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Maple Valley, VT potentially reborn???

ctenidae

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The way you worded that immediately made me think of the systems of tubes to collect maple sap from trees... ;)

I wonder if there's the space to build a retaining pond somewhere?

Kind of what I was thinking, actually. There are drains in the ground behind the lodge that have water flowing thought them all the time- draining off the runout area, I guess. You could probably dig a giant hole roght there and put a cap over it, presto, underground retaining pnd. There's also space on the top of the mountain for a pretty good sized pond.
 

bvibert

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Kind of what I was thinking, actually. There are drains in the ground behind the lodge that have water flowing thought them all the time- draining off the runout area, I guess. You could probably dig a giant hole roght there and put a cap over it, presto, underground retaining pnd. There's also space on the top of the mountain for a pretty good sized pond.

See that? I little ingenuity and presto! No more water problems!

When I win the lotto I'm hiring you as my creativity consultant. ;)
 

loafer89

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dude what's up with being all realistic


can't you let bvibert dream a little :lol:


Somebody has to guide the flying pig back to earth.:smile:

I kayak and the last thing I want to see is another river with a dam on it. It would never get approval in this age of enviornmentalism.

Damn the dam:lol:
 

ctenidae

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The boots (rear entry models) are piled in a heap in a corner of the rental shop. A couple of cans of deodorant spray later and we are in business.

The skis are (almost) parabolics, too, and the snowboards are pretty hot. A little steel wool, and those edges are good as new.

On the upside, you could use all the skis and boards to make some pretty cool furniture.
 

loafer89

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Any plans for the resurection of Maple Valley have to include my son. When i told him that the mountain was for sale I think he checked to see how much money he had in his piggy bank.:smile:
 

bvibert

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Any plans for the resurection of Maple Valley have to include my son. When i told him that the mountain was for sale I think he checked to see how much money he had in his piggy bank.:smile:

Rad, we're looking for a director parking lot operations, or an on-hill conditions reporter. He can choose.
 

thetrailboss

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51 posts and 671 different people viewing. I'd say there is interest. Too bad the economy is so bad...these could be potential investors.
 

loafer89

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Rad, we're looking for a director parking lot operations, or an on-hill conditions reporter. He can choose.


I want to be head of snowmaking:

You wanted 1' of base on 18 trails?, ops my bad, I though you wanted 18' of base on 1 trail:-D

Maple Valley would have an October - June ski season.:spread:
 
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One reason I'd love to see Maple Valley re-open is to have an affordable feeder hill in that part of Vermont. For all that is great about Vermont skiing, if there's one thing that is definitely lacking, it's affordable feeder hills. Outside of Cochran and Middlebury Snow Bowl, there really aren't any options.

At least with the re-birth of Granite Gorge and Whaleback there are a couple of options near the eastern central and southern parts of the state.


What about Bolton Valley..
 

ski_resort_observer

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Northeast Slopes, Bromley, Quechee Lakes, Suicide Six operate, are small and affordable and in Vermont. Bear Creek is small but definately not very affordable.

Small NH hills near Vermont...don't forget about the Dartmouth Skiway.
 
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loafer89

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Warren and I stopped by Maple Valley on the way home from Stratton Mountain. Once again it was much warmer at Maple Valley (34F) vs 26F with snowcover at Stratton and little to none at Maple Valley.

I was a bit tired from a day of skiing and had about 50% enthusiasim for reaching the summit when we set out hiking up Guando Bear which is the long wraparound green run to the summit.

Warren gave out about a third of the way up and I kept on going while he sat and rested reaching about 3/4 of the way to the summit before ice, slippery footing and tired muscles made me stop.

Guando Bear:

GuandoBear.jpg


As you can see by the picture, Guando Bear still sports it's night lighting system that is 100% intact with no visible signs of vandalism. There is also an airless snowmaking system:

Snowmakingpipe.jpg


There is a pile of ski boots in the ski shop:

Skibootsintherentalshop.jpg
 
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Glenn

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Great pics! It's still in relatively good shape. It would be a lot of work...but certainly not starting from scratch.
 

Clarkl23

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I know

I'll cut about 4 narrow seeded bump runs from the summit, a few glades in between for the sweet Winnepausake lake effect storms :lol: and a giant top to bottom terrain park. Run a double up the summit and call it good.


All the rad skiers and boarders will forget about going north to north conway and go to Wittier instead.

http://www.nelsap.org/nh/mtwhit1.html


*business plan developed during 30 second drive by on Thursday :lol:*


I skied Whittier from 1973 until it closed in 79 (or whenever). It was effectively closed before the end date because they went through a series of sham owners before the property was finally seized and broken up by the bank. By that time there was just about nothing left to burn. The new lodge and snow cat barn and all the grooming equipment had gone up in the prior couple of years. In the last season I remember the gondola didn't operate all that often and the t-bar that ran up the face would usually break down between 1 and 2pm, at which point we'd break out the wine, toboggans and flying saucers (nearly got hit by a snowcat on a flying saucer one day). I know someone who was a serious potential buyer, but from what I heard they wouldn't let them draw water from the Bearcamp river for snowmaking. My club had a house that slept 75 within a 5 minute driver or a long walk. My club was one of the dominate race clubs in EICSL because they left us a small slope (called the Blitzschnell Schuss) and t-bar running without an attendant all day. We'd set a course for the morning, take it down at lunch, they'd groom it, we'd set up another for the afternoon. Whittier was a tough little mountain. The front slope had a double fallaway from the top of the main T. We had a great deal with the last real owners... If you showed up to trail clear in the fall you got a season pass for something like $75. Even by 1973 when I started going there they'd already effectively abandoned a big slope off the top called Barefoot Boy. Willy Kalinuk who owned SkiWorks and was a member told me about skiing down the gondola line one great snow year.

Clark
 
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