Conversation at Sugarloaf

[awf170]

At Grand Summit Hotel Tuesday morning:

Me: I heard the t-bar was running now. Do you know if this is true?
Employee: It wasn't running earlier but I will check again. (calls guest services or wherever) Yeah, they said it was on wind hold right now but it might run later.
Me: Ummm t-bars aren't affected by wind.
Employee: (Blank, confused stare)

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Perhaps it's the upcoming winds of change not the winds of mother nature. :wink:

It appears people still do not understand how resorts walk a very fine line this time of year between wanting to be closed and not pissing off some of there loyal customers who scream when they are not open with snow on the trails.
At the end of each week this time of year senior managers cringe when they see the revenue(hardly any) vs cost to run lifts and other costs incurred for the few SP holders that still want to ski. I think all the resorts that are still open should be applauded just for their willingness to be open.

Be happy that they have any lifts open midweek this time of year plus if you really want to know what is going on with the t-bar you should ask someone who would really know not someone at the front desk of the Grand Summit Hotel. Lastly, t-bars can close due to wind, unusual for sure, but it still can happen. For example, JH put a t-bar on Rendezvous Bowl several years ago but it was always closed due to wind so they ended up removing it.

 

[AdironRider]

Seriously, a mtn isnt going to operate as if its presidents weekend this time of year.

Did people bitch as much in previous seasons about closures?

 

[klrskiah]

At Grand Summit Hotel Tuesday morning:

Me: I heard the t-bar was running now. Do you know if this is true?
Employee: It wasn't running earlier but I will check again. (calls guest services or wherever) Yeah, they said it was on wind hold right now but it might run later.
Me: Ummm t-bars aren't affected by wind.
Employee: (Blank, confused stare)

it probably had to be de-iced... also i heard that a tree had fallen on it

hey what do you expect a HOTEL employee to know, they probably don't even ski !

Timberline is now scheduled to run every day through the 29th :smile:

 

[awf170]

Seriously, a mtn isnt going to operate as if its presidents weekend this time of year.

Did people bitch as much in previous seasons about closures?

Without this t-bar running you would be lapping flat beginner terrain the whole day...

...and I wasn't bitching about it. I just thought it was funny.

it probably had to be de-iced... also i heard that a tree had fallen on it

hey what do you expect a HOTEL employee to know they probably don't even ski !

Timberline is now scheduled to run every day through the 29th :smile:

Yeah, I think they had to de-ice it some. Also, the tree was Wednesday's problem. Wednesday was a huge disaster. Superquad died, Spillway chairs were buried, timberline was buried, and the t-bar had a tree bent over the line.

 

[Vortex]

Loafer89 in his ski report somewhere said there was a tree down across the T bar surface area. Wind knocked it down that might be it.

 

[Breeze]

Cluster dysfunctions were evident both Tuesday and Wednesday in more places than one. After Tuesday at Wildcat I was pretty happy to see by reports we weren't the only folks under seige.

Breeze

 

[riverc0il]

I am nearly certain that Saddleback shuts down its TBar in high winds.

 

[jerryg]

I am nearly certain that Saddleback shuts down its TBar in high winds.

You are 100% correct. Kennebego does close because of wind. Old heavy t-bars flying everywhere isn't a good thing.

Haha. Siege.

 

[loafer89]

Wednesday really was not that bad at Sugarloaf and alot of hard heroic work was done by Sugarloaf employees on the Superquad fixing the broken telephone line at the top of the lift and with the tree on the T-bar to bring us skiing in very challenging weather. First tracks down Cant Dog where special and they did get Spillway West running which gave access to some great snow.

Yes lift access was limited as it nearly always is after a storm, but that kept the snow in good shape and earned turns where great.

 

[threecy]

That's correct, T-Bars are affected by wind...the issue isn't with customer safey (as it is with chairlifts) so much as it is a pain to repair a derailed T-Bar or broken ties etc.

 

[KevinF]

I am nearly certain that Saddleback shuts down its TBar in high winds.

A friend of mine is an instructor at Stowe. He told me that their magic carpet went on wind hold once, when the wind blew the sliding black covering thing about 200 yards up the hill. If a magic carpet (of all things) can go on wind hold, so can anything else.

 

[snoseek]

yeah t-bars can shut, but not nearly as bad as chairs. i wish the loaf ripped out the timberline chair, and placed a t-bar from the exit of the superquad to the top. i've seen the saddleback t run with very high winds and i think the danger to the skier and employees is more of a factor.

 

[loafer89]

There was a huge comfort difference at Saddleback on sunday with the high winds and snow/sleet falling. The Rangeley chair was really uncomfortable at times especially near the summit, while the ride up the Kennebago T-bar was calm and comfortable weather wise.