Lodges that don't allow outside food

[deadheadskier]

I'd say hockey parents / kids top all. I've worked at hotels who banned certain youth teams for trashing the place.

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[tnt1234]

I'd say hockey parents / kids top all. I've worked at hotels who banned certain youth teams for trashing the place.

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There was a hilarious exchange between some hockey parents and Steven Wright of Jay Peak years back. On yelp, I think. Basically, the parents left a bad review and Wrigth called them out for letting their kids turn the place upside down. Very amusing.

 

[Hawk]

Listen, I am en elitist and you are giving me a bad wrap lumping me in with these working class racing types. Jeese. ;-)

All kidding aside. This whole thing is blown way out of proportion. I ski a ton, have no kids, never raced and ski at 2 mountains that have large programs. I have no skin in the game but have a rational opinion based on my experiences. I do not see any of this and never have. It basically comes down to this. You guys are either way over sensitive to the issue or have be slighted once or twice and now have an axe to grind or are total curmudgeons. Frankly if I ever came into contact with people that act the way you described, I would just ignore them or I would spend less time in the lodge and go ski. That is the way I see it.

 

[jimk]

Good and scenic brown bagger spots:

Anyone ever eat a DIY meal on this deck?

Or here?

My son and I enjoying a brown bag lunch at one of my favorite spots to do that in America, elev 11,500:

Pretty sure I've eaten a PB&J sandwich here once or twice on the deck. Inside this small, old lodge is table service only and not likely to work for brown bagging.

Another memorable spot to unpack a sandwich, this is at the summit of a Mecca of tree skiing in Eastern US:

Really nice public space at a Western PA ski area where they don't mind if you dine on your own food, this is a summit lodge with great views out the windows:

 

[BenedictGomez]

I do not see any of this and never have.

I'd say you're likely blessed to be fairly nonobservant.

At the very least, you should have noticed the 8,378 pairs of skis littering the ground that one has to trudge over either because they cant be "bothered" to lean them up, or because budding Aksel Lund Svindal needs his bases 2.3 degrees colder to shave off that 0.01 second that will win him Olympic Gold at Magic Mountain.

 

[Smellytele]

Honestly, it's not the "new rich" that tend to be creating the table hogging issues at races, it tends to be the parents with less financial means, that are sacrificing for the sake of their kids, that show up with the crockpots, tablecloths, etc and "take over" the table and not let others in the lodge use the open seats at the table. And in no way shape or form do I begrudge them and the efforts they're making to help instill the love of the sport on their kids. I think any kid that ski races or has parents that want to take them to a mountain is an awesome thing!! (Just don't hog a table in a crowded lodge all day!)

The "new rich" if you want to label them that way, are way more likely to buy from the cafeteria or eat in a base/mid mountain lodge restaurant (they may be more likely to get upset if they can't be seated quickly in a table in restaurant, but that is often solved with a quick trip to the bar while waiting) , and either be out skiing or snowshoeing up to the finish area to watch their kids in my experience.

I guess, since it's the racer parent crowd that were talking about, parents who are used to being at a mountain, and kind of understand the crowd dynamics of a base lodge, it's more of a small mountain/big mountain thing that I have seen in my limited, mainly VT based racer parent experience. Or let me put it this way, I've NEVER witnessed a Stratton or Hermitage Club racer parent bringing a crock pot into the lodge with them on a race day.... :wink:

Class warfare in the racing community. Looking down upon the supposed lesser mountains. lol.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Class warfare in the racing community. Looking down upon the supposed lesser mountains. lol.

I dont view his post like that at all.

I think he's just saying those with money take the easy route & buy lodge food, those without money bring sandwiches and/or crock pots.

 

[drjeff]

Class warfare in the racing community. Looking down upon the supposed lesser mountains. lol.

I dont view his post like that at all.

I think he's just saying those with money take the easy route & buy lodge food, those without money bring sandwiches and/or crock pots.

BG got my point, and lets also be honest here, if you have a kid(s) in a ski racing program, chances are that you're doing far better financially than the majority of the households in the country, even if you try and do it frugally, by the time you add up the cost of equipment (even if you get it at swaps), the cost of the training program, race registration fees, travel expenses to/from both your home mountain and any away races, the length of the season (usually for most non ski academy programs it starts basically the 1st weekend of December and runs every weekend through mid/late March) it's NOT a cheap sport by any means.

Add in the fact that for the vast majority of kids, there won't be any college scholarship money (there are 12 NCAA Division 1 men's programs and 13 Division 1 women's programs across the country with a total combined total between those 25 programs of about 500 scholarship positions total, when you factor in the European and other foreign students who claim some of those scholarship positions, the chances of one's kid skiing themselves to a free 4 years of college is very small.

It's far more often about passing the love of the sport onto your kids and the ways that parents go through it to make it happen when needed than anything else.

As for the big mountain/small mountain class warfare thing that ST eluded too, maybe among some parents there is, but from my own experiences in with the 03,04,05 and 06 birth year athletes that my kids race/have raced against, in a VERY competitive ski racing state of Vermont and also in a very strong council with the Stratton Mountain School athletes, and their often full nationwide and also international slew of athletes they have, it's just not there.

To be honest, especially in the case of my daughter, who's an 04 birth year racer, the 1 girl she's always raced against, who is most like to make the US Ski Team development squad in the next couple of years, is originally from Magic, before she followed her Dad who is a coach, Jim Sullivan, first to Mount Snow Academy and now for the last 2 years to Stratton Mountain School, so it's been the case of the local, small hill Vermont born and raised kid, most races beating everyone else, from kids of Hedge Fund guys to international students attending Stratton Mountain School, to kids of families who do well enough to give their kids the chance to race because they are bringing the crockpots to the mountain, we as parents all generally stop and pay attention, and often watch in awe of the small town native Vermonter when she kicks out of the starting gate and gets on course. As a parent these days in the era of "everyone gets a trophy" youth sports, it's a great thing to have your kid, who may of say finished 37th in a race that day, feel good about their efforts and learn that ultimately for most, it's not about if you made it onto the podium, but did you put your best effort out on the hill that day

 

[Smellytele]

BG got my point, and lets also be honest here, if you have a kid(s) in a ski racing program, chances are that you're doing far better financially than the majority of the households in the country, even if you try and do it frugally, by the time you add up the cost of equipment (even if you get it at swaps), the cost of the training program, race registration fees, travel expenses to/from both your home mountain and any away races, the length of the season (usually for most non ski academy programs it starts basically the 1st weekend of December and runs every weekend through mid/late March) it's NOT a cheap sport by any means.

Add in the fact that for the vast majority of kids, there won't be any college scholarship money (there are 12 NCAA Division 1 men's programs and 13 Division 1 women's programs across the country with a total combined total between those 25 programs of about 500 scholarship positions total, when you factor in the European and other foreign students who claim some of those scholarship positions, the chances of one's kid skiing themselves to a free 4 years of college is very small.

It's far more often about passing the love of the sport onto your kids and the ways that parents go through it to make it happen when needed than anything else.

As for the big mountain/small mountain class warfare thing that ST eluded too, maybe among some parents there is, but from my own experiences in with the 03,04,05 and 06 birth year athletes that my kids race/have raced against, in a VERY competitive ski racing state of Vermont and also in a very strong council with the Stratton Mountain School athletes, and their often full nationwide and also international slew of athletes they have, it's just not there.

To be honest, especially in the case of my daughter, who's an 04 birth year racer, the 1 girl she's always raced against, who is most like to make the US Ski Team development squad in the next couple of years, is originally from Magic, before she followed her Dad who is a coach, Jim Sullivan, first to Mount Snow Academy and now for the last 2 years to Stratton Mountain School, so it's been the case of the local, small hill Vermont born and raised kid, most races beating everyone else, from kids of Hedge Fund guys to international students attending Stratton Mountain School, to kids of families who do well enough to give their kids the chance to race because they are bringing the crockpots to the mountain, we as parents all generally stop and pay attention, and often watch in awe of the small town native Vermonter when she kicks out of the starting gate and gets on course. As a parent these days in the era of "everyone gets a trophy" youth sports, it's a great thing to have your kid, who may of say finished 37th in a race that day, feel good about their efforts and learn that ultimately for most, it's not about if you made it onto the podium, but did you put your best effort out on the hill that day

I understand, I was joking with a little trolling that was able to hook the fish. [emoji476][emoji16]


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[cdskier]

At the very least, you should have noticed the 8,378 pairs of skis littering the ground that one has to trudge over either because they cant be "bothered" to lean them up, or because budding Aksel Lund Svindal needs his bases 2.3 degrees colder to shave off that 0.01 second that will win him Olympic Gold at Magic Mountain.

I'll give one of the GMVS coaches some kudos on this topic. Last week midweek at Sugarbush GMVS was doing some race training at Lincoln Peak in the morning. The place was empty first thing yet there were still a bunch of skis on the ground. A coach came out of the lodge and saw the skis and immediately turned around and started telling any kids if they had skis on the ground they needed to go pick them up and put them where they belong and that it wasn't respectful to just leave skis in the middle on the ground even when no one is there. And sometimes just a coach (or parent, etc) reminding kids of what is appropriate and what is not appropriate is all that is needed. The skis were all picked up within minutes.

 

[Smellytele]

I'll give one of the GMVS coaches some kudos on this topic. Last week midweek at Sugarbush GMVS was doing some race training at Lincoln Peak in the morning. The place was empty first thing yet there were still a bunch of skis on the ground. A coach came out of the lodge and saw the skis and immediately turned around and started telling any kids if they had skis on the ground they needed to go pick them up and put them where they belong and that it wasn't respectful to just leave skis in the middle on the ground even when no one is there. And sometimes just a coach (or parent, etc) reminding kids of what is appropriate and what is not appropriate is all that is needed. The skis were all picked up within minutes.

That is great. I was at Cannon once and a bunch of racers were down in the brown bag area and they left a mess. The coach was still in there. I turn to my 3 kids and say loudly "If you ever leave a mess like that i will never bring you skiing again". The coach must have heard me as he walked out and a few minutes later the racers were all back down there cleaning up their mess.