This weather is hurting the majority of the ski business

goldsbar · Feb 22, 2015

Wavewheeler said:
Figures..I plan to move west with the hope that I will experience REAL winter with snow, not rain.

I wouldn't worry much about it. Before the Olympics, I was at Whistler in the worst year in xx years. It was far better than the Catskills. I've never seen Jackson Hole, Alta or Snowbird be truly bad. Maybe by local standards, but always better than the the East. Sugarbush, MRG (and I'm sure Stowe and Jay, but never been) are the only places when in good shape that can give a crappy year in the West a run for the money. That said, I understand parts of the Sierra range have been really bad these last few years.

BenedictGomez · Feb 22, 2015

deadheadskier said:
my bad. your dialogue here always made you seem like a Burlington college student at one point. I thought we were scholastic brahs. Apparently not. :lol:

Nope. But I had roommates, coworkers, and friends who all went there and I went to plenty of the parties. I lived stumbling-distance to Church Street, which was great. Caught the tail-end of the years when it was on that top-10 party schools in America list. Before the admin figured out parents dont like that and it's bad for business.

Wavewheeler said:
Always tended to think of it as a '90s band but I guess yeah, they started up in the mid-late '80s. I just listened to them a lot in the '90s, along with Collective Soul.

One of my favorite bands of the era, have seen them in concert 3 or 4 times (only once since the Ross Childress bombshell, just not the same since he left).

Wavewheeler said:
And you wound up in NJ? At least I have the excuse that I was raised here.

I was born and raised in NJ too. Like everyone else I'm trying to leave. I want to flee to eastern Pennsylvania like the rest of my high school class.

Rowsdower · Feb 23, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
I was born and raised in NJ too. Like everyone else I'm trying to leave. I want to flee to eastern Pennsylvania like the rest of my high school class.

Join us! We're moving in two weeks.

Although part of me is sort of uncomfortable about this. I grew up in Berks County and saw the influx of Jersey transplants to the Lehigh Valley and the huge amount of development that followed. I worry that in ten or twenty years PA will be just as expensive and dysfunctional as Jersey. Hopefully that's not the case, and it does seem like the drive-till-you-qualify development has slowed down considerably from the pace it was at ten years ago.

hammer · Feb 23, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
I was born and raised in NJ too. Like everyone else I'm trying to leave. I want to flee to eastern Pennsylvania like the rest of my high school class.

Born in PA but grew up on the shore...went to college in Boston and never turned back. Have family there but they are more into water sports (boating, fishing) and some will hunt in the winters. I didn't even start up skiing until I was almost 40.

BenedictGomez · Feb 23, 2015

Rowsdower said:
I grew up in Berks County and saw the influx of Jersey transplants to the Lehigh Valley and the huge amount of development that followed. I worry that in ten or twenty years PA will be just as expensive and dysfunctional as Jersey.

I'm in the exploration phase.

I love Upper Black Eddy and the areas just west, north, and south of there, and I don't think I'd want to go much further west than 611 due to increasing drive times. I really need to explore and learn more about the entire area. I'm well acquainted with PA points along 78 and south and think it's beautiful, but I know nothing about the border PA areas north of 78 like Wind Gap, Bangor, Martin's Creek etc... I'm looking for rural, but not desolate, if that makes sense.

EDIT: Where are you moving to?

BenedictGomez · Feb 23, 2015

Continuing the "poor ski area weekend attendance due to cold" theme, look at the Friday, Saturday, Sunday "wake-up temps" this weekend.

Predicted to be negatives every day (and keep in mind, these are NOT mountain temps).

Root16 · Feb 23, 2015

deadheadskier said:
I think it's just been so punishing in the South that the non-diehards don't want to do a thing on weekends except sleep. I doubt it's the temperatures as much as it's people worn out from normal 30 minute commutes on public transportation being 2 hours (if they even have public trans available), road commuting nearly twice as long as well. Combine that with worrying about your roof collapsing, burning massive snow days to stay home with the kids. Yeah, no one's leaving home from inside the 495 belt. They've given up on life until spring. :lol: whenever that might be.........

Living in Boston, I've basically spent all my free time shoveling snow instead of skiing. Yesterday at Catamount in the Berkshires (visiting friends) the high was 37F with 4 inches of snow the night before, yet there were no lift lines. It was great for those that were there, but puzzling.

bigbog · Feb 23, 2015

Shredder of Gnar said:
........Dress warm and ski hard....

+1

bigbog · Feb 23, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
I'm in the exploration phase.

I love Upper Black Eddy and the areas just west, north, and south of there, and I don't think I'd want to go much further west than 611 due to increasing drive times. I really need to explore and learn more about the entire area. I'm well acquainted with PA points along 78 and south and think it's beautiful, but I know nothing about the border PA areas north of 78 like Wind Gap, Bangor, Martin's Creek etc... I'm looking for rural, but not desolate, if that makes sense.

EDIT: Where are you moving to?

Just my guess but imho mileage and cost of filling up(or not having to at all) are on the agenda for carmakers. However if states would get off their butts and create avenues of high-speed rail it would solve a LOT of problems...access to jobs and to commutes...etc.
But then it takes committment to the future, which not many politicians have.
$.01

Cannonball · Feb 23, 2015

During the vacation week we skied Loon, Cannon(x3), and Bretton Woods. We went bell-to-bell every day. We never waited in a lift line longer than 2-3 chairs. For lunch each day we found a table for 5 at noon-ish with zero wait. I cannot believe how dead it was everywhere. The resorts must be tearing their hair out.

bdfreetuna · Feb 23, 2015

The average skier needs to get a clue. The ski season does not consist of a few weekends in January and February.

Hopefully we'll have an epic spring this year and the resorts will make their $ from the die hards who are still skiing until the end. If the half-assers missed out because it was chilly, and then were too clueless to ski even more in the spring, well better luck next year!

4aprice · Feb 23, 2015

Cannonball said:
During the vacation week we skied Loon, Cannon(x3), and Bretton Woods. We went bell-to-bell every day. We never waited in a lift line longer than 2-3 chairs. For lunch each day we found a table for 5 at noon-ish with zero wait. I cannot believe how dead it was everywhere. The resorts must be tearing their hair out.

That sounds awesome. Very jealous. Sure would love to base myself out of Lincoln. Underated ski town (back to our discussions in the fall) IMO.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

mister moose · Feb 23, 2015

deadheadskier said:
The masses aren't diehards.

It's also about getting used to it. After 15 below and 35mph winds for days, I shoveled the deck in 10F no wind in my shirt sleeves.

As far as no lines at Catamount for 4" of fresh, 4" these days in VT is just dew.

BenedictGomez · Feb 23, 2015

bdfreetuna said:
The average skier needs to get a clue. The ski season does not consist of a few weekends in January and February.

I could be wrong, but it's my perception that the average skier does indeed ski, "a few weekends in January and February." If they thought otherwise, they'd be the diehards.

bdfreetuna · Feb 23, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
I could be wrong, but it's my perception that the average skier does indeed ski, "a few weekends in January and February." If they thought otherwise, they'd be the diehards.

The difference between a skier and a person who owns a pair of skis.

VTKilarney · Feb 23, 2015

bdfreetuna said:
The average skier needs to get a clue. The ski season does not consist of a few weekends in January and February.

Cold matters. It may not matter to the diehards, but that's like saying that just because elite beer drinker's don't drink Budweiser that Budweiser isn't a major part of the market.

I can understand why so many people have a short season. First, the snow is a crap shoot early in the year. If you are spending a lot of money to go skiing it makes sense to do it when the conditions will be best. Second, children's spring sports are starting earlier and earlier. I know of more than one baseball program that has already begun indoor practice. I don't blame someone for skipping out on a couple of weekends later in the season if skiing means that their child will be shut out of a sports activity for the whole spring season.

I don't think that these people need to "get a clue". I think that they are balancing skiing with their overall life. It's hard for me to argue with that.

steamboat1 · Feb 23, 2015

Lows of -15 & windy tonight have me rethinking my plans for this week. Think I'll skip tomorrow & start skiing Wed. instead. Bitter cold returns Thurs./Fri. & I'll just have to deal with it.

bdfreetuna · Feb 23, 2015

VTKilarney said:
I don't blame someone for skipping out on a couple of weekends later in the season if skiing means that their child will be shut out of a sports activity for the whole spring season.

Hey if you're into neglecting your children by supporting their passion for baseball rather than forcing them to lap Superstar every weekend until June -- you're part of the problem, not the solution!

dlague · Feb 23, 2015

A friend of mine (non-skier) wanted to take his family tubing at McIntyre yesterday and said the parking lot was packed and people were parking down the streets. Goes to show how the warmer temps helped there.

In our case this has been the best season for our family. The cold temps have not been a deterrent and we have experienced some of the best conditions we have seen in a long time. I do have to admit, I think the weather system reported for Saturday Night did keep people away. Black Mountain was dead but I did here Cannon was busy. My guess people were flocking to the bigger mountains. On Sunday the conditions at Cannon were great and it was ski on. On our way home we did experience the slower skier traffic pattern Just before Concord NH.

bdfreetuna · Feb 23, 2015

dlague said:
On our way home we did experience the slower skier traffic pattern Just before Concord NH.

I-91 got backed up several times, stop and go on the way to Mass yesterday late afternoon. Bolton Valley's lots were packed Sat and Sun (though empty Friday).

If the ski resorts didn't make $ this weekend it's not due to lack of skiers.

This weather is hurting the majority of the ski business

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