Rename Mount Snow to "Mount Slow"

[deadheadskier]

Fine, not a snow issue. I don't recall any signs indicating the trail closure at the Sundance triple. However, why was there race training & trail closures on a super busy holiday weekend anyway?

The same reason there is at almost every major ski area in New England. It sucks, but those families pay a crap load of money for those season long programs. They typically don't end until middle of March or so. Hell, little Mount Abram Maine where I was skiing this Saturday had race training going on.

 

[ThinkSnow]

I think everyone is missing the point of my post here. I've been skiing and riding for 35 years, and I've been working in the industry for 22 of those years.

I posted my experience so that hopefully someone at Mount Snow would take notice. When used correctly, social media (like this) can be a very strong tool. One complaint to skier services at the mountain doesn't do much. When the product is lift service, I am trying to raise the point of poor customer service, but apparently everyone else finds this to be the norm and is just fine with having these issues. I don't really care enough about Mount Snow to bother with this post any longer.

 

[deadheadskier]

I've been on this forum for about a decade. The amount of industry response to complaints here has been extremely limited. AZ is not like Facebook or Twitter in that regard. Win from Sugarbush and occasionally the Sugarloaf guys have chimed in, but that's about it. I wouldn't hold my breath for a response from Mt Snow here. Facebook they definitely would though.

 

[gmcunni]

i've been contacted by a mountain manager based on posting here but not a big place like mt snow.. i think they're too big to care.

ThinkSnow- just curious, what you do? you mention

I work for a ski/snowboard tour travel agency part time,

what does that entail?

 

[ThinkSnow]

I've been on this forum for about a decade. The amount of industry response to complaints here has been extremely limited. AZ is not like Facebook or Twitter in that regard. Win from Sugarbush and occasionally the Sugarloaf guys have chimed in, but that's about it. I wouldn't hold my breath for a response from Mt Snow here. Facebook they definitely would though.

Not on Facebook or twitter by choice. This is a skier/rider forum so ski areas would do well to pay attention. I'm not holding my breath, by posting I'm releasing it.

 

[ThinkSnow]

i've been contacted by a mountain manager based on posting here but not a big place like mt snow.. i think they're too big to care.

ThinkSnow- just curious, what you do? you mention



what does that entail?

Traveling to various ski areas and being the on-mountain staff for our incoming guests, which includes giving out lift tickets (so guests don't have to deal with the mountain in the morning), room keys, arranging group gatherings (apres ski), etc.

 

[SkiFanE]

I think everyone is missing the point of my post here. I've been skiing and riding for 35 years, and I've been working in the industry for 22 of those years.

I posted my experience so that hopefully someone at Mount Snow would take notice. When used correctly, social media (like this) can be a very strong tool. One complaint to skier services at the mountain doesn't do much. When the product is lift service, I am trying to raise the point of poor customer service, but apparently everyone else finds this to be the norm and is just fine with having these issues. I don't really care enough about Mount Snow to bother with this post any longer.

My response, although it sounded off the mark, is because of the things you mentioned. On a holiday weekend traversing any mountain in NE can be chancy. sit-down service in resort towns, on and off mountain, I find to always be slower than I prefer. I can handle it for dinner, but on a ski day I have no patience. What you complain about could have probably applied to 50% of mountains on Saturday. At least that's my take.

 

[ThinkSnow]

My response, although it sounded off the mark, is because of the things you mentioned. On a holiday weekend traversing any mountain in NE can be chancy. sit-down service in resort towns, on and off mountain, I find to always be slower than I prefer. I can handle it for dinner, but on a ski day I have no patience. What you complain about could have probably applied to 50% of mountains on Saturday. At least that's my take.

You're right. I can apply it to other places I've been to on a holiday weekend, and I have made the comparison. Still the worst experience of them all.

 

[Newpylong]

Isn't this what a forum is for? His own opinion.

Of course. And I can also point out when I think someone is being a whiny b*tch too

 

[ThinkSnow]

Yes, what was I thinking expressing service concerns on a site that primarily values daily updates boasting number of days skied along with juvenile opinions....

 

[deadheadskier]

I think the reason you're not getting quite the support of your opinion is that like I said in the second post of the thread; welcome to Southern, VT on a Saturday during a vacation week after historically good snowfall. It's the equivalent of going to Hampton Beach, NH on the Saturday of 4th of July weekend when the weather has been great all week. Unless you're a regular, it's not going to be the best experience. If you are a regular, you know how to work the mountain. Several people in this thread said it was extremely busy, but they found ways to work around the crowds.

I'm assuming your home mountain is Sugarbush yes? They have their own lift and base lodge issues. People are incredibly vocal about them here. Has Win replaced any lifts based upon those comments in the past decade? No. Has he addressed the base lodge issue? Kinda. What has he done most of? Build condos. Though as mentioned, he has chimed in here occasionally. I wouldn't expect that from Mount Snow. Too corporate.

Regarding ski forums being a good social media platform for Mountains to score how they're doing? I'd say it's pretty minimal. Our traffic on this site is not what you'd think. Your expectation that this thread might improve service at Mount Snow isn't based much in reality. We might have 300-400 members who are "regulars" spread across all of the region in where they ski. We get many one and done posters looking for just a slight bit of information before moving on. Given that a place like Mount Snow has 10,000 people skiing there on a typical Sunday, AZ would represent a drop in the bucket as far as being a barometer of opinion for the place.

It's fine to gripe about a bad experience here. We all do and sometimes you get a consensus agreement with your opinion, sometimes quite the opposite. What I would suggest however is to use the forum in a more productive manner. Had you simply posted a thread, "Hey going to Mount Snow this Saturday for the first time in years, any suggestions," I bet you would have gotten dozens of helpful responses that would have made for a much more enjoyable experience there. Ski forums are incredibly useful for that. Just a thought.

 

[SIKSKIER]

..

 

[SkiFanE]

Yes, what was I thinking expressing service concerns on a site that primarily values daily updates boasting number of days skied along with juvenile opinions....

What was juvenile about the opinions? Mine was serious. You just didn't agree. But for someone that went to Snow and really went to meet with people he hasn't seen in awhile, and dine with them in a lodge...not to really get any serious skiing in...your complaint seems even less important. I haven't been to Snow in 20+ years...can't remember much about it - but it sounds like much of your situation of getting to bad/long lifts was due to some things you needed to care of - so you didn't choose the smartest ways around the mountain...and the ski area is called to task. It's like complaining about circling the mall parking lot on Saturday December 22 because they don't have enough parking - just do things differently and you won't be in the situation.

 

[steamboat1]

The management of Killington listens to what is said on K-Zone & occassionally responds to questions or suggestions posed. I'd think K-Zone has even less readership than Alpine Zone.

 

[deadheadskier]

The management of Killington listens to what is said on K-Zone & occassionally responds to questions or suggestions posed. I'd think K-Zone has even less readership than Alpine Zone.

They do now, but they didn't for years. It's a priority for Mike. It was not a priority of Nyberg. That's also a mountain specific forum. I bet if Mount Snow had a mountain specific forum, management would be much more likely to respond than on a generalized skiing forum like AZ. Even the OP said he posts to his mountain's own forum and gets responses there.

That said, the amount that Killington responds on Kzone is a fraction of how much they respond on Facebook. That is by far the better social media platform for interacting with ski areas than a ski forum.

 

[hammer]

Guess I still don't understand how the OP's issues are related to bad customer service...might have a legit complaint about being stuck on a lift for some time (not for a novice lift that stops a lot -- that happens) but otherwise the complaints are nothing different from what I've seen when I have gone to other ski areas that are notorious for crowds on weekends and holidays.

If I had a specific complaint about a visit I guess I'd write an e-mail first. If I wasn't happy with the personal response and I felt like I had an axe to grind I might post my complaint here. In all honesty my approach would likely to be to vote with my feet, which I have done in the past. No one is forcing me to ski at a particular area, I have plenty of choices within a 2 hour drive.

 

[amf]

So the OP is part of the reason for overcrowding and poor lift management he complains of. This was the end of Prez week - crowds should be expected. I was there Friday and Sunday. Friday lift issues were totally beyond MS control. But the skiing was good, and lift lines short. Sunday was simply stellar. We started on the Tumbleweed. It can get overwhelmed with groups. Get away from it and avoid the bubble and lines were short. The longest we experienced was on the north face, which was welcome after coming down thru the trees. The base was a zoo because no one could handle the snow. Why go there? Its funny, on Saturday at Magic the one lift went down - a bunch of folks, myself included, spent almost an hour on it. Didn't hear any whining at all.

 

[drjeff]

They do now, but they didn't for years. It's a priority for Mike. It was not a priority of Nyberg. That's also a mountain specific forum. I bet if Mount Snow had a mountain specific forum, management would be much more likely to respond than on a generalized skiing forum like AZ. Even the OP said he posts to his mountain's own forum and gets responses there.

That said, the amount that Killington responds on Kzone is a fraction of how much they respond on Facebook. That is by far the better social media platform for interacting with ski areas than a ski forum.

Mount Snow does have their own passholders specific forum, that has quite active participation from many admins. I also do know that they have multiple admins who lurk here from time to time on AZ, and other ski related forums

 

[gmcunni]

I think participation from Mountain management has decreased in the past few years. it was never great but I think it's almost nonexistent now

 

[4aprice]

I think participation from Mountain management has decreased in the past few years. it was never great but I think it's almost nonexistent now

Participation yes, but I bet they almost all lurk.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ