Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten

x10003q · Aug 7, 2015

VTKilarney said:
I agree with what you said except for the last statement (above). If you are coming from Montreal, the drive is not an unreasonable drive. The bigger areas that you drive past (or near) are: Bromont, Owl's Head, Sutton, Jay Peak, and Orford. If done correctly, The Balsams could hold their own against nearly all of those resorts. And let's not forget that Sherbrooke is a decent sized city of about 155,000 residents.

IMHO The Balsams could market itself as more upscale than Jay and less crowded than Jay. Jay is not at all what it used to be, and that could be a good thing for The Balsams.

But the HUGE problem facing The Balsams right now is the exchange rate. For the resort to work, it has to draw Canadians. Unless things change quickly, that is going to be a challenge.

It is not just the areas that are on the way to the Balsams, its the time of the drive. The other closer US areas in VT are Stowe, Smuggs, Burke, and Sugarbush/MRG . In NY, Whiteface is about 2:15 and Gore is about 2:45 from Montreal. That is a lot of competition.

The exchange rate is a killer right now.

deadheadskier · Aug 7, 2015

The issue with Okemo's condos is not how they look, but the sheer number of them and how far up the ridge line they're built. It's a major eyesore looking up there from the valley

VTKilarney · Aug 7, 2015

x10003q said:
It is not just the areas that are on the way to the Balsams, its the time of the drive.

By that metric you also need to throw in Tremblant.

steamboat1 · Aug 7, 2015

Cheap bastards can't do anything more than day trips. God forbid they spend money for a room.

dlague · Aug 8, 2015

snoseek said:
Yeah so they had an off year. We barely cleared 100 in Tahoe this year. I don't think its as much a snow advantage as a snow retention advantage. A lot of storms that rain further south are snow. Thaws are quicker. If you look at local nh weather as deadhead mentioned its always the last area on the map to see a mix if it even mixes at all. I saw it straight up snow labor day weekend at the hotel when I did my summer up there.

steamboat1 said:
Cheap bastards can't do anything more than day trips. God forbid they spend money for a room.

Yup day trips for us cheap bastards. I more than likely will not visit there often and i live in the same state. Why rent a room when most places I want to ski are less that 2 hours away. Balsams will be too far IMO.

deadheadskier · Aug 8, 2015

If the skiing is good enough I'm sure some reasonably priced lodging will open up in Colebrook 11 miles down the road. Even Steaux has cheap lodging options.

Who knows, maybe they'll have a cheap midweek pass and a ski club will open with cheap rooms for steamboat.

bigbog · Aug 8, 2015

deadheadskier said:
The issue with Okemo's condos is not how they look, but the sheer number of them and how far up the ridge line they're built. It's a major eyesore looking up there from the valley

Agreed...but,
I don't think there are many in management or in the customers who care about what the "neighborhood" looks like...and anyone from the big city going to mind how much development takes over??? It's just a battle of who has the biggest & more expensive = big city mentality @play...ever since the 60s.

steamboat1 · Aug 8, 2015

Lancaster already has reasonable enough rooms. Short drive north to Balsams or short drive east to Wildcat. Other areas within a reasonable drive. Headquartered there quite a few times.

thetrailboss · Aug 8, 2015

Jully said:
I don't think anyone finds the bottom of mountains interesting. Maybe K has one run that's sightly better to the Skyeship base than other places, but it's in no way a marketing point nor a bragging point for the mountain.

No is going to say "Killington: we have one run to our true base that doesn't require skating!" Never mind what we have at our summit! We have the least boring of the boring bases that many people don't even go to!

Besides, Ellen might not have anything, but Lincoln Peak has some fine stuff to the base by Valley House

I always found something decent at the near bottom of Ellen.

Any progress on Balsams?

Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

steamboat1 · Aug 9, 2015

Jully said:
I don't think anyone finds the bottom of mountains interesting. Maybe K has one run that's sightly better to the Skyeship base than other places, but it's in no way a marketing point nor a bragging point for the mountain.

No is going to say "Killington: we have one run to our true base that doesn't require skating!" Never mind what we have at our summit! We have the least boring of the boring bases that many people don't even go to!

Besides, Ellen might not have anything, but Lincoln Peak has some fine stuff to the base by Valley House

Yeah just one at K. Superstar, Ovation, Outer Limits, Conclusion, High Line, no run outs there. Even Chute is pretty consistent top to bottom. But I regress, nothing to the base. Never mind the top either, Catwalk, Downdraft or Cascade, nothing to see there.

Jully · Aug 9, 2015

steamboat1 said:
Yeah just one at K. Superstar, Ovation, Outer Limits, Conclusion, High Line, no run outs there. Even Chute is pretty consistent top to bottom. But I regress, nothing to the base. Never mind the top either, Catwalk, Downdraft or Cascade, nothing to see there.

By listing off half a dozen good runs at K you completely missed my point. But if you want to continue spouting off about how good K is go right ahead. I've got nothing against Killington

Newpylong · Aug 9, 2015

steamboat1 said:
Yeah just one at K. Superstar, Ovation, Outer Limits, Conclusion, High Line, no run outs there. Even Chute is pretty consistent top to bottom. But I regress, nothing to the base. Never mind the top either, Catwalk, Downdraft or Cascade, nothing to see there.

These are trails off certain pods that end at a lift, not the bottom which is what he was talking about. Though I thoroughly enjoy Great Eaatern Killington has terrible usage of their vert compared to Sugarbush and other mountains. It skies 1400-1600 feet at a time. It's silly to argue otherwise...

dlague · Aug 9, 2015

Jully said:
I don't think anyone finds the bottom of mountains interesting. Maybe K has one run that's sightly better to the Skyeship base than other places, but it's in no way a marketing point nor a bragging point for the mountain.

No is going to say "Killington: we have one run to our true base that doesn't require skating!" Never mind what we have at our summit! We have the least boring of the boring bases that many people don't even go to!

Besides, Ellen might not have anything, but Lincoln Peak has some fine stuff to the base by Valley House

Cannon has many runs from the summit to Zoomer lift that would challenge most and other runs that offer a mix of glades, steeps and bumps and are not boring at all.

JDMRoma · Aug 9, 2015

dlague said:
Cannon has many runs from the summit to Zoomer lift that would challenge most and other runs that offer a mix of glades, steeps and bumps and are not boring at all.

True but let's not forget it's Always Cold and Icy !!

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steamboat1 · Aug 9, 2015

Newpylong said:
These are trails off certain pods that end at a lift, not the bottom which is what he was talking about. Though I thoroughly enjoy Great Eaatern Killington has terrible usage of their vert compared to Sugarbush and other mountains. It skies 1400-1600 feet at a time. It's silly to argue otherwise...

As do most other mountains including Sugarbush. Super Bravo, Valley House, Heavens Gate, Gate House & North Lynx are pods.

Further more Skyeship is only one of several base areas at K. There's not only one.

marcski · Aug 9, 2015

steamboat1 said:
As do most other mountains including Sugarbush. Super Bravo, Valley House, Heavens Gate, Gate House & North Lynx are pods.

Further more Skyeship is only one of several base areas at K. There's not only one.

IMHO, the problem with K isn't the terrain it's the people that frequent the mountain.

dlague · Aug 9, 2015

JDMRoma said:
True but let's not forget it's Always Cold and Icy !!

Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

True they should not go there!

Jully · Aug 9, 2015

dlague said:
Cannon has many runs from the summit to Zoomer lift that would challenge most and other runs that offer a mix of glades, steeps and bumps and are not boring at all.

This is very true. Bode's mile!

Puck it · Aug 10, 2015

dlague said:
Cannon has many runs from the summit to Zoomer lift that would challenge most and other runs that offer a mix of glades, steeps and bumps and are not boring at all.

There is a bar at the end of that run too!!!!

SIKSKIER · Aug 10, 2015

Jully said:
I don't think anyone finds the bottom of mountains interesting.

Cannon has most of its steep terrain at the bottom with no runout.

Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten

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