Ascutney Mountain Sold!

[4aprice]

Ascutney's just not really a good mountain for a ski area. It's a Monadnock. As stated it gets much less snow then the Green Mountain spine to its west. Road improvements have made getting to other areas easier (despite being close to 91 Ascutney was not easy to get to). To me it lost a lot of its charm with the HSQ addition. Skiing is consolidating into bigger more concentrated areas and I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[xwhaler]

When I skied there in '07 the HSQ was running but slowly. The story I heard was that something to do with the electronic signaling equipment was never invested in or in need of repair which prevented the HSQ from running at full speed.
Amazing when you ride that lift at Crotched now how fast and smooth it is...they have it dialed in.

 

[Nick]

I had this show up in my news feed the other day but forgot to come talk about it. I don't think I"ve ever skied Ascutney. I guess I have this default setting where watching a ski area shut down is kinda sad, but not having skied it I don't really know about it as an area to much.

I'm guessing because it has trails cut it's probably pretty awesome for the BC guys?

 

[thetrailboss]

When I skied there in '07 the HSQ was running but slowly. The story I heard was that something to do with the electronic signaling equipment was never invested in or in need of repair which prevented the HSQ from running at full speed.
Amazing when you ride that lift at Crotched now how fast and smooth it is...they have it dialed in.

That's what I heard as well. They did not spend the extra cash on something to make it operate at full speed.

 

[mbedle]

Ascutney Mountain

Not sure if there is already a post on this (assuming there is). If so, sorry. Looks like the town of West Windsor may try to buy the resort to preserve the land. The also want to maintain the biking trails and maybe open the remaining lift. I'm sure its great news for the people that live/own homes on the mountain.

http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=155

 

[SIKSKIER]

There is another thread but its the same one as this.:smash:

 

[Smellytele]

stuttering thread posting

 

[thetrailboss]

Not sure if there is already a post on this (assuming there is). If so, sorry. Looks like the town of West Windsor may try to buy the resort to preserve the land. The also want to maintain the biking trails and maybe open the remaining lift. I'm sure its great news for the people that live/own homes on the mountain.

http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=155

So only one lift remains? Sad.

 

[thetrailboss]

Looks like Pats Peak bought the remaining CTEC Triple chairs.....

http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=144

Regrettably, the last lift is on the far left....

http://www.chairlift.org/ascutney.html

A 1970 Hall Double.

 

[Smellytele]

Looks like Pats Peak bought the remaining CTEC Triple chairs.....

http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=144

Regrettably, the last lift is on the far left....

http://www.chairlift.org/ascutney.html

A 1970 Hall Double.

Trying to see what Pats plans are for the triples.

 

[tree_skier]

Looks like its been a slow sad death to a place I called my home Mountain from 67-78

 

[skiNEwhere]

Skied Ascutney a few times, wasn't my favorite but I did enjoy myself. Always sad to see a resort close though The sale of these lifts will make it that much harder to ever find a buyer

 

[Nick]

I know I skied it but I really can't recall it that well. I think they still paraglide from there.

 

[hammer]

Trying to see what Pats plans are for the triples.

Could they be used to replace the existing doubles? Just hope that they aren't slower...

 

[bobbutts]

The double and the trails it services are better than they look on the map there, but it's not much of a pod. The triple chair with midstation was the right lift for this hill.

 

[thetrailboss]

The double and the trails it services are better than they look on the map there, but it's not much of a pod. The triple chair with midstation was the right lift for this hill.

Agreed that it's unfortunate that the lift that gave them the best chance of reopening (ever) is now gone.

 

[skiNEwhere]

I hate to say it, but I don't see how Ascutney could have ever been profitable.

4 hours from NYC, Stratton is about the same distance and offers more.
2.25 hr's from Boston, have a few areas in MA and NH in that distance with more options. Driving 20 minutes further coming from Boston, you could hit killington.
Albany, NY closer to Mt. Snow
Springfield, MA about the same distance from Mt. Snow and Ascutney.

IIRC, Ascutney had low snowfall compared to nearby neighbors. Not to mention, not having a high-speed lift for a long time may have steered some people away. Then when they did install the HSQ, they didn't get more skier visits so what they were hoping to become an asset turned into their biggest liability.

That trail at the top got super icy as well, to the point where they probably lost people coming back for a second time.

They had some good terrain, but nothing overly difficult. If they had a chance in surviving, I think they would've had to accomplish it by expanding their marketing and adding off the hill activities. Because there location was about as bad as it gets.

 

[thetrailboss]

I hate to say it, but I don't see how Ascutney could have ever been profitable.

4 hours from NYC, Stratton is about the same distance and offers more.
2.25 hr's from Boston, have a few areas in MA and NH in that distance with more options. Driving 20 minutes further coming from Boston, you could hit killington.
Albany, NY closer to Mt. Snow
Springfield, MA about the same distance from Mt. Snow and Ascutney.

IIRC, Ascutney had low snowfall compared to nearby neighbors. Not to mention, not having a high-speed lift for a long time may have steered some people away. Then when they did install the HSQ, they didn't get more skier visits so what they were hoping to become an asset turned into their biggest liability.

That trail at the top got super icy as well, to the point where they probably lost people coming back for a second time.

They had some good terrain, but nothing overly difficult. If they had a chance in surviving, I think they would've had to accomplish it by expanding their marketing and adding off the hill activities. Because there location was about as bad as it gets.

Agree on all points; add that their ownership and management were not very good at all. They had a lot of turnover. Burned a lot of bridges. I've raised this point regarding a mountain near and dear to me that is up Interstate 91 from Ascutney whose management and ownership is the same if not worse than Ascutney's.

 

[skiNEwhere]

Agree on all points; add that their ownership and management were not very good at all. They had a lot of turnover. Burned a lot of bridges. I've raised this point regarding a mountain near and dear to me that is up Interstate 91 from Ascutney whose management and ownership is the same if not worse than Ascutney's.

I'm assuming you're talking about Burke.

A general trend I've noticed over the years is that it is hard to generate large profit margins without generating tourism revenue. It is even harder to break even if in attempts to generate tourism revenue you piss off the locals. Granted, locals are NEVER happy; they're either pissed off or content, but the minute you alienate enough of your local base, is when you go belly up.

This belongs in the Burke thread, but I thought I remember hearing they had like 4 different owners in 20 years. While the management may be taking what most people perceive to be the wrong course of action, I think anyone from a business point of view should at least realize that the previous business model wasn't working and something needed to be changed.

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm assuming you're talking about Burke.

A general trend I've noticed over the years is that it is hard to generate large profit margins without generating tourism revenue. It is even harder to break even if in attempts to generate tourism revenue you piss off the locals. Granted, locals are NEVER happy; they're either pissed off or content, but the minute you alienate enough of your local base, is when you go belly up.

This belongs in the Burke thread, but I thought I remember hearing they had like 4 different owners in 20 years. While the management may be taking what most people perceive to be the wrong course of action, I think anyone from a business point of view should at least realize that the previous business model wasn't working and something needed to be changed.

Your assessment is fairly accurate. In terms of ownership since 1993 or so for Burke:

Current ownership (since 2012): enough said.
Ownership Group "A": 2005-2012. Ran into the real estate bubble. Was doing fine, but decided to sell to cut losses.
Ownership Group "B": 2000-2005. Temporary ownership--"Guardian Angel". Management kept things going. Community very invested.
Ownership Group "C": 1995-2000. Group of four or five international investors that ran out of money. Weather, economy to blame.
Ownership Group "D": 1991-1995. Bought mountain to launder money. (Enough said).

So yes some of what they were doing "didn't work", some was just bad luck I guess.