Ascutney Said to be in Financial Turmoil

[thetrailboss]

Any new developments here?

 

[billski]

UCE EDWARDS
Staff Writer - Published: July 8, 2011

Ascutney Mountain Resort's high-speed quad won't find a new home at Burke Mountain.

Tim McGuire, Burke Mountain vice president and general manager, said in an email Friday that the northern Vermont resort is not interested in purchasing the chairlift at the defunct West Windsor ski area.

Financial problems forced Ascutney to close after the 2009-2010 ski season. Steven and Susan Plausteiner, Ascutney's former owners, and Dan Purjes, the resort's major creditor, are engaged in a lengthy legal battle in civil court in Windsor County.

A lawyer involved in the case said the court in March gave the go-ahead to sell the 6,000-foot long lift for $1.55 million.

Burke Mountain had expressed interest in buying the lift. But in addition to the sale price, the purchase would require the buying ski area to pay for the dismantling, transportation and reinstallation of the lift.

McGuire said previously that a new high-speed quad would cost between $5 million and $6 million.

In his email, McGuire said the resort is planning "many improvements" for the summer but he did not say whether those plans include a high-speed lift.

In an interview in May, McGuire said putting in a high-speed quad was a priority for the resort. In April, Burke received an Act 250 land use permit for the project. He said a high-speed lift would reduce travel time to the summit from 12 to 14 minutes, down to six minutes.

The loss of Ascutney's high-speed quad would make it more difficult to sell the resort, a ski industry official has said, leaving the resort with no access to the summit. Ascutney, one of the state's smaller ski areas, has 57 trails and five lifts.

source: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110708/THISJUSTIN/110709967

 

[thetrailboss]

So I wonder if this signals that Ascutney will reopen?

 

[orangegondola]

I was in brownsville this weekend. Local group close to a deal apparently. Quad need a ton of work.

 

[thetrailboss]

I was in brownsville this weekend. Local group close to a deal apparently. Quad need a ton of work.

Good to hear that they may reopen. Bad that the lift is in such bad shape.

Still remains the only ski area with a HSQ to join NELSAP.

 

[jaytrem]

Good to hear that they may reopen. Bad that the lift is in such bad shape.

Still remains the only ski area with a HSQ to join NELSAP.

Is it the only North American ski area with a HSQ to join any LSAP? Could be some in the Midwest or Eastern Canada?

 

[millerm277]

Good to hear that they may reopen. Bad that the lift is in such bad shape.

IIRC it was never in "good shape". I seem to recall it was never installed correctly, and needed some type of work to actually run at the proper speed (sensors?), so it only ran <800fpm.

Perhaps someone who knows the area a bit better can elaborate.

 

[bobbutts]

it was running fast when I visited a few years ago.. more recent return visit it was slow and then died during the day
I don't think it was always broken.

 

[billski]

for something so new it
must have suffered from serious maintenance neglect.

 

[thetrailboss]

for something so new it
must have suffered from serious maintenance neglect.

That, plus as alluded to, when CTEC installed it the Plausteiners did not have enough $$$ to bring the lift up to code by adding the state mandated sensors to allow it to run at full speed. So CTEC basically got it operational and left it. I have heard from multiple folks that it never ran full speed (except a few times as one person said above). Add to it that it has sat idle for the last year or so. As you know in the summer and off-season resorts need to remove chairs from the line and they rotate which chairs come off. They also have to adjust the splicing in the cable. So if that has not been done since late 2009 then the lift may not be in good shape now.

 

[thetrailboss]

Any updates as to Ascutney's plight?

 

[mister moose]

I rode up the lift with someone who owns a condo there. They told me:

1) Holiday Inn, who owns the hotel, has bought most of the non mountain remaning real estate.
2) The parent company of Holiday Inn, a Florida company, has zero interest in operating or owning the mountain.
3) The HSQ has been sold to a smallish NH mountain. They couldn't remember the resort name.
4) All the condo owners, not surprisingly, are skiing Killington and Okemo.

 

[drjeff]

I rode up the lift with someone who owns a condo there. They told me:

1) Holiday Inn, who owns the hotel, has bought most of the non mountain remaning real estate.
2) The parent company of Holiday Inn, a Florida company, has zero interest in operating or owning the mountain.
3) The HSQ has been sold to a smallish NH mountain. They couldn't remember the resort name.
4) All the condo owners, not surprisingly, are skiing Killington and Okemo.

#3 - confirmed - Peak Resorts bought the HSQ and it will be installed at Crotched Mtn this summer - unconfirmed, it will be called the "crotch rocket!" Lol!

 

[skidmarks]

#3 - confirmed - Peak Resorts bought the HSQ and it will be installed at Crotched Mtn this summer - unconfirmed, it will be called the "crotch rocket!" Lol!

This could be cool! I was stuck on that lift years back and had to be evacuated. At the time they said the transmission blew.

I wonder if I can ride the same Quad at Crotched next year and get evac-ed from it??

 

[dangerous]

selling of the HSQ certainly seals the fate of the mountain. Never opening again.

 

[riverc0il]

selling of the HSQ certainly seals the fate of the mountain. Never opening again.

Not the case at all. The HSQ often didn't run when the mountain was open and it only services a very small amount of terrain that the triple doesn't. They wouldn't be the first area to abandon upper mountain challenging terrain for a lower option (Killington did this). If anything, the reduced cost of buying the area without the HSQ might make the mountain a more likely purchase option for investors.

 

[mountainman]

Not the case at all. The HSQ often didn't run when the mountain was open and it only services a very small amount of terrain that the triple doesn't. They wouldn't be the first area to abandon upper mountain challenging terrain for a lower option (Killington did this). If anything, the reduced cost of buying the area without the HSQ might make the mountain a more likely purchase option for investors.

The Quad never ran at full speed and was never installed correctly to run at full speed. The fastest it could ran was 600 fpm. The Triple ran at 450 - 500 fpm. This will not hurt Ascutney not having this lift. The only thing that will hurt Ascutney is not opening again. .

 

[noreasterbackcountry]

Ascutney has a pretty extensive network of mountain biking trails. I feel like there's an opportunity to build a year-round action sports playground like KT/Burke that's an hour closer to NY/CT/Western MA.

 

[abc]

Ascutney has a pretty extensive network of mountain biking trails. I feel like there's an opportunity to build a year-round action sports playground like KT/Burke that's an hour closer to NY/CT/Western MA.

Nah, I doubt it'll fly.

There's already Killington and Mt. Snow. And for NY/CT riders, there's Jiminy Peak, which is exactly in Western MA. Highland in NH, pretty much cap the lift served downhill market for the area around mid-VT/NH.