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Black Mountain, NH OPEN AGAIN more alive than ever
- Thread starter eatskisleep
- Start date
LoafSkier19
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Lift Line is back to almost the platter lift. Ticket line out the door. Parking lot full. The people showed up! Music already going at the lodge, lift, and cabin!
jimk
Well-known member
Looks great! Go Black Go. I'm heading up to Snowbird shortly to do some shirtsleeve skiing myself.
Nice. How long has wildcat been shut now? I bet there's a ton of refugees
eatskisleep
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Nearly a month I think, pretty pathetic of Vail. Go Black!!
Newpylong
Well-known member
Opened T2B before any area in the MWV and stayed open past all of them. Sometimes it not about equipment but the people.
eatskisleep
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Well done! Thank you for your snowmaking. I hope Black realizes the impact the investment is making compared to all past seasons.
This.
thebigo
Well-known member
Hopefully other operators are paying attention and realize there is a market for late season in NH.
raisingarizona
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There might not be enough of a market to support more than one tor two though.
It obviously costs a lot of money to do. But the fact that Black pulled it off with largely low angle, south facing terrain shows you don't necessarily "need" the perfect trail slope and aspect to do it.
I always felt Cat should have just done Bobcat lift / trail as the last hurrah offering. Just blow that one trail deep. Go with Upper Catapult to Middle Wildcat to Bobcat for as long as you can off the quad, but finish off the season with just Bobcat vs trying to bury and farm snow for a complete TTB route from the summit. It would be enough to keep the diehards happy while saving money.
I always felt Cat should have just done Bobcat lift / trail as the last hurrah offering. Just blow that one trail deep. Go with Upper Catapult to Middle Wildcat to Bobcat for as long as you can off the quad, but finish off the season with just Bobcat vs trying to bury and farm snow for a complete TTB route from the summit. It would be enough to keep the diehards happy while saving money.
I had the same conversation with my brother in the last week. Bobcat was the perfect setup back when they had a terrain park on it maybe 10-20 years ago now.
Really the only negative about Bobcat is the base of the lift would require a longish walk in probably mud from the lodge. Otherwise, it would work well. Run a beer garden out of the ski club house.
sull1102
Active member
I always feel like Loon is actually a sneaky great Spring mountain, North Peak usually holds out until the very end, run the Gondi and the NP Quad and you’ve got a ton of terrain open. For some reason I’ve always had amazing luck in early April with some unreal sunny spring days with almost no crowds.
There are lots of great two lift options that can go deep. Cannon, Loon, Sugarbush all come to mind.
But, I think the key is to limit expenses as much as possible. That means one lift, limited Ski Patrol, a decent trail that's not super long that can be buried deep.
Hopefully what Black has done opens some eyes. If they can make May, a place like Cat should be able to do it easily on Bobcat.
It's just tough to justify sometimes. This spring has rather sucked for weather. It's rained almost every weekend.
But, I think the key is to limit expenses as much as possible. That means one lift, limited Ski Patrol, a decent trail that's not super long that can be buried deep.
Hopefully what Black has done opens some eyes. If they can make May, a place like Cat should be able to do it easily on Bobcat.
It's just tough to justify sometimes. This spring has rather sucked for weather. It's rained almost every weekend.
machski
Well-known member
Of the three you list for two lift late ops, I wouldn't put Loon in that group. Sugarbush and Cannon both offer a way to access the upper mountain lift and easily download if desired for elevation advantage. Loon doesn't have that ability, unless we are talking using the East Basin Double and not North Peak Express in that mix.
thebigo
Well-known member
Black has shown there is still sufficient demand for one NH area to open first weekend in May, question is whether Black is one and done or this is an annual effort.
nobody is going to download in the spring. Spring operations need to be one lift operating out of a base area with the ability to sell food and booze on a patio. pushing out a park would be ideal but parks tend to be low angle with insufficient pitch for any decent spring skiing. Cannon is not set up for it, the vail resorts are out, loon would need to be on the Kanc side but they like to shut that side down early to prep for MB season. Maybe waterville? Gunstock may actually be a good fit with the bar at the bottom of ramrod but they have never shown any willingness to go late.
nobody is going to download in the spring. Spring operations need to be one lift operating out of a base area with the ability to sell food and booze on a patio. pushing out a park would be ideal but parks tend to be low angle with insufficient pitch for any decent spring skiing. Cannon is not set up for it, the vail resorts are out, loon would need to be on the Kanc side but they like to shut that side down early to prep for MB season. Maybe waterville? Gunstock may actually be a good fit with the bar at the bottom of ramrod but they have never shown any willingness to go late.
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Cannon could run the tram once per hour to transport, have a top lodge and hold snow excellent up top.
Gumstock blows a ton but I doubt it holds up late into the season. Then again black somehow pulled it off.
Loon could work as well as.waterville
Wildcat is logistally simple but vail
Let's take a poll. How many of you went to Black this weekend? How many bought a ticket? Food or bev? Merch?