Last I saw, they paid it all off.
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Magic Mountain ...
- Thread starter polski
- Start date
Last I saw, they paid it all off.
riverc0il
New member
Just out of curiosity, what gave you the impression that Magic has so little vertical? I only ask because Magic seems to suffer from misconceptions so I thought it might be interesting to hear about what is causing those misconceptions. Not only does Magic have a lot of vertical, but it makes better use of that vertical than any other mountain under 2k in New England.
billski
Active member
Magic doesn't do as much in-your-face PR as Sunapee and the Ski93 crowd,and the other So. Vt'ers do. I suspect that perception is that if an area is not in your face all the time, it must be small. I know that every time I speak with most people around here about Magic, I even have to describe what state it's in! I think Burke and Saddleback have also suffered from a similar misconception.
riverc0il
New member
Burke and Saddleback both have statistics showing 2k vert. I think the 2k vert stat is a perception barrier which is why many resorts stretch the truth a bit.... such as Burke even at just 2000' even but you'd have to ski from the summit down to the lower lodge to get all of it. Another funny example is Jay calling their Summit Haus elevation 4000' when it isn't even close :lol: The 2k vert and 4k elevation stats I think have perceptive value. Though that is my hypothesis and I would be interested in hearing confirmation if I am right on that issue.
4aprice
Well-known member
I think a lot of peoples perspective is that Magic is run down. Many people enjoy that and hope it stays that way, (I put a place like Plattekill in the same category) but from a resort standpoint it's way behind its neighbors. When I was growing up that area was known as the Golden Triangle and Magic was a key player. It just never seemed to keep up with Stratton and Bromley. It seems like it should have because I stayed at one of the Inns on the access road back in the late 70's and that was pretty nice layout for a resort. Problem is it never exited the 70's.
From the skiing prespective its a great mountain. Nice drops and glades all over the place. Great if the snow is great. It is lower in elevation then the other two and that has probably taken a toll on the ski area in some of the leaner snow years
Also I admit that I haven't been there in years but I believe they have taken away some lifts (including possibly the beginner chair) and that can't help with attendance. It's hard to survive on just the hard core skier/rider cause there's just not enough of them.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
From the skiing prespective its a great mountain. Nice drops and glades all over the place. Great if the snow is great. It is lower in elevation then the other two and that has probably taken a toll on the ski area in some of the leaner snow years
Also I admit that I haven't been there in years but I believe they have taken away some lifts (including possibly the beginner chair) and that can't help with attendance. It's hard to survive on just the hard core skier/rider cause there's just not enough of them.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
My perception was that it would be a "small" mountain. It cost less and didn't get the talk the "larger" mountains did. I had only been there once before this season and long ago and only remember being terrified as I followed my expert skiing husband down the trails. All these years I attributed that to being newly back into skiing. This year when we pulled into the parking lot I was immediately in awe of the "little" mountain. So I think its the talk of it being "little" that gives the perception it will not be steep.
Oh, and this year I kept right up with my husband. At least until I clipped a tree and broke my finger. : ) We bought tickets in the ski club sale and are looking forward to skiing it again this season.
riverc0il
New member
The great thing about Magic is you don't need to keep up with expect skiers to ski there! It has some of the best cruising around. Trails with some character, twists & turns, empty slopes, and good conditions all day. You can find fresh untouched corduroy on groomed slopes well after noon time during the week.
4aprice ticks off the usual hits and lack of beginner lift and snow making are of course the biggest offenses. But that isn't what I was going for by asking my question. Those are hard facts that justify keep certain people away. I was more wondering about misconceptions... such as the size issue.
This was especially true the last two times I skied there. They were running laps around the mountain with the groomer pretty much all day. It wasn't hard to find fresh cord, even if you weren't looking for it!
St. Bear
New member
I'm not sure what put that impression in my head. Maybe it's a marketing thing, but as mentioned earlier, Burke does little to no marketing as well, and I don't have the same "small" misconception. Maybe it's the troubles it's having, so I automatically assume it's a smaller hill.
It's probably because it's smaller in total size than the nearby resorts of Stratton and Mt. Snow, so it's commonly referred to in a diminutive manner and I assume it has a smaller vertical.
Burke anticipated Riv's comments, and a couple years ago "found" 11 more vertical feet. Not sure where it was hiding... :wink: Now it is 2,011 vert. But you're right...the only time you could ski the entire vert was to ski top to bottom, which isn't really practical. The 1,600 or so off the summit is fine...in fact even though most areas can have more than 2,000 vert, I've noticed that the vert for most "single lift/trail pods" seems to be the 1,500-1,600 vert range.
As for Jay, you're right. The summit, IIRC, is 3850 or something like that...so I don't know where the other 150 feet came from :lol:
riverc0il
New member
These are good points. While the bigger resorts have corporations that go bankrupt or buy and sell each other's mountains, I don't think any mountain over 2k vertical has ever been as much on the fence as Magic (well, Burke did have a significant amount of different owners compared to most other areas).
4aprice
Well-known member
I think the lower summit elevation makes it seem smaller. I thinks stats put it at about 2700 ft. Stratton, Bromley and Mt Snow all have summits over 3000 ft.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
That's exactly why I don't like that statistic. It can be very mis-leading. A lot of times you have to ski it to know because there's certainly instances where hills with "smaller" vertical ski bigger than those with "larger" vertical. Sunday River comes to mind…It claims 2300 ft. of vert but doesn't ski anywhere close to that... I would agree that most all mountains (in the East) that are 2k or greater in vertical have single lifts/trails in the 1500-1600 vert range. The only exception I can think of is the Sugarloaf Superquad which is about 1800ft of real vertical.
Yes, Sugarloaf is legit--SuperQuad serves up 1,800 vert. Other single lift huge verts that come to mind include:
-Trams at Cannon and Jay
-Gondis at Stratton and Stowe
-Forerunner at Stowe (assuming it isn't broken down :roll: )
-GMX @ SB
-MRG's single chair
I'm not counting Killington's Skyeship because it is so fllllllllaaaaaattttt to get down to Route 4.
St. Bear
New member
Wildcat's summit quad services the mountain's entire 2,000 ft vert.
Yessir, that is another one!
Wildcat Quad
and though I have not skied there, Gondola at Whiteface.
and though I have not skied there, Gondola at Whiteface.
bobbutts
New member
Lifts in NH by vertical drop. (may be incomplete or slightly inaccurate)
Wildcat Express - 2062'
Cannon Aerial Tram - 2,022'
Waterville Valley White Peak chair- 1912'
Attitash Summit Triple - 1750'
Loon Gondola - 1700'
Wildcat Express - 2062'
Cannon Aerial Tram - 2,022'
Waterville Valley White Peak chair- 1912'
Attitash Summit Triple - 1750'
Loon Gondola - 1700'
That's right...I forgot about Wildcat. That does ski big.
Tin Woodsman
Well-known member
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Though I'm a SB homer, I'd say that Stowe takes the cake in all of the Northeast for that. The quad and ganjala both offer up a legit 2000' vert with the double not too far behind at 1700'. I'm not sure any other mountain can match that, though perhaps WF comes close with the gondi, Face Lift, and Summit or Lookout. SB isn't too shabby with GMX, NRX, and C-Rock checking in at 1800', 1500' and 1700' respectively, but Stowe is in a different league.
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