Plattekill Party: Winter Storm Riley 3-2-17 Roll Call

Harvey · Mar 5, 2018

Another shot from Saturday, pics were pretty marginal:

Here's our piece on the weekend:

http://nyskiblog.com/winter-storm-riley-at-plattekill/

Abominable · Mar 5, 2018

I don't have much to add. Saturday was one of the all time great days. One I'll remember forever.

I'm not sure I ever skied that much thick, heavy snow. It was like spring skiing in Tahoe after a two day storm (minus the sunshine and blackjack). But that same kind of bottomless mashed potatoes where the backsides of the moguls were still super soft at four p.m.

At the risk of being banned from AZone, there was almost too much snow in the woods. It got better as it got tracked out. I had a hell of a time staying on top of the snow early on (on a 168cm deck!); it was actually better when there was a track or two so you could keep speed up.

It was exhausting as well. Again at the risk of a ban, I was almost longing for a groomer to bomb and carve after lunch. My quads were smoked!

There were definitely some bummed out people in the lodge with the no cash situation and long lines. I don't mean to twist the knife here, but just for next time, on a day like that, at a place like Platty, no lifty was gonna get in between you and the pow. I mean, they couldn't keep up with anything, not beer service, not food service, it was like Woodstock man! It's not like they have those scanners or something.

I wouldn't ever advocate theft of service but there were mitigating circumstances!

Anyway, that one storm was worth a whole month of base building, and it looks like you'll get a second chance this week. Get after it!

Not Sure · Mar 5, 2018

Abominable said:
There were definitely some bummed out people in the lodge with the no cash situation and long lines. I don't mean to twist the knife here, but just for next time, on a day like that, at a place like Platty, no lifty was gonna get in between you and the pow. I mean, they couldn't keep up with anything, not beer service, not food service, it was like Woodstock man! It's not like they have those scanners or something.

I wouldn't ever advocate theft of service but there were mitigating circumstances!

Anyway, that one storm was worth a whole month of base building, and it looks like you'll get a second chance this week. Get after it![/QUOTE

I noticed the lack of scanners as well , and thought the same thing. I heard a comment about ,"Half the staff didn't show"? Couldn't blame them ,probably digging out ? I would have "Borrowed "some turns and sent them $
latter ...with some interest.

BenedictGomez · Mar 5, 2018

Siliconebobsquarepants said:
I would have "Borrowed "some turns and sent them $ latter

Platty usually hits the right notes, but they should have taken people's info and just let them ski for the day on an "honor system" to repay.

Folks made that drive to the hill and they got turned away because Platty's tech is down due to weather. Doesn't seem right.

Harvey · Mar 5, 2018

Would your company do that? Mine wouldn't.

Plattekill was sold out, operating at maximum capacity. What would be the motivation to let people ski on the honor system? How do you follow up? Send out bills? Second and third notices for those who don't pay right away?

I know - charge extra for the privilege of billing. Maybe make it an even $100. Still probably cheaper than driving 50 miles to find a working atm.

Not Sure · Mar 5, 2018

Harvey said:
Would your company do that? Mine wouldn't.

Plattekill was sold out, operating at maximum capacity. What would be the motivation to let people ski on the honor system? How do you follow up? Send out bills? Second and third notices for those who don't pay right away?

I know - charge extra for the privilege of billing. Maybe make it an even $100. Still probably cheaper than driving 50 miles to find a working atm.

Dig through the basement for one of these dinosaurs .....
Excellent Blog by the way

My Best East Coast day ever !!!!

Scruffy · Mar 5, 2018

Harvey said:
Would your company do that? Mine wouldn't.

Plattekill was sold out, operating at maximum capacity. What would be the motivation to let people ski on the honor system? How do you follow up? Send out bills? Second and third notices for those who don't pay right away?

I know - charge extra for the privilege of billing. Maybe make it an even $100. Still probably cheaper than driving 50 miles to find a working atm.

Just say No to a cashless society.

Harvey · Mar 5, 2018

I always stick a wad of cash into my wallet when I head north on a ski sojern. And I always come home with almost all of it.

Not this time. Cash was king and I loaned some to a buddy for a ticket and spent the rest.

Bob: good idea. And thank you.

Not Sure · Mar 5, 2018

Scruffy said:
Just say No to a cashless society.

I stuck my hand in the cash cup on the way out ,just in case . Almost lost a $20.00, was in line pulled out $70.00 to pay and a gust of wind grabbed a $20.00 and blew it past a dozen people ."Mad scramble"LOL Everyone started grabbing at it and it flew back and went into a snowdrift .A kid shoveling snow gave it back to me and I offered a reward but he wouldn't accept it .

BenedictGomez · Mar 5, 2018

Harvey said:
Plattekill was sold out, operating at maximum capacity. What would be the motivation to let people ski on the honor system? How do you follow up? Send out bills? Second and third notices for those who don't pay right away?

If they were truly at maximum capacity then it's a moot point.

The motivation, however, is obvious, keep the customer happy given the customer did nothing wrong and likely drove through white-knuckle conditions to get to their favorite ski hill for a fantastic day, rather than sadly being turned-away due to no fault of their own. It's called customer service. Sure, there would be some bums who wouldn't pay you back, but for every one of them there'd be 5 people who would pay you back, and that goodwill gesture would create 5 lifelong Platty fans and paying customers = $$$$.

Dick Gazinya · Mar 5, 2018

Harvey said:
I always stick a wad of cash into my wallet when I head north on a ski sojern. And I always come home with almost all of it.

Not this time. Cash was king and I loaned some to a buddy for a ticket and spent the rest.

Bob: good idea. And thank you.

Who doesn't ski with cash? Say when's that ski off going to be? Powder daize Thursday at Platty?

Harvey · Mar 5, 2018

Who knows what max is, it certainly felt maxed. It was estimated that Plattekill served 30% more skiers than the previously busiest day dating back to 1993. Sunday ended up coming in second on that same scale.

I think Plattekill did they best they could in a difficult situation, and I believe their best stacked up well when compared to other options.

BenedictGomez · Mar 5, 2018

Siliconebobsquarepants said:
View attachment 23422

Dig through the basement for one of these dinosaurs .....

Or this. You'd be surprised how many placed DO still keep one of these "dinosaurs" around for power emergencies.

Hell, you dont even need it though. They could have just written people's card info down and processed it when the power came back rather than telling people they were S.O.L.

Not Sure · Mar 5, 2018

BenedictGomez said:
If they were truly at maximum capacity then it's a moot point.

The motivation, however, is obvious, keep the customer happy given the customer did nothing wrong and likely drove through white-knuckle conditions to get to their favorite ski hill for a fantastic day, rather than sadly being turned-away due to no fault of their own. It's called customer service. Sure, there would be some bums who wouldn't pay you back, but for every one of them there'd be 5 people who would pay you back, and that goodwill gesture would create 5 lifelong Platty fans and paying customers = $$$$.

Leave ?????? LOL . It took me 45 minutes to go 2 miles .....If I didn't ski I would be nuts ... I had my AT stuff in the car anyway but on the way up after getting only an hour and a half sleep I would have been good for one run.

benski · Mar 5, 2018

Didn't Windham stop selling tickets at 9am? at least platty was selling tickets.

Dick Gazinya · Mar 5, 2018

Did you go sat?

abc · Mar 5, 2018

benski said:
Didn't Windham stop selling tickets at 9am? at least platty was selling tickets.

11am (according to their website)

I'm a fan of Platty. But in this case, I think they could have done better. They could just write down the CC numbers.

Yes, they must have been pretty busy with everything else. But someone should have thought of that as soon as the CC line went kaput. Heck, did any of the cashless people suggested they handle CC payment by hand? In this day and age, there're more tools available to help too. A phone picture of the CC front & back, a note with signature of the amount to charge, hell, even a driver's license. They will need to punch in all those numbers later on. But they would have gotten their money and a bunch of people would have been happier!

It's an opportunity missed.

cdskier · Mar 6, 2018

On the cash/CC issue...per Laszlo Platty had a workaround available (not sure how quickly this was implemented, but it does look like they were doing something about it even though the issue itself was out of their control):

"We had a work around in place with a cellular hot spot and online portal for prebuying lift tickets while standing in the cue."

Harvey · Mar 6, 2018

cdskier said:
On the cash/CC issue...per Laszlo Platty had a workaround available (not sure how quickly this was implemented, but it does look like they were doing something about it even though the issue itself was out of their control):

"We had a work around in place with a cellular hot spot and online portal for prebuying lift tickets while standing in the cue."

This is true. As you can imagine it wasn't the fastest method to sell that many tickets. With wifi/internet down the demand on mobile was high, and bandwidth was low, so this system while in place was not super efficient. Like I said they did the best they could.

Basically you were in the middle of a small scale natural disaster and Plattekill did what they could to service their customers and those who couldn't ski at other areas. They ran their business at a record level. For some this wasn't good enough, while others had the time of their life.

kingslug · Mar 6, 2018

This sounds like the 100 year storm of 2010 when 7 feet fell on the Cats. Thursday Friday then they lose power Saturday. I was there for that ..not the Saturday though. That was the most snow I have ever skied in my life. I missed this one as I landed and got home at 2 AM Saturday totaly wiped. Glad winter has returned in a big way. Hope it lasts until April at least.

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