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  1. #1

    Good Holiday Week?

    My question is more from the mountain's point of view. I got up Tuesday night and apart from a new found hatred for Josh Fox and my willingness to deport him to cannibalistic tribe living in Southeast Asia I had a great week. My question is how did the mountain do? It seemed like there was no one there. I know the Bush rarely has crowds or lift wait times, but on holiday weekends there is at least some crowd visible. Yet the SBX, VD, and NL were all like a ghost town all week/weekend. This was even on Saturday when the HG chair was like sitting on a mountain top on Hoth and very few braved it and the low visibility.

    Looking at the parking lot it seemed like a lot of people were there and I think I heard rumors in the bar that it was one of SB's better Saturdays in terms of attendance. If this is the case where the hell was everyone except in line for the men's room which is where I saw the largest wait times. That could have been from everyone getting a concussion on the wooden glove rack. It seems a lot of people have a problem peeing and not being aware of the area surrounding their head.


  2. #2

    Talk about leaving...

    Quote Originally Posted by MntMan4Bush
    It seems a lot of people have a problem peeing and not being aware of the area surrounding their head.
    ...the barn door WIDE open.

    I'm going to refrain from jumping in here...

  3. #3

    Re: Talk about leaving...

    Quote Originally Posted by smootharc
    Quote Originally Posted by MntMan4Bush
    It seems a lot of people have a problem peeing and not being aware of the area surrounding their head.
    ...the barn door WIDE open.

    I'm going to refrain from jumping in here...
    awww, c'mon... jump in.....

  4. #4

    Re: Talk about leaving...

    Quote Originally Posted by 007
    Quote Originally Posted by smootharc
    Quote Originally Posted by MntMan4Bush
    It seems a lot of people have a problem peeing and not being aware of the area surrounding their head.
    ...the barn door WIDE open.

    I'm going to refrain from jumping in here...
    awww, c'mon... jump in.....
    I hate it when I bang the tree branch above my head when going and get snow down my back!

  5. #5
    Saturday was definitely the busiest day of the holiday week, numbers-wise. We had quite the crowd at North Lynx but it moved right along - the chairs on NL are spaced closer and come faster than those at Heaven's Gate. And with all 16 lifts and 111 trails open, there's plenty of places for everyone to move about, plus the woods, Slide Brook, all bars and lodges, etc etc.

    The 08/09 holiday period was NOTHING like this year's... remember it r@!#ned most of holiday week last year, and we had no North Lynx. Numbers were up all around this year from what I've heard, and I heard nothing but good things from everyone all week. Everyone just seemed to be in a much better mood ... then again, I wasn't scanning this year and the new scanners do work 10000x better than the old ones so that makes a big difference right there. Good snow conditions and being 100% open helps as well!

    Thanks to those who came out and hope to see you on the lift again soon!

  6. #6
    I had no idea the scanners were new. To say they work better is a gross understatement like saying Jessica Alba looks OK when soaking wet. One of the scanners hit me from 3 feet away through 6 feet of solid reinforced concrete. At least it felt that way compared to the old ones. That guy was like Wild Bill mowing down buffalo. The new scanners are a welcome addition.

    I was just curious as to how Saturday held up to not just past Xmas weekends, but other holidays in general. I'm definitely in agreement that on any given Saturday, if all lifts are spinning, the Bush has very little waiting, and even less if you know where to go and at what times. On holidays and some busy weekends though there can be a little wait, although nothing compared to other mountains. This last week though I didn't feel like there was any waiting or any crowds to be seen. The longest lift line was GH from what I saw and even that was not the worst it's ever been It only looks that way because of the newer lift coral settings that forces everyone to one side. Maybe a 3-5 minute wait tops. Given the fact that no one was on HG chair because it was a little chilly.........I would have thought lines would have been longer elsewhere. So were numbers down, on par or up for a holiday weekend status or did the Bush find some secret time space continuum to hide excess skiers?

  7. #7
    Speaking of the scanners,... what is the deal with using RFID??? Why don't they utilize this technology? It would seem so much more efficient than those scanners (they are so 1990!) With RFID you could have a "Fast Lane" for anyone with a RFID chip embedded in their pass. Does such a system cost too much money? It would certainly be more effective in scanning people. There is nothing worse than waiting in line watching empty chairs go up cause you are waiting to be scanned. It does not happen that often, but it does happen. Scanning can be a minor inconvenience and I understand why they must scan everyone, but I think with technology there is a much better way.

  8. #8
    Hawk's Avatar
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    A few thoughts from last week..... Powderpuff and I came up on Christmas night for a 9 day tour. The week started out with some nice turns. Saturday and Sunday were very nice with the weather scaring away most people. I have got to tell you that the soft snow after the r*#n stopped was outstanding. Then the cold set in. Brrrrrr. It has been colder before but for some reason Monday and Tuesday just hurt. Maybe I didn't have my mid winter Cold conditioning yet. Then the snow started. Wednesday and Thursday were excellent with run after run in the woods and in slidebrook. I have to give a big thank you to the hardcore Slidebrook junkies. Late in the day Wednesday I was headed home to my condo. I passed the entrance to VR (Door # 1) and no one had been in. I thought this to be very odd considering the amount of work this summer that the crew did to clean it up. I shrugged and headed for Vodka-Tonic land. The next morning we headed back up at 9 am. Guess what.....Yahooooo! Best run of my early season. So thanks guys. You do know who you are.

    Anyway, we headed out on Thursday after that to do the route 2 shuffle to Sunday River to visit the old friends. Made some good rackett and butchered all my favorite tunes. Playing music just never gets old. It snowed about a foot or so over night on Sat. so the sking was great. Went with a couple of my old woods buddies and nailed all the old lines we cut years ago. Good stuff. On days like that I miss that place.......Ah.....well maybe not.

    Good skiing and happy new years to all.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Nov 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by djd66
    Speaking of the scanners,... what is the deal with using RFID??? Why don't they utilize this technology? It would seem so much more efficient than those scanners (they are so 1990!) With RFID you could have a "Fast Lane" for anyone with a RFID chip embedded in their pass. Does such a system cost too much money? It would certainly be more effective in scanning people. There is nothing worse than waiting in line watching empty chairs go up cause you are waiting to be scanned. It does not happen that often, but it does happen. Scanning can be a minor inconvenience and I understand why they must scan everyone, but I think with technology there is a much better way.
    Just got back from Alta. They use RFID. Every lift I was one except for one had little gates that you had to pass through. You just moved up near it and the gate opened. I don't like RFID for many purposes do to privacy reasons, but for a ski pass I'm fine with it.
    -Kenny

  10. #10
    Does not discuss SB, but has some interesting comments about Killington....

    http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/86800/

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by summitchallenger
    Does not discuss SB, but has some interesting comments about Killington....

    http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/86800/
    Indeed. I wonder if they are the only major resort that is down this year. The gang that couldn't shoot straight.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Woodsman

    Indeed. I wonder if they are the only major resort that is down this year. The gang that couldn't shoot straight.
    Actually, what was interesting was that Killington was down and Pico was up...in part because of their discount pass program.

    Okemo was up...which was Killington's target competitor.

  13. #13
    K-mart has a serious image problem that is going to take some time to rehabilitate.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by summitchallenger
    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Woodsman

    Indeed. I wonder if they are the only major resort that is down this year. The gang that couldn't shoot straight.
    Actually, what was interesting was that Killington was down and Pico was up...in part because of their discount pass program.

    Okemo was up...which was Killington's target competitor.
    I don't think it's surprising that customers have responded to the appropriate positioning of Pico as Killington's answer to Mt. Ellen. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that value-pricing a massively under-utilized asset like Pico for the substantial local market in Rut-vegas is a good idea. More interesting was the Mothership's continued slide into statistical irrelevance despite far better snow than last year. That Okemo was up while K-Mart was down is the real take-away here.

  15. #15
    Killington said that their goal in 2007-2008 was to reduce crowding. But honestly, having declining sales for three seasons in a row can't be a good thing for the bottom line I would imagine.

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