1991 Magical Mystery Tour: Resort News that Wuz

[billski]

Helplessly wishing it was 1991 again....

Marketing ideas that seem to have fizzled:
"Deals that reduce the cost of the full-day lift ticket are spreading across the country. Stowe, Vt., sells a $99 book of 12 coupons each redeemable for a 50 percent reduction on the $39 any-day ticket. A pay-per-ride lift ticket book at Bromley, Vt., contains 40 coupons for use on lifts at the rate of one to five coupons, depending on the lift ridden. The book costs $50, and $32 for juniors aged 7 to 14, compared with daily ticket prices of $36 and $23 on weekends and holidays and $24 and $13 midweek. ("

Waterville:"One reason is the midweek frequent-skier card that gradually reduces the lift ticket prices from $30 a day, and $26 for people over age 55, to $14 after the sixth visit."

Whiteface: "Prices for lifts are $32, $20 for juniors 12 and under on weekends and holidays, and $28 and $17 during midweek periods."

LONG TIME COMING
"The ski area at Loon, N.H., the United Ski Industries Association reports, has spent over $1 million on studies but to date has failed to receive final approval to expand onto the adjacent South Mountain."

De je vu all over again:
Whiteface: "In total there are 65 trails on 150 acres of terrain"

Mount Snow: "ticket holders can now ski Haystack Mountain, three miles away. Mount Snow took over operation of the financially troubled Haystack this fall."

Sugarbush: "A Sugarbush day ticket costs $35 midweek, $38 on weekends and holidays. A five-day midweek pass costs $145 and includes Sunday afternoon skiing and one day's use of the Sugarbush Sports Center."

source: New York Times, November 17, 1991

 

[2knees]

damn that south mtn thing at loon started way back then?

sure took them a long long time to get anything going over there. wasnt last year the first year?

 

[bvibert]

damn that south mtn thing at loon started way back then?

sure took them a long long time to get anything going over there. wasnt last year the first year?

Yes

 

[billski]

In 1985:

"The price of taking to the slopes has increased to $28 a day at Stowe, Killington, Sugarbush, and Smuggler's Notch from $26 last winter, but ski operators say only 12 percent of skiers purchase a one-day lift ticket.

Special packages offered by most areas cut costs. A two-day pass is $50 at Stowe, $52 at Sugarbush and $48 at Killington. Five-day tickets run from $110 at Killington and Stowe to $125 at Sugarbush. On weekends, Mad River Glen offers a $22 all0day pass, reduced to $19 for a half-day. An all-day pass at Burke (802-626-3305) is $17 on weekdays and $20 on weekends. Discounted packages are also available for ski lessons and rentals."

 

[thetrailboss]

damn that south mtn thing at loon started way back then?

sure took them a long long time to get anything going over there. wasnt last year the first year?

Yes. As has been said in here, Loon actually cut the trails in the mid-1990's without a WMNF permit, and got into trouble...so the construction was put on hold until last season.

 

[Telemechanic]

Yes. As has been said in here, Loon actually cut the trails in the mid-1990's without a WMNF permit, and got into trouble...so the construction was put on hold until last season.

Not exactly. A permit was in place in 1996 when Cruiser, Ripsaw and part of the lift line were cut. Doppelmayr built a lift for the Lincoln Express that was to be installed in '97 but someone successfully challenged the USFS's environmental impact study (EIS) for the permits so the project was put on hold, the trails were closed and the lift went somewhere else (I don't know where).

More Information

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1991..was I first got into skiing..I did ski once during the 80s..

 

[andrec10]

Started skiing in 1972 when I was 6 at Dutchess at Mt. Beacon NY. You cant even see the old trails anymore...

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Weren't cap skis a big deal in the early 90s???

 

[andrec10]

They sure were. I still have a pair of Elan MBX's 207cm in the garage. They were all the rage as they were the first cap ski. Now back on sidewall ski's.

 

[Mapnut]

1968 was a good year, as described in my very first issue of Ski Magazine. All the following is from a section called "SKI Reports". Considering what follows, the first quote seems very odd.

" . . But this year is more trot than dash to finish construction before the first snow falls. The main reason is, simply, there isn't much going on . . . Ski Park City West, a new Utah ski area just 22 miles east of Salt Lake City, will debut with three double chairlifts, a day lodge and administration building and inn. Future plans call for a tram, more chairlifts and villages accessible only by lifts and located on ridges on the mountain. [now The Canyons] . . . Squaw Valley, Calif., has perhaps the biggest expansion of any ski area this year. The area is building a 7,600-foot cable car with a 120-passenger cabin, the largest cabin in the world, plus three more chairlifts, giving Squaw Valley a total of 20 chairlifts.

THE EAST

"What will be virtually a third ski area at Stowe, Vt, will come into being with completion of the new "Chin" lift, a gondola running up to the right of the present Mt. Mansfield trail network and connecting with it. Like Stowe's Spruce Peak area across the road, the Chin Lift will have its own restaurants at the top and bottom. [Did Spruce Peak ever have a restaurant at the top?] The gondola is 7,000 feet long with 2,250 feet of vertical, and opens up plenty of new intermediate terrain on the mountain . . . something it has long needed.

"The highlight of a multi-million dollar development announced late last season by Killington is a three-and-a-half-mile, four-passenger gondola which will open up the Skye Peak terrain. The first two of three stages are under construction with a base station near Route 4 in W. Bridgewater. A new trail system, the first for the Killington East development, will initially consist of eight trails connected to the existing Killington complex. . . . A tapering off of Mittersill's chalet-style development at Franconia, NH may be in sight, following construction of a veritable ski-area skyscraper - a five-story version of Mittersill Inn. The structure will have 55 rooms and dining facilities for 250.

OTHER RESORT NOTES

"Loon Mountain, NH, has installed a 3,690-foot double chairlift which opens up 22 acres of advanced and expert terrain [East Basin] . . . Squaw Mountain, Maine has a 6,000-foot double chairlift . . . and Stratton, Vt., a double chair and 60 acres of slopes."

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

The gondola at Stowe is definitely not 2250 vert..back then people didn't have Avocet watches and GPS's..lol