billski
Active member
I think there is a general problem with driving SOUTH. I understand. Your psychologist would understand.
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Ascutney Said to be in Financial Turmoil
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
riverc0il
New member
I drove south to ski five times last year. Three of those times further south than Ascutney.I think there is a general problem with driving SOUTH. I understand. Your psychologist would understand.
marcski
Active member
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I was only at ascutney one time when I was a kid in the 70's. Like everyone else, I pass by it all the time and to be honest just have no desire or reason to go there.
billski
Active member
I hear ya abc.
Most small areas continue to operate uneventfully until they change hands. Often they were the original owners. the other characteristic is a PASSION for the sport. The passionate owners FIND a way to survive, dammit! I'll put Berkshire East and Black Mt. NH in that category for starters. I'm happy to see Berkshire East is still in the family.
New owners are often burdened with such debt they are forced to move off of first base and "maximize the asset investment" instead of being focused on the sport.
IMO, skiing is what you make of it. You can have a lot of fun at a small area if you adjust your expectations and adjust your program to match the terrain. Problem is, too many people drank the cool-aid and want a really low-stress, no surprise holiday.
It's too bad that on so many hills these days, you have to employ a "work the mountain" strategy to avoid crowds. It sure is nice to show up at Black, any time, and simply call your shots anywhere you want, without a care in the world.
Bill
Most small areas continue to operate uneventfully until they change hands. Often they were the original owners. the other characteristic is a PASSION for the sport. The passionate owners FIND a way to survive, dammit! I'll put Berkshire East and Black Mt. NH in that category for starters. I'm happy to see Berkshire East is still in the family.
New owners are often burdened with such debt they are forced to move off of first base and "maximize the asset investment" instead of being focused on the sport.
IMO, skiing is what you make of it. You can have a lot of fun at a small area if you adjust your expectations and adjust your program to match the terrain. Problem is, too many people drank the cool-aid and want a really low-stress, no surprise holiday.
It's too bad that on so many hills these days, you have to employ a "work the mountain" strategy to avoid crowds. It sure is nice to show up at Black, any time, and simply call your shots anywhere you want, without a care in the world.
Bill
I've never skied Ascutney depsite driven by it a few times. But it's got nothing to do with the condition...
I've simply not heard of Ascutney until I signed up on alpinezone!
Further more, up to about 2 years ago, I count myself as one of those "family skiers". Even though I don't have a family that skis,I was nonetheless only interested in "big" mountains with a high trail counts.
It wasn't until 2 years ago I saw a deal at Pico and gave it a try. It changed my perception of "smaller" areas! Since then, I've begun a slowly but surely "tour" of all the smaller, perhaps less well-groomed but definitely un-crowded mounatains. Ascutney was on my list but sadly I never got around to it before it closes.
I KNOW I'm not the only one who have that preference. In fact, I've steered a few of my co-workers towards some of these smaller gems and got good feed back. What I see as a shame is, mountains don't seem to be able to survive without putting a huge army of skiers on limited trails so they run each other over 3 times! So as much as I wanted to ski in a less-crowded place, they're slowing being driven out of business.
Maybe lift-served skiing is just too expensive. Maybe I should just stick to x-c skiing!
billski
Active member
I drove south to ski five times last year. Three of those times further south than Ascutney.
abc
Well-known member
Hahaha!
If I want a no-surprise holiday, I'd stay home and watch the grass grow!
OK, I'm an adrenalin junky. But aren't the majority of skiers too?
billski
Active member
Hahaha!
If I want a no-surprise holiday, I'd stay home and watch the grass grow!
OK, I'm an adrenalin junky. But aren't the majority of skiers too?
You might be surprised. People come at this sport for a whole myriad of reasons, only one of them be adrenalin. I have never seen percentages, but the reasons vary considerably. If that was not the case, why else would the Snow East survey end up the way it did?
x10003q
Active member
You really need to get over to Gore.
billski
Active member
Yeah, I do. At 4.5 hours from my house (farther than the 'Loaf), it's gonna have to be on a Superfecta tour though. That tour will have to include Titus, Whiteface and some turns with Warp over at Tupper!
SteveInCT
New member
What a shame, but I guessed they were in trouble last year. I skied there twice last season and it cost me next to nothing. I found a deal on the deal thread last year for buy one get one and then it was discounted to 50% off.. so it was 2 lift passes for $31! I mean seriously, $15.50 a ticket right off the highway? I decided to try it. How could I not? I really liked the mountain and the pitch. The high speed lift was operating, there were no crowds or lift lines, and it was a weekend day both times.
As some mentioned, the problem was snow-making. The mountain was not 100% open either time I went. Ok, the first time is the only one that counts because it was on Feb. 21 -- right in the middle of the season! The second time was on 3/21 and I was skiing in a tee shirt. To be fair, it was a very warm week and they closed up shortly after that visit.
I hope someone purchases that mountain soon and puts some cash into the snow-making. If the lift sells, it will probably never come back from the dead. Too bad.
As some mentioned, the problem was snow-making. The mountain was not 100% open either time I went. Ok, the first time is the only one that counts because it was on Feb. 21 -- right in the middle of the season! The second time was on 3/21 and I was skiing in a tee shirt. To be fair, it was a very warm week and they closed up shortly after that visit.
I hope someone purchases that mountain soon and puts some cash into the snow-making. If the lift sells, it will probably never come back from the dead. Too bad.
xwhaler
Active member
Went to Ascutney a few yrs ago when they gave away a voucher with the Warren Miller movie. Prior to that I had never really given Ascutney any thought.
We had a lot of fun. The mtn had probably gotten 8" overnight and everything was open and hardly any grooming had taken place which I loved.
The quad was running, albeit very slowly. As others have mentioned the terrain is pretty legit in an unsuspecting way. Certainly, with improved snowmaking enough to get a consistent base down, the terrain is easily good enough to challenge even the best skiers out there.
The lodge was terribly outdated but the village area with on-mtn condos seemd like a good place to bring a family who didn't want to pay inflated prices for a ski vacation reative to okemo, stratton, etc.
I really think the issue is marketing here. Beyond the snowmaking which I think is somewhat subjective and variable depending on who you talk to, it really comes down to marketing.
How many ppl in this thread have simply stated that they hadn;t heard of Ascutney or had reason to visit?
Yet we all mention the terrain is good, the crowds are low and the tickets are less than some of the local competition.
I think it comes down to awareness.....Ascutney could do well to market themselves as a viable alternative to the more expensive crowded 'mc-resorts' but I think more importantly, could start to play up the terrain among more hardcore skiiers.
I liked my visit there and do think, if marketed properly, can get past some of the fixed issues (lack of snowfall, local competition) etc that they can't control.
We had a lot of fun. The mtn had probably gotten 8" overnight and everything was open and hardly any grooming had taken place which I loved.
The quad was running, albeit very slowly. As others have mentioned the terrain is pretty legit in an unsuspecting way. Certainly, with improved snowmaking enough to get a consistent base down, the terrain is easily good enough to challenge even the best skiers out there.
The lodge was terribly outdated but the village area with on-mtn condos seemd like a good place to bring a family who didn't want to pay inflated prices for a ski vacation reative to okemo, stratton, etc.
I really think the issue is marketing here. Beyond the snowmaking which I think is somewhat subjective and variable depending on who you talk to, it really comes down to marketing.
How many ppl in this thread have simply stated that they hadn;t heard of Ascutney or had reason to visit?
Yet we all mention the terrain is good, the crowds are low and the tickets are less than some of the local competition.
I think it comes down to awareness.....Ascutney could do well to market themselves as a viable alternative to the more expensive crowded 'mc-resorts' but I think more importantly, could start to play up the terrain among more hardcore skiiers.
I liked my visit there and do think, if marketed properly, can get past some of the fixed issues (lack of snowfall, local competition) etc that they can't control.
billski
Active member
For good or bad, I think Magic may benefit from the no-op Ascutney status. Specifically for those on a budget with no need for a full "spa resort" experience.
jrmagic
New member
I don't that is entirely correct. Yes skier visits are important but if you have good maangement that hs a plan and carefully manages expenses , a smaller mountain can survive and not be overly crowded. Magic is a good example. They cut their schedule to operate on holiday weeks, Friday through Monday for non holiday periods and mid week powder days and they spent this expected savings on making more snow early in the season and during the season. As a result they had a better product on the mountian and a nice increase in skier visits and the mountian is still not crowded at all.
killtoski
New member
I probably skied 50 days here over the years, before and after the HSQ, I'm a second homeowner and had a house in Chester, VT at the time. Had a couple of season passes here when they were like $300 and I'd buy additional discount tickets at Okemo & Killington. It was a good area when I had friends up because they could ski there cheap and stay together. The kids or beginners could just stay on the lower lift. The trails were pretty steep and windy, similar to Magic in many ways. I feel this area is way more viable then Magic, better lift, better lodge, better parking, better snowmaking (Magic barley has any) but conditions here are usually firm. When I bought that house, I could have purchased Magic Mtn for about $200K. The new HSQ never really opened up much new terrain and you'd get off the lift and it would be just a sheet of ice until you got down a few 100 vertical. This expense is probably what did the area in, they should have just kept the old lift and kept the ticket prices low, I figure the HSQ and marketing added at least $10 to the ticket price and most times they ran the lift slow, don't forget they also had to bring the snowmaking further up. I think money spent on better snowmaking and grooming would have been money better spent, and kept them out of debt. I had more vertical than anything in MA, CT, NJ, PA and most NY areas. Its a shame, I haven't been there in about 5-6 years, but even if they were still open, I probably wouldn't go back, there are just so many better choices for the same or less drive. They figured they could make a transformation like Okemo did, maybe the Mullers' should pick up the pieces.
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Bump.
Looks like the HSQ is staying. For now. Might make it a better resort to lease/buy? Still time for this coming season....
Looks like the HSQ is staying. For now. Might make it a better resort to lease/buy? Still time for this coming season....
So where's Burke getting their lift from?
Masskier
New member
They are buying new from Leitner-Poma.
ah, must have missed that somewhere. wasn't following that closely.
You haven't missed anything as Burke has not said a word and we are only kicking around second-hand information in the Burke thread.
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