The "Sugarbush Thread"

[thetrailboss]

I agree completely and will go further to say that this is understating it. I have a close friend who lives in Telluride who tells me horror stories about the owner of the mountain and how he's constantly battling with the town of Telluride, the mountain staff, even his own family.

Yeah, the Telluride owner is a piece of work. The strike educated me about him.

 

[Tonyr]

Yeah, the Telluride owner is a piece of work. The strike educated me about him.

I have a friend who has to deal with him as well. Piece of work is an understatement.

 

[fulgoreXC]

I agree Hawk. I started looking through my pictures and saw a bunch of years where they were blowing in early Feb. It will not be a good look if they don't hit 100% of their snowmaking trails in a year where you had better snowmaking weather than usual. It is as simple as that.

And yes, Win set the perfect example of the right amount of communication. And the crazy thing...it doesn't cost them a penny to properly communicate. So no one can say this has anything to do with budget challenges from Alterra.

I was glad to ride the lift with Win last week as it was good to catch up with him a bit. I also always enjoyed our conversations over the years.

Snowmaking into February... This is a great example of communication skill or lack thereof and how imprecise messages can cause confusion.

Regarding February snowmaking. Nearly every year in recent memory snowmaking at Sugarbush went into early February. But not any later than the first week with the exception of 2018. This has to do with the billing cycle from GMP. The billing cycle or “meter read” happens on the 3rd business day of each month. Sometimes SB would ask to flex that a few days later to allow wrapping up the work for the year. Going beyond the meter read could result in massive electricity costs. SB is not billed the same way as typical homeowners. Not only are they charged for the kilowatt hours used there is also demand charges. Demand charges are approximately $5/kilowatt up to $16/kilowatt depending on peak or off-peak timing of the max demand. When the system is maxed out they are drawing more than 7 megawatts. Think of this charge as a one time penalty. GMP looks at the entire month and assesses the demand charge based on the maximum draw for the entire billing cycle. For a single month that demand charge could be in excess of $100,000. So if they decide to make snow after the meter read in February it could mean an extra $100,000. For perspective during the months of snowmaking the electric bill exceeds $250,000 each month. That drops dramatically once the pumps and compressors are shutdown for the season. At over $60k per week labor costs are another factor in trying to wrap up snowmaking by the end of January.

So yes, there’s no doubt you have photos of snowmaking in February. I do to. It was my imprecise words and poor communication skills that caused this confusion. My apologies.

In other news skied Stowe today at a corporate ski day. After 22k vertical feet I can tell you, 4” skied like 8” but the snowmaking trails were still sheets of ice. On the refreshing side of things there were water coolers everywhere and the lifts did not stop anytime I was on them.

 

[solar]

Listed as "closed" and mechanics on site. Anyone know what's wrong with Super Bravo today?

 

[eastcoastpow]

Probably iceing on the lines.

 

[MrGlen]

Looks like some spacing issues as the chairs detached at the bottom. Saw they ran the lift in reverse for a bit.

 

[eastcoastpow]

Saw they had Bravo running but it never opened today. Hope they can get the issue fixed for tomorrow.

 

[vtboarder]

Did not always agree with Win but could never say he did not communicate and even try to explain why he took the position that he did. This is not just an Altera/big business thing, even little businesses can be quite poor at communicating and overly defensive when they do. Those in charge either get that good communication is value added, even when giving bad news, or they do not. Sadly, most do not.

 

[MrGlen]

Snowmaking into February... This is a great example of communication skill or lack thereof and how imprecise messages can cause confusion.

Regarding February snowmaking. Nearly every year in recent memory snowmaking at Sugarbush went into early February. But not any later than the first week with the exception of 2018. This has to do with the billing cycle from GMP. The billing cycle or “meter read” happens on the 3rd business day of each month. Sometimes SB would ask to flex that a few days later to allow wrapping up the work for the year. Going beyond the meter read could result in massive electricity costs. SB is not billed the same way as typical homeowners. Not only are they charged for the kilowatt hours used there is also demand charges. Demand charges are approximately $5/kilowatt up to $16/kilowatt depending on peak or off-peak timing of the max demand. When the system is maxed out they are drawing more than 7 megawatts. Think of this charge as a one time penalty. GMP looks at the entire month and assesses the demand charge based on the maximum draw for the entire billing cycle. For a single month that demand charge could be in excess of $100,000. So if they decide to make snow after the meter read in February it could mean an extra $100,000. For perspective during the months of snowmaking the electric bill exceeds $250,000 each month. That drops dramatically once the pumps and compressors are shutdown for the season. At over $60k per week labor costs are another factor in trying to wrap up snowmaking by the end of January.

So yes, there’s no doubt you have photos of snowmaking in February. I do to. It was my imprecise words and poor communication skills that caused this confusion. My apologies.

In other news skied Stowe today at a corporate ski day. After 22k vertical feet I can tell you, 4” skied like 8” but the snowmaking trails were still sheets of ice. On the refreshing side of things there were water coolers everywhere and the lifts did not stop anytime I was on them.

Great post! Any other pieces of the snowmaking operations you can give us a deep dive on?

 

[teleo]

In another example of way too little communication. They have a huge tv set up in Rumbles. Asked customer service if they are showing the football games and the person said of course. I said i saw no mention of it on the web site, you'd think they would mention it. She said they usually don't say anything and just do it.

In what world of comminications does this make any sense?

 

[mikec142]

In another example of way too little communication. They have a huge tv set up in Rumbles. Asked customer service if they are showing the football games and the person said of course. I said i saw no mention of it on the web site, you'd think they would mention it. She said they usually don't say anything and just do it.

In what world of comminications does this make any sense?

Wow. Let's have an event, but not publicize it. So dumb.

The counter argument would be that they advertise the live music and tree burnings and other events. My response would be why pick and choose?

Was discussing this with friends the other day, there is so precious little to do Apres Ski at SB. What time do CR Pub and Wunderbar stop serving? Is there anyplace at Mount Ellen that stays open after the lifts close?

 

[1dog]

Wow. Let's have an event, but not publicize it. So dumb.

The counter argument would be that they advertise the live music and tree burnings and other events. My response would be why pick and choose?

Was discussing this with friends the other day, there is so precious little to do Apres Ski at SB. What time do CR Pub and Wunderbar stop serving? Is there anyplace at Mount Ellen that stays open after the lifts close?

Upstairs bar is only real ski bar experience in my view- I'm bias on a bar w a vibe and get this- windows to the slopes! What a concept.

 

[mikec142]

Upstairs bar is only real ski bar experience in my view- I'm bias on a bar w a vibe and get this- windows to the slopes! What a concept.

I haven't really spent much time at Wunderbar. I agree that view of the mountain are great but the best Apres bar I've been to is the Mangy Moose at Jackson Hole and there really isn't much of a view. But the vibe is off the charts.

Thing about Wunderbar is you have to walk up and down the slope to get there unless you're still geared up. That's far from ideal, especially if you've had a few and it's icy. But the real thing is what time it shuts down and after it shuts, there's no where to go other than Rumbles (which closes when?)

 

[mikec142]

Super happy for Sugarbush and all here considering the snow coming. I of course pulled a hamstring shoveling and now have an ortho appt tomorrow. Hoping it's mild, but it doesn't feel that way right now.

 

[vtboarder]

About 6 give or take on the driveway, 1600'

 

[fulgoreXC]

4" @ 9 last night another 6" on my snow stake for 10 so far, 760'. That tracks with Allyn's snow stake at 630 this morning. I'm a bit jealous of the skinners coming down SF. Early bird get's the POW

 

[Lotso]

Still snowing in the Valley. Tomorrow will be a keeper as well...

MRG packed as it should be. Love it.

 

[cdskier]

Snowmaking will be firing back up tonight on Downspout, Coffee Run, and Lower Jester, because you can never have too much snow, right?

Meanwhile they still have not touched Sunrise lol. Really becoming comical at this point.

PS...heard from my cousin who is up there this week that today was fantastic. And he was at MRG yesterday and said it was great as well while the snow was starting to come down.

 

[fulgoreXC]

Meanwhile they still have not touched Sunrise lol. Really becoming comical at this point.

PS...heard from my cousin who is up there this week that today was fantastic. And he was at MRG yesterday and said it was great as well while the snow was starting to come down.

Can confirm. Today Ellen skied great. The middle mountain was a bit better than the upper trails but all in all one for the books. Tomorrow should be good too. Still sprinkling fluff. What we could use is a moderate wind to blow the snow off the trees to fill in the woods more. Although they skied great just as they were today.

I didn’t go over to Lincoln but imagine conditions were also good. When I checked the cams the lift lines were longer than I wanted. And Slidey-B wasn’t spinning. So called it a day instead of driving over.

 

[Hawk]

Yes everybody today reported back that things have finally gone to mid winter. I had to bail unfortunately but soon enough I won't. These guys building base on those trails. Maybe they are listening. LOL

Blew snow at my house today for 3 hours. 20" plus with drifts 5 feet. XC night tomorrow and Wednesday. They back for some more fun and games.