Attendence at your local mountain??? 07-08 ski season..

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Hey All,

I was just thinking about how there really haven't been many uber crowded days at Blue mountain but crowds have still been moderate and there have definitey been plenty weekend days with a good turnout along with several night skiing session during the week? Doing you think your local mountain is doing more skier/rider visits this season than last season??? What about compared to seasons past? Of course I want the trails and mountain to be empty but I also want to see the local ski areas doing well..business-wise. Thanks in advance if you take a short minute to respond to this thread...

 

[Warp Daddy]

My regional ski area seems to be doing really well compared to last year . Both last weekend and today when i was there chair lifts were full but no lift line hangups only about 2-3 minutes at most .

When i ski there midweek its typically not crowded at all almost like a private facility which is awesome

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

My regional ski area seems to be doing really well compared to last year . Both last weekend and today when i was there chair lifts were full but no lift line hangups only about 2-3 minutes at most .

When i ski there midweek its typically not crowded at all almost like a private facility which is awesome

What ski area is that???

 

[Warp Daddy]

Titus Mountain , near Malone NY in the Northern 'Dacks 1200 vert

 

[Greg]

The local haunt was packed to capacity today, but they always do good business on a Saturday it seems. Probably one of the best run little hills in the Northeast.

 

[wa-loaf]

There was a whole thread a few weeks back about how busy Wachusett has been.

 

[millerm277]

Killington- Way, way off....a lot less than in previous years.
Hunter-Seemed about normal, but I've only been there on weekdays so far this year. (which have no crowds anyway)
Sno Mtn-Much better than last year, I actually had a few times where I had to wait a couple seconds for the lift.

 

[Greg]

Killington- Way, way off....a lot less than in previous years.

Killington relocated to New Jersey?! :-o

:lol:

 

[shwilly]

Weekends at Sugarloaf have generally seemed less crowded than the past couple years. Part of the effect might be that more terrain opened quickly and there wasn't much time with seriously limited terrain.

It seems to me that I've been seeing a higher percentage of day tickets, but last weekend I heard secondhand that day ticket sales were off too.

There have been a few relatively crowded days, but it's always been totally manageable and easy to avoid the crowds.

 

[deadheadskier]

Weekends at Sugarloaf have generally seemed less crowded than the past couple years. Part of the effect might be that more terrain opened quickly and there wasn't much time with seriously limited terrain.

It seems to me that I've been seeing a higher percentage of day tickets, but last weekend I heard secondhand that day ticket sales were off too.

There have been a few relatively crowded days, but it's always been totally manageable and easy to avoid the crowds.

I wonder if big snow years have the opposite affect on the more long distance destination areas such as Sugarloaf, Jay, Whiteface etc.....

As the skiing is far better than normal at southern locales, perhaps people feel less of a need to travel so far to experience good skiing?

 

[deadheadskier]

As for my perception

Both November days at Sunday River seemed more crowded than the early December weekends I got in last year

Mt. Abram has had a good crowd both days I've went with the liftline as long as 15 minutes. That I think is great. My guess is that's also why the owner is trying to sell....the numbers look good. He bought if for 325K plus back taxes in 2000, dumped 900K over the years in improvements, yet he's asking 1.8 mil in a down market.

Wildcat has been pretty busy the four times I've been there, one of which was advertised 'at capacity'

Black today was empty for the first hour, but when I left at 11 the parking lot was pretty full

I would imagine overall this winter has record potential for skier visits in the Northeast. It's been a very solid year. Having consistent snow on the ground in the Southern New England states is a bigger help than actual snow in the mountains. From my observation, if the ground is bare in Boston and the temps in the 40's, people are less inclined to head north even if theres a ton of snow up there.

 

[billski]

The "snow in the backyard" syndrome is legend. We can't organize a trip to save our souls when no snow is showing. When I come back and tell people "it's a winter wonderland up there", they seem genuinely surprised.

I was shoveling the walk yesterday morning, some neighbors stopped by. "well, perhaps this will be the last storm of the season for us" they said. "Gee, I hope not" I retorted. Genuine surprise-the conversation quickly changed topics....

Of course a huge downpour like last monday, at the worst possible time - school vacation week is a real killer.

I'm no pro, but I'd say that we've had an up and down season. While the snow and snowpack is good/better than average, having some huge downpours right after new years and again last week, really dampen the suburban spirits.

For the industry as a whole, I am a bit worried. When you have unpredictable weather like this, do you really want to slap down a big nonrefundable deposit months in advance, when the weather is a crapshoot? Then again, Stowe-area lodging was almost entirely booked last week, but perhaps that's because there is so much else you can do in the valley even if it rains.

Late season skiing is a losing business because all the burbs get distracted with the school sports activities ramping up for the spring. Early season is not much better. So you get Jan, Feb and some of March to get your dough.

Tough business, even with snowmaking....

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I'm back from a morning session at Blue from 7:30AM to 10:00AM and there were liftlines by 8:30AM and a full corral by 9:30AM..uber crowded due to sunshine, a recent winter storm in the population centers, and good conditions.

I spoke with an employee on the lift and yesterday they had 14,000 people in total. Now that was not at one time since they're open from 7:30AM to 10:00PM but everybody gets scanned in...that includes..morning tickets, all day tickets, afternoon tickets, twi-light tickets, night tickets, tubing, season passholders, and 6-time ski club passes...pretty impressive.

 

[wa-loaf]

Wachusett sold out of their day session today. Evening is probably going to be crazy too. I was going to head up with the daughter, but I think I'll pass on the madness.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Wachusett sold out of their day session today. Evening is probably going to be crazy too. I was going to head up with the daughter, but I think I'll pass on the madness.

At Blue they don't ever sell-out..people could be parked up and down the access road and the lines could be 30 minutes but they'll still keep selling tickets..

Thank God they open at 7:30AM on the weekend..

 

[billski]

all the local vibe I'm hearing in town today says it's gotta be a major mob scene everywhere here today. Moderate temps, sunshine, last day of vacation/kids driving mom nuts, tubing, sledding, skiing, shredding are on the lips of everyone. (yeah, and so is snow on Christmas eve....)

Laying low today, taking my 16 year old for driving practice / bumper cars. I'll get mine on Wednesday and next Saturday.

 

[56fish]

7 Springs, here in western PA....pushing 450k skier visits now.

:beer:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

7 Springs, here in western PA....pushing 450k skier visits now.

:beer:

Wow that's more than Jackson Hole..For comparisons sake Jackson Holes busiest day ever around New Years was 7,000 skiers but they don't have tubing or a night session..

 

[AdironRider]

and that 7,000 seemed like way more. Without the tram everything backs up at the gondi and thunder mostly. Some of those holiday week lines were redonkulous. Not the same lift capacity as most resorts, with no high speed lifts, well besides AV, but who wants to ride there most of the day. Thank god for the staff line...

 

[drjeff]

I'd bet quite a chunk of change that by season's end, Mount Snow is going to be up over 25% from last year, even 35% wouldn't suprise me a bit. Real solid weekend crowds, coupled with 4 BIG prime time Holiday Periods. The best thing has been that they've had plenty of terrain open to disperse all the folks that have filled the parking lots with their cars this season.

Plus, just anectdotally, I've heard ALOT more questions from people in and around the liftlines and base lodge/base area that would imply that it's their 1st visit to Mount Snow.

If they choose to go for last to close in VT, I'd easily bet that they'll be closer to 600,000 skier visits than 500,000.