Mountain Creek Season Pass Prices 08/09

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

If I wasn't skiing evenings after work at the local ski hill..my ski season wouldn't be as steezy..I feel like it's a privilage to have a ski area with night skiing in many of our backyards whether Mountain Creek, Camelback, Blue, Sundown or Wachusett. I'll always support the local ski areas..that's where my roots of skiing are. I couldn't imagine only skiing on ski trips up north and out west like many.

 

[Dr Skimeister]

My take is contrary to these.
I live 15 min from Mountain Creek and Hidden Valley and my office is less than 5 min to Creek and 10 min to HV. I haven't skied HV in 10+ years, and have been to Creek maybe 5 times in that same time span. To me, the marginal-at-best conditions combined with crowds and parking hassles and generally dopy people that frequent the places (especially MC on this latter one) make them undesirable to me. And I'm talking about mid-day weekdays! I wouldn't even consider either of them on a weekend.
I'd rather drive to the Catskills or the Berkshires for a day trip.

 

[hardline]

even with the park at south it doesn't mean you have to hit the features you can just go around them. the lodge a north sucks monkey ba@# but it is what it is. PA is just to far for my afterwork sessions. and i have a house 15 min away. so it is my home mountain. for day trips its bell but for after work its the creek. its a cheep pass and i average about a 100 days a year. the terrain isnt the best but who cares i am on the snow which is where i love to be. i the terrain in the pocconos isn't much better and its another 45 to hour away and a much more expensive pass for not much more. so its just not worth it. i can go to the mountain almost any given night and find one of my neighbors there so its fun.

 

[ERJ-145CA]

Last season and this coming season I've had passes for Hidden Valley. It's 15 minutes from my house so I can go almost every weekday that I'm off. I like having the close local hill because even if it's not the greates terrain or vertical I usually only have a couple of hours to ski during the day with my kid's schedule and family obligations so I can be on the snow quick and bang out a whole bunch of runs in a couple of hours.

I chose the pass at HV because on weekdays there is almost nobody there so I don't have to wait and the snow conditions are usually better than Mountain Creek (which seems very stingy on the snowmaking). On the few days that I am free all day then I'll go to the Catskills or Poconos, but it's always nice to have a couple of choices to ski within 15 minutes drive.

 

[Rob A]

I agree with basically all the complaints people are making. If you remember that last year, I was one of the lead complainers against creek and their silly antics. But lets not go overboard.

Not having the sojourn open was a disgrace and there was no reason for that.
Leaving Granite to rot for most of the season was horrible.
The vernon parking and lodge sucks.
Waiting forever to open creek's best terrain, just to close it first is retarded.
Turning all of South/Bear into a park rat paradise is one of the worst moves they have ever made.
Moving the Racing from Bear to Zero G created numerous problems at Vernon, limiting skiers from Vernon's best terrain and creating longer lines at the "Gondola."

All that stuff sucks, and I really hope creek makes some changes this year. HOWEVER, there were some pleasant surprises last year. The overcrowding that invaded creek on weekends was GONE. Weekend mornings were nearly deserted, I never had to wait on any substantial lines all season long, and I go there almost every weekend morning. The longer lines were actually during night skiing than weekend skiing, which wasn't that bad anyway.

Why were the lines shorter? They raised the pass prices and eliminated the triple play. Now with the prices dropped and the triple play back, I fear that the once horrid crowds of the past will return.

You all know the biggest issue of last season and that was not opening the Sojourn. I enjoyed skiing both at Vernon and South last year. Skiing at South last year, to my surprise, was very enjoyable. Short lines for the most part, more terrain open than usual, and it was easy to avoid park terrain. So I can deal with the park, they don't impede the skiing terrain that much. The problem is trying to segregate the entire resort so only park rats go over there, which is what they tried last year by not connecting the peaks.

This season can be a success assuming Sojourn is OPEN all year long, and they get Granite going early so Pipeline and Devil's Bit are accessible in December. Then move the racing back to Big Bear, as there was no park terrain there anyway. The racers preferred being there, so why move them? Zero G is a great trail, and especially when Granite is closed, there isn't much else to do at Creek besides ski South/Bear.

So if they open sojourn, open pipeline/devil's bit in december, and move the racing back to bear, then this season should be fine.

 

[Dr Skimeister]

There may be no racing at Creek this year. I was told recently that the local high school racers (SCIL) will be at Hidden Valley this year.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

The Ridge ski team from Basking Ridge high always used to train at Mountain Creek and the past two seasons they've been at Blue mountain..

 

[hardline]

I agree with basically all the complaints people are making. If you remember that last year, I was one of the lead complainers against creek and their silly antics. But lets not go overboard.

Not having the sojourn open was a disgrace and there was no reason for that.
Leaving Granite to rot for most of the season was horrible.
The vernon parking and lodge sucks.
Waiting forever to open creek's best terrain, just to close it first is retarded.
Turning all of South/Bear into a park rat paradise is one of the worst moves they have ever made.
Moving the Racing from Bear to Zero G created numerous problems at Vernon, limiting skiers from Vernon's best terrain and creating longer lines at the "Gondola."

All that stuff sucks, and I really hope creek makes some changes this year. HOWEVER, there were some pleasant surprises last year. The overcrowding that invaded creek on weekends was GONE. Weekend mornings were nearly deserted, I never had to wait on any substantial lines all season long, and I go there almost every weekend morning. The longer lines were actually during night skiing than weekend skiing, which wasn't that bad anyway.

Why were the lines shorter? They raised the pass prices and eliminated the triple play. Now with the prices dropped and the triple play back, I fear that the once horrid crowds of the past will return.

You all know the biggest issue of last season and that was not opening the Sojourn. I enjoyed skiing both at Vernon and South last year. Skiing at South last year, to my surprise, was very enjoyable. Short lines for the most part, more terrain open than usual, and it was easy to avoid park terrain. So I can deal with the park, they don't impede the skiing terrain that much. The problem is trying to segregate the entire resort so only park rats go over there, which is what they tried last year by not connecting the peaks.

This season can be a success assuming Sojourn is OPEN all year long, and they get Granite going early so Pipeline and Devil's Bit are accessible in December. Then move the racing back to Big Bear, as there was no park terrain there anyway. The racers preferred being there, so why move them? Zero G is a great trail, and especially when Granite is closed, there isn't much else to do at Creek besides ski South/Bear.

So if they open sojourn, open pipeline/devil's bit in december, and move the racing back to bear, then this season should be fine.

ya i think racing is going to hidden. i actually dislike the racers. they extreamly dangerous to everybody else on the moutain. one of the highschool racers tried to yell at one of the kids for being in his way untill i rolled up behind him and taped him on the shoulder. then the ski patrol came over lectured the kids for a while.

i was never there in the morning on the weekends but by 6 or 7 it was a ghost town.

i agree the passes and the triple play cards are going to make it crowded durring the day on the weekends but midweek it will be fine.

having the sojuorn would be great. they should replace the slow ass lift and put in a faster lift.

 

[Rob A]

If the racing has moved to HV, then halelujah! Hopefully that means all racing? Even the younger kids training? We'll see, that will relieve a huge grievance at Vernon.

 

[hardline]

the highschool racing teams are the most disrespecfull people on the hill. they seemed to think everything between the lift and zero g was theres to do as they want. so if they really go HV it would be great.

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

If I wasn't skiing evenings after work at the local ski hill..my ski season wouldn't be as steezy..I feel like it's a privilage to have a ski area with night skiing in many of our backyards whether Mountain Creek, Camelback, Blue, Sundown or Wachusett. I'll always support the local ski areas..that's where my roots of skiing are. I couldn't imagine only skiing on ski trips up north and out west like many.

Well said Steeze