Are things grim at Sunday River (and other places)?

[deadheadskier]

In speaking with employees at Ragged, the numbers are up this year over last. Then again, their marketing expenditures have been up quite a bit as well. That said, it's not an area I'd call 'busy', so not an overall barometer for the general health of the industry in the Northeast.

 

[billski]

I'd be much more interest in how lodging is doing, both in terms of bookings, but also in terms of revenue/discounting. The SIA reports suggest that the pressure has been in lodging, shorter days stay, lesser priced accomodations, etc.

 

[Vortex]

I must use a different language than the the rest of the world! How could I have said it any clearer?

"I thought one of the reader's comments was quite provocative"

It looked to me that the comments were in the article. ie quotes from the article. I corrected my statement.

Credibility.... from a the Fex ex guy. Come on. I stand by that. I wonder what else he is an expert on?

 

[billski]

Credibility.... from a the Fex ex guy. Come on. I stand by that. I wonder what else he is an expert on?

Agreed. Those observations, while 10 miles away, were a distant view. It didn't sound like any of those comments came from anyone who had set foot on the slope, or for that matter, even the parking lot.

 

[Vortex]

Bill its not you, its the comments of a person who is frustrated.

If it came from a skier on the hill I would understand, but that would also just be an opinion on conditions. We all have opinions. I can ski our of my condo, a few complexes are at the edge of that. natural snow is low. Up on the hill its coverered pretty well. Commenting on why injuries have happened hit me hard. Serious injuries should be talked about with families not message boards and general blogs. I have some info on both of them, but I won't post them.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Doesn't take much effort to see that most of the northern NE resorts have 90%+ of their terrain open. Some of the natural trails with little grooming are abit dicey but look at the facts. Even MRG has 100% of their terrain open. Here in the MRV there has not been a 12"+ storm yet this season but there has been alot of small and frequent snow events. Right after the big rain event 3 weeks ago on Monday cold temps gave resorts all over the northeast a solid week to make snow. By the next weekend the skiing was good.

With awesome grooming the skiing has been good tho on-piste woods and slackcountry is mostly off the radar.

So far the current and mucho important holiday period has most resorts very busy, bookings solid for the whole week.

For trail/snow reports check out www.snocountry.com and there are plently of TR's from several ski forums that are overall pretty positive. Here at the Bush the skiing has been good with everyone hoping for one of those small snow events. 5" would be nice.

 

[puckoach]

Well, I just looked at lodging on Sunday for the week of St Patty's. SR and Okemo were not showing a ton of available rooms.

 

[tree_skier]

We already have knee deep for bobr here at sneaux today, about 4" new. and the place is busier then I expected (the tiered lots about half full, sundance full and the lower lots about half full).

The past sunday the condition were great, I even found some powder on some of my low angle stashes.

Magic on saturday was another story, son had a race there. Very limited open, but what was open was very good and really no natural untill close to the summit.

 

[drjeff]

Well, I just looked at lodging on Sunday for the week of St Patty's. SR and Okemo were not showing a ton of available rooms.

That Sunday won't book up, especially a month out since it's not a 3 day weekend for most folks. If it looks like in the immediate days leading upto St Paddy's day that a good snowstorm will hit, then you'll see a fair # of last minute bookings. Typically X-mas week, MLK weekend, and Pres Week (and maybe Turkey day weekend) will book up more than a month out at most resorts.

 

[Trekchick]

FWIW tree skiing is marginal in Michigan right now, moguls are ice berg bumps and groomers are skiing really fast.
Still, its not a terrible year in the grand scheme of ski seasons, other than my own life is a bit crazy which has my snow day count waaaaay down.

 

[Vortex]

We already have knee deep for bobr here at sneaux today, about 4" new. and the place is busier then I expected (the tiered lots about half full, sundance full and the lower lots about half full).

The past sunday the condition were great, I even found some powder on some of my low angle stashes.

Magic on saturday was another story, son had a race there. Very limited open, but what was open was very good and really no natural untill close to the summit.

Short guys rule on powder days.

 

[KingM]

Yeah, we're quite busy this week, too. I've seen busier, but it's busy enough. Also, guests are quite happy with conditions at Sugarbush and have been praising the weather for the last week.

It's important to keep in mind that conditions have a different appearance when viewed from AZ as from the typical skier who goes out 2-3 times a year. They love the groomed corduroy, the blue skies, and the moderate temps. 18 inches of powder would actually make the skiing harder and less fun for them and their kids, at least for the first couple of days.

 

[bigbog]

That's the urban non-skier's view...the typical gloom-and-doom Globe attitude everyone in the area knows so well = becomes a collective group-mind-thought. Great NewEngland pp/hardpack at Sugarloaf, and at other areas I'd suspect.

$.01

 

[billski]

That's the urban non-skier's view...the typical gloom-and-doom Globe attitude everyone in the area knows so well = becomes a collective group-mind-thought. Great NewEngland pp/hardpack at Sugarloaf, and at other areas I'd suspect.

$.01

To a point I'd agree. Not during school vacation week. We need their $ to keep our precious gems in biz

 

[bigbob]

Trip report: Today: Mother nature decided that since she did not bless SR with any snow, she would provide plenty of wind today. Anything west of North Peak was shut for most of the day but did re open till about 2 PM, so we got to ski on some mostly unskied terrain in the afternoon at Aurora.
Crowds were light till about 10 AM, about when lift closures began, then lines formed till about lunchtime. We rated the snow surface to be about an 8, edge able with soft snow, some firm/icy patches and a few rocks. Snow surface in places was thin, but wind scouring has been a problem this year. Temps were mild and lower mnt snow softened nicely till about 2 PM when it started to firm up at higher elevations.
Overall had a nice experience. Did notice ski patrol out manning slow zones, but was wondering why they all were holding bamboo poles, to spear the speeders??

 

[billski]

Trip report: Today: Mother nature decided that since she did not bless SR with any snow, she would provide plenty of wind today. Anything west of North Peak was shut for most of the day but did re open till about 2 PM, so we got to ski on some mostly unskied terrain in the afternoon at Aurora.
Crowds were light till about 10 AM, about when lift closures began, then lines formed till about lunchtime. We rated the snow surface to be about an 8, edge able with soft snow, some firm/icy patches and a few rocks. Snow surface in places was thin, but wind scouring has been a problem this year. Temps were mild and lower mnt snow softened nicely till about 2 PM when it started to firm up at higher elevations.
Overall had a nice experience. Did notice ski patrol out manning slow zones, but was wondering why they all were holding bamboo poles, to spear the speeders??

At blue it is reported they just taser them. More humane I suppose