Cannon Tram: Five Days Only

[riverc0il]

Just noticed on Cannon's email today that tram operations have been cut back to five days a week during non-holiday periods. If you snow up to Cannon on Mondays and Fridays this season, you can look forward to paying full weekend pricing at $60 AND not be allowed to ride the Tram. Guess Monday's and Friday's are going to be pretty quiet at Cannon this season. I know where I am going on Monday and Friday powder days!

I understand this is a cost cutting measure. The email suggests the cost savings goes to increasing snow making latter in the season. But I am baffled Cannon management would take one of only two Trams in New England and a definite marketing draw to the mountain off line once operations begin. I hope they do more to publicize this fact as I would be quite upset if I showed up to Cannon on Monday or Friday expecting the Tram to be open.

Tuesday and Thursday are Two-Fer days and Wednesday is NH residents day which explains the Monday and Friday picks for no Tram. Guess they do not have many Friday guests doing a three day weekend ski trip package. You would never know that considering how much of a "destination resort" Cannon appears to be, what with the airplane reservations and all following you around on every page of the web site. Are ticket sales that slow on Monday and Friday that they can afford to shot themselves so badly in the foot? Obviously, Cannon feels it is mostly season pass holders on these days and the loss in day tickets is less than the expense of the tram.

 

[eatskisleep]

I am still amazed at how it isn't going to be done on a Tuesday or Thursday instead...

 

[riverc0il]

Two-fer days is why it will be open on Tues and Thurs. Those can be big days when the snow is good.

 

[skibum9995]

I don't have a problem with this decision. Midweek days at Cannon are quite slow and the tram doesn't see that much use. The only time I've used the tram during the past 3 seasons was during the AZ outing last year. I'd rather see the money put to better use elsewhere.

 

[billski]

Mid week cuts may be the latest management trend. Look at what they did with Pico - closed Monday thru Wednesdays. Then again, resorts have always cut back on operations midweek; this may be another re-thinking of things. You have to wonder if they might not begin to rationalize their snowmaking to a limited set of trails. There are so many factors, there is no simple answer. Then again, I always call it the "grand experiment". We;ll see how successful it is after a two or three season run.

 

[riverc0il]

I don't have a problem with this decision. Midweek days at Cannon are quite slow and the tram doesn't see that much use. The only time I've used the tram during the past 3 seasons was during the AZ outing last year. I'd rather see the money put to better use elsewhere.

Quite frankly, I agree. I rarely use the Tram and would much rather have the money put towards snow making and better grooming machines. Stepping aside from personal preference, I think it is a bad decision. Cost cutting in an organization is constant, but I think it spells trouble when cost cutting starts axing sustaining key products.

 

[snoseek]

That move makes sense to me. Tram is very $$$$ to operate, and is not needed to access all the terrain. 60 bucks on the otherhand.......

 

[KevinF]

I've been something of a Cannon regular the past couple years. Truthfully, the only times I used the tram was on powder mornings (since it starts running earlier then the chairs do) and on ridiculously cold / windy days (when riding the summit chair was a "please don't let me die" experience). The Tram base lodge was also a nice quiet place to have lunch. I don't mind them shutting it down on quiet days in the least.

 

[Bumpsis]

I'm sure I'll miss it this coming monday. I'm taking the day off in anticipation of some serious powder.
Chasing the tram down was my favorite activity when skiing solo. Not having the tram really takes away from the whole atmosphere of skiing Cannon.
I suppose I can live without it, but the $ 60 price tag really bites!

 

[riverc0il]

You won't really be missing it this coming weekend because it still isn't even open for regular operation Racing the tram? Who does that any more :lol: you miss all the good skiing by doing that

 

[Hawkshot99]

When the tram is used what is the number of pople it can take up hill per hour, compared to a chair?

 

[skibum9995]

When the tram is used what is the number of pople it can take up hill per hour, compared to a chair?

I want to say it takes 7 minutes for a tram ride. That makes about 8 trams in a hour with a capacity of 70 people each which is approx 560 people per hour. I'm not sure about chair capacity, but my guess would be that it is 3-4 times more than the tram.

 

[Geoff]

Mid week cuts may be the latest management trend. Look at what they did with Pico - closed Monday thru Wednesdays. Then again, resorts have always cut back on operations midweek; this may be another re-thinking of things. You have to wonder if they might not begin to rationalize their snowmaking to a limited set of trails. There are so many factors, there is no simple answer. Then again, I always call it the "grand experiment". We;ll see how successful it is after a two or three season run.

Pico is on a 5-day schedule. It is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

 

[thebigo]

I am sure the tram is essential for summer/fall operations, but curtailed operations makes sense in season. In truth lapping the tram is not practical the majority of the season and you would spend more of your day getting around than enjoying the best of what cannon has to offer.

I wish some of these places would issue a little bit of flexibility with curtailed operations. Something along the lines of tram/skyeship stage 1/slidebrook will not operate midweek when we do not hit our baseline of 'x number' of skiiers per day.

 

[Brettski]

Isn't the bush's slidebrook only open on the weekends?

There was money well spent

 

[thetrailboss]

The cutback I am not surprised by. The days that were selected come as a surprise, as did the increased price. I am still over their $60 rate. But then again...look at the nearby resorts and their rates: Bretton Woods is a lot more, as is Loon, WV, and Attitash. Burke is cheaper...but is 45 minutes north (and not much cheaper).

 

[SIKSKIER]

Not a tram fan

I ski Cannon 60+ days a year and if I use the tram once a year that's it.I don't like taking the skis off and crammimg all those bad breath people in that thing.Then it's a herd of cattle unloading.Lapping the tram during the week is very easy.The problem with the midweek tram is it only runs about every 15 minutes.If you hit it just as the tram pulls out,you sit and wait for 15 minutes.I'm thinking I could be going uphill in chair already.No thanks.I'd rather be outside anyway.

 

[Cannonball]

I am a long time Cannon devotee. I ski 30+ days a year there, and 10-15 at an assortment of other places. I find this to be a terrible decision. I almost exlusively use the Tram. Vistaway! Avalanche! the 2 best runs on the mountain accessible only by Tram (yes they can both be reached otherwise, but impractical for snowboarders). Not to mention Tramline, Kinsman, and all the other stashes on that side. I generally only use Peabody to get back up after Mittersill runs.

Cannon always makes weird decisions. Usually we chalk it up as "Cannon-being-Cannon", laugh about it, and go there anyway. But this one is going to turn the tide for me. Fridays are my favorite and most common ski day, and I will not go to Cannon without the tram open. Oh well, more days at JAY!!

 

[SIKSKIER]

If your going to shut it down on a couple a days,Friday seems like a real strange day to close it.Monday and Tuesday seems to make more sense to me.

 

[AdironRider]

So I cant clambake the tram anymore when its just me and the operator riding on slow midweek days? Bummer...

This makes business sense. I rode at Cannon probably 20 days last year and 50% of them there was nobody (and I mean Im the only guy on the thing) riding it.