Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten

[ThinkSnow]

You need the people who drive up on a Friday and go home on Sunday for work and school.
The nostalgic history no longer matters.

The Balsams never relied on weekend skiers. It was always a destination resort for families that would come up for a week or weeks at a time. Those people that used to go there still have a great admiration for the nostalgia and history, since they came up as children, when their grandparents would accompany the family, and now want to do the same thing with their families.

 

[skiur]

The Balsams never relied on weekend skiers. It was always a destination resort for families that would come up for a week or weeks at a time. Those people that used to go there still have a great admiration for the nostalgia and history, since they came up as children, when their grandparents would accompany the family, and now want to do the same thing with their families.

Problem is that there is not enough of those people to pay the bills!

 

[x10003q]

The Balsams never relied on weekend skiers. It was always a destination resort for families that would come up for a week or weeks at a time. Those people that used to go there still have a great admiration for the nostalgia and history, since they came up as children, when their grandparents would accompany the family, and now want to do the same thing with their families.

The Balsams' potential advantage is that it might be less crowded on weekends because there are many other choices that are closer to metro areas. The dilemma is that all Eastern resorts and ski areas are empty midweek - so why go to The Balsams if you choose an Eastern midweek vacation? The idea that some nostalgic history that most skiers might not even know about is going to draw midweek skiers is really a reach by Otten.

The Balsams needs decent weekend skier traffic to support the first part - the 500 acre expansion and basically needs Elon Musk to build a hyperloop rail connection from Wash Metro, Philly Metro, NY Metro, and Boston Metro to The Balsams to support a full build out of 22 lifts and 2200 acres.

 

[bdfreetuna]

My main concern besides if they actually ever open is how interesting the terrain will be. From what I've seen of the proposed trail overlays, it looks like a lot of wide slopes and they aren't fitting many trails on each peak for this reason.

If this resort is going to be mega-huge I'd like to see variety and challenge rivaling Killington but with a more coherent trail layout and even more trees (done right the first time)... from what I've seen it's going to be Sunday River 2.0 with even wider slopes.

 

[Hawk]

The other way to look at it is if there are less trails in each pod then there may be more woods to ski. I have a friend that skins somewhere around there and he thinks the woods may be good in places. I like to see them open just for another option.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Goes almost without saying any new resort in a place with decent snowfall ought to go *heavy* on the tree skiing aspect.

Still would like to see some narrow, windy, interesting trails but we'll see... hopefully!

 

[ThinkSnow]

The Balsams' potential advantage is that it might be less crowded on weekends because there are many other choices that are closer to metro areas. The dilemma is that all Eastern resorts and ski areas are empty midweek - so why go to The Balsams if you choose an Eastern midweek vacation? The idea that some nostalgic history that most skiers might not even know about is going to draw midweek skiers is really a reach by Otten.

The Balsams needs decent weekend skier traffic to support the first part - the 500 acre expansion and basically needs Elon Musk to build a hyperloop rail connection from Wash Metro, Philly Metro, NY Metro, and Boston Metro to The Balsams to support a full build out of 22 lifts and 2200 acres.

Its interesting just how focused many on this site seem to be that few from a metropolitan area will want to drive the extra time to get to NNH. Working for a ski/snowboard group tours travel agency, Tremblant is without a doubt our most popular destination, bringing people from VA, PA, NY, NJ, CT, MA both in the forms of you-drives and bus groups. If you've skied Tremblant, you know the terrain is far from the biggest or the best, but it does have other amenities to attract skiers and non-skiers alike.....and it's also quite a long drive.

 

[machski]

Goes almost without saying any new resort in a place with decent snowfall ought to go *heavy* on the tree skiing aspect.

Still would like to see some narrow, windy, interesting trails but we'll see... hopefully!

Perhaps you have missed the one entire pod that other than the liftline will be 100% woods? I think they were saying like 800 or 900 acres of trees in that pod zone alone.

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[AdironRider]

Its interesting just how focused many on this site seem to be that few from a metropolitan area will want to drive the extra time to get to NNH. Working for a ski/snowboard group tours travel agency, Tremblant is without a doubt our most popular destination, bringing people from VA, PA, NY, NJ, CT, MA both in the forms of you-drives and bus groups. If you've skied Tremblant, you know the terrain is far from the biggest or the best, but it does have other amenities to attract skiers and non-skiers alike.....and it's also quite a long drive.

Yeah, based on their reasoning, it is purely distance alone that determines whether a ski area will be successful. If that were the case, everyone would be skiing at WAWA, and my home hill of Jackson should never have been built in the first place.

 

[Cat in January]

If you drive a long way and all you have is 1 restaurant in a quaint old hotel, that is a major difference than what is at Jackson or Tremblant.

There may be some all inclusive resorts in the West, but I can not think of one. Hard for me to see the model working beyond the property sell out here in the NE.

 

[AdironRider]

If you drive a long way and all you have is 1 restaurant in a quaint old hotel, that is a major difference than what is at Jackson or Tremblant.

There may be some all inclusive resorts in the West, but I can not think of one. Hard for me to see the model working beyond the property sell out here in the NE.

How do you think Jackson started?

We had a grand total of 900 residents and one quaint hotel (The Wort) when Jackson Hole was built.

Lets just move the goalposts, first it's the distance, now it is the distance, plus there aren't 20 other places to stay?

I don't really care one way or another if this gets built, but you guys seem to be actively promoting that this place should fail.

 

[x10003q]

Its interesting just how focused many on this site seem to be that few from a metropolitan area will want to drive the extra time to get to NNH. Working for a ski/snowboard group tours travel agency, Tremblant is without a doubt our most popular destination, bringing people from VA, PA, NY, NJ, CT, MA both in the forms of you-drives and bus groups. If you've skied Tremblant, you know the terrain is far from the biggest or the best, but it does have other amenities to attract skiers and non-skiers alike.....and it's also quite a long drive.

You know it is not just the distance. Visiting Quebec is more than just skiing. The culture is a very different than New England. We have visited Mt Tremblant a few times in the last 10 years, most recently spring break 2017. We always stop in Montreal for a few days, usually on the way up. It is easy to do and right on the way. One more important part for USA skiers is the money conversion rate. Today $1US gets you $1.32CAN, that is a huge discount.

The other important part of Mt Tremblant is that Montreal is about 80 miles from Mt Tremblant and Ottawa is about 95 miles from Mt Tremblant. They have the built in population to support the infrastructure of Mt Tremblant no matter who shows up from 7 hours away.

 

[tumbler]

I'd say the culture of Northern NH is very interesting...

 

[bdfreetuna]

I'd say the culture of Northern NH is very interesting...

Perhaps slightly more difficult to market as a draw for tourism, but certainly interesting lol

 

[bdfreetuna]

Perhaps you have missed the one entire pod that other than the liftline will be 100% woods? I think they were saying like 800 or 900 acres of trees in that pod zone alone.

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Map link? I'm not sure if what I've seen was the most recent version.

 

[machski]

Here you go. https://thebalsamsresort.com/balsams-ski-area-expansion-fly-over/view-1_phase-1/
I guess I was a bit optimistic, it's 500 acres of glades and looks like they added a few actual runs in the pod.

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[Cat in January]

How do you think Jackson started?

We had a grand total of 900 residents and one quaint hotel (The Wort) when Jackson Hole was built.

Lets just move the goalposts, first it's the distance, now it is the distance, plus there aren't 20 other places to stay?

I don't really care one way or another if this gets built, but you guys seem to be actively promoting that this place should fail.

Not moving any goal posts, been pretty consistent in what I am saying. Not a place I would like to see public money spent so investors can make money because its long term economic future doesn't make sense. Just an opinion.

You can not really compare to the time when Jackson was built. Skiing was growing and that is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The Balsams are in a pretty area and skiing is stagnant in growth and established ski hills are going down the drain.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Here you go. https://thebalsamsresort.com/balsams-ski-area-expansion-fly-over/view-1_phase-1/
I guess I was a bit optimistic, it's 500 acres of glades and looks like they added a few actual runs in the pod.

Thanks! Yeah Lift 4 does look promising. However you can click around the 360 view and that's the only pod which appears to have unconventional terrain of any kind. Hard to tell admittedly but most of the other mountain faces seem to follow a familiar "modern" trail layout that reminds of of Okemo and Attitash expansions.

 

[machski]

Thanks! Yeah Lift 4 does look promising. However you can click around the 360 view and that's the only pod which appears to have unconventional terrain of any kind. Hard to tell admittedly but most of the other mountain faces seem to follow a familiar "modern" trail layout that reminds of of Okemo and Attitash expansions.

It's all academic at this point. This delay will cause many early depositors to pull out not knowing when it will be done. The few we know were already growing tired of the false starts and postponements.

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[ThinkSnow]

You know it is not just the distance. Visiting Quebec is more than just skiing. The culture is a very different than New England. We have visited Mt Tremblant a few times in the last 10 years, most recently spring break 2017. We always stop in Montreal for a few days, usually on the way up. It is easy to do and right on the way. One more important part for USA skiers is the money conversion rate. Today $1US gets you $1.32CAN, that is a huge discount.

The other important part of Mt Tremblant is that Montreal is about 80 miles from Mt Tremblant and Ottawa is about 95 miles from Mt Tremblant. They have the built in population to support the infrastructure of Mt Tremblant no matter who shows up from 7 hours away.

Very true, visiting Quebec there is a lot more than just skiing. Thinking specifically of Quebec, it reminds me of Mont Saint Anne and Le Massif, a few more very nice, but rather smallish ski areas where having the city nearby makes visiting worthwhile. Current conversion rate is quite the bonus, but that changes all the time, and is not a guarantee. I also agree that Tremblant benefits from proximity to a few large cities, however I can totally see Quebecois traveling further for what the Balsams is proposing-- the largest ski area in the east in an area of NH that gets great snow (and really needs a large employer). As it is now I always hear a lot of French Canadians on the slopes in NNH & NVT. But if NNH, or the awfully long drive to get there isn't your thing, that's just fine-- more for the rest of us.