Wildcat Mountain 2016-2017 season thread

deadheadskier · Jan 11, 2017

It was fun to ski. Real steep on the backside of the snowmaking piles. However, it will go to a glazed over hell in a hurry unless a few bumps set up from today's bit of natural.

Overall I look at the snowmaking on Starr Line and Black Cat more to be setting them up for spring corn season. Hopefully I'm wrong and we get some storms that make them fun mid season.

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Gforce · Jan 11, 2017

Great to hear about the conditions and snow at WC.

It appears Attitash is getting compromised, Christmas week with plenty of snow cover not all the Attitash lifts are running and trails were not open because they were not groomed. All this due to staffing from what I heard, it's anecdotal but several locals have concurred that is the issue. Not enough manpower, "no one wants to work there". Of course with the power outage at WC 2 weeks ago everyone came over to AT and the place was jammed packed with 3 lifts not running.

When you have hundreds of skiers/boarders ducking ropes onto perfectly fine Attitash trails that is a major issue/potential liability I have to believe for the mountain.

Yesterday, the AT Flying Bear Quad shut down at 10am because the lift operators were in a Heated argument with the snow-making crew who were ready to take a few chairs up. A Mountain Ops guy in a WC Jacket came over and intervened, 2 of the snow-makers shouted out some things about the mountain and walked off to the parking lot. The lift started up again after about 15 minutes with everyone standing in line wondering - WTF ??!!. Peaks has some operational issues from what I can gather, splitting their thin staff between 2 mountains. My observations...

Gforce · Jan 11, 2017

One other thing I forgot to add.. The ticket window wait lines on 12/29 was 45 minutes long (I have a pass) but friends I was skiing with needed tickets were completely pissed off by the time they actually got on the mountain. Sorry, this whole grievance probably warrants it's own Attitash Thread.

deadheadskier · Jan 11, 2017

Maybe next year we will call it the AttiCat thread given they have really started to operate the two as one entity in many ways.

I've certainly commented that it appears they are sharing too many personnel resources between the two areas. That may be a cost saving decision by management or it may also be a struggle that appears to be region wide in attracting staff. I've read similar stories about Killington and other areas around the region being way understaffed during peak days (especially on the 29th).

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Gforce · Jan 11, 2017

deadheadskier said:
Maybe next year we will call it the AttiCat thread given they have really started to operate the two as one entity in many ways.

I've certainly commented that it appears they are sharing too many personnel resources between the two areas. That may be a cost saving decision by management or it may also be a struggle that appears to be region wide in attracting staff. I've read similar stories about Killington and other areas around the region being way understaffed during peak days (especially on the 29th).

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Yes, 2 very distinct mountains, 12 miles apart and they have very different cultures. The demographics also are miles apart when you consider the the typical skiers. Running both as one entity while short staffed is going to be a disaster and i'd submit not sustainable if you are pissing off customers in a competitive market. They will need to find a way to recruit, incentivize and retain employees otherwise the product will be consistently poor. Good management would mitigate that, lets see what Peaks does and if they are capable.

2Planker · Jan 11, 2017

Yup, Wifey likes Attitash. I've been a die hard Cat skier for 40+ years...

BTW - The Cat was freakin AMAZING today. Took tmrw off too. SWEET !!!

yeggous · Jan 12, 2017

Gforce said:
Great to hear about the conditions and snow at WC.

It appears Attitash is getting compromised, Christmas week with plenty of snow cover not all the Attitash lifts are running and trails were not open because they were not groomed. All this due to staffing from what I heard, it's anecdotal but several locals have concurred that is the issue. Not enough manpower, "no one wants to work there". Of course with the power outage at WC 2 weeks ago everyone came over to AT and the place was jammed packed with 3 lifts not running.

When you have hundreds of skiers/boarders ducking ropes onto perfectly fine Attitash trails that is a major issue/potential liability I have to believe for the mountain.

Yesterday, the AT Flying Bear Quad shut down at 10am because the lift operators were in a Heated argument with the snow-making crew who were ready to take a few chairs up. A Mountain Ops guy in a WC Jacket came over and intervened, 2 of the snow-makers shouted out some things about the mountain and walked off to the parking lot. The lift started up again after about 15 minutes with everyone standing in line wondering - WTF ??!!. Peaks has some operational issues from what I can gather, splitting their thin staff between 2 mountains. My observations...

The mountain ops guy in the Wildcat jacket was probably Brian Heon, the GM for Wildcat. He's been asked to also serve as the operations manager at Attitash. As others have indicated they are trying to do more with less.

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mlkrgr · Jan 12, 2017

Unfortunately, I am thinking Peaks is just another American Skiing Company that will go bankrupt in a few years. I know the labor market is tight but paying help a few dollars extra to have sufficient staffing on is well worth it, and that's for any business, and if worst comes to worst, pay temporary relocation bonuses for staff that sticks around for at least the peak part of the season.

Jully · Jan 12, 2017

mlkrgr said:
Unfortunately, I am thinking Peaks is just another American Skiing Company that will go bankrupt in a few years. I know the labor market is tight but paying help a few dollars extra to have sufficient staffing on is well worth it, and that's for any business, and if worst comes to worst, pay temporary relocation bonuses for staff that sticks around for at least the peak part of the season.

While Peaks certainly has its financial difficulties, I would hesitate to blame any staffing issues on them this year. Mike Solimano and other upper echelon K staff were scanning tickets at K a few weekends back. While POWDR isn't exactly know for spending lavishly either, if those guys are stepping in, I think it is a legitimate issue.

Edd · Jan 14, 2017

I follow a bunch of ski areas on Twitter and a number of them, including Mt Snow, are talking snowmaking. Wildcat is tweeting about the bluebird day.

On the bright side, it looks like their trail count didn't take a huge hit.

deadheadskier · Jan 14, 2017

If I had to guess they took a look at next week's weather and said screw it on terrain resurfacing for this weekend. Attitash at least did a few trails including Illusion

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snoseek · Jan 14, 2017

I would just assume they wait assuming there's a limited budget, which Im sure there is. Hopefully things get better after next week.

dlague · Jan 15, 2017

They should have made whales and took a page out of Cannon's playbook.

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deadheadskier · Jan 15, 2017

dlague said:
They should have made whales and took a page out of Cannon's playbook.

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Wildcat made an absolute crap load of snow last weekend through Tuesday. This weekend they opted to focus resurfacing and expanding terrain at Attitash where there was likely much more traffic. Had I traveled north, I would've gone to Attitash instead of Wildcat knowing this plan. I stayed South and skied Crotched where they were blowing a ton of snow. Overall no complaints for the weekend given how crappy the weather was late last week. Peaks did deliver a good man made snow recovered product on many trails across their NH mountains, you just needed to be flexible as a passholder as to where you chose to ski.

Gforce · Jan 16, 2017

deadheadskier said:
Wildcat made an absolute crap load of snow last weekend through Tuesday. This weekend they opted to focus resurfacing and expanding terrain at Attitash where there was likely much more traffic. Had I traveled north, I would've gone to Attitash instead of Wildcat knowing this plan. I stayed South and skied Crotched where they were blowing a ton of snow. Overall no complaints for the weekend given how crappy the weather was late last week. Peaks did deliver a good man made snow recovered product on many trails across their NH mountains, you just needed to be flexible as a passholder as to where you chose to ski.

I agree. Attitash was good Saturday.
I skied Wildcat yesterday(Sunday), it was awesome, great conditions. It was cold even by WC standards and apparently Saturday it was very slick at the Cat, all of that seemed to keep most people off the mountain so the trails held up excellent.

yeggous · Jan 17, 2017

Quad is down for the day due to mechanical issues. They are running the Tomcat.

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becca m · Jan 17, 2017

yeggous said:
Quad is down for the day due to mechanical issues. They are running the Tomcat.

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I am not surprised - yesterday a lot of people thought it was running very slow....conditions yesterday (Monday) were REALLY really great!!!!!

yeggous · Jan 17, 2017

becca m said:
I am not surprised - yesterday a lot of people thought it was running very slow....conditions yesterday (Monday) were REALLY really great!!!!!

The groomers are prime today too. Not as good as a week ago, but still in great shape. Much, much better than Saturday.

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2Planker · Jan 17, 2017

YUP - It was running real slow on both Sunday and Monday

....

becca m said:
I am not surprised - yesterday a lot of people thought it was running very slow....conditions yesterday (Monday) were REALLY really great!!!!!

Edd · Jan 18, 2017

Reporting 3-5" and still snowing. The HSQ continues to be down. Ouch.

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