On a serious note, I’m surprised that he was not added sooner….
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Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten
- Thread starter bobbutts
- Start date
jimmywilson69
Well-known member
I wasn't really into northeast skiing when he was around or the downfall of "his empire". Dude is REALLY GOOD with visions and doing his damdest to make the come to fruition. You can see his stamp on much of New England. Good or bad...
We all would take his place if given that opportunity.
We all would take his place if given that opportunity.
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Newpylong
Well-known member
Yeah we'll see if anything comes of it or if they're just window shopping. Or maybe they'll order the equipment then not pay the bills. Who knows....
I think Les was a visionary who changed skiing in New England for the better. Also what we see today with Epic and Ikon are exactly what he envisioned, however he had poor execution at times from a macro down to the micro level.
jimmywilson69
Well-known member
LOL
that's a lot of laying pipe Les will be tired, he's old!
that's a lot of laying pipe Les will be tired, he's old!
urungus
Well-known member
Is construction actually commencing, or did Les just hire a couple of guys to look around for a few hours for marketing purposes ?
BodeMiller1
Well-known member
Newpylong
Well-known member
Not marketing (you'll never read about this except what I've said) but definitely not starting either. First phase of any snowmaking project is to have the installers come onsite and review for budgeting purposes.
I still think the OZ screw up was Les's Pete Rose moment, but good for him. Haha
urungus
Well-known member
What was the OZ screw up ? Is it all the dead trees ?
Such a wasted opportunity I agree. Maybe it should have just been interesting trails vs "glades" with snowmaking.
Yeah the “western” ski experience using snowmaking doesn’t really work…..
Someone got too happy with their chainsaw and thought they could create bowl skiing in the East.
I'd make the same argument for Saddleback in Casablanca, especially C3. It's not as bad today as Oz, but may get that way in the future without roping off some regeneration areas.
Remember all the hype about it?
In my many times skiing at Sunday River, I can only think of one time when (a) the Oz Quad was operating, and (b) when the skiing in that area was decent. The rest of the time it was an icy mess.
I remember our patroller Kimara Jebb dressed up as Dorothy in a Red/White plaid dress.
IIRC we even got her a ToTo and the wicker basket for the big OZ unveiling bash.
That had to be 95-96ish. Those were definitely the best years to be part of SR
Les was such a good presence out on the hill every weekend.
Employees loved him.
Always out and about to see for himself.... Unlike the last few GM's
IIRC we even got her a ToTo and the wicker basket for the big OZ unveiling bash.
That had to be 95-96ish. Those were definitely the best years to be part of SR
Les was such a good presence out on the hill every weekend.
Employees loved him.
Always out and about to see for himself.... Unlike the last few GM's
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Loved everything about the old ASC empire. We owned a hotel unit at SR, and got to use all the hotels in the company for short money using the Space Available perk. Even got into the Summit at Canyons, for goodness sake!.. Combined with the old All=for-one pass, we went everywhere for the first years of our retirement. I was so enamored that I invested in ASC stock (thankfully not much). Believed in Les's vision. Rode it all the way down to zero! Les had the vision but not the money, I guess. Vail and Alterra are realizing that vision now. I just can't see it happening at the Balsams, much as I'd like to.
He had some pretty shitty timing in terms of the economy and weather. Nobody could have foreseen what happened, at least IMHO.
SkiingInABlueDream
Active member
Ugh... Yeah I remember that ad. I remember genuinely thinking it was genius to cut trails -in between- two existing pods and declare that pimple on the ridgeline to be a Whole New Mountain
I was still kinda young and dumb and my world was small
I was still kinda young and dumb and my world was small
Great read IF you were part of the SR/ASC days.....
Burt Mills, Skip King, Chip Seamens are all in it.
If you want another excellent Ski Industry read try The Falling Season.
Both are by Hal Clifford.
kbroderick
Active member
Remember all the hype about it?
In my many times skiing at Sunday River, I can only think of one time when (a) the Oz Quad was operating, and (b) when the skiing in that area was decent. The rest of the time it was an icy mess.
On a spring day or a pow day, the Oz terrain works nicely in conjunction with the stuff off Jordan proper. It's a bit more accessible now with the Kansas regrade, which may be somewhat unfortunate in a shakes-clouds-at-fist kinda way. If the snowpack in Oz holds up for the last two weekends, it should work nicely as part of the closing-weekend trail offerings.
Edit to add: not that the hype wasn't ridiculous, of course. But we're talking about the same place that brought you the steepest longest widest lift-served trail in the East.
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