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AZ Challenge 2009: Win Smith, Sugarbush Resort

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Greg

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Win Smith, President, of Sugarbush Resort has agreed to participate in the 2009 AlpineZone Ski area Challenge! This is your opportunity to ask questions, offer suggestions, or say some praise to the men and women who are in charge of the Northeast's ski areas. Please post some suggested questions in this thread and we'll select ten to present for official response.

Also please don't be offended if we edit/change your question for grammar, tone, or some other minor thing. In order to get in all of the questions we MAY merge some questions but we'll do our best to keep the substance of your question. If we don't get your question in, feel free to post a follow up after we get the results...we are encouraging the representatives follow the feedback threads.

As always, please be respectful of Win and keep it civil. Also, please refrain from asking specifics about skier visit numbers, financials, demographic information, etc. Win needs to be discrete about certain information.

Ask away!

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Is Sugarbush planning on installing any new lifts in the future?

Any word on a possible combined Sugarbush/Stowe multi-day pass?

Any new glades or trails being cut?

Any snowmaking improvements?
 

RISkier

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We have friends in Stowe and have skied there quite a bit but we've hit Sugarbush the last two years and really enjoy it. We'll be back. We rode the Slidebrook Express for the first time last year. It was a bluebird day and it was a great ride. Easily the most interesting and entertaining chair lift I've ever been on. That said, I couldn't help but think it was a real boondoggle. I believe it was installed by ASC prior to your arrival. I'd be interested to hear any thoughts you would be willing to share regarding practicality of the lift both economically and in terms of mountain operations. Again, I think your doing a great job with Sugarbush and I look forward to returning. Thanks.
 

shpride

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The past two years I have hit up Sugarbush during late April. I have really enjoyed myself, and applaud you for keeping the mountain open so late. These were the first times skiing there, and the only reason I decided to head up the first year is because you were still open. I now plan on heading up there sometime this winter for a few days because I want to try out the rest of the mountain. Do you feel that keeping the mountain open late is working as a way to promote SB skiers like me? Do you plan on continuing this trend of staying open as late in the season as possible?
 

deadheadskier

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Will Mount Ellen receive consideration next season for being the spring skiing operations center? Without getting into specifics, do you feel that having these operations at Lincoln the past few seasons has had a significant financial benefit compared with Mt. Ellen?
 

Greg

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I already know of some in the works, but do you have any plans to offer reciprocal benefits to pass holders from other mountains? Any details yet?
 

thetrailboss

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Could you comment generally as to how cat skiing operations went this season? And any thoughts as to lowering the price or making it easier for a couple or individual to enjoy spring cat skiing at Mount Ellen? I only know of one cat skiing trip at Mount Ellen this spring, and while I can appreciate the overhead, adjusting the price downwards might entice more people to do it.

And a perennial question: how are the reliability problems with North Ridge Express going? Last season it did not seem to be down as often.

If early season skiing is to stay at Lincoln Peak for the time being, any thoughts about blowing snow on Heaven's Gate Traverse so as to have two routes from Superbravo to Heaven's Gate? Only having Downspout makes for very crowded and dangerous skiing at times.

And during early season skiing, there was a college or high school team that set up gates on Organgrinder. This made for a dangerous situation with such limited terrain open. In general the racing scene keeps to their areas, but I must say that having Spring Fling closed so often for races really restricts where folks can go. Any thoughts at to how to better share the terrain with racers?

When can we expect Mount Ellen's winch cat to be repaired?

Thanks.
 

jaytrem

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Thanks for taking the challenge, and thanks for taking such great care of one of my favorite ski areas.

I was just wondering if there's ever been any thought of adding a mid-station to the Slidebrook chair? If so, do you think there would be much opposition from the USFS or various environmental groups? I always thought adding a mid-station near the brook would be an inexpensive way to make that chair a lot more useful. It would definitely change the slack-country experience, not sure for the better or worse.
 

deadheadskier

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Thanks for taking the challenge, and thanks for taking such great care of one of my favorite ski areas.

I was just wondering if there's ever been any thought of adding a mid-station to the Slidebrook chair? If so, do you think there would be much opposition from the USFS or various environmental groups? I always thought adding a mid-station near the brook would be an inexpensive way to make that chair a lot more useful. It would definitely change the slack-country experience, not sure for the better or worse.

The naturalists would be against this, but I think this is a WAY cool idea.
 

thetrailboss

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The naturalists would be against this, but I think this is a WAY cool idea.

Was going to say the same thing. You have not spent much time in Vermont, have you? It took a lot to get SBX installed--Les Otten had to give up developing the Slide Brook area and agree to only run the lift certain months of the year so as not to interfere with bear habitat.
 

BushMogulMaster

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When can we expect Mount Ellen's winch cat to be repaired?

Not to speak for Win, but I can answer this one and get it out of the way. The new wire rope winch cable was ordered, and the winch will be operable on day one this season. Although, the machine is much more efficient and effective (and much better to run) without the winch on it. As a result, the goal is to operate without the winch mounted as much as possible. But our esteemed mechanics have come up with a pretty slick system for mounting and removing the winch, so we can easily mount it up for the nights that we need it, and take it back off for regular grooming ops.
 

jaytrem

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Was going to say the same thing. You have not spent much time in Vermont, have you? It took a lot to get SBX installed--Les Otten had to give up developing the Slide Brook area and agree to only run the lift certain months of the year so as not to interfere with bear habitat.

When asking a question in a Q&A like this, I figure some people reading don't know all the details about the given subject, so I tried to phrase my question without any assumed knowledge. In reality,yeah, I know there would be some opposition, duh!!!
 

thetrailboss

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When asking a question in a Q&A like this, I figure some people reading don't know all the details about the given subject, so I tried to phrase my question without any assumed knowledge. In reality,yeah, I know there would be some opposition, duh!!!

Well, there's opposition, and opposition in Vermont. The two are very different. :wink:
 

deadheadskier

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You have not spent much time in Vermont, have you?

Pretty much every family vacation since I was 9, family home there since 12, went to high school in Southern Vermont, UVM grad, several years living in either Burlington or Stowe.......spent more time in VT than any other state actually. ;)

I definitely understand the environmental gestapo in VT. Can't build a bird house without an Act 250 permit.


Still would be WAY cool. Essentially would make for what? Two thousand acres of easy access slack country?

yes please
 

jaytrem

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Pretty much every family vacation since I was 9, family home there since 12, went to high school in Southern Vermont, UVM grad, several years living in either Burlington or Stowe.......spent more time in VT than any other state actually. ;)

I definitely understand the environmental gestapo in VT. Can't build a bird house without an Act 250 permit.

I think he was talking to me. But that is a lot of VT time. I did ski 102 days in VT one year while going to school in NJ. Didn't miss a single class. :)
 

thetrailboss

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Not to speak for Win, but I can answer this one and get it out of the way. The new wire rope winch cable was ordered, and the winch will be operable on day one this season. Although, the machine is much more efficient and effective (and much better to run) without the winch on it. As a result, the goal is to operate without the winch mounted as much as possible. But our esteemed mechanics have come up with a pretty slick system for mounting and removing the winch, so we can easily mount it up for the nights that we need it, and take it back off for regular grooming ops.

Nice. But I thought you needed the winchcat to groom Inverness?
 

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Win,

Thanks for stepping up to the plate and answering a lineup (1-9 and a few extras depending on lefty/righty matchups) of these questions.

Terrain questions:

Any updates on whether you intend to pursue developing the peak above Inverness within the next few years?

Any news about the state of the forest in the midmountain after the storm? Is there a call for volunteers to remove the deadfall, or does the mountain ops take care of it?

Will the Valley House be running more than in the last few years passed? The VH is pretty much my favorite area for lift line free skiing on a crowded or cold weekend, when it isn't running I am pretty bummed. Many people, not just in my family feel this way, Mall mega-laps are sweet. Actually, there could be a nice vertical challenge over there too.

Cheap skier questions:

When will you announce the details of the improved SugarCard for this year?

Will SB participate in the Mobil fill up for lift tickets again this year? I had friends that would join me after the multitude of gallons in years past, but last year it wasn't valid on weekends or not at all. Either way, that deal really opened their eyes (from Summit Colorado no less) at the quality of the snow and woods at Sugarbush Vermont.

Any deals like Jay has for passholders of other mountains?

Hospitality Question:

Would you consider keeping the Gatehouse Bar open later so people can drink beer and eat chili into the evening and enjoy the wifi, bands, etc? The crowd has been impressive at the bar on big nights, and I think more people would go if it could be more a part of the visiting routine.

Ownership Questions:

How has owning Sugarbush differed from how you would have expected it to be? Is there the potential for a Moneyball style book about the ski industry? What areas does SB management see as the biggest problems within SB and what are you working hardest to fix if none of the questions in this thread address it.

General Skiing Afficionado Question:

Have you considered lending a hand to save Magic?



Thanks, I'm looking forward to all of your answers as usual and another year in the Mad River Valley. Also, I'd like to complement all of the lifties, groomers, cashiers, bartenders, and patrol that really made SB stand out compared to many of the other mountains I hit this year. See you in the winter.
 

deadheadskier

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Question for win


When will you be hiring Mr. Matt Lucas? The man has some excellent questions.......especially the terrain pod above Inverness that was once on a map......looks killer and would really balance out the Ellen and Lincoln areas well where as now the Lincoln side sees the lionshare of focus.
 
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