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  1. O

    Belleayre Expansions?

    I like Belleayre, but there's no denying that those long green runouts are a drawback. I think that's unfixable. The slope of the mountain is what it is. They can't create steepness that doesn't exist. One can only hope that Highmount has a more normal trail system (i.e., blacks and blues that...
  2. O

    Sellaronda, March 31 to April 5, 2013

    Photos from the trip are here: http://www.flickr.com//photos/marcshepherdnyc/sets/72157633230873940/show/
  3. O

    Sellaronda, March 31 to April 5, 2013

    Last week, my son and I visited the Dolomiti Superski, a mega-sized ski area in Northern Italy. I thought that readers on this predominantly Northeast U.S.-based board might be interested in a trip report from Europe, especially if you've never skied there. This region in the north of Italy has...
  4. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    Sorry...what "camel's back" would that be? Would it be the same camel whose throat was slit, but who (miraculously) is still alive and well?
  5. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    @dmc and @BenedictGomez still haven't resolved the fundamental conflict. They don't want the state in the ski business—but that's written into the state constitution and can't easily be changed. Given that the state is by constitutional fiat in the ski business, they resent that it's actually...
  6. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    If a state-run ski area operated in the red, where do you think the money would come from to make up the shortfall? The state, of course.
  7. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    @BenedictGomez: Have you ever...like, been there? What part of "antiquated and under-sized lodges" or "odd trail and lift layout" do you disagree with?
  8. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    I don't find anything bogus about it at all. What you're suggesting is that they should deliberately run the business badly. In which case the other Catskill ski areas would complain that state resources are being used to make the state-run ski area more attractive, and steal business from...
  9. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    The decision that the state would be in the ski business is written into the Constitution. As I said upthread, I never would have voted for that, but it's not (realistically) changeable now. Who gets to decide which business practices are allowed? Belleayre operates at a significant...
  10. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    All you've done is provided links to the whining, not demonstrated that Bellayre has actually "cut their throats" or threatens to do so. If it were up to me, New York State wouldn't be in the ski business. However, it is written into the state constitution and practically impossible to alter...
  11. O

    Ski 3 - WF, Gore, Bell

    Hunter, Windham and Plattekill have been whining for years that Belleayre was going to put them out of business. Hasn't happened yet.
  12. O

    First at Mt. Snow...tips?

    I think Mount Snow is a poor beginner's mountain for those reasons: the two learner's areas are a long distance apart, and the two long green cruisers tend to be over-crowded and are quickly skied off. But once you're past the beginner's stage, there are dozens of ways down, many of which are...
  13. O

    Trails with absurd difficulty ratings

    Trail ratings are a mixture of honesty, marketing, and liability management. I don't think there's any dishonesty in labeling your hardest trail(s) black, even if — objectively speaking — they'd be blue somewhere else. I do think that if a ski area uses the double-black designation at all, it...
  14. O

    Amtrack to VT

    That same hypothesis is the justification for government's continued investment in Amtrak, the New York City Subway, commuter rail, and so forth. Given the very large number of local and state governments that continue to do so, in addition to the federal government, I'd say there's an...
  15. O

    Amtrack to VT

    Easy: it's what the government spends to build and maintain them, minus what the government collects from drivers to pay for them. For the most part, that's a negative number. Tolls are collected on only a tiny fraction of roads. Most are free for anyone to use as they please. Surely you...
  16. O

    Amtrack to VT

    The Vermonter and the Ethan Allen aren't ski trains. You can use them for that, but I'm pretty sure most of the people on them aren't skiers. I'm just trying to understand your position, because rail lines and roads are both transportation routes that are subsidized by the government, and you...
  17. O

    Amtrack to VT

    It is true that Amtrak has never been profitable, aside from the Northeast Corridor. But roads aren't "profitable" either, and the nation continues to invest billions in them, every year. I'm pretty sure airlines wouldn't be profitable (they're barely profitable now), if they had to pay full...
  18. O

    Mount Snow is bad at math

    Yes, that is the reason: Mount Snow counts the percentage open by acres, not trails. They claim that this is more transparent, although I think it's actually more opaque. I were at Mount Snow today, it would feel more like 25% open (20 trails out of 80) than 36%. And that's without counting...
  19. O

    Amtrack to VT

    As I'm not a Vermont resident, I don't follow closely the politics that led the state to sponsor the trains and to keep doing so. But rail is subsidized all over the country. Apparently, state and local governments believe it's worthwhile. I'll repeat: ridership on those trains goes up every...
  20. O

    Amtrack to VT

    Ridership has gone up every year. I assume the state, which subsidizes the service, has figured out who the riders are, and when they want to travel. Congress has nothing to do with it. If the state didn't pay, the service wouldn't exist. By the way, the Friday evening Ethan Allen leaves NYC at...
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