AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge: Loon Mountain

[Greg]

Susan Watson from Loon Mountain 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 Susan and keep it civil. Also, please refrain from asking specifics about skier visit numbers, financials, demographic information, etc. Loon and Booth Creek need to be discrete about certain information.

Ask away!

 

[Greg]

Here are my two questions:

1. What is the status of the South Mountain project? What opposition have you encountered? Has construction of this expansion begun? When will it be completed? What features can be expected (trails, vertical drop, lifts, etc.)? How close to downtown Lincoln will the base of this area be?
2. I understand Loon uses standard grooming equipment to "make" very evenly spaced mogul fields on intermediate trails such as Sunset and Rumrunner. Are there any plans to expand this approach to more trails at Loon?

 

[Joshua B]

Do you limit daily lift ticket sales?

How many cars can be parked at Loon and off site on a given ski day?

 

[salida]

I've got a bunch of questions for the Loon rep.

1. Have you ever thought about lowering lift ticket rates for high school students as there are many mountains that are more affordable? (Not just the threedom either, not everyone only wants to ski at loon, cranmore, and waterville)

2. I have heard about how rude many of the race programs are at your mountain. How they supposedly own the mountain, and how loon does anything to appease them because they bring in a significant amount of money. How can you possibly appease the picky race teams and the public as well? Specifically letting intermediate trails bump up.

3. Since you do not receive a lot of snow, therefore making glades unskiable much of the year. How do you try to appeal to expert skiers with only a few bump runs? Are you going to improve upon this in the future?

4. It seems like the mountain has become more run down in the past. Are there any renovation ideas on the horizon?

porter

 

[Joshua B]

Wow I didn't know about the racing issue at Loon.

These questions seem a little tough, but Greg, let's remember "challenge" is in the title for a reason. Let's not censor the questions or replace them with softball questions if possible.

 

[Greg]

These questions seem a little tough, but Greg, let's remember "challenge" is in the title for a reason. Let's not censor the questions or replace them with softball questions if possible.

I will edit questions to the extent of fixing spelling/grammar, or to clarify a point if I see fit. Also, at times I may merge multiple questions if the premise is similar enough.

I think Porter's questions are fair and it should be interesting to see Susan's responses. Granted, the basis to any question could be boiled down to opinion (e.g. I don't see how Loon has become "run down"). Knowing Susan as well as I do, she will certainly come through with reasonable responses. To that end, she is one of the nicest resort marketing reps that I know, so play nice...

 

[salida]

I did not mean to be rude in my questions. Just to the point. I figured rather than make them wordy it would be easier for everyone if I did not sugar coat things.

In retrospect as well. I do enjoy skiing loon. Especially the second to last day this season. Even though there were rocks and some glare. It was fun skiing with shorts, and having a great atmosphere.

Compliments to the management for making loon an excellent ski area, with a few minor complications that I stated in my questions.

Thanks,

porter

 

[Joshua B]

It seems to me the one person who might not have played nice no longer posts here.

 

[Stephen]

It seems to me the one person who might not have played nice no longer posts here.

At least not under that name... :roll:

But we digress.

-Stephen

 

[riverc0il]

Loon is located in an area with a large cluster of other resorts competing for skier visits (including Cannon, Bretton Woods, Attitash, Wildcat, Cranmore, Waterville (last two are also BC resorts), Ragged, Tenney, Black, etc. How does Loon approach it's marketing strategy and view itself in relationship to it's competition. (this could be crossing the line into revealing secret business strategy, so refusing this question would in no way violate the spirit of the Challenge, IMO).

Even though Booth Creek owns Waterville and Cranmore, does Loon attempt to compete directly with it's sister mountains? Is each mountain designed to serve a specific clientel?

Loon is notorious for it's weekend crowds which keeps many skiers away on the weekends (myself included) who would be inclided to ski Loon mid-week. Does Loon have a strategy for addressing the overcrowding system aside from opening the new terrain? Will the new terrain disperse the skier traffic or will it increase skier visits negeting it's effect on crowd control.

Thanks!

 

[Greg]

Thanks Steve, for getting us back on track with some great questions!

 

[Greg]

2. I have heard about how rude many of the race programs are at your mountain. How they supposedly own the mountain, and how loon does anything to appease them because they bring in a significant amount of money. How can you possibly appease the picky race teams and the public as well? Specifically letting intermediate trails bump up.

Actually, I am struggling a bit with this question. It seems to be constructed in direct response to a Loon post I recall being posted a few months ago on the FTO board. It was a single altercation by one individual, and my feeling is there may be a bit of generalizing going on. Trust me, I don't want to sugarcoat this, but I think there's a better way to ask it. How about:

There was a discussion this past season on an Internet message board about how rude many of the Loon racers are, how they supposedly own the mountain, and how Loon seems to do anything to appease them because they bring in a significant amount of money. How can you better pacify the picky race teams and the public as well?

Does that wording still capture the essense of the question? Perhaps this opinion of the Loon race program is more common than I'm aware of. If that's the case, please correct me.

 

[riverc0il]

was it even specifically loon's race program? i seem to remember a specific team being mentioned in that FTO thread. in either case, i have only heard of one person complaining about the racing issue as demonstrated in the FTO thread and i think regardless of the Challenge aspect of this event, we would be remise by making an acquasation for which we were not even a party of the altercation. then again, you can read my response on FTO and take what you will from that statement :lol:

i think the best way to ask the question would be:

Racing seems to take up a lot of trail space at Loon and cause hard detours for recreational skiers looking to ski all of the available terrain. What is Loon's policy regarding racing and training and how do they accomodate recreational skiers trying to ski around races and training in progress to access all available terrain? Have there been altercations between racing and training events and the skiing public and how has it be handled?

 

[salida]

The way you guys have rewritten it is fine. However, It was more than an isolated incident. I have had the New Hampton Prep School race program be rude to me as well while skiing at loon. Yes however it was a complaint of a posters on the FTO board as well. Its not really a big deal, I was just wondering how loon attempts to counteract the differences between supplying terrain to racers and recreational skiers. Sorry, that my question was worded rudely. I didn't mean it to be offensive. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask the reps questions about their mountains. Reword any of my question to fit the circumstances better, I give you free reign on them.

Thanks

porter

 

[Greg]

Porter - if you think Steve's rewording captures the essence of your question, I'll use that. It's not so much a question of being rude, but rather wording that immediately puts the respondent on the defensive. For example, for your fourth question, I will use some variation of simply, "Are there any renovation ideas on the horizon?".

 

[Oakley]

Perhaps Susan should just register and answer the questions directly in the forum(without the editing/sugarcoating/softballing)? :idea:

 

[Greg]

I shipped these questions over to Susan this morning:

1 - What is the status of the South Mountain project? What opposition have you encountered? Has construction of this expansion begun? When will it be completed? What features can be expected (trails, vertical drop, lifts, etc.)? How close to downtown Lincoln will the base of this area be?

2 - I understand Loon uses standard grooming equipment to "make" very evenly spaced mogul fields on intermediate trails such as Sunset and Rumrunner. Are there any plans to expand this approach to more blue trails at Loon?

3 - Do you limit daily lift ticket sales?

4 - How many cars can be parked at Loon and off site on a given ski day?

5 - Since you do not receive a lot of snow, therefore making glades unskiable much of the year. How do you try to appeal to expert skiers with only a few bump runs? Are you going to improve upon this in the future?

6 - Are there any renovation plans aside from the South Mountain project on the horizon?

7 - Loon is located in an area with a large cluster of other resorts competing for skier visits (including Cannon, Bretton Woods, Attitash, Wildcat, Cranmore, Waterville [last two are also BC resorts], Ragged, Tenney, Black, etc). How does Loon approach its marketing strategy, and view itself in relationship to its competition?

8 - Even though Booth Creek Resorts owns Waterville Valley and Cranmore, does Loon attempt to compete directly with its sister mountains? Is each mountain designed to serve a specific clientele?

9 - Loon is notorious for its weekend crowds which keep many skiers (myself included) who would be more inclined to ski Loon mid-week away on the weekends. Does Loon have a strategy for addressing the overcrowding situation aside from opening the new terrain? Will the new terrain disperse the skier traffic or will it increase skier visits negating its effect on crowd control?

10 - Racing seems to take up a lot of trail space at Loon and causes hard detours for recreational skiers looking to ski all of the available terrain. What is Loon's policy regarding racing and training and how do they accommodate recreational skiers trying to ski around races and training in progress to access all available terrain? Have there been altercations between racing and training events and the skiing public and how has it be handled?

 

[Greg]

Perhaps Susan should just register and answer the questions directly in the forum(without the editing/sugarcoating/softballing)? :idea:

Obviously ski area marketing folks are busy people, and many don't have the time or desire to visit, much less post on Internet message boards. I'm sure you could imagine the type of debates that could ensue between a ski area rep and a message board user. Luckily, MOST of the members here are pretty civil so in the event that other reps do start to post here, I'm guessing the exchanges would remain pretty mature for the most part. I only know of two ski area reps that do post here, but it's more the exception than the rule.

The AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge was developed to provide a structured way for the general skiing public to ask specific questions of resort reps. It's been working pretty well so far and we've got some great information. That simple fact is it's a "safe" form of dialogue and it's better than having no form of correspondence with people in the Northeast ski industry, IMHO.

 

[Greg]

Susan contacted me and indicated this may take some time. She want to confer with some other staff on some of these and many folks take vacation this time of year. BTW, she indicated the question are excellent, and both tough and fair.

 

[salida]

Thanks Greg,

Those questions look great. Sorry for my directness. I'll try harder next time to make the questions less offensive.

Thanks porter