Small ski areas facing a slippery slope

I don't see why Magic would need to pump water from some distant stream. Looking at the topo map, three streams draining most of the west face of the mountain - about 700 acres - converge at the larger of two ponds downstream of the base lodge. I don't know for a fact that they own that pond, but if it could be enlarged to about 20 acres, an average of 10 feet deep, that would hold 200 acre-feet of water. 200 acre feet is probably enough to make 2 to 3 feet of snow on a hundred acres (roughly 10 miles) of slopes. And the pond would refill somewhat even in winter, especially if they got rain and had to re-make their base.

you guys want these resorts to survive, you got to vote with your wallets. 16000 skier visits isn't going to cut it.

how do the other small resorts survive? Ascutney? Bromley? Burke?

tekweezle said:

how do the other small resorts survive? Ascutney? Bromley? Burke?

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By having more than 16,000 skier visits.

And regarding the pipeline idea, though it may not be needed, it should be interesting to note that in 1996 when Burke built its pipeline from the Passumpsic River (they built a dam and pumping station) to the pond at MidBurke, their water problems ended. Before they'd drain the pond in very little time and not be able to recover from any events or build base as fast. Now they have enough water to blow plenty of snow on the trails they need. The difference was night and day.

thetrailboss said:

The fact that they lease and don't own the mountain explains why that triple chair still is incomplete. They've been working on that lift for almost five years. :blink:

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I don't even know why they invest in the Black chair. Magic never has enough skiers to justify its use and expense. It seems like the only use it has is as a back up to the Red Chair.

they need to find a way attract more paying skiers to justify capital investments. the mountain terrain is pretty good but they are at a disadvantage. reasons I haven;t gone to smaller resorts is not wanting to take a chance that my time and money will be wasted. the big resorts do give some level of guarantee of a minimum service or product. the small resorts have to bridge that gap somehow.

i got lured into going to Belleayre twice this season by cheap tickets in lieu of a bigger operation like Hunter or WIndham. Other than an ugly oil stain on my ski pants, i'd say it was worth it to me. I think I will be back though. Also went to Snowridge in Turin, NY when I could have gone to GreekPeak instead. barebones operation but I had fun for 4 hrs. they had better snow at Snowridge anyway.

riverc0il said:

I don't even know why they invest in the Black chair. Magic never has enough skiers to justify its use and expense. It seems like the only use it has is as a back up to the Red Chair.

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The lift I am talking about is the triple that is currently under construction and is not complete. It is the lift for the beginner area on the northern side of the resort IIRC.