Stingiest midweek operators?

skiNEwhere · Dec 16, 2014

I wanted to compile a list of ski areas that generally keep a lot of terrain closed mid-week.

For example, Sunday River doesn't run the Locke Mtn triple or Oz quad. I know some ski areas will intentionally keep trails closed to preserve the snow for the weekend. Who's the best, and who's the worst in this regard?

dlague · Dec 16, 2014

Pico and Magic shut down midweek all winter long!

deadheadskier · Dec 16, 2014

Quantum Leap Triple always bothered me being closed more than those other lifts. QL can be a great little bump run. Having to take the Aurora Chair up and traverse back over to lap that trail is a pain. Upper stuff on OZ is really nothing, though it's nice to not have to Traverse. Upper Locke is cool, but I don't care for it as much as QL.

ss20 · Dec 16, 2014

Mount Snow rotates between Beartrap and the Sunbrook Quad midweek. If just the Quad is running Beartrap is inaccessible. If Beartrap is running than you have to ride up Beartrap and survive Long John back to the base to take the Bluebird back up to the summit. Meanwhile, Canyon Quad is on every midweek day and it serves the same terrain as the Bluebird. I'd rather have both Sunbrook lifts with Canyon Quad weekends only.

Edd · Dec 16, 2014

deadheadskier said:
Quantum Leap Triple always bothered me being closed more than those other lifts. QL can be a great little bump run. Having to take the Aurora Chair up and traverse back over to lap that trail is a pain. Upper stuff on OZ is really nothing, though it's nice to not have to Traverse. Upper Locke is cool, but I don't care for it as much as QL.

QL is a tough one. The terrain isn't worth running the lift on its own because that trail is almost always a scraped off mess that skiers avoid. Sometime in the last 2 seasons I hit it early on a morning with 2 feet of pow. It was basically a sheet of ice while the rest of SR was a joy.

Newpylong · Dec 16, 2014

ss20 said:
Mount Snow rotates between Beartrap and the Sunbrook Quad midweek. If just the Quad is running Beartrap is inaccessible. If Beartrap is running than you have to ride up Beartrap and survive Long John back to the base to take the Bluebird back up to the summit. Meanwhile, Canyon Quad is on every midweek day and it serves the same terrain as the Bluebird. I'd rather have both Sunbrook lifts with Canyon Quad weekends only.

This one is ridiculous to me as well. No reason for Canyon to run mid week.

powhunter · Dec 16, 2014

Killington was very unstingy yesterday by running the needles eye chair, OL chair, and CQ which normally don't run midweek

joshua segal · Dec 16, 2014

Two that come to mind:
- Dartmouth Skiway only operates one of its peaks on weekdays
- Bromley runs their HSQ at pretty slow speed on weekdays

bigbob · Dec 16, 2014

Killington will run Needles if the Skyship is not running. Bear chair ran since Sky Peak Quad is not inspected yet.

Tin · Dec 16, 2014

Jay. They will shut stuff down and blame it on the wind if they don't have the people. Learned the hard way last year. A ski patrol member and an instructor mentioned it and had identical stories. One even asked "Ever notice most of our wind holds are midweek?". Complete bs. I messaged Steve on here and never heard back. The fact the staff would both mention this says a lot. Two days, 5 hours of driving each way, and hundreds in lodging and we never got higher than the Bonny. Thanks!

joshua segal · Dec 16, 2014

ss20 said:
Mount Snow rotates between Beartrap and the Sunbrook Quad midweek. If just the Quad is running Beartrap is inaccessible. If Beartrap is running than you have to ride up Beartrap and survive Long John back to the base to take the Bluebird back up to the summit. Meanwhile, Canyon Quad is on every midweek day and it serves the same terrain as the Bluebird. I'd rather have both Sunbrook lifts with Canyon Quad weekends only.

IMO, Mt. Snow has lots of Intermediate cruisers, but the Beartrap lift line with moguls is special. Therefore, I think on weekdays, if they have a choice, Beartrap should be the choice.

skiNEwhere · Dec 16, 2014

I've heard the oz quad only operates from 10-2, on Saturdays during the busier times of the year.

I don't know how much it used to run, or if it used to run more often, but seems like a total waste. I only rode it twice and the terrain at the top wasn't really that interesting to justify not taking Jordan bowl HSQ and traversing over.

Part of me wonders if it was installed for marketing purposes more than anything during the ASC heyday.

chuckstah · Dec 16, 2014

I just got home from Loon today. South Peak is shuttered midweek. It was 100% I think on the weekend except woods, so strictly financial. New terrain including Angel St and Big Dipper opened today on a Tuesday so not all bad.

joshua segal · Dec 16, 2014

chuckstah said:
I just got home from Loon today. South Peak is shuttered midweek. It was 100% I think on the weekend except woods, so strictly financial. New terrain including Angel St and Big Dipper opened today on a Tuesday so not all bad.

I thought the South Peak Trails were accessible from the top of the Gondola.

chuckstah · Dec 16, 2014

No, two lifts need to be run to access the terrain. A short transfer lift which runs in both directions, and a HSQ. You may be thinking of North Peak which you can access the lower half from the gondola.

skiMEbike · Dec 16, 2014

skiNEwhere said:
Part of me wonders if it was installed for marketing purposes more than anything during the ASC heyday.

In support of that theory....After all it is their highest peak (by 30 or 40 feet) over Jordan.

xwhaler · Dec 16, 2014

joshua segal said:
Two that come to mind:
- Dartmouth Skiway only operates one of its peaks on weekd

Its kinda too bad the Skiway doesn't focus more on the Holts Ledge side. Not only do they only do Winslow during the week but they dont even attempt to make snow on Holts until mid/late January from what I understand.
Holts is the far superior side for challenge but their catering to families and having the lodge on the Winslow side i guess is the reason

deadheadskier · Dec 16, 2014

skiNEwhere said:
I've heard the oz quad only operates from 10-2, on Saturdays during the busier times of the year.

I don't know how much it used to run, or if it used to run more often, but seems like a total waste. I only rode it twice and the terrain at the top wasn't really that interesting to justify not taking Jordan bowl HSQ and traversing over.

Part of me wonders if it was installed for marketing purposes more than anything during the ASC heyday.

The few times I've ridden the OZ chair what I appreciate most is eliminating the run out. That's more bothersome to me than the traverse over from Jordan.

I think they put the chair in for a couple of reasons. 1 they were adding a new "peak." It's kind of hard to advertise a new mountain without a chair servicing it. So, yes, definitely a bit of a marketing component there.

The other thing is that I think someone that the terrain was going to be much more popular than what it is. I bet they cut it and were like, "People are going to love this and think of it like a Western Bowl skiing experience." Maybe if they got Jay Peak snowfall, but not at 150" a year. It's IMO the single worst piece of trail design of any mountain in New England. The owner must have owned stock in Husqvarna or something as they were WAY too chainsaw happy. A couple narrow trails and true glades would have been SO much better for the "expert" pod they were trying to create.

soposkier · Dec 16, 2014

deadheadskier said:
The few times I've ridden the OZ chair what I appreciate most is eliminating the run out. That's more bothersome to me than the traverse over from Jordan.

I think they put the chair in for a couple of reasons. 1 they were adding a new "peak." It's kind of hard to advertise a new mountain without a chair servicing it. So, yes, definitely a bit of a marketing component there.

The other thing is that I think someone that the terrain was going to be much more popular than what it is. I bet they cut it and were like, "People are going to love this and think of it like a Western Bowl skiing experience." Maybe if they got Jay Peak snowfall, but not at 150" a year. It's IMO the single worst piece of trail design of any mountain in New England. The owner must have owned stock in Husqvarna or something as they were WAY too chainsaw happy. A couple narrow trails and true glades would have been SO much better for the "expert" pod they were trying to create.

Agreed, the worst part of kansas is after oz. I like the oz quad when the jordan quad has long lines, more sheltered from the wind.

Edd · Dec 16, 2014

chuckstah said:
I just got home from Loon today. South Peak is shuttered midweek. It was 100% I think on the weekend except woods, so strictly financial. New terrain including Angel St and Big Dipper opened today on a Tuesday so not all bad.

Yes, Loon is very tight about South Peak, but I feel like they front like it's open all the time. As a weekday skier, it's availability seems random to me.

Stingiest midweek operators?

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