AZ Challenge 2009: Win Smith, Sugarbush Resort

[thebigo]

Win, thank you for your time

Which has a greater impact on revenue? snowfall or the economy?

 

[dbking]

Sorry to get off thread, but in responce to Mattlucas and VH... there used to be a vertical challenge on the Mall in the 80s. John Egan and his then girlfriend, Emily Hart, both skied it 32 times in a day. And they were really skiing it. Emily was a really hot skier/ snowcat operator that later moved to Squaw Valley. I don't remember what happened to the comp. Back in the day, Sugarbush had alot of compititions like that, but that was the first one I recall that was about vertical numbers.
So, to get back on the thread, Hey Win, any interest in restarting March Madness? It used to be very popular for both locals and the tourists.

 

[thetrailboss]

Just got this question....add it to the list:

Your post prompted me to go read the article on improvments to Sugarloaf. I ski at Sugarbush, but was curious. So, I read the article. Here is my question and it pertains to the improvements to lifts they made for wind resistance. I think I understand what they did for the T Bar (some type of fence) but what exactly did they do for the quad? As you know, we have had many wind holds at Sugarbush this past season, and I was wondering maybe some of this could be done at Sugarbush. What do you think?

 

[mattlucas]

DBKing,

That Mall contest sounds fun, right?

In case you haven't been by in awhile, March Madness still happens and people (even cranky internet skiers like me) still have a lot of fun. The biggest difference is that they moved the pond skimming from Ellen to South. I'm not sure which I prefered, the pond skimming is short and sweet at South though.

Sugarbush's biggest competitive event is probably the Castlerock Challenge, which is like two runs down the top of Liftline. It's a good contest, but I think showcasing old school bump shralping on the Mall could open up the fun to many more people.

 

[dropKickMurphy]

Win -

Any chance you'd consider running the Slidebrook for a couple of hours on weekdays? Having the Slidebrook open from 12:00 - 1:00; and from 3:00 - 4:00 would be very convenient for those that like to ski both mountains on the same day.


To me, the ability to get to any area of Sugarbush without taking a bus is a significant plus. I enjoy different ski areas for the things that make them unique. When riding the Slidebrook Express, I know that it's an experience that I can only get at Sugarbush.

 

[mattlucas]

That is a great suggestion if it is possible.

 

[deadheadskier]

agreed

I'm sure staffing it would be the biggest challenge, but running SB for a couple of hours a day is a fantastic idea. I'd be fine with a similar schedule on the weekend. I can't ever recall taking SB more than twice in a day. It wouldn't be that difficult to plan around 3 staggered hours of operation. 10:30 - 12:30 and 3-4

The question becomes what you do with the staff during off hours.

 

[bvibert]

The question becomes what you do with the staff during off hours.

Send em off to ski.

 

[skiadikt]

agreed

I'm sure staffing it would be the biggest challenge, but running SB for a couple of hours a day is a fantastic idea. I'd be fine with a similar schedule on the weekend. I can't ever recall taking SB more than twice in a day. It wouldn't be that difficult to plan around 3 staggered hours of operation. 10:30 - 12:30 and 3-4

The question becomes what you do with the staff during off hours.

i'm sure win will answer this but to me doesn't make sense to have staggered operating hrs for a lift. it's either open or not. maybe during the week if you want to save on op costs, you open later & close earlier. maybe open it fridays or do like k does w/ some lifts and run them thurs-mon.

 

[mattlucas]

the mountain does also pay for the bus, so i could see them not wanting to pay twice for the same service. But, I think that the slidebrook twice daily would be an asset in a perfect world.

 

[mountainman]

Why?

Why is Chris at Killington getting more responses than Win at the Bush?

 

[mattlucas]

Ticket Scanners

One last question -

The ticket scanning process is still in my mind kind of in its infant stages. IR technology that is affordable may be around the corner, but until we get it fumbling with a ticket on a powder day while empty chairs get sent up is sometimes infuriating. Is the purpose more to gather user data or to prevent theft of services?

For more crowded lifts on busy weekends (think Bravo 12/27), do you think it would be possible or make sense to have one or two lifties organizing the corral into foursomes, and one or two people near the load zone to pop everybody's ticket very quickly?
Having the scanners in front of corrals just seems to create a swarm of chaos rather than pushing everyone into the corrals in an organized way.

Furthermore, the scanners seem to take away from the lifties independence, and they have less incentive to be cheery and awesome ski bums/employees, and rather, cogs in a way that brings you out of VT/MRV perfection and puts you back in a more commercialized setting and mindset.

Also, if the data that you're mining is very valuable, do you think that it would be possible to let the public look at some of it at the end of the day? Maybe each ticket could have a user login # and password printed on it so you could see your stats. This might not interest everyone, but it could be a relatively cheap way to provide an extra service. It's extremely dorky, but also kind of cool to figure out price per run / average vert / fastest lap etc.

Thanks again for considering these questions.

 

[deadheadskier]

Matt Lucas going over the fence again! Great Question


Haven't been held up on a powder day, but have been annoyed by the scanning process. The one instance that comes to mind specifically was at Pico last winter skiing ten or so runs off the summit quad on a dead Sunday afternoon following a frozen rain event. Maybe one in four chairs had riders on it. There's no line, there's no rush, but there are so few people at the mountain that the lifty probably knew how may nose hairs I had by the fourth ride. Any scanning at that point to me is completely annoying bordering on harassment. It's the equivalent of a bartender checking your ID before every single drink you buy in a bar that has ten patrons.

 

[bvibert]

Why is Chris at Killington getting more responses than Win at the Bush?

I figure it's because people don't find as many faults with Win and Sugarbush, so they have less questions to ask.

I know I certainly enjoyed my experiences at Sugarbush last season.

 

[WWF-VT]

Why is Chris at Killington getting more responses than Win at the Bush?

3/4 of the Killington thread is a bitchfest about the current management and operations at Killington. Win is the principal owner at Sugarbush and is very responsive to suggestions, complaints and criticism both here and at the SKIMRV forum. More important is that Win is very visible at the mountain on any day and is very focused on doing what is right for the customer, the mountain and the MRV.

 

[Geoff]

3/4 of the Killington thread is a bitchfest about the current management and operations at Killington. Win is the principal owner at Sugarbush and is very responsive to suggestions, complaints and criticism both here and at the SKIMRV forum. More important is that Win is very visible at the mountain on any day and is very focused on doing what is right for the customer, the mountain and the MRV.

Win also has probably never received an email complaint from a customer directed to the president of the ski resort sent from the customer's work email address that he then forwarded it to the guy's boss trying to get the guy fired.

Personal integrity, honesty, and lucid communications go a long way.

 

[skiadikt]

3/4 of the Killington thread is a bitchfest about the current management and operations at Killington. Win is the principal owner at Sugarbush and is very responsive to suggestions, complaints and criticism both here and at the SKIMRV forum. More important is that Win is very visible at the mountain on any day and is very focused on doing what is right for the customer, the mountain and the MRV.

while it's certainly drifted off topic, the K thread is certainly a lot less of a bitchfest than your garden variety k thread. pretty mild actually.

 

[JerseyJoey]

3/4 of the Killington thread is a bitchfest about the current management and operations at Killington. Win is the principal owner at Sugarbush and is very responsive to suggestions, complaints and criticism both here and at the SKIMRV forum. More important is that Win is very visible at the mountain on any day and is very focused on doing what is right for the customer, the mountain and the MRV.

Win = win

Chris = lose

 

[snafu]

Win ftw?

 

[dropKickMurphy]

Win -

Other than your own mountain, which ski areas, in the East and West, do you most enjoy skiing?