Save the Whale

[urungus]

Support Whaleback Mountain — Whaleback Mountain

Non-profit 501(c)(3) organization who provides affordable and accessible skiing and snowboarding for everyone. Get involved today with a one-time or recurring tax-deductible personal donation or join our corporate partner giving program.

www.whaleback.com

Support Whaleback Mountain — Whaleback Mountain

Non-profit 501(c)(3) organization who provides affordable and accessible skiing and snowboarding for everyone. Get involved today with a one-time or recurring tax-deductible personal donation or join our corporate partner giving program.

www.whaleback.com

 

[drjeff]

My wife GROSSLY overpaid for a lift ticket at the Whale a few weeks ago during our college aged daughters ski race, plus had a few drinks in their bar over the course of the day! My family did its part out to help a small, locals vibe, really cool and funky layout ski area!

You in with me?

 

[Keelhauled]

Does anyone have a link to the current "strategic vision"? The one on their website is for 22-25 and is light on strategy.

They have just got to treat that lift as an existential threat to the whole endeavor. The board should have, years ago now, hired someone with experience in nonprofit fundraising whose sole job would be to direct a capital campaign to raise the money to replace it. This fucking about with begging money for after the fact fixes and punting the problem down the road is ridiculous and just makes the whole place less credible every year when it comes to trying to convince high net worth donors to give money to the current management.

 

[flakeydog]

I say help these guys out. I have spent a lot of time there over the last 4 years watching ski races and we bought a ticket every time without fail. I am happy to give these guys my $50. They have stepped up many times when others would not (cough...Dartmouth...cough cough). So they allocate their limited snowmaking resources on the trail where they race (you can ski on 6 inches of snow but you can't set gates in that). Whaleback's mission is to connect people to snow. Their relentless dedication to kids programs, race programs, learn to ski, community involvement and scholarships/aid creates new skiers passionate about the sport. Yes, this place will likely wallow in "non-profit mediocrity forever" and the management there will always be "complicated". If you go there, set appropriate expectations and observe what goes on there. Take a step back and think less about what they provide to you and more about what they do for the community and the sport.

 

[doublediamond]

So what's the problem with the snowmaking? Do they need more water? Air? Doesn't leak like a sieve? Too low elevation? Or are they just unwilling to go for it when they need to?

 

[Newpylong]

They have no one there currently who knows how to make snow, and since the system is undersized to being with it makes it that much worse. If I was still there all snowmaking terrain would have been open by the second week of January and wouldn't have needed to run more hours than they did. It's all about how efficiently you use the system.

They only had 1.5 routes off the summit and part of the T-Bar open, in probably the season with the most prime snowmaking hours ever in January.