Black Mountain, NH OPEN AGAIN more alive than ever

[deadheadskier]

Well I mean, if I was a billionaire I'd buy Jackson, boot Ikon and all the hotels, and keep it for me and my friends. Basically everyone's dream Indy place.

I might even be convinced to go back to it being just a 2-3 lift operation with just the Tram, AV and maybe a beginner lift for the grand kids.

Well, like myself, I hope those billions find their way to you.

I personally have no desire to move West or even travel there frequently. Heck, I wouldn't want to even live in Jackson NH full-time. My family is content where we are in Newmarket.

My vision and desires differ from yours and that's okay. I'd simply want to make Cat what most of the core Cat skiers want; long season and a more reliable product when it doesn't snow for awhile. I certainly wouldn't want to take it private. I'd feel like an ahole doing that and I'd expect my tires slashed daily for it!

Alas, none of this will ever happen anyway. Best we can hope for is Vail selling Cat someday to a more passionate Steward.

 

[2Planker]

Best we can hope for is Vail selling Cat someday to a more passionate Steward.

We tried that already...

 

[eatskisleep]

Man, despite my naysaying about the Coop, it is a great year to ski Black with them just throwing caution to the wind financially.

It takes money to make money. No money spent on Black = shit product = no black.

 

[AdironRider]

I thought you left for family health reasons? Don't make it seem like you can go back or that you left for other reasons.

Well now I think its pretty obvious this is a completely hypothetical exercise and not in any way tied to reality.

 

[Newpylong]

Snowmaking underway Upper Maple to Chute to Standard pitch.

 

[Newpylong]

Started up at 8am again.

 

[thetrailboss]

Vermont artist Carrie Pill visited Black and did some nice paintings. She did a series featuring every Vermont ski area last year. I expect that she will offer prints of these paintings.

“J-Bar” Original Oil Painting - Carrie Pill

“J-Bar” is an original oil painting. This piece was painted from the base of the historic J-Bar lift at Black Mountain, in New Hampshire. Read more about my process, inspirations and other daily paintings on my Instagram. Artist: Carrie Pill Medium: oil on panel, framed in black Size: 11x14”...

carriepill.com

“Black Mountain, NH” Original Oil Painting - Carrie Pill

“Black Mountain, NH” is an original oil painting. This piece was painted from a dirt road overlooking the mountain on a winter afternoon. Read more about my process, inspirations and other daily paintings on my Instagram. Artist: Carrie Pill Medium: oil on panel, framed in dark brown Size: 5x7”...

carriepill.com

 

[eatskisleep]

 

[skef]

 

[Edd]

8” there this morning.

 

[Newpylong]

Will be making snow Tuesday through Thursday this week coming up.

 

[eatskisleep]

Will be making snow Tuesday through Thursday this week coming up.

And Wildcat will be closed for the season!

 

[Newpylong]

Upper Maple and Lower Standard wired for tonight.

 

[jimmywilson69]

so how have you convinced them to make snow when they were closed last year and no one in the east is making snow?

Clearly just marketing snow at this point...

 

[eatskisleep]

Pretty darn good marketing IMO. Takes money to make money…

 

[sull1102]

For an operation that absolutely needs as much positive word of mouth and marketing buzz that it can create, I think this is a brilliant move. Making snow while the big boy Epic cannot even manage to stay open at a much higher elevation is impressive by any metric.

 

[snoseek]

so how have you convinced them to make snow when they were closed last year and no one in the east is making snow?

Clearly just marketing snow at this point...

This is a giant fuck you to vail resorts running of wildcat and effective imo..they're poaching the local mwv skiers. I applaud them for this.

 

[Mainer]

It is good marketing, but will they be able to sustain this year after year. Somebody still has to buy the mountain. Indy hasn’t bought it and will a co op be able to raise enough money to purchase it. Black is certainly making a good case that it possible to be successful there.

 

[AdironRider]

Great marketing but completely unsustainable.

Its basically guaranteeing the eventual coop's failure, as the customer base is going to expect a product the Coop stands no chance in being able to provide.

Frankly, that is what Wildcat is dealing with now and is Black's ghost of christmas future. They pushed a ski season length they couldn't afford for a long time, to the detriment of the facilities, and now face a 1 2 punch of failing infrastructure and pissed off customers expecting a six month ski season. On top of that, Wildcat couldn't make it work and Black has worse sun exposure and elevation challenges.

 

[Mainer]

Does Indy own the mountain? I heard that they are just managing it and haven’t paid the Ficheras totally for it yet. But I’m hopefully wrong
Indy seems to be running it as a bar that you can ski at. Which is a different model than the rest of the MWV uses. Black has always been a step back into past. Indy has embraced and expanded the vibe, plus they are good at marketing. So they have a chance if they can keep the energy going.
Wildcat is failing because this the fourth shitty year of operation in a row. They lost their core customers during Covid. All wildcat has to do is blow enough snow to have 3 top to bottom runs all winter. People will come back if they started to give a shit again.