AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge: Attitash Bear Peak

[Greg]

Sven Cole from Attitash Bear Peak also agreed to take the AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge! This is your chance to get official answers to your ski-related questions direct from a Northeast ski resort representative! Please post some suggested questions in this thread and I'll select ten to present for official responses.

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

Ask away!

 

[riverc0il]

during my one and only day skiing at attitash, i noticed that the summit triple is really slow. are there plans to upgrade this lift eventually to a faster fixed grip and if so, how would this effect the "over the quad" pass that happens a third of the way up?

greg-just an observation here: it seems we're getting an aweful lot of new challenges without having some of the older one's answered yet. perhaps it would be better to drag things out a bit more so that this lasts the entire summer! just one more skiing related distraction to keep our minds off the lack of snow

 

[Greg]

greg-just an observation here: it seems we're getting an aweful lot of new challenges without having some of the older one's answered yet. perhaps it would be better to drag things out a bit more so that this lasts the entire summer! just one more skiing related distraction to keep our minds off the lack of snow

Hi Steve. A number of reps have questions in hand, but it can take time to answer them completely, especially if they need to consult with other staff. Also, many people in the Industry take vacations this time of year. My goal here is to get as many resorts participating as possible, and if I wait too long into the summer, these folks will then be busy planning for the '04/'05 season. I also believe that as more resorts participate, those that have declined or are reluctant to participate will decide to. There are plenty of ski areas to keep us busy this summer. I'm also hopeful we can renew this each summer to give other forum members the chance to ask new questions of resorts that have already participated. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[eatskisleep]

I am hoping you will continue to add more Downhill biking trails. You will right?

 

[teachski]

I've only been to Attitash a couple of times, but both times there was a considerable amount of ice...both times were also in what is generally mid-season and at a time where glorious groomed powdery days were observed at other nearby areas. Is icing a frequent problem at Attitash and what if anything is being done to address this issue?

What ever happened to the proposed Minirail line to the summit that is on a Pre-1967 trail map, was it ever built? If so, how long did it operate and when was it removed?

Assuming that Bear Peak was a ski area before it became part of Attitash and what year did the two merge?

 

[Monkey Boy]

Would love to see Partmagan at least with half the trail from top to bottom with bumps on it. Are there any plans for cutting some new glade trails? Any plans to set up a rope tow for the half pipe and or the terrain park?

 

[Greg]

Would love to see Partmagan at least with half the trail from top to bottom with bumps on it. Are there any plans for cutting some new glade trails? Any plans to set up a rope tow for the half pipe and or the terrain park?

Thanks for the questions, Monkey. And welcome to the forums!

 

[thetrailboss]

Ice and Glades

I was an ASC All East passholder in 2000-2001 and visited Attitash a couple times. I was impressed with your early season conditions, but I too noted that you had a lot of ice in January 2001 when I visited. This could be due to the terrain or traffic. I also noted that you seemed to sit on the wrong side of the snowbelt and thus the glades were bare. What have you done since to try and compensate for the ice and lack of snow in the glades?

 

[Joshua B]

I don't think anybody had skiable glades in Jan.

 

[trailbiscuit]

Re: Ice and Glades

What have you done since to try and compensate for the ice and lack of snow in the glades?

Um...you could get out there and shovel.
Two points:
1. Glades are designed to be "all natural' skiing experiences, i.e. no grooming and no snowmaking.
2. It is practically impossible to make snow in a glade. (OK, it could theoretically be done, but the amount of snow needed [because the majority of it would stick to the side of the trees] and the time to complete the job would probably race lift ticket prices to around $376.)

Those supposed "glades" at Sunday River on OZ that have snowmaking are just trails with two or three trees left in the middle.

 

[thetrailboss]

Um...you could get out there and shovel.
Two points:
1. Glades are designed to be "all natural' skiing experiences, i.e. no grooming and no snowmaking.
2. It is practically impossible to make snow in a glade. (OK, it could theoretically be done, but the amount of snow needed [because the majority of it would stick to the side of the trees] and the time to complete the job would probably race lift ticket prices to around $376

Yes, I have skied for fifteen years, Trailbiscuit, I know what glades are. With that said, my question had to do with if they were going to take the Glades off of the trail list, but still have them on the map (like they have done at Pat's Peak and other places...they are not counted in the trail count). There are a lot of places that are no longer suited for glade skiing due to the lack of snow.

Some places have made snow in their "glades" including Bretton Woods (some of the easier glades). However, I will have a hard time accepting that these examples are truly "glades."

 

[Greg]

Will you offer the combined Attitash/Sunday River season pass again for the 2004/2005 season? What will it cost?

Are there any terrain expansion plans for the 2004/2005 ski season? Are there any infrastructure improvements/upgrades in the works, e.g. lifts, facilities, etc.?

In terms of overall skiing experience, what other Northeast ski areas does Attitash most resemble? Why?

 

[trailbiscuit]

That's pretty surprising that Pats Peak actually took trails off the map. Good for them for being honest. Being an ASC resort, I wouldn't expect Attitash to do the same. (This is not an ASC bash, but from personal experience.)

I didn't know that Bretton Woods had made snow in their glades...must have been expensive. I would like to have seen how successful that was. But, with a hotel across the street they can probably afford it.

Sorry to wander of topic...

 

[Greg]

I shipped ten questions off to Sven.

 

[Greg]

Sven's responses are in!

http://skiing.alpinezone.com/articles/challenge/response.htm?resort=attitash

 

[Joshua B]

These are really good, non-evasive, seemingly honest answers.

 

[riverc0il]

cheers to sven for the answers!

although, i gotta disagree with uphillklimer on his assessment of the clientelle of attitash. i only skied there once (last ski year) but on the day i skied i found a lot of rude skiers/boarders (mostly youngsters), but no more than i'd expect to find at any of the other 'resorts'. which is no slant against the mountain itself which does indeed have an excellent and professional staff running the show.

 

[riverc0il]

ah, this is good to hear!

 

[Greg]

Before I go any further I should point out that rarely do you encounter ice at most ski resorts. Firm snow or boiler plate- yes, but ice- rarely. I point this out because as a ski area marketing guy we get accused of over using the term “packed powder”, which may be true- but I would argue that most skiers and boarders over use the term “ice”.

Well said! This is so true. Rarely does one encounter large areas of ice that simply cannot be avoided. Variable conditions found in the Northeast is what makes it so challenging (read: fun) to ski here.

 

[riverc0il]

yea, word. i hate seeing or hearing the word "ice" when people are really referring to scraped or skied off conditions. ice simply isn't skiable except by the very very most elite skiers (read: pro downhill skiers and the like). on the very very rare occasion i've "skied" over legit ice at a ski area, you just hold on for everything your worth and look for something edgable to slow your impending doom. although, beginner and intermediate skiers may often feel this way when skiing scraped or skied off conditions, thus the usage of ice. but scraped and skied off conditions is very skible if you use proper technique (though not much fun to be honest, but it's doable).

sven's honesty in overusing the term packed powder is to be commended! i'd prefer to see the word "groomed" used - cause that's what ski areas generally mean when they use the word packed powder. groomed is usually packed snow, not packed pow. true packed pow is incredible to ski on... i may get to ski packed pow one third of my ski days total and almost exclusively i find this trail condition on natural snow trails where the pow has actually been packed.