New Snowbowl Detachable Quad at Stratton

xlr8r · Mar 12, 2018

https://blog.stratton.com/2018/03/new-snow-bowl-lift-mountain-bike-trails-way/

Will lower lines at other lifts, but will make the summit even more crowded. Janeway Junction and Get My Drift already get scraped off and become a sh!t show everyday, this will just make those 2 trails worse. Might take some people off of Black Bear though. I would have shortened the lift in a new alignment ending at the top of the Meadows instead.

KustyTheKlown · Mar 12, 2018

that old fixed grip is the saving grace of Stratton. kind of bummed by this development.

Glenn · Mar 12, 2018

I'm looking forward to the shorter ride! But it'll probably be at the cost of a longer wait. It was busy there yesterday, but the wait for the current Snowbowl lift was just a few minutes. We rode two fixed grips yesterday and not much of a wait at either.

thetrailboss · Mar 12, 2018

KustyTheKlown said:
that old fixed grip is the saving grace of Stratton. kind of bummed by this development.

Agree. I remember I loved this area and that the slow quad was a blessing in disguise. Not surprised though because this was an older lift IIRC.

NYDB · Mar 12, 2018

I'm kinda meh on this.

Midweek its a big positive development (if they run it). But it was a good place to hide on the weekends, especially when it was cold and windy.

But really......Kidderbrook lift please!! That runout is impossible on a powder day. Take out Shooting Star and make it happen!

Maybe magic can buy the old fixed grip for cheap to replace black.

deadheadskier · Mar 12, 2018

Doesn't Stratton also have plans to expand terrain skiers left in the Snowbowl? I know it's not that steep over there, but perhaps it will help spread some crowds onto new acreage.

I definitely agree with the Kidderbrook comment. The Shooting Star lift should be moved to the old KB line.

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machski · Mar 12, 2018

Good for Stratton. Bravo to Alterra, planning a huge spending spree across the portfolio in the next five years. Kind of surprised they are starting at Tremblant by upgrading the Thomas Triple. Always thought both south side HSQ's should have been upped to 6's, could have reused one of the existing for LTT. And the Duncan is ancient and a freezer lift, Solei is still chain cadenced in the terminals.

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slatham · Mar 12, 2018

The real issue of high speed lifts is the amount of downhill traffic and the resulting dangers and erosion of good ski conditions. This one area of the "old" Stratton will probably be homogenized over time with the resulting need for snowmaking and grooming and maybe widening of trails. Blah.

Jully · Mar 12, 2018

machski said:
Good for Stratton. Bravo to Alterra, planning a huge spending spree across the portfolio in the next five years. Kind of surprised they are starting at Tremblant by upgrading the Thomas Triple. Always thought both south side HSQ's should have been upped to 6's, could have reused one of the existing for LTT. And the Duncan is ancient and a freezer lift, Solei is still chain cadenced in the terminals.

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Surprised at this as well. Most of the front side wouldn't have an issue absorbing a bit more capacity either, at least from my limited experience there.

A Duncan upgrade would probably be my number 1 request though!

x10003q · Mar 12, 2018

slatham said:
The real issue of high speed lifts is the amount of downhill traffic and the resulting dangers and erosion of good ski conditions. This one area of the "old" Stratton will probably be homogenized over time with the resulting need for snowmaking and grooming and maybe widening of trails. Blah.

The existing Snow Bowl FGQ has an uphill capacity of 2400/hr. The new HSQ will be more or less in the same range, keeping downhill traffic in the same range.

The key to the new HSQ will be spreading the crowds evenly around the lifts and mountain. This is beyond overdue.

Stratton's other folly is the Shooting Star 6 and Kidderbrook. It should have at least started the Shooting Star at the base of the Vertigo Glades/Free Fall. That still does not answer why they took out the Kidderbrook FGQ rendering the Kidderbrook area a great run that requires a long run out and 2 lift rides to access it again.

Jully · Mar 12, 2018

x10003q said:
The existing Snow Bowl FGQ has an uphill capacity of 2400/hr. The new HSQ will be more or less in the same range, keeping downhill traffic in the same range.

The key to the new HSQ will be spreading the crowds evenly around the lifts and mountain. This is beyond overdue.

Stratton's other folly is the Shooting Star 6 and Kidderbrook. It should have at least started the Shooting Star at the base of the Vertigo Glades/Free Fall. That still does not answer why they took out the Kidderbrook FGQ rendering the Kidderbrook area a great run that requires a long run out and 2 lift rides to access it again.

They took it out because it was never used (or so I've read). Why they opted to remove the lift rather than just leave it installed and never run it (except during very select holidays maybe) is beyond me.

The technical capacity of the snow bowl quad will stay the same, but the usage will go way up. At least on the (limited) weekend days I've been at Stratton, all the 6s + gondola have a line and the snowbowl has a very short line/not every chair is filled (well below max capacity of 2400pph).

Since there are always large lines at the bottom of most every main lift at Stratton on weekends, those lifts are all basically at max capacity. Pretty sure there are enough crowds that you can transfer some of the folks in line for the other lifts to the snow bowl and those other lifts will still be at max capacity.

So the total number of skiers on the hill (mostly in the snow bowl) will increase.

Newpylong · Mar 12, 2018

After Shooting Star went in Kidderbrook sat for the majority of the 2000s just like that, without being used. Intrawest/Fortress eventually had cashflow issues so they decided to sell it. Installing another Kidderbrook lift makes no sense without terrain expansion over there (it's been rumored) or significant terrain reconfiguration. Why they didn't just replace Kidderbrook instead of putting Shooting Star where it is beyond me. A 6 pack that runs only weekends is a sure gauge of that ROI.

As for Snow Bowl - I foresee it spreading crowds out more than overly increasingly traffic over there.

slatham · Mar 12, 2018

As for Snow Bowl - I foresee it spreading crowds out more than overly increasingly traffic over there.[/QUOTE]

Thats a contradiction. If you spread crowds out by moving them to the Snowbowl then traffic "over there" will increase. I can maybe buy the argument that the overall mountain crowd will not increase, but the traffic in the Snowball area will definitely increase.

drjeff · Mar 12, 2018

Amex to Snowbowl is still likely to be quicker for Summit Access than the "if a mouse farts at Bromley the Stratton Gondola goes on wind hold" lift.... Given that Amex is still likely to be more popular than the new Sunbowl lift, and the roughly equidistant length from the top of Amex to both Ursa and Snowbowl ....

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Glenn · Mar 13, 2018

People love to ride the gondola! They'll wait in a longer line to not have to ride Amex/Ursa. At least, that's my theory. And I've never figured out why the gondola stops. It's pretty easy to load/unload.

New Snowbowl Detachable Quad at Stratton

xlr8r

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