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Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten

thetrailboss

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Uh, the size of Killington?


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

This is Les Otten you know. Hyperbole is his thing. Remember how he defined things a certain way...

While Outer Limits was recognized as the "Longest, steepest, bump run in the east," Otten figured out that if he removed the commas then White Heat was the winner...or something like that.
 

nanjil

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I remember reading he was trying to get sr back and this is a fall back position. He claimed he has "unfinished" business to do in sr
 

thetrailboss

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I remember reading he was trying to get sr back and this is a fall back position. He claimed he has "unfinished" business to do in sr

He made a run to buy Sugarloaf and Sunday River in 2007 when ASC collapsed but he could not get the money to do it (surprise, surprise). So he will have to live with having his restaurant overlooking Sunday River (The Phoenix, assuming that he still owns it).

Sunday River was his baby.
 

xlr8r

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My ideas.
Purple: Gondola
Red: HS Quad
Blue: Fixed Quad
Green: Triple

BW1.jpg
BW2.jpg

Seems like a lot of mellow terrain on these peaks. Hard to create good continuous vertical
 

thetrailboss

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Seems like a lot of mellow terrain on these peaks. Hard to create good continuous vertical

Seems reminiscent of another resort:

04aerial.jpg
 

nanjil

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I agree in the sense that I look for fun factor/challenge balance within my limits (of course pushing the limits safely at the same time). Even though sr has less continuous steeps it can be very challenging for me at least because it has all these funny concave, convex surfaces. Throw in patches of ice and it is a $##! OTH I fin at SL the steeps are steep but flat and more predictable. Anyway no matter the fun factor increases with more natural snow no matter what
 

VTKilarney

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This is a very interesting quote from the article:

He added that the new resort would appeal to "Gen Xers" whom he called the economic drivers at resorts for the next 25 years and who enjoyed a variety of activities, including motorized sports such as snowmobiling and riding ATVs.


Given the existing trail networks in the area, that makes a lot of sense.
 

Newpylong

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:blink:

They're out of their minds. 4 hours from Boston and 7 from NYC and 1,000 vertical. Who is going to finance that?
 

VTKilarney

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I think the key is Canada. Mt. Tremblant is not the most impressive mountain, yet people flock to it. It's a tough sell, but there are definitely enough Canadians within 2-3 hours to make it work.

I think the key is to make it a resort, and not just a ski hill. It's got to have other attractions to draw people in.

From the south, the drive is brutal. I've always been amazed at just how remote it is from points south.
 

VTKilarney

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I've been there several times & I'm from NYC.

You are the exception. Just because you have made the trip does not mean that a similar percentage will make that trip as would a shorter trip. Hopefully their marketing department understands the dangers of using a sample size of one person.
 
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