The 2006 AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge: SUGARLOAF USA

[thetrailboss]

Bill Swain, the Communications Manager for Sugarloaf USA has agreed to take the 2006 Alpine Zone Challenge!!! This is your opportunity to ask questions, offer suggestions, or say some praise to the men and women who are in charge of the Northeast’s Ski Areas. Please post some suggested questions in this thread and we'll select ten to present for official responses.

Also please don't be offended if we edit/change your question for grammar, tone, or some other minor thing. In order to get in all of the questions we MAY merge some questions but we'll do our best to keep the substance of your question. If we don't get your question in, feel free to post a follow up after we get the results...we are encouraging the representatives follow the threads. :wink:

As always, please be respectful of Bill and keep it civil. Also, please refrain from asking specifics about skier visit numbers, financials, demographic information, etc. Sugarloaf needs to be discrete about certain information.

We are honored to have Bill for the THIRD year in a row! :beer: Please take advantage of this special opportunity!

Ask away!

Sugarloaf’s Profile
Sugarloaf’s 2004 Responses.
Sugarloaf’s 2005 Responses.

 

[Greg]

Paging loafer89...

 

[thetrailboss]

Bill, great to have you on board again. I have never been to Sugarloaf and was wondering what I can expect on my visit(s) this season? What is new? What advice do you have for a first time visitor (expert skier)? I will have an ASC Student Pass, so how can I stay overnight if on a budget?

Thanks.

 

[Vortex]

Kind of a repeat, but last years Reggae was blast with Friday having snow all day. It was wild to have it rain everywhere but on the hill. You mentioned last year that the Friday before thankxgiving was the planned opening day and the last weekend in April was planned closing day. Last year the ASC resorts all closed earlier than usual.

Sunday River and Sugarloaf still had a decent amount of snow IMO to keep going. The facts behind the decision last year are fairly clear.
Are we to looking forward to a later April closing again or is there a policy change? . Thankx for your participation in the challenge again. Ow ya I love the Loaf and have been making plans for a return.

 

[Terry]

There were problems with the Superquad being out of commision, or being extremely slow last year. Are the problems with this lift all ironed out? I heard some grumbling on another website that it was due to lack of maintenance. Any truth to that? I really enjoy skiing up there so keep up the good work!

 

[loafer89]

1)I skied at Sugarloaf on Easter Weekend 2006 and while I was pleased with the ski conditions for the most part, I was less than pleased with the amount of lifts that were opened. My son is a low intermediate skier and not a single lower mountain lift was operating for Easter Weekend except for the Superquad.

We skied at your competitor (Saddleback) on the saturday before Easter Sunday (in the rain) and ALL of their lifts where operating, including the lower mountain areas. Please explain why this is? I am a long time Sugarloafer (nearly 20 years) and travel better than 400 miles to ski the mountain, honestly this ruffled my feathers a bit.

2) Please explain the new trail that we see/read is being cut on the lower mountain. What is its name, length and degree of difficulty.

 

[thetrailboss]

Wow...no more questions????

 

[MikeTrainor]

It seems alot of the lifts are aging any plans for replacements or upgrades? Will we ever see a base to summit lift again? My biggest complaint about Suarloaf it the amount of time it takes to get to the summit.

 

[awf170]

It seems alot of the lifts are aging any plans for replacements or upgrades? Will we ever see a base to summit lift again? My biggest complaint about Suarloaf it the amount of time it takes to get to the summit.

I'll answer this for you.

No.

a) ASC doesn't have enough money.

b) It is just way to windy. Any lift on the front side would be closed atleast 50% of the the time. The only way to make it work would to have it be really, really low and put up a bunch of wind fences and a mammoth chair 23 like top station. This would cost a lot of money and would also kill one of the trails on the frontside because it would be so low. Also I'm not too sure how you would get across the spillway X-cut with the low lift. Timberline sucks, but there really isn't any other way to do it when your mountain is the windiest ski area in the N.E.

 

[crystalmountainskier]

I'll answer this for you.

No.

a) ASC doesn't have enough money.

.

Not True! ASC is installing a High Speed Six Pack and fixed grip quad at the Canyons and a High Speed Quad at Steamboat, all this summer.

 

[thetrailboss]

Any more questions???

 

[loafer89]

1) I have heard that Bombardier uses the mountain as a testing/training ground for their equiptment. How long has this been going on and what benefits does it have for Sugarloaf?

2) What are the dates for next years childrens week?

 

[Angus]

hmmmm...

a) wow, i'll be a "sugarloafer" 25 years this season, can I be that old?

anyway, my questions

1) whenever I'm on the summit during the summer, I find it "distressing" the amount of garbage - broken glass, wire, radomes, wood, beer cans, etc - that litter the top. along with the old gondola station, it is a eye-sore. what can be done to solve this issue?

2) is the resort pursuing any marketing tie-ins (some may already exist that I'm unaware of) with Seth Wescott? Great spokesman - anyone who was at the appreciation day would have been amazed at his good-naturedness and how well the whole day worked out - good job on the resorts' part as well.

 

[shwilly]

1) I love the mountain, but the base lodge showed serious signs of neglect last year. The roof leaked (unfortunately relevant in a year with lots of unfrozen precip) and one infamous urinal didn't work for most of the season. Is the lodge getting the needed attention this offseason?

2) How many years do the Spillway chairs have left in them?

3) How's the new trail coming along? What sort of trail will it be?

4) What are the plans for Reggae this year?

 

[awf170]

1) I love the mountain, but the base lodge showed serious signs of neglect last year. The roof leaked (unfortunately relevant in a year with lots of unfrozen precip) and one infamous urinal didn't work for most of the season. Is the lodge getting the needed attention this offseason?

New urinal cakes for the urinals that work. :wink: Actually I think they are going to get the new urinals that don't use water or cakes to save money in the future. ;-)

2) How many years do the Spillway chairs have left in them?

I would guess a lot. How old are they anyway? They will probably find a way to delay replacing them.

3) How's the new trail coming along? What sort of trail will it be?

It will be a terrain park, and the stomping grounds(lower double bitter) will be a normal trail again. This actually great news because candyside has way to much traffic.

 

[Birdman829]

Just so you know Austin you don't necessarily have to come in here and stomp all over ASC when people are asking serious questions.

I can't think of any real questions to ask that haven't already been pondered. I just hope I'll be able to get up there a few times this year now that I'm in school. Maybe during spring break. I've been spoiled the last couple years having over 25 each year.

 

[awf170]

Just so you know Austin you don't necessarily have to come in here and stomp all over ASC when people are asking serious questions.

You don't hate ASC? I love Sugarloaf the mountain, but just absolutely hate how ASC is running it. They don't spend a dime on the place and it shows. I just love how Timberline and King Pine have there mystery midweek wind closures when it is perfectly calm.

 

[Birdman829]

I'm not a fan of ASC, and I'm willing to bet that I've spent a lot more time at the loaf than you have. I understand that ASC is all about the bottom line and only puts money into capital improvements at the Canyons. All I'm saying is that maybe this isn't necessarily the place to trash them. This thread was created so that the mods could pick questions to ask Sugarloaf, not for you to trash ASC. If you want to, make your own thread for ASC bashing and I'll gladly join in.

 

[thetrailboss]

You don't hate ASC? I love Sugarloaf the mountain, but just absolutely hate how ASC is running it. They don't spend a dime on the place and it shows. I just love how Timberline and King Pine have there mystery midweek wind closures when it is perfectly calm.

Austin--this thread is for the Sugarloaf AlpineZone Challenge. If you don't have any questions for that, please post somewhere else.

Now back to the questions.

 

[awf170]

Austin--this thread is for the Sugarloaf AlpineZone Challenge. If you don't have any questions for that, please post somewhere else.

I did answer two questions though. :razz: There will never be a summit lift on the frontside, just too windy, it wouldn't make sense. Also, I wasn't be sarcastic about the new trail, it is awesome that lower double bitter will be a trail again. They needed that. Also it will be cool to view the terrian park from the lift. I am interested in the spillway chairs, all kidding aside. Do I think anything will happen soon, no. But I do really wish something would. Lapping all the stuff off the spillway x-cut with a high speed lift would be pretty sweet.

If you want a bunch more questions go post this on the unofficial sugarloaf chat. They'll have a ton of question, but be warned they will probably rag on sugarloaf even worse then me.

Are there any plans to add bathrooms, or even a little snack stand at the summit gondi station?

Are any more glades or trails being cut this summer?

Is there any plan to expand to burnt hill anytime soon?

I heard rumors of hotel being built over at the base of west mountain. Why there? And would you plan on adding a HSQ or a new lift if you built a hotel over there?

Just a few random questions I though of. You can use them if you want.