Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten

[urungus]

DJs, Madonna liftline, top of jay chutes to quai or Valhalla into powerline

DJs and Upper Madonna Liftline are 1500 feet

 

[ss20]

I'm pretty sure S-K-I Ltd folks thought the same when he bought Sunday River.

That was 30-40 years ago when you could permit/finance anything.

In today's world it's not happening. Hell it took Loon 20 years to cut the 6 trails and 1.5 lifts at South Peak.

 

[2Planker]

So other that Mad River Glenn and Stowe, where do you find 2K of steeper skiing from a lift?
White Heat 1300 and the bottom/top 1/3 is prety flat.
Outer Limits 1200
Steins Run 1100
Superstar 1200
Anything at Sugarloaf......Fagetaboutit

EASY - Go to Wildcat well over 2,000' Base is at 1,950 Summit is 4,300
One of the reasons they have/had the 100K Vertical Challenge there for many years. Did it 3 times, last at 59

 

[hardscrabble]

DJs, Madonna liftline, top of jay chutes to quai or Valhalla into powerline

DJs and Upper Madonna Liftline are 1500 feet



Vista to DJ's/Kinsman is 2k of engaging natural skiing though, and Lower M1 liftline isn't exactly a runout so I'll give them that too. Wildcat deserves to be in the conversation as well. Jay is great but they definitely don't have a 2k vert run that doesn't include a bunch of runout.

Editing to add top-to-bottom FIS (or Black Diamond/Lower FIS) at Mt. Ellen. Yeah it's a slog at the end but you've already skied over 2k vert at that point.

 

[hardscrabble]

EASY - Go to Wildcat well over 2,000' Base is at 1,950 Summit is 4,300
One of the reasons they have/had the 100K Vertical Challenge there for many years. Did it 3 times, last at 59

Top of Wildcat is right around 4,000 but I agree it's probably the best place for 2k hot laps with how fast that chair is.

 

[Newpylong]

That was 30-40 years ago when you could permit/finance anything.

In today's world it's not happening. Hell it took Loon 20 years to cut the 6 trails and 1.5 lifts at South Peak.

Loon is smack dab in the middle of White Mountain National Forest. Dixville Notch is not, not even State Forest. As long as local permitting is adhered to Les could go cut his ski trails tomorrow. Furthermore, the North Country is considered a needy/low-income region and local officials are lining up to get jobs created.

There will be no issues from that perspective. Financing is a whole another story.

 

[Hawk]

EASY - Go to Wildcat well over 2,000' Base is at 1,950 Summit is 4,300
One of the reasons they have/had the 100K Vertical Challenge there for many years. Did it 3 times, last at 59

Forgot about wildcat good one

 

[2Planker]

Top of Wildcat is right around 4,000 but I agree it's probably the best place for 2k hot laps with how fast that chair is.

Wildcat Mountain is a long ridge consisting of five subpeaks named, from north to south:

Wildcat A (4422 feet)
Wildcat B (4330 feet)
Wildcat C (4298 feet)
Wildcat D (4062 feet) and
Wildcat E (4046 feet)

 

[2planks2coasts]

Wildcat Mountain is a long ridge consisting of five subpeaks named, from north to south:

Wildcat A (4422 feet)
Wildcat B (4330 feet)
Wildcat C (4298 feet)
Wildcat D (4062 feet) and
Wildcat E (4046 feet)

And D is the summit of the ski area, per their own trail map.

 

[deadheadskier]

Furthermore, the North Country is considered a needy/low-income region and local officials are lining up to get jobs created.

This is the aspect of this project that irks me. Either the opportunity is there for a private business to succeed or it's not. Government/ politics should have very little to do with it. I don't know why such emphasis is placed on economic development in such places. Most of the time this type of thing greatly benefits the developers (people who have money already and don't need help) more than it does the workers with the types of jobs being created. I've moved all over the country chasing better work opportunities throughout my adult life. There's no guarantee in life that great jobs will exist where you were raised. If I grew up in Colebrook, I'd move elsewhere if the type of job / living I wanted wasn't available.

General statement here. Not a comment directed at you or how you feel about things.

 

[eatskisleep]

He's talking out his ass. No major ski area development in New England in 20+ years and Les thinks he can build a 1,000 acre mega resort. Gimmie a break.

He’s probably the only person who could it. Love him or hate him, he was a good developer.

 

[bigbob]

Yes, no one drives to Bretton Woods, except everyone from Massachusetts who doesn't get off 93 at Campton or Lincoln that is...

And plenty of people drive a little further north to Pittsburg to snowmobile ot ATV in the summer. Not everyone lives in the NY/NJ metro area.

 

[eatskisleep]

Willard Basin Ski Area, New Hampshire - New England's Cancelled Ski Areas

www.newenglandskihistory.com

There were once some pretty ambitious plans for a ski resort on the north face of the Starr King/Waumbek ridge.

That would have been a game changer

 

[eatskisleep]

Jay Peak



Balsams closer to Boston than Jay Peak. If you build it, they will come.

 

[thetrailboss]

View attachment 57903

Jay Peak
View attachment 57904


Balsams closer to Boston than Jay Peak. If you build it, they will come.

You're only really looking at distance. Look at the time. The drive to Jay is WAY easier than Balsam's. It is almost all highway from Boston to Jay. Have you driven Route 3 from Franconia north? It is a decent road but there are slow-downs and it is a two-lane road. Plus, any Boston skier/rider has to drive past Waterville Valley, Loon, Cannon, and Bretton Woods. Burke has the SAME issue and look at how they struggle (and that is a shorter distance and almost all highway as well). So yeah I hate it being NELSAPed, but I also understand the real challenges they face--they're asking folks in Southern New England to literally drive past EVERY other ski area in NNE and that is a very tough sell.

 

[Smellytele]

You're only really looking at distance. Look at the time. The drive to Jay is WAY easier than Balsam's. It is almost all highway from Boston to Jay. Have you driven Route 3 from Franconia north? It is a decent road but there are slow-downs and it is a two-lane road. Plus, any Boston skier/rider has to drive past Waterville Valley, Loon, Cannon, and Bretton Woods. Burke has the SAME issue and look at how they struggle (and that is a shorter distance and almost all highway as well). So yeah I hate it being NELSAPed, but I also understand the real challenges they face--they're asking folks in Southern New England to literally drive past EVERY other ski area in NNE and that is a very tough sell.

You have to drive by Burke plus WV, loon and Cannon to get to Jay from Boston.

 

[1dog]

This is the aspect of this project that irks me. Either the opportunity is there for a private business to succeed or it's not. Government/ politics should have very little to do with it. I don't know why such emphasis is placed on economic development in such places. Most of the time this type of thing greatly benefits the developers (people who have money already and don't need help) more than it does the workers with the types of jobs being created. I've moved all over the country chasing better work opportunities throughout my adult life. There's no guarantee in life that great jobs will exist where you were raised. If I grew up in Colebrook, I'd move elsewhere if the type of job / living I wanted wasn't available.

General statement here. Not a comment directed at you or how you feel about things.

Irks me when a state (or country)with no money chooses winners and losers with money they don't have. Your 3rd line is the golden one. Answer to the 4th line is infamous. . . follow the money (or in a politicians life - bring home the bacon) Think Robert Byrds WV super-highways to nowhere.

Free markets ( of course that means lower regulatory state by unelected officials) work well, and when they don't, they close and the result is Adam Smiths creative destruction.

Whether its Tesla or NIH or Exxon. taking from taxes to choose who benefits rarely ends up benefitting the general populace. Developers who take those risks deserve the rewards. And sometimes the losses.
Love to see Balsams taken out of the cobwebs. . . but not with taxpayer money.

 

[2Planker]

You're only really looking at distance. Look at the time. The drive to Jay is WAY easier than Balsam's. It is almost all highway from Boston to Jay. Have you driven Route 3 from Franconia north? It is a decent road but there are slow-downs and it is a two-lane road. Plus, any Boston skier/rider has to drive past Waterville Valley, Loon, Cannon, and Bretton Woods. Burke has the SAME issue and look at how they struggle (and that is a shorter distance and almost all highway as well). So yeah I hate it being NELSAPed, but I also understand the real challenges they face--they're asking folks in Southern New England to literally drive past EVERY other ski area in NNE and that is a very tough sell.

But those of us who live an hour away can still dream.
If he builds it, i know a bunch of folks who would gladly embrace it.

 

[BodeMiller1]

The ski area will be a third of the mega area first pitched. Who knows. Hard to get the rich ski families to pick up and move.

Yep

 

[thetrailboss]

But those of us who live an hour away can still dream.
If he builds it, i know a bunch of folks who would gladly embrace it.

Of course. Is there enough to make it work though? And, for those who were at the "old" Balsams, who was their clientele? Where were they from? Are they expected to return?