N
Northbay
Guest
:flame:
"The Myth of Sugarbush" is the nebulous claim that Sugarbush and Sugarbush North are connected by the Slide Brook Express. It is prominently featured in their brochures and they use it as a lure to entice people to come to their mountain. Yet they leave out some essential information about the criteria that they use when deciding whether or not to operate it. The time has come to expose this myth and shine the light of truth upon it.
They hold this information very close to the vest and it was only with great reluctance did they finally admit the truth. My dispute began because of the deceitful ruses I encountered in response to requests for information about the operating status of the Slide Brook Express. There was a pattern of fraudulent misrepresentation that started with the parking lot attendants, continued along to the cashier, then it was spread around the mountain by the lift operators, it was posted on the magnetic board at the Mt. Ellen Lodge and it finally finished with customer service in the front office.
The first email I received even made the claim that "Sugarbush by no means participates in the deceptive practices" regarding this "truly special chairlift ride". My next email to Sugarbush mentioned that the Slide Brook Express was not operating on Wednesday, March 5, 2003. I received a reply that stated "the Slide Brook is not running today due to wind." the lift and trail report I printed that day showed a 3 mph wind and the temperature was 39 degrees Fahrenheit. I am aware that the present management inherited this problem and perhaps this is a recent policy, Yet instead of taking the opportunity to explain this at the outset they chose to try to conceal the truth
Be forewarned... you will hit a stonewall if you need to deal with customer service...expect a thinly veiled apology, long lame justifications, transparent deceptions and hardball nitpicking to top it off. They never did issue me the refund I requested. Nobody should have to go through the process that I went through before I was finally able to extract this tidbit of truth.
I believe that it was only after Sugarbush Resorts realized that they were dealing with someone who wasn't easily brushed aside and two hours after they became aware I was posting this grievance in another venue that what I would describe as a damage control operation occurred after their final refusal to issue me a refund. I was finally able to get a straight answer about the Slide Brook Express. Here are the essentials as supplied by the Guest Services Manager at Sugarbush Resorts:
For safety reasons, Slide Brook Express does not operate when temperatures, combined with wind chill factors, plummet below a certain set value. I understand your confusion with respect to the fact you were still able to ride Castlerock, Super Bravo, Heaven's Gate, and the rest. Reasons specific to a conservative approach to running Slide Brook surround the fact that Slide Brook -- over two miles long -- traverses non-serviced terrain, making it isolated, difficult, and time consuming to evacuate should there be an emergency
The issue of Slide Brook Lift not running M-F during non-holiday periods including Tuesday 3/4, is one of utilization, redundancy of services, and responsible use of energy. At less than 4% utilization of Slide Brook on non-holiday mid-week days, and with a contracted inter mountain shuttle service that averages just 2 minutes longer than riding the lift, it is irresponsible use of energy on the part of Sugarbush to run that lift on non-holiday mid-week days. Shuttles leave Mount Ellen every half hour from 8:45 to 4:45 for Lincoln Peak, and correspondingly leave Lincoln from 8:30 to 4:30 every half hour, headed for Mount Ellen. The inter mountain shuttles ran faithfully twice an hour from both mountains on both 2/17 and 3/4/03.
Though not stated directly I believe it is cold-blooded economics that is behind their limits on the use of what should really be called the No Wind, Warm Weather, Weekend & Holiday Express. They don't seem to run their Magic Carpet out of the parking lot up to the lodge "M-F during non-holiday periods" as well. If they have no intention of running either of these devices most of the time it should be so noted on the daily lift and trail report. To refuse to do so and to continue to try to parcel out this information only under pressure is fraudulent.
What about the expectations of customer's that expect there will be a chair lift that can whisk them between mountains? The reality more often than not is that they must trudge down to the parking lot in their ski boots dragging their equipment along, wait for the twice hourly shuttle being run down German Flats Rd and then repeat the process again for the return trip. Customer's such as myself that are being lured to one of the most expensive resorts in the east by a myth. Customer's who don't know that if they want to try the "truly special chairlift ride" of the Slide Brook Express they shouldn't ski at Sugarbush "M-F during non-holiday periods" or "when temperatures, combined with wind chill factors, plummet below a certain set value" which is unstated.
I would venture that attempts will be made to fudge the lift and trail reports posted at the website and in the absence of specific numbers it is highly likely that the parameters of this "conservative approach" are affected by the attendance at the mountain on those few weekend and holidays left when they actually bother to run the Slide Brook Express. What is most unique about this "truly special chairlift ride" are the limited opportunities available to try it.
If you fully subscribe to their reasoning something that is such an "irresponsible use of energy" should not have been built at all especially since "a contracted inter mountain shuttle service that averages just 2 minutes longer than riding the lift" existed prior to the construction of the Slide Brook Express. Maybe it borders on negligence that something so "isolated difficult, and time consuming to evacuate should there be an emergency" is even being run at all. It would have been better left on the drawing board. A hopeful plan that one day Sugarbush and Sugarbush North would be connected..."The Myth of Sugarbush" certainly as far as any non-holiday non-weekend skier is concerned.
"The Myth of Sugarbush" is the nebulous claim that Sugarbush and Sugarbush North are connected by the Slide Brook Express. It is prominently featured in their brochures and they use it as a lure to entice people to come to their mountain. Yet they leave out some essential information about the criteria that they use when deciding whether or not to operate it. The time has come to expose this myth and shine the light of truth upon it.
They hold this information very close to the vest and it was only with great reluctance did they finally admit the truth. My dispute began because of the deceitful ruses I encountered in response to requests for information about the operating status of the Slide Brook Express. There was a pattern of fraudulent misrepresentation that started with the parking lot attendants, continued along to the cashier, then it was spread around the mountain by the lift operators, it was posted on the magnetic board at the Mt. Ellen Lodge and it finally finished with customer service in the front office.
The first email I received even made the claim that "Sugarbush by no means participates in the deceptive practices" regarding this "truly special chairlift ride". My next email to Sugarbush mentioned that the Slide Brook Express was not operating on Wednesday, March 5, 2003. I received a reply that stated "the Slide Brook is not running today due to wind." the lift and trail report I printed that day showed a 3 mph wind and the temperature was 39 degrees Fahrenheit. I am aware that the present management inherited this problem and perhaps this is a recent policy, Yet instead of taking the opportunity to explain this at the outset they chose to try to conceal the truth
Be forewarned... you will hit a stonewall if you need to deal with customer service...expect a thinly veiled apology, long lame justifications, transparent deceptions and hardball nitpicking to top it off. They never did issue me the refund I requested. Nobody should have to go through the process that I went through before I was finally able to extract this tidbit of truth.
I believe that it was only after Sugarbush Resorts realized that they were dealing with someone who wasn't easily brushed aside and two hours after they became aware I was posting this grievance in another venue that what I would describe as a damage control operation occurred after their final refusal to issue me a refund. I was finally able to get a straight answer about the Slide Brook Express. Here are the essentials as supplied by the Guest Services Manager at Sugarbush Resorts:
For safety reasons, Slide Brook Express does not operate when temperatures, combined with wind chill factors, plummet below a certain set value. I understand your confusion with respect to the fact you were still able to ride Castlerock, Super Bravo, Heaven's Gate, and the rest. Reasons specific to a conservative approach to running Slide Brook surround the fact that Slide Brook -- over two miles long -- traverses non-serviced terrain, making it isolated, difficult, and time consuming to evacuate should there be an emergency
The issue of Slide Brook Lift not running M-F during non-holiday periods including Tuesday 3/4, is one of utilization, redundancy of services, and responsible use of energy. At less than 4% utilization of Slide Brook on non-holiday mid-week days, and with a contracted inter mountain shuttle service that averages just 2 minutes longer than riding the lift, it is irresponsible use of energy on the part of Sugarbush to run that lift on non-holiday mid-week days. Shuttles leave Mount Ellen every half hour from 8:45 to 4:45 for Lincoln Peak, and correspondingly leave Lincoln from 8:30 to 4:30 every half hour, headed for Mount Ellen. The inter mountain shuttles ran faithfully twice an hour from both mountains on both 2/17 and 3/4/03.
Though not stated directly I believe it is cold-blooded economics that is behind their limits on the use of what should really be called the No Wind, Warm Weather, Weekend & Holiday Express. They don't seem to run their Magic Carpet out of the parking lot up to the lodge "M-F during non-holiday periods" as well. If they have no intention of running either of these devices most of the time it should be so noted on the daily lift and trail report. To refuse to do so and to continue to try to parcel out this information only under pressure is fraudulent.
What about the expectations of customer's that expect there will be a chair lift that can whisk them between mountains? The reality more often than not is that they must trudge down to the parking lot in their ski boots dragging their equipment along, wait for the twice hourly shuttle being run down German Flats Rd and then repeat the process again for the return trip. Customer's such as myself that are being lured to one of the most expensive resorts in the east by a myth. Customer's who don't know that if they want to try the "truly special chairlift ride" of the Slide Brook Express they shouldn't ski at Sugarbush "M-F during non-holiday periods" or "when temperatures, combined with wind chill factors, plummet below a certain set value" which is unstated.
I would venture that attempts will be made to fudge the lift and trail reports posted at the website and in the absence of specific numbers it is highly likely that the parameters of this "conservative approach" are affected by the attendance at the mountain on those few weekend and holidays left when they actually bother to run the Slide Brook Express. What is most unique about this "truly special chairlift ride" are the limited opportunities available to try it.
If you fully subscribe to their reasoning something that is such an "irresponsible use of energy" should not have been built at all especially since "a contracted inter mountain shuttle service that averages just 2 minutes longer than riding the lift" existed prior to the construction of the Slide Brook Express. Maybe it borders on negligence that something so "isolated difficult, and time consuming to evacuate should there be an emergency" is even being run at all. It would have been better left on the drawing board. A hopeful plan that one day Sugarbush and Sugarbush North would be connected..."The Myth of Sugarbush" certainly as far as any non-holiday non-weekend skier is concerned.