rocks860
Active member
Oh yeah, I’ll be there, just tempering my expectations, hoping to be surprised
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The "Sugarbush Thread"
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
Oh yeah, I’ll be there, just tempering my expectations, hoping to be surprised
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Slidebrook87
Active member
It’s a new Leitner Poma T-Bar that will begin where the current t bar does and continue up the skier’s right side of the trail. I’ve ridden both surface lifts and the system works well enough already. Spending $500,000-1,000,000 on a new lift when racers could just ride the Inverness Quad which follows the same line is just a complete waste of money. The current t bar that they spent a ton of money on in 2011 will become completely redundant as people can unload the new t bar at the same spot that the current one ends. Having 3 lifts on one trail just over complicates things. Ideally Inverness would be replaced with a detachable and there would only be one lift. This would also reduce the staffing needed. The only benefit I can think of with this t bar is that it if it runs more often than the current Poma like Valar at Cannon or the one at Sunday River, it can be used for some quick laps on Inverness.
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nhskier1969
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It would be cool to have a trail underneath the lift. Would ski like Bear Trap at Mount Snow. Decent pitch, could see huge bumps in the spring.
Smellytele
Well-known member
I’ll be there tomorrow as well. Stinking up the place.
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Slidebrook87
Active member
Not up this weekend. Skiing Stratton instead with some friends.
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machski
Well-known member
Not an additional lift, replacing the one already there I believe. And while it may seem redundant to you, new high speed T-Bars are the rage with racing programs as it allows the racers to keep their skis on snow and get in more laps per training session. Look at all the ones going up or in already, Burke/Killington/Sunday River/Sugarbush/Cannon and Sugarloaf is talking of adding one too. Out west, Vail just installed one with all new race training terrain on the front side. I wouldn't say it's a waste of money, and most are funded by the racing programs either directly or through fund raising efforts.
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WWF-VT
Well-known member
Looks like a firm and fast day on groomers tomorrow....
Slidebrook87
Active member
It’s an indirect replacement of the existing GMVS Poma along a different and longer alignment. The difference with all the other lifts you mentioned is that there isn’t a lift that runs on the exact same alignment as the t bar. Sure, the T-Bar is helpful, but just not worth how much it is. Having to staff 2-3 lifts on one trail can’t be easy. What I have found is that the T-Bar runs for casual race training while the Poma operates to serve races on the headwall. To be honest, this system is fine, if not a bit too complicated. The quad really doesn’t take that long and is only necessary if they are racing along the whole length of the trail which almost never happens.
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Slidebrook87
Active member
Shredmonkey254
Active member
This is rule #1. And I'm breaking the rule this weekend!
All of this plus being more weather resistant too
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BenedictGomez
Well-known member
And on a Saturday to boot. Those are the days when bad things sadly happen.
It costs much less to operate and maintain the surface lifts than the I. Don’t need operators for surface lifts, sometimes I see a parent there but never a liftie. Less towers, simple lift in comparison, less moving parts. And as stated in another post, can run in the wind. GMVS can replace it because...it can.
We’ll be expecting a full report on their mountain operations.
Slidebrook87
Active member
I haven’t skied there in quite a bit so it’ll be interesting to see how it is. Their mountain ops have always been decent, but there was a lot of deferred maintenance under Intrawest’s ownership. From what I have heard it has gotten much better under Alterra’s ownership. Simple things like making Big Ben a park in order to draw more people to the Solstice lift are great improvements.
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Newpylong
Well-known member
If you're not paying to install or operate it can you really say "it's not worth it?"
The fact of the matter is the GMVS Poma is no longer serviceable and rather than do a 1 for 1 they want to extend it's replacement down and only have to run 1 lift vs 2 for T2B training.
The Inverness Quad is brutal when you need to get as many runs in a short amount of time - take it from a GMVS grad (I was class of 1999). They have 1 class in the AM first thing then they pile into vans and go train for a couple hours, then they have to be back for lunch then classes for the afternoon. But it really doesn't matter, they're paying for it, not the Bush.
Ummm what? !?!? Stratton is at the bottom of the list for mountains that slacked on deferred maintenance over the past 20 years here in New England. They installed four High speed six packs in that time, upgraded their snowmaking to be as good as anywhere in New England and made major improvements to their base lodge and F&B operations. Most all of it under Intrawest.
But it's better now under Alterra because they moved the park? Newsflash, the Solstice lift is long and SLOW. The park rats are for certain mostly lapping it via the Sunbowl 6.
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Slidebrook87
Active member
Everyone I have talked to about Stratton including my friend who is a ski patroller there has talked about their deferred maintenance. Ursa has been a complete mess. Garaventa CTEC lifts tend to be reliable, but there is almost always a fault with the lift that they have to override. Also, not true about Solstice. It has seen a lot more ridership this year except during the week when it is closed. Alterra even did a minor refurbishment of the lift over the summer. I am skiing with my friend who is a patroller there tomorrow so I can verify. Look what happened. Stratton was expanding at a rapid rate until the recession. There wasn’t one substantial thing after 2010 that Stratton got. Also after 2010, their maintenance started to really suffer. The South American Quad is a prime example of this.
I will report back tomorrow to let you know how it was.
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Okay. Please do. Very interested in hearing how you'd run it better than Alterra
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Slidebrook87
Active member
From what I’ve heard, Alterra is doing pretty well...
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