Lift Evac at Mt. snow

thetrailboss · Mar 17, 2014

drjeff said:
Yup - on the Mount Snow passholders site today it was said that there's a 5yr warrantee on the Bluebird (it turned 2 in December) and they showed a picture of the 3" diameter metal rod that when from the main drive motor into the gear reduction box that snapped clean off pretty much where the rod met the gear ring/wheel )

The guitar case sized, 1,000lb replacement should be on site after being flown in from Europe today either tonight or early tomorrow!!

Um, yeah that sounds like a definite manufacturing defect. No real consolation for MS who lost business due to the lift being down and/or had a lot of disappointed customers.

Smellytele · Mar 18, 2014

thetrailboss said:
Um, yeah that sounds like a definite manufacturing defect. No real consolation for MS who lost business due to the lift being down and/or had a lot of disappointed customers.

I know the issues haven't been all their fault but Peak is getting used to disappointing customers across the northeast.

thetrailboss · Mar 18, 2014

Smellytele said:
I know the issues haven't been all their fault but Peak is getting used to disappointing customers across the northeast.

A lot of these issues, and cost-cutting, came within the last couple years during which they were getting ready for an IPO. Did the IPO happen?

Perhaps part of the problem is that they made a leap from small feeder hills to running major resorts. Attitash, Wildcat, and Mount Snow are very different animals than Crotched or Boston Mills/Brandywine.

drjeff · Mar 18, 2014

Smellytele said:
I know the issues haven't been all their fault but Peak is getting used to disappointing customers across the northeast.

Most of the people at Mount Snow yesterday weren't too unhappy thanks to the pre scheduled $17 lift ticket specials and ample beer specials and Irish bands they had

As for lift issues, well i'm sure that any ski area mountain ops person will tell you that mechanical stuff breaks every now and then. Plus, i'm sure we've all seen that random snowcat parked and roped off on a trail will a tell tale sign of a trail of red hydraulic fluid in the snow behind it, seen or heard of a break in some snowmaking pipe or seen or been affected by a mechanical issue with a lift.

As for Peak operational policies, that's fair game for discussion!

Glenn · Mar 18, 2014

thetrailboss said:
A lot of these issues, and cost-cutting, came within the last couple years during which they were getting ready for an IPO. Did the IPO happen?

Perhaps part of the problem is that they made a leap from small feeder hills to running major resorts. Attitash, Wildcat, and Mount Snow are very different animals than Crotched or Boston Mills/Brandywine.

The IPO never happened. I can't recall exactly why either. I want to say they just didn't have good financials at the time to support it. IMHO: I'd rather see it stay private. Too many cooks in the kitchen with shareholders.

I want to say that Mt. Snow drives most of Peak's profits. I'd imagine Mt. Snow helps to defray the other costs at the other mountains. Speculation of course; I don't have the numbers in front of me.

thetrailboss · Mar 18, 2014

Glenn said:
The IPO never happened. I can't recall exactly why either. I want to say they just didn't have good financials at the time to support it. IMHO: I'd rather see it stay private. Too many cooks in the kitchen with shareholders.

I want to say that Mt. Snow drives most of Peak's profits. I'd imagine Mt. Snow helps to defray the other costs at the other mountains. Speculation of course; I don't have the numbers in front of me.

I figured that the IPO was either on hold or did not happen. Agree with Wall Street. Sometimes their expectations are not realistic. Les Otten could tell you that....

Smellytele · Mar 18, 2014

drjeff said:
Most of the people at Mount Snow yesterday weren't too unhappy thanks to the pre scheduled $17 lift ticket specials and ample beer specials and Irish bands they had

As for lift issues, well i'm sure that any ski area mountain ops person will tell you that mechanical stuff breaks every now and then. Plus, i'm sure we've all seen that random snowcat parked and roped off on a trail will a tell tale sign of a trail of red hydraulic fluid in the snow behind it, seen or heard of a break in some snowmaking pipe or seen or been affected by a mechanical issue with a lift.

As for Peak operational policies, that's fair game for discussion!

As you have said you are disappointed with them and things they have done. Others are disappointed at what they didn't do and then some of it is just bad luck on their part.

drjeff · Mar 18, 2014

Glenn said:
I want to say that Mt. Snow drives most of Peak's profits. I'd imagine Mt. Snow helps to defray the other costs at the other mountains. Speculation of course; I don't have the numbers in front of me.

If I remember the rough numbers from the prospectus when the IPO offer was being floated, at the time a few years ago, Peak Resorts was basically doing about 100 million annually in gross revenues. Mount Snow brought in a touch over 40 million of that 100 million total. The other 10 or so resorts in Peak's portfolio at that time were responsible for the balance of the revenue. Mount Snow is by far and away Peak's major asset generator on their balance sheet!

And from my point of view, and i'm sure your's too Glenn as a very regular Mount Snow visitor, I'm thinking that skier visit wise, Mount Snow is up a fair amount over last year, and this will likely be their biggest year since Peak bought them 7 years ago.

marcski · Mar 18, 2014

Glenn said:
The IPO never happened. I can't recall exactly why either. I want to say they just didn't have good financials at the time to support it. IMHO: I'd rather see it stay private. Too many cooks in the kitchen with shareholders.

I want to say that Mt. Snow drives most of Peak's profits. I'd imagine Mt. Snow helps to defray the other costs at the other mountains. Speculation of course; I don't have the numbers in front of me.

If the other resorts were constantly losing money, Peak would sell them. Granted, Mt. Snow is definitely their major asset and revenue producer.

vcunning · Mar 18, 2014

thetrailboss said:
I figured that the IPO was either on hold or did not happen. Agree with Wall Street. Sometimes their expectations are not realistic. Les Otten could tell you that....

I think EB-5 might be the new approach? Maybe? http://mountsnoweb5.com/

Glenn · Mar 19, 2014

drjeff said:
If I remember the rough numbers from the prospectus when the IPO offer was being floated, at the time a few years ago, Peak Resorts was basically doing about 100 million annually in gross revenues. Mount Snow brought in a touch over 40 million of that 100 million total. The other 10 or so resorts in Peak's portfolio at that time were responsible for the balance of the revenue. Mount Snow is by far and away Peak's major asset generator on their balance sheet!

And from my point of view, and i'm sure your's too Glenn as a very regular Mount Snow visitor, I'm thinking that skier visit wise, Mount Snow is up a fair amount over last year, and this will likely be their biggest year since Peak bought them 7 years ago.

It's been much busier there this year. It's good for business, but it can be trying at times from my point of view. I felt the lifelines were longer and we spent more time avoiding people on the hill vs. actually skiing.

thetrailboss · Mar 19, 2014

vcunning said:
I think EB-5 might be the new approach? Maybe? http://mountsnoweb5.com/

Exactly. But they are way behind Jay on that front.

Smellytele · Mar 19, 2014

Any word on the lift status?

mlctvt · Mar 19, 2014

Smellytele said:
Any word on the lift status?

this is from this morning's email they sent out at 6:57am

BluebirdExpress Update: Asit stands right now, the Bluebird will not spin today or potentially Thursdayseeing as we are still waiting for the necessary part to arrive. Once it does,we will work around the clock to get the lift operating again. We will updateyou as soon as we have new information so hold tight and we will be back up andrunning soon.

lerops · Mar 19, 2014

Hmm, I should probably rethink my plans for the weekend.

drjeff · Mar 20, 2014

From the snow report this morning....

"Bluebird Express Update: We can’t make this stuff up – as you all know by now we are waiting for a part to come from overseas so we can get down to business and fix the Bluebird Express. The part was supposed to fly out of Paris, but the Parisian air traffic controllers just decided to join the European-wide air traffic controller strike (go figure) which has resulted in a 30% decrease in flights coming into…and yes, going out of any Paris-area airport. The Bluebird will fly again as soon as the part we need can be flown here. We will continue to keep you updated on the status of the part’s travels."

Ugh!

Since I'm skiing at Bromley on Saturday while my daughter has a race there and then on Sunday am working a good amount of the day in the timing shack for a race my daughter has at Mount Snow, I'm hoping by Monday when I can actually get a few runs in it will have arrived and been installed!

drjeff · Mar 20, 2014

From the afternoon snowreport update. The replacement drive shaft is now at least on US soil!

"Bluebird Express Update: The part has arrived in the United States! We’re not out of the woods just yet because rumor has it the customs process can be lengthy to go through, but the good news is our part for the Bluebird is waaaaaaay closer from a geography standpoint than it was before. Once we have a better idea of when it will arrive here at the mountain we’ll let you know."

lerops · Mar 20, 2014

Thanks for the update. I see on the trail map that there is one more lift right next to it going to the top. Do you think things would get crowded this weekend because this lift is down?

drjeff · Mar 20, 2014

lerops said:
Thanks for the update. I see on the trail map that there is one more lift right next to it going to the top. Do you think things would get crowded this weekend because this lift is down?

That parallel lift is the Grand Summit Express quad. Last Sunday when the Bluebird was down all day and also on Monday when they had a good sized crowd for the St. Paddy's Day $17 lift ticket special, the line foe the Grand Summit Express was generally in the 5 minute range. If it's a typical crowd size this weekend, I'd expect the same type of line there.

The other things is is that once the replacement drive shaft clears customs and arrives at the mountain, it is a 24/7 priority to get it installed, so if it clears customs say today, the Bluebird could very well be spinning once again by Saturday. They've apparently got plenty of lift mechanics and company reps on site to get it back up and spinning again!

lerops · Mar 20, 2014

Thank you, that's very helpful. So, it doesn't seem to be a big deal for the late season.

Lift Evac at Mt. snow

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