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The "Sugarbush Thread"

erdb1

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I posted a few weeks ago about this. Over the summer 5 lifts were hit with lightning with NR the worst. There was a lot of damage to the electrical system. The last I heard was the electrical issues have been resolved including a new PLC. There were a few more mechanical repairs to go. The. The tram authority need to,come to inspect and a load rest will be required. You can see the barrels lined up for that. One other complication with NR is that it is a Poma Lift and Les Otten had Doplemayr more it to the current position so they is a bit of “who is responsible to help,with repairs.” A couple of years ago we replaced the drive in NR, put in a new communication line and rewired all the tower. So the electrical system is now Dopplemayrs, but the mechanical parts are still Poma. I would, or be at all surprised if there are supply chain issues with lift parts too. I will see if I can get a update tomorrow when I am around the mountain.

A couple of years ago a similar strike hit GMX and we had to run on diesel the entire winter. The insurance company finally approved a new drive but that did not happen until spring. As you are all witnessing the weather volatility has increased and creating a lot of challenges for the mountain team.

I actually had three nice runs off of VH and one down Sleeper first before the freezing rain hit just after 9am. Called it quits then.the wind walking in this morning was fierce and interestingly it was calm in East Warren.
Thanks Win, yes I saw your earlier post. I guess I was hoping for a quicker resolution.

It looks pretty bad that they knew since Summer they had a problem but failed to mention that the main lift at ME will be out for much of the season while people were buying their season passes. I still haven't seen any communication about it from the resort other than your (much appreciated) post here. The crazy thing is that if I had known the NR would be out this long, I would have bought the IKON pass. Now I'm thinking of not coming back at all next year...
 

Smellytele

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Thanks Win, yes I saw your earlier post. I guess I was hoping for a quicker resolution.

It looks pretty bad that they knew since Summer they had a problem but failed to mention that the main lift at ME will be out for much of the season while people were buying their season passes. I still haven't seen any communication about it from the resort other than your (much appreciated) post here. The crazy thing is that if I had known the NR would be out this long, I would have bought the IKON pass. Now I'm thinking of not coming back at all next year...
NR being the Main lift???
 

cdskier

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NR being the Main lift???
I guess it depends how you define "main". When it is running, it is definitely the lift I spend the most time lapping because it access the vast majority of terrain and avoids the runout at the bottom. Covers the most vertical in one shot as well. You can still access everything without that lift running, but it sure cuts into your uphill capacity at ME quite a bit with it being down.
 

Slidebrook87

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I guess it depends how you define "main". When it is running, it is definitely the lift I spend the most time lapping because it access the vast majority of terrain and avoids the runout at the bottom. Covers the most vertical in one shot as well. You can still access everything without that lift running, but it sure cuts into your uphill capacity at ME quite a bit with it being down.
I take it for granted, but North Ridge is really crucial to the skiing experience at Ellen. You avoid the runout at the base and get to ski the mountain's best terrain on a fast, relatively high capacity lift. Hope it's back up soon.
 

erdb1

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I take it for granted, but North Ridge is really crucial to the skiing experience at Ellen. You avoid the runout at the base and get to ski the mountain's best terrain on a fast, relatively high capacity lift. Hope it's back up soon.
Exactly. Normally I only use GMX to go up in the morning, switch back from Inverness, which is now often closed or when skiing Lower FIS that needs a lot more snow. Plus Summit is much slower than GMX, so the line grows very quickly there.
 

mikec142

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New, panning web cams are great!

Other than Slide Brook, what would everyone say is the coldest lift at SB?
 

cdskier

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For sure. On average tho...

I've had some seriously cold rides on Summit and Super Bravo.
I wouldn't have put Summit on my list. I feel usually it is pretty well protected from the wind.

Super Bravo tends to be breezy at several points along the way a lot which makes it feel cold more often. So I'd definitely agree with that one.
 

Blurski

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Thanks Win, yes I saw your earlier post. I guess I was hoping for a quicker resolution.

It looks pretty bad that they knew since Summer they had a problem but failed to mention that the main lift at ME will be out for much of the season while people were buying their season passes. I still haven't seen any communication about it from the resort other than your (much appreciated) post here. The crazy thing is that if I had known the NR would be out this long, I would have bought the IKON pass. Now I'm thinking of not coming back at all next year...
It comes off like PPP=PPP even though the Pandemic has made some simple things difficult.
 

HowieT2

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Thanks Win, yes I saw your earlier post. I guess I was hoping for a quicker resolution.

It looks pretty bad that they knew since Summer they had a problem but failed to mention that the main lift at ME will be out for much of the season while people were buying their season passes. I still haven't seen any communication about it from the resort other than your (much appreciated) post here. The crazy thing is that if I had known the NR would be out this long, I would have bought the IKON pass. Now I'm thinking of not coming back at all next year...
Is it really going to be out most of the season???? where did you get that from?
I happened to be chatting with one of lift mechanics while waiting for a sandwich at the paradise last week and he didn't indicate any long term problem with NRX.
 

thetrailboss

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Thanks Win, yes I saw your earlier post. I guess I was hoping for a quicker resolution.

It looks pretty bad that they knew since Summer they had a problem but failed to mention that the main lift at ME will be out for much of the season while people were buying their season passes. I still haven't seen any communication about it from the resort other than your (much appreciated) post here. The crazy thing is that if I had known the NR would be out this long, I would have bought the IKON pass. Now I'm thinking of not coming back at all next year...
So NRX is down for this season?
 

erdb1

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Is it really going to be out most of the season???? where did you get that from?
I happened to be chatting with one of lift mechanics while waiting for a sandwich at the paradise last week and he didn't indicate any long term problem with NRX.
I have no idea. I hope not, but I didn't see any work being done on it, and the resort didn't say anything about it either.
 

cdskier

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So NRX is down for this season?
Where did you get that from? No one has said anything about that. This is exactly how bad rumors spread. We went from waiting on a couple mechanical fixes/parts to someone turning that into down most of the season...to the next person somehow saying down all season.

This is another reason I think it is important for Sugarbush to share updates directly and be completely transparent. To avoid rumors like this...
 

HowieT2

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Where did you get that from? No one has said anything about that. This is exactly how bad rumors spread. We went from waiting on a couple mechanical fixes/parts to someone turning that into down most of the season...to the next person somehow saying down all season.

This is another reason I think it is important for Sugarbush to share updates directly and be completely transparent. To avoid rumors like this...
I'd bet it gets inspected and operating before MLK.
 

WinS

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Thanks Win, yes I saw your earlier post. I guess I was hoping for a quicker resolution.

It looks pretty bad that they knew since Summer they had a problem but failed to mention that the main lift at ME will be out for much of the season while people were buying their season passes. I still haven't seen any communication about it from the resort other than your (much appreciated) post here. The crazy thing is that if I had known the NR would be out this long, I would have bought the IKON pass. Now I'm thinking of not coming back at all next year...
It is really impossible to predict how long it will take to fix problems like this. Until you get into the fix, you really do not know what has been impacted and then the problem solving begins. NR is a key lift and lots of us love riding and lapping off to it. But GMX and Summit let one to all the trails. i know that it not what I or most others prefer but it does work.
 
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