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How bad have skier visits and business been this year?

slatham

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I am worried that this year could be worse than 11/12. Christmas was a bust. From what I saw and heard, MLK weekend had low attendance, I guess due to how bad the skiing was over Christmas, because the skiing over MLK weekend (in So VT at least) was pretty good.

Now we have a record breaking cold snap right on the Presidents weekend. Bromley yesterday was somewhere between a busy weekday and a dead weekend. Great skiing, not that cold (ok, late in the day it was). Today it's -23 and only lower mountain is open to start the day - similar situation at other mountains - and will surely be a ghost town. This week doesn't look too promising either with Tuesday's wet storm.

What have AZer's heard and witnessed?
 

drjeff

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Lots of cars up at condos and hotel in the Mount Snow area this weekend - a quiet day on the mountain yesterday - the only lift with a line was the Bluebird, and even then it wasn't that big by weekend standards here. It's empty on the hill today as I look out my window, now that the air temp is nearing zero, I'm going to head out in a bit for some runs.

It was a quiet x-mas week up here, a decent, but not usual volume MLK Weekend, and the last few weeks have been just like that, decent, but at best "average" and more likely a bit below average.

The only thing I've seen that is likely running at, if not above the averages, is bar sales!! That's been busy, even when the on hill volume hasn't been! ;)
 

JDMRoma

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Cannon was dead yesterday ! Tram was never full from the opening till 3pm. Only place that was busy was the pub and they were hoping !


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Savemeasammy

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Off topic, but are there any bumps at Bromley, Slatham? Last year there were some great ones in the blue ribbon quad area.


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steamboat1

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Weekdays have been quiet in VT. but that's not unusual. The one Saturday I did ski a couple of weeks ago at Sugarbush the place was mobbed. All parking at LP was filled & they added quite a bit of new parking this year. On the other hand Sunday at Killington wasn't bad but I was told it was much more crowded on Saturday.
 

xwhaler

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Not empty here at Ragged. Ski on both chairs of course but a fair # of people on the trails and in the lodge.
Groomers are skiing awesome.
 

tumbler

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Sugarbush dead yesterday and ghost town today. Monday should be interesting to see how many people come out with warmer temps. They just can't catch a break this year. They are also done making snow the next day or two when it warms up.
 

machski

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Skied Stratton yesterday, Gondola had a 30 minute line (they were only sitting guests and I think it was running a bit slow due to wind) but all the 6ers were 4 minutes tops on the front side, and ski on for both on the sun bowl side. Lodges were fairly crowded and some trails were a bit busy, but all in all it was dead. We were only going to ski an early half day today since we are NH and wide has school tomorrow, so we skipped as they were lower mtn only this am.
 

SIKSKIER

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Cannon was dead yesterday ! Tram was never full from the opening till 3pm. Only place that was busy was the pub and they were hoping !


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Sunday made Saturday look like a holiday weekend at Loon.I left at noon and the lower 3 pods next to Brookside were empty as well as the road parking.Cant ever remember that on any weekend day.And thats with all the brit groups there also.
 

ShadyGrove

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A local nordic center said that yesterday was off by 75% and they've been keeping records since the '70s.
 

deadheadskier

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Pretty dead at Attitash today. Peaks crowds had five minute lines at the 2 HSQ. All other lifts were ski on
 

SIKSKIER

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The ski areas cant get a break.The weather gives a few inches of snow and there would be a window today before the heavy rain comes but I see a lot of areas have many wind holds.The loaf and Loon have most of their key lifts on wind hold.
 

Smellytele

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Right where I want to be
Yesterday at Pats peak it was dead in the morning and then picked up around 130 and the parking lot filled up. People were waiting for it to warm up. Trails all skied well yesterday much better than Saturday when I was there.
 

machski

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Bet a lot of the holds are for Iciing this morning. Real thick layer at my house in south central NH. Idiot town plowed the road early before the change over, was a damn Luge run this morning.
 

gregnye

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Fairly busy at Sunapee yesterday. Lots of people on limited trails because they had a problem with the Sunbowl Express, so half the mountain was closed. They were really trying to keep spirits up with free hot chocolate and running the lifts until 4:15 to try to make up for it.
 

joshua segal

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Based on the title of this thread., "How bad have skier visits and business been this year?", I was hoping to see some industry numbers on how the season has been going. Anecdotally, most everyone is saying,"not good." But has anyone seen any skier visit numbers?
 

BenedictGomez

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Based on the title of this thread., "How bad have skier visits and business been this year?", I was hoping to see some industry numbers on how the season has been going. Anecdotally, most everyone is saying,"not good." But has anyone seen any skier visit numbers?

The only "number" I've seen related to any actual metrics was an equity analyst's estimate that SKIS top-line revenue is likely 50% of what it should be. Equity analysts, however, are often wrong, so who knows if that's true or not. In response/rebuttal to that analyst, SKIS noted they had a very strong 2nd half of January. Anyway, based on what a trainwreck this season has been, however, complete with bad timing around Christmas, MLK, and Presidents Weekend, it wouldn't shock me if the numbers are poor.
 
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