McMountain

[Phildozer]

I saw a reference to a "Boring McMountain".

What constitutes (that means "makes up" Oz, in case you don't recognize the big word) a McMountain in your eyes and which mountains are prime examples?

 

[skibum1321]

Lots of wide, groomed trails
Lots of snowmaking
Nightly grooming
Tons of trails, but only a few with real character

Prime examples: K-Mart, Sunday River, Stratton, Okemo

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

What constitutes (that means "makes up" Oz, in case you don't recognize the big word) a McMountain in your eyes and which mountains are prime examples?

Your condescending remark aside, I’m not into bashing the home mountains of other skiers/riders.

I like to ski trees, bumps, steeps and as much natural terrain as I can get. I also try to avoid crowded and pretentious ski areas. I try to ski mountains that meet these criteria.

Of course compromises have to be made as they relate to distance I have to travel and how much time I have.

 

[Phildozer]

My "condescending remark" was just a good-natured ribbing of Oz. It shouldn't be construed as anything but that.

As for the McMountain stuff, I wasn't looking to bash anything. Heck, I ski 90%+ of my season at Wachusett Mountain so I'm in no position to throw stones.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

My "condescending remark" was just a good-natured ribbing of Oz. It shouldn't be construed as anything but that.

I reread your post, my mistake. Sorry.

 

[Geoff]

Lots of wide, groomed trails
Lots of snowmaking
Nightly grooming
Tons of trails, but only a few with real character

Prime examples: K-Mart, Sunday River, Stratton, Okemo

You forgot high speed lifts

McSkiing has been around as a term for at least a decade as a description for the Corporatization of Skiing. The Les Otten empire. The Preston Smith empire. The Vail empire. The Intrawest empire. The Booth Creek empire. The Mueller empire.

Other classic McMountains include Copper, Breckenridge, Vail, and Deer Valet in the west and Loon & Tremblant in the east. Many McMountains offer amazing terrain that most of their customers ignore. Deer Valley is among my favorite places to be on a powder day. Some of the best tree skiing in the world with tons of medium-pitch ungroomed advanced terrain and the wealthy Bogner people stick to the corduroy. It's not that there's nothing worthy of skiing, it's that corporate-owned ski resorts market to intermediates and to people who only ski a few hours per day and require lots of non-skiing diversions. You could argue that Whistler is a McMountain though it also has the best terrain in North America.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Keeping a big mountain nicely groomed on the Intermediate terrain suites me just fine. The 5days/year patronage by the folks who ski the groomed, and leave lots of money behind for the area operators is great. It means they can stay in business, and let me ski the good stuff without being run over by those folks gesticulating and "oohing and aahing" from the lifts.

 

[mattchuck2]

Stratton is definitely a McMountain. That place has no soul whatsoever. It is designed for the 5 day/yr skier and as far as I'm concerned, they can have it.

 

[LVNLARG]

Lots of wide, groomed trails
Lots of snowmaking
Nightly grooming
Tons of trails, but only a few with real character

Prime examples: K-Mart, Sunday River, Stratton, Okemo

You forgot high speed lifts

I think using the aforementioned (that means previouly mentioned Dozer :lol: ) character traits of a McMountain I have determined the ULTIMATE McMountain on the planet would be Blue Mountain in Ontario. It's about an hour and a half north of Toronto. It has about 30 wide trails all running straight down, more HKD towers than trees , 15...count them...15 lifts...for 30 trails..... Including 4 H.S. 6 packs no less (I think tht might be more 6 packs than anyone else has!??) and more condos than Sunday River and Sugarloaf combined. All of this on a vert of 700 feet...yes....700 feet.....200 of which was manmade..lol. I'm sure this sounds just too ridiculous to beleive...but go to www.bluemountain.ca to see it for yourself. Mountain Creek might run a very distant second. 8)

 

[thetrailboss]

Interesting thread...yeah...I'd say K-Mart because it is so big, bland, and you can't tell one trail from the next. Bretton Woods has become that way as well...

 

[dmc]

Interesting thread...yeah...I'd say K-Mart because it is so big, bland, and you can't tell one trail from the next. Bretton Woods has become that way as well...

And yet somehow they seem to draw a consistant crowd of smiling people...

I've given up judging mountains... seriously.. My mindset is so different then 90% of skiers and snowboarders - what I want out of my skiing experience is VASTLY different from what a family of 4 needs or wants on a ski trip.. And every year it gets crazier and crazier...

To me skiing the little mountain in Ohio in 1976 was like a "gateway drug".... And now I seek the hard stuff... Planning to rent a hut next winter for a week in Colorado... Not a chair in site..
The hard stuff...

 

[riverc0il]

McMountain as a term elluedes to McDonalds which is a corporation that epitomizes homogenization. everything MUST be the same at every location. same menu, same quality, same taste, same look, same feel, same uniforms, same everything. most people look for consistancy and something comfortable. most folks don't want to walk into a place they don't know and risk having a bad experience or feeling uncomfortable. so the McD's thing has been so successful because of the homogenization efforts of the corporation.

that seems to trend true for McMountains. in my opinion, these are mountains that lack the character, essence, and spirit of a small mom and pop shop or your favorite dinner for example. McMountains have no quirks, oddities, or anything slightly offensive to the typical consumer. everything has to be the same accross the board reducing chance for having something unique and/or special. for McMountains, that means wide open trails will lots of snow making and lots of grooming. it means straight trails without any interesting terrain features, dips, or rolls. nothing rough around the edges. i don't think a McMountain can exist without high speed lifts, but i do not think high speed lifts define McMountains (e.g. burke, cannon, wildcat, etc. all have high speed lifts) though the lack of a high speed lift certainly removes any chance of a McMountain stigma (smuggs for example which is a decent sized resort that cators to families but is hardly considered a Mc Mountain).

another defining feature, in my opinion, is the universal appeal that McD's and thus McMountains share. McMountains have huge advertising campaigns which produce high appeal and awareness of everyday consumers thus driving high volumes of people to these locations.

McMountains can have a few exception trails or qualities that stand out, usually i suspect these exceptional trails or qualities were in place before the mountain went the way of the Mc or are defining characteristics of the mountain itself and not a representation of the mountain's management. kmarts now on trail glades may be a good example of this?

i wonder what the McMountain equivenlent of the question "do you want fries with that?" would be? :-?

 

[LVNLARG]

i wonder what the McMountain equivenlent of the question "do you want fries with that?" would be? :-?

Oh man...toooooo easy. I challenge anyone to beat it. "Would you like to visit our real estate center to view a short presentation and receive a free lift ticket for tommorow" :lol: :angry:

 

[BeanoNYC]

i wonder what the McMountain equivenlent of the question "do you want fries with that?" would be? :-?

Oh man...toooooo easy. I challenge anyone to beat it. "Would you like to visit our real estate center to view a short presentation and receive a free lift ticket for tommorow" :lol: :angry:

Would you like us to Valet your skis?

 

[snowmaker4191]

would you like ice with that? lol

 

[LVNLARG]

i wonder what the McMountain equivenlent of the question "do you want fries with that?" would be? :-?

Oh man...toooooo easy. I challenge anyone to beat it. "Would you like to visit our real estate center to view a short presentation and receive a free lift ticket for tommorow" :lol: :angry:

Would you like us to Valet your skis?

Not bad....not bad at all...but I think a $250,000 up-sell trumps a $10 one :lol:

 

[KingM]

I looked at Blue Mountain. To be honest, it looks like they really only have one big wide trail, which they have divided with trees to split it into the 34 they mention on their web site. I can't imagine how crowded that place must be with all those lifts.

To be fair, however, I imagine the choices are few and far between in southern Ontario. That might be as good as it gets if you're stuck in the Toronto area.

Also, they've got a really cool interactive trail map. Cool enough that it was worth a visit to the site just to see that.

 

[LVNLARG]

I looked at Blue Mountain. To be honest, it looks like they really only have one big wide trail, which they have divided with trees to split it into the 34 they mention on their web site. I can't imagine how crowded that place must be with all those lifts.

To be fair, however, I imagine the choices are few and far between in southern Ontario. That might be as good as it gets if you're stuck in the Toronto area.

Also, they've got a really cool interactive trail map. Cool enough that it was worth a visit to the site just to see that.

Those arn't tree's....they're HKD towers.. :lol: Yeah..it's about as good as it gets for a day hill serving toronto. There's several others nearby that are slightly smaller in size but with no where near the infrastructure.

 

[Big Game]

Many McMountains offer amazing terrain that most of their customers ignore.

A very astute observation. Having a good time at a hill means knowing where to go, taking slow lifts, and a little bit of boot packing around.

 

[BeanoNYC]

i wonder what the McMountain equivenlent of the question "do you want fries with that?" would be? :-?

Oh man...toooooo easy. I challenge anyone to beat it. "Would you like to visit our real estate center to view a short presentation and receive a free lift ticket for tommorow" :lol: :angry:

Would you like us to Valet your skis?

Not bad....not bad at all...but I think a $250,000 up-sell trumps a $10 one :lol:

agreed!