The last paragraph was a rhetorical flourish attached to my opinions because I was looking for an ending. I have a bad habit of droning on and on and offer this posting as further proof. I have mostly moved on myself to cheaper pastures than Vermont.
Live Free Or Die! Follow the license plates to New Hampshire. I really find Wildcat more my speed now that they have a detachable quad. Six runs an hour at 2000+ vertical per without the ski patrol chasing you on deserted cruising trails telling you to slow down. Can't beat the view across Pinkham Notch to Mt. Washington with Tuckerman's Ravive beckoning:
Check out the World's Highest WiFi Web Cam at
www.mountwashington.org/cam/ravines
Also the background story at
http://www.zakongroup.com/technology...reless_network
The picture and the concept are great but seeing it for real if you catch a good clear day at Wildcat is awesome! I do my day trips at Windham in the Catskills. Less than three hour trip and a frequent mid-week skier card for $50 that gives you half-price non-holiday non-weekend. Really don't want to deal with holiday and weekend crowds that close to NYC. Even got them to give me half-price on the half-price tickets at the end of the season a couple of years back. I was getting a lift ticket for less than $9. Never paid that little even when I started over 30 years ago.
I come from the Heart Of
NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) here on Long Island. I am constantly reading in the local papers about how local community groups have successfully stopped what they deem to be an intrusion into their neighborhood by commercial, government and even private citizen initiatives that they opposed. Remember the Shoreham Nuclear Plant. We paid to build it. We paid to shut it down. We paid to dismantle it.
The problem in trying to confront any injustice and to effect change is apathy. I guess coming out of the Woodstock generation and watching how the Vietnam War protests went from the fringe to the mainstream in the late 1960's and early 1970's at a time when the civil rights movement and the environmental movement came of age as well left an impression on me. Some of the protest songs from that period still move me. I saw John Fogerty when he played at the Jones Beach Theater year before last. I'm glad he started playing the old CCR songs again.
"Fortunate Son" is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. Maybe even more so. Ever see the commercial where they sing the first two lines of
"Fortunate Son": "Some folks are born made to wave the flag, Ooh, they're red, white and blue". The commercial is over and the next two lines are left out:
"And when the band plays "Hail to the chief", Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord," Changes the whole meaning of the concept when you leave out the last two lines.
People can make a difference. It was dedicated people with causes that they believed in that made a lasting change on our lives. Quite a few people paid for it with their lives. It is still debated in some circles as to whether or not this ultimately was a good thing or a bad thing. My opinion is that when people have more respect for the rights of their fellow travelers on this planet - animal, mineral and vegetable alike - it is progress. But that is another subject entirely and I don't mean to compare my present situation to those momentous events that transformed our way of life in so many ways both positive and negative.
I joined the one of the
www.dcski.com - Message Forums - Local Resort Discussions. This apathy is very evident down there in the Capitol Beltway Area. No outrage expressed whatsoever but lots of suggestions that I should let it go and try to relax.. A cheap shot comparing New York/New Jersey Skiers to New York/New Jersey drivers. I didn't know skiers had license plates. I may ask them yet: Where does healthy detachment cross the line to complacent apathy?
At the University of Vermont Ski Vermont Forum at
www.uvm.edu/skivt-l there were at least a few expressions of outrage almost everybody who responded to this posting agreed that the behavior of Sugarbush Resorts was inexcusable. It was there that I was able to get a little history lesson about the ASC period at Sugarbush as well as some background about the Slide Brook Express and the Slide Brook Wilderness. There were plans on the drawing boards for years after Sugarbush acquired Glen Ellen in the late 1970's to turn it into one giant resort. Mad River Glen is a short hike away as well. But local opposition and a couple of hibernating bears stopped it. The grudgingly approved Slide Brook Express was a compromise choice by ASC that created in the end the
"myth" that Sugarbush and Sugarbush North were one. Though a very unique concept - a chair that travels laterally through the wilderness and loads at both ends - it was a failure from a ridership point of view. Few people use it even on weekends and holidays.
Courtesy of Benjamin Kulas:
"And having carpooled with lifties who have worked the Slidebrook lift, I can assure you that even in holiday periods, the number of passengers of the Slide Brook Express can be negligible (certainly less than 100 in a day, perhaps even fewer than 50 - my memory is foggy, but I remember being flabbergasted at the low number. And they count every passenger, a source of much complaint from the lifties). While the result is less than ideal, it is the financial reality of trying to operate a ski resort."
In answer to your question: I really don't know the status of how Sugarbush is organized as a business entity. I assume corporate. What person in their right mind would leave themselves personally liable to all of the risks of operating a skiing resort? The behavior I am encountering is decidedly corporate. I learned from a close friend of mine how to deal with these matters. You must make clear that you are not going to stop until you have exhausted all possible avenues of seeking redress and that you are willing to share your grievance as publicly as possible. As impassioned as I may appear at the written level I find that the process is therapeutic. I don't let it get under my skin but I do let it get under my fingers while I am typing. I am a ski bum and computer geek at heart. I have learned how to multitask as well as compartmentalize.
As this dispute continued a couple of paragraphs were added to
"The Myth of Sugarbush" because of continued requests for clarification and as new information became available. I made it clear to Sugarbush Resorts that I would be responsive to requests to correct inaccuracies that were pointed out though at this point they have dropped all pretensions about how
"we appreciate feedback" as well as how
"we do appreciate the opportunity to respond personally" and they refuse to respond to me at all.
All traces of the ranting idiot have been expunged from the
"The Myth of Sugarbush" Fourth Edition" - which is essentially what you see above - and what is left is a cold-blooded statement of fact. I made quite clear to Sugarbush Resorts my quiet determination to continue the process laid out in great detail so there could be no possible misunderstanding about my intentions and abilities or the consequences of their shortsightedness.
I will be filing a complaint with the
Consumer Assistance Program of Vermont in which I request their help and refer the relevant statute provisions of Vermont law that I believe have been violated. Next step will the
State of Vermont Office of the Attorney General to insist that these laws be upheld and to offer an opportunity to the State of Vermont to deal with this matter before I seek help from whichever appropriate federal agencies that have regulations that may have been violated. All of this I was able to do with a broadband connection to the Internet.
Search Open Cut Paste Send... Quoted from my complaint to Consumer Assistance Program of Vermont... The redress I seek:
1. The settlement of my outstanding customer service grievance with Sugarbush Resorts. I am seeking a refund for a $59 lift ticket purchased on February 17. 2003. I did not want a voucher and the one I possess I am willing to return to Sugarbush Resorts.
2. The modification of the existing policy at Sugarbush regarding activities & marketing specific to the operation of the Slide Brook Express as well as all other matters dealing with fraudulent activities & marketing. I recognize that Sugarbush Resorts has the discretion to make decisions & policies based on what they believe to be their best economic interest but they have a responsibility to inform both their employees and their customers about such decisions & policies. Persons employed at Sugarbush Resorts should be dispensing accurate & timely information or be trained to direct customers to the proper sources of such accurate & timely information. Their customers are entitled to accurate & timely information regarding these decisions & policies because they impact the expectation of said customers regarding the anticipation of which services are being offered. The information should be noted as a clearly stated disclaimer specifically referring to the operation of the Slide Brook Express and any other operations or services that are not to be available "
M-F during non-holiday periods" included on their printed brochures, as a clearly stated disclaimer specifically referring to the operation of the Slide Brook Express and any other operations or services that are not to be available "M-F during non-holiday periods" on the printed daily lift & trails report, as a clearly stated disclaimer specifically referring to the operation of the Slide Brook Express and any other operations or services that are not to be available "M-F during non-holiday periods" during telephone solicitations, as a clearly stated disclaimer specifically referring to the operation of the Slide Brook Express and any other operations or services that are not to be available "
M-F during non-holiday periods" included in their mailed solicitations, as a clearly stated disclaimer specifically referring to the operation of the Slide Brook Express and any other operations or services that are not to be available "M-F during non-holiday periods" during email solicitations, as a clearly stated disclaimer specifically referring to the operation of the Slide Brook Express and any other operations or services that are not to be available "M-F during non-holiday periods" posted at their website www.sugarbush.com, and as a clearly stated disclaimer specifically referring to the operation of the Slide Brook Express and any other operations or services that are not to be available "M-F during non-holiday periods" on the posted daily lift & trails report available at their website www.sugarbush.com.
I tried not to leave them any wiggle room but the repetition makes it sound like I am beating a dead horse.
Did I miss anything? I will endeavor to personally answer the responses I see posted here as well as adding progress reports if this matter is resolved be it through a change of heart at Sugarbush Resorts or because an outside agency compels Sugarbush Resorts to end this charade.
Glenn Stephens