Worst ski area website

[polski]

Sorry if this has been done before but search yielded no thread dedicated to this topic, and it's a moving target in any event as websites often are redesigned.

It requires careful attention to numerous details to create a truly abominable ski area website. These are among the key criteria in my book:

• First and foremost, do not under any circumstances post mountain status reports in anything approaching a timely way
• It's also helpful if you do not make clear when you will open for the season. Give a "projected" opening date, then let that date come and go without posting an update on whether you actually did open, if you remain open, and if not, when you might (re)open.
• Be similarly opaque in reporting open terrain
• Make all remotely useful information as difficult to find as possible. For example, put key links at the bottom of the homepage, not the top. And don't post a current snow report or even a tease of same on your home page when you could require at least three or four clicks to get there.
• Ugly graphical design helps, but I'm a function-over-form guy, myself. In fact, I'd give you bonus points in the "worst" competition if you have a site that as visually beautiful and functionally useless.

So with these guidelines in mind, my nomination for Worst Ski Area Website 2009-10 is ... drum roll please ... Ski Bradford (which at this writing has a projected opening date of Dec. 13). What's yours?

 

[billski]

I'm gonna stay out of this one, 'cept to say, the smaller the area, the more primitive the web site, the less likely you are to get up to date conditions. Where do you want to put your money? Hiring full time webmasters which will require jacking the ticket price? As long as someone will answer the phone and give me the skinny, I'm OK with a primitive web site.

 

[millerm277]

Welcome to Sno Mtn. http://snomtn.com/ Conditions are typically updated weeks late.

(Note: This site IS getting fixed soon though, I believe.)

 

[Geoff]

http://www.skibrokeback.com/

 

[polski]

I'm gonna stay out of this one, 'cept to say, the smaller the area, the more primitive the web site, the less likely you are to get up to date conditions. Where do you want to put your money? Hiring full time webmasters which will require jacking the ticket price? As long as someone will answer the phone and give me the skinny, I'm OK with a primitive web site.

First I should note I ski at Bradford a pretty good number of times over a typical season as it's my local hill, and I applaud how much they do with what they've got. I don't mean to pick on them. There are some bigger areas out there with functionally crappy sites too - Ragged's for instance, to name another place I really like.

It certainly doesn't require a f/t webmaster to post simple timely updates. It simply requires whoever is responsible for snow reporting to pay a little attention to the website - it literally can take no more than a few minutes. This would mean a net reduction in effort on the ski area's end (fewer phone calls to take) and possibly additional business (from people who make decisions by browsing the web and not picking up the phone).

 

[Johnskiismore]

Ragged Mountain's website is hardly ever updated in a timely manner!

 

[polski]

Welcome to Sno Mtn. http://snomtn.com/

Gotta love the umlaut. Snö Mountain. I'm saying it out loud with the German pronunciation, the kind that hurts your chin to say it. There really is no good English transliteration but I'm amusing myself anyway

 

[neil]

www.yawgoo.com

Hands down, absolutely terrible.

 

[snoseek]

remember skiing Bradford as a kid so I have to wonder why in the hell They charge over triple the price I paid for my pass, Yawgoo was double the price! Really? Am I missing something here?

Oh and the Yawgoo site was pretty bad. The only way to even inquire about Season pass price was to download the pass form pdf. funny.



http://www.skimonarch.com/

I love this hill but the website loads insanely slow. It actually took me several visits before I realized I was not letting the page load up all the way. There is no skip intro feature afaik.

 

[andyzee]

Don't forget good ole Woody: http://www.woodburyskiarea.com/winter/

 

[jaywbigred]

Its not the worst, but I'm not a fan of the new Mount Snow site. Its a regression imo.

 

[polski]

Don't forget good ole Woody: http://www.woodburyskiarea.com/winter/

The "First Ski Area Open In the East!" announcement on the home page makes this a formidable contender indeed, given that it's from 2006/07. Also nice that there's no date on the conditions report, so you don't know if it's current or from, say, 2006/07.

But back to Bill's point, I guess this "contest" is biased against little hills. I suppose I could turn this around and ask which small hills have really good websites. Nashoba's looks sharp and has updated info.

Or, for that matter, which big area has the best site. I like to see an up-to-date snow/conditions report right on the homepage, for one thing.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

For the big boys ski resort I will go with Killington, it is blinding.

 

[andyzee]

The "First Ski Area Open In the East!" announcement on the home page makes this a formidable contender indeed, given that it's from 2006/07. Also nice that there's no date on the conditions report, so you don't know if it's current or from, say, 2006/07.

But back to Bill's point, I guess this "contest" is biased against little hills. I suppose I could turn this around and ask which small hills have really good websites. Nashoba's looks sharp and has updated info.

Or, for that matter, which big area has the best site. I like to see an up-to-date snow/conditions report right on the homepage, for one thing.

And a million dollars worth of upgrades: http://www.woodburyskiarea.com/winter/press/woodbury20092010 3.htm

 

[severine]

Don't forget good ole Woody: http://www.woodburyskiarea.com/winter/

Their site hurts my eyes. Though they do have a webcam that updates screen shots every 1 minute, supposedly.

http://www.woodburyskiarea.com/webcam/webcam1.html

 

[severine]

And a million dollars worth of upgrades: http://www.woodburyskiarea.com/winter/press/woodbury20092010 3.htm

They need someone to help with their grammar:

Woodbury has spend the entire summer working on over one million dollars worth of upgrades to the area. Come check us out!