100% true. It was in a Q&A with Stowe's GM in VT Ski+Ride: https://vtskiandride.com/myth-busting-stowe/
Here's the relevant section:
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Summer 2018 Northeast Offseason Improvements
- Thread starter sull1102
- Start date
100% true. It was in a Q&A with Stowe's GM in VT Ski+Ride: https://vtskiandride.com/myth-busting-stowe/
Here's the relevant section:
Edd
Well-known member
That’s a bunch of nifty stuff but I’m questioning the “more efficient” statement. Gates can scan multiple people at the same time. Hand scanners, even with two guys using them at the same time, would be slower.
urungus
Well-known member
What about the noob who can’t get his RFID card to work, and is stuck in the gate blocking everyone behind him? Also the gates make me feel like I am going through airport security...
drjeff
Well-known member
Having been through the hand scanners that Vail Resorts use a few years ago, their system is pretty efficient. The scanners work from 5+ feet away, and make 3 different audible tones. One for a kids pass, one for an adult pass and one for an invalid pass. Even at the base of Vail on a powder morning waiting to load one of their gondolas, their scanners kept the line moving efficiently. And as an aside, as a tall person (I'm 6'3" before I step into my ski boots and bindings/skis), the RFID gates can be more of a pain for me, having to crouch down to get my RFID pass at a readable level for the RFID gates I pass through when I'm occasionally chaperoning one of my kids school ski club trips to Wachusett
Edd
Well-known member
Ah, I’m apparently unaware of the better hand scanners. I’ve never noticed ones that work easily from far away. The scanners I’m accustomed to suck and gum up the works.
WJenness
Active member
As someone who is 6'4", I totally agree with you on the RFID thing.
Very thankful for the jacket I purchased a couple of years ago that has a wrist zipper pocket specifically for RFID passes. Much easier to get the gate to activate when I can just move my hand to whatever spot the gate wants it to be in.
Before this jacket, I had a chest pocket I put the RFID cards in, which led to a lot of bending and twisting to get some gates to open.
-w
WJenness
Active member
Also worth noting that the gantries they talk about are probably pretty similar to (if not the same as) the tech that Waterville began using last year.
Works from plenty of distance, with no need for gates.
Works from plenty of distance, with no need for gates.
mbedle
Well-known member
Keep in mind that there are two types of scanners being used these days. Barcode readers can be tough and time consuming. RFID readers are usually more efficient, since you don't have to actually see the pass to scan it.
Edd
Well-known member
My last jacket had that pocket and I loved it. I was surprised that the Flylow jacket I bought last year didn’t come with it. However, being 5’11”, it worked fine in the chest pocket last year. The Axess brand gates at Sunapee and Gunstock are the most responsive RFID scanners I’ve seen.
machski
Well-known member
Interesting, when I talked to him at Tough Mountain he said many knew they blew the line 7 times but the actual number was 14 (I knew about 3 myself, but guessing those were the big blowouts)! Irrelevant now but I wonder which version was correct. They can keep the 5000 undeveloped, undeveloped. Show me you can handle making snow on ALL of your snowmaking terrain first, upgrade the aging lifts that need it (ahhmm, Barker at a minimum and probably Aurora too) then they can think about expanding again. I would want to see the Western waterline installed and some automation added to the system too before another westward expansion of the resort.
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machski
Well-known member
Not a bad idea, would likely need new towers as I don't think they would want to use the old tripod ones again.
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WJenness
Active member
Tempest, PLEASE.
Jully
Active member
Was the drive/terminal components rebuilt/worked on significantly anytime during the lifts tenure? Its old for a detach in general I thought too.
Jully
Active member
Aurora has been worrying me the past two seasons. The drive has sounded horrible more than a few times and they were loading it as a triple for awhile as well as taking it completely offline for at least one midwinter weekend.
Are you saying the message was developing that area was the key to getting to 1,000,000 skier days or they won't expand to that area until they reach 1,000,000 skier days?
machski
Well-known member
In general, no. I have a feeling being a three season lift, the gearbox and maybe drive have seen some significant love. But it's still a chain/clip cadence system at the base and summit and for the base anyway, was designed into the building, not as a standalone terminal.
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machski
Well-known member
Yup, and it certainly feels like the slowest fixed grip lift on the hill even though it is one of the shortest.
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Aurora never bothered me much when I was a passholder there. It's only about ten minutes and I feel keeping it a FG made it a good place to escape crowds.
Tempest was the one that bothered me the most. I always parked at Whitecap and just seemed to take forever to get out of there on that lift. Plus at the time, Tempest was a trail that had reliable bumps. So, lapping that was painful.
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Tempest was the one that bothered me the most. I always parked at Whitecap and just seemed to take forever to get out of there on that lift. Plus at the time, Tempest was a trail that had reliable bumps. So, lapping that was painful.
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skimagic
Active member
Link to Lodge updates.with pics. Ascutney has new outdoor center, Mr snow carinthia is on track for end of the year..Catamount is in on the action too with renovation to main Lodge, which is great since it was pretty beat up.
Tenney will have food and a bar this season, lets hope they have good snow this year. .
http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=719
Tenney will have food and a bar this season, lets hope they have good snow this year. .
http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=719
jg17
Member
Seconded on the handheld scanners. The ones I had to use had to be put up right against the card to scan and didn't make any kind of noise, so you were just trying to see a tiny light go off. It was so bad that we rarely used it, since we couldn't keep up with the chairs even when there was no line. This was the Axess system, although the gates were pretty reliable at our other lifts that had them.
The Axess gates cost around half a million just to install a single set, so definitely not cheap...
Newpylong
Well-known member
In my opinion, Boyne's handling of their lift system (not maintenance, but vision) leaves much to be desired.
-Spruce FG Triple instead of FG Quad. They say the trail layout is better fit for a triple, but this move was just not forward thinking. You run less chairs if you're concerned about downhill traffic.
-Carpet loader on Tempest is a royal waste of time, they're only going to get 50 FPM out of it. That is a critical lift that most complain about. It needs to be a HSQ - reusing the towers and starting right outside the lodge, extending up a little higher with some trail work for improved access to Obsession. People might actually ski over there more if the lift wasn't the worst ever.
-New Loon gondola cabins - waste of money.
-No movement at all at the Loaf outside of Skyline which only went in because of the double failure.
End of my rant, which I usually refrain from doing.
-Spruce FG Triple instead of FG Quad. They say the trail layout is better fit for a triple, but this move was just not forward thinking. You run less chairs if you're concerned about downhill traffic.
-Carpet loader on Tempest is a royal waste of time, they're only going to get 50 FPM out of it. That is a critical lift that most complain about. It needs to be a HSQ - reusing the towers and starting right outside the lodge, extending up a little higher with some trail work for improved access to Obsession. People might actually ski over there more if the lift wasn't the worst ever.
-New Loon gondola cabins - waste of money.
-No movement at all at the Loaf outside of Skyline which only went in because of the double failure.
End of my rant, which I usually refrain from doing.
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