guest experience ahead of RFID.
First time poster, long time lurker.

How expensive? We're really talking about needing it for Bravo, GH, Inverness, GMX and I suppose VH.

about 20k per lift plus the cost of pass media and software to make it all jive.

So $100K for those five lifts plus more for the software and pass media? All in for, say, $150K? And would the pass media be purely incremental to what they are using now, or just more expensive?

Either way, that's not hugely expensive given that the current system doesn't function if one farts in the wrong place.

[vonski]

Would the pass be totally different or could one use both technologies. Still have the bar code on the pass and the RF chip in it??? This way only would need RF guns at Bravo, Gate house and GMX. Inverness, Sunny D, Valley house and Village double and any other beginner lift could use the old technology. This would save some money.