wow, welcome to the forum. what a first post that was! well thought out and well written it was; but i do take issue with some points.
first of all, the slide brook express was not built by the current owners, it was built by ASC. so in response to your question of why it was built in the first place when a shuttle is available... well, look at ASC's stock (oops! what stock?) for your answer.
highlighting the positives and omitting the negatives is a corner stone of profit making in a capitolistic society (for better or for worse, but that's a different subject entirely). they clearly have a most unique and interesting lift, so they most certainly should publicize it as such regardless of the days it runs (without lieing about when it's not running).
with that said, in regards to the sugarbush response, they really should be ashamed of themselves. for them to give any other reason besides "it's not fiscally responsible to run it on a weekday" is bull shit. financial reasons are tops. why run a lift that is only going to be utilized by a few people? i have no problem with them not running that lift M-F. i do have a problem with them making a public relations gold mine out of it and stating safety and ecological awareness, that's crap. i think it's a sound business decision for them not to operate that lift during mid-week... however, they should be sure to make it plane on all reports that this is the case.
i visited the bush last month. i wanted to ski north, cause i've never skied there before... and i also wanted to ski castlerock (at south) for the same reason. i thought my best course of action would be to park at north and take slide brook over for some runs at castlerock. i was there on a monday and found out that slide brook wasn't running despite the magnetic board in the lodge having an "open" sign on it. i didn't realize it wasn't running till i took a run down and saw it not turning. this means that their statement of the bus only taking 2 minutes longer is grossly disceptive: as you also have to take the time to ski down, get your gear together, wait for the half hour bus, then take a lift up the mountain to get to the other side of the slide brook. total time is probably closer to 30-60 minutes each way depending on how you hit the bus. a lot more than just hoping on a lift.
well, i took off my boots, and drove my sorry ass over to south since the conditions at north were the worst i've ever skied. so i make this rebutal to your post with a VERY GOOD understanding of what it feels like to get mis-information and have to make the trek.
so to sum up my thoughts... i do not mind them not running that lift, so long as their lift reports are accurate. i don't need a huge warning in bold letters (that only insults me and my ability to read and comprehend), just accuracy and a standard policy. shame on sugarbush for not establishing a standard policy and making it known to it's workers. and shame on them for having an inaccurate "trail and lift" board when both me and you were there. however; other resorts are just as bad, if not worse, when it comes to reporting conditions... so i don't get to pissed off when a mega-resort lies... i kinda get used to it (sadly). it's kinda why i don't ski at those places usually... i much prefer skiing at places with only two lifts up that always turn and ski patrollers that don't care where you ski on the mountain, open or closed. i enjoy the complete irrelvence of ski areas like that
