Mountain Creek Sojourn Double removed

[Rob A]

All details (and chair sales) here: http://www.mountaincreek.com/mountain-info/sojourn-chair-sale/sojourn-chair-sale

The question I have is, how does the Crystal Springs operated Mountain Creek plan to let skiers ski across all 4 peaks without driving or taking shuttle buses? I had high expectations with Intrawest leaving, but have seen no improvements yet.

 

[RootDKJ]

Man, I have so many memories of riding that lift.

 

[millerm277]

I'll be curious to see what the next step is, as to if they're going to replace it, require shuttle buses, or actually connect them some other way, such as with Intrawest's old master plan with another trail pod between South and GGN/Granite.

 

[NJSkiBabe]

Here's the perfect opportunity - take the cabriolet and put it there!

 

[RootDKJ]

Here's the perfect opportunity - take the cabriolet and put it there!

I hate that lift. It's bad enough for the 55 seconds it takes to get to the top of VV, I couldn't imagine riding back from GG

 

[ERJ-145CA]

I hate that lift. It's bad enough for the 55 seconds it takes to get to the top of VV, I couldn't imagine riding back from GG

Yeah but you would need to use it a lot less, maybe once a ski day instead of every 90 seconds. Hopefully it's not run into the ground like when it was VV-GG.

 

[evantrentful]

So it begins. I bet in 5 years everyone is going to miss Intrawest

 

[NJSkiBabe]

So it begins. I bet in 5 years everyone is going to miss Intrawest

No one has misse Intrawest so far. They haven't existed for several years already. Fortress Investments owned & operated everything that was under Intrawest.

 

[bensonr2]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are no plans to replace the lift. The new management seems to be continuing the policy of segregating the parks and pipes boarding crowd from the skiers.

I didn't even ski the south (GG) side of the resort last year since I never bothered to fill out the form and pick up a park pass. I did not seem worth the hassle to ski a few runs dodging the park features.

Still its most disappointing news. Although they ruined the old Great Gorge by shoe horning park features on all trails it still was nice to have the option to venture all the way over there. It helped the place feel much bigger then it was.

 

[legalskier]

The question I have is, how does the Crystal Springs operated Mountain Creek plan to let skiers ski across all 4 peaks without driving or taking shuttle buses?.

Good question. The one thing I enjoyed about MC was being able to cruise around over four peaks eluding the crowds while searching for pockets of good snow. (Also, GG was the first area where I skied under lights as a kid, before there was any VV, or Granite, or South, or anything else besides dairy farms up there.)
That lift was old and slow, but it offered a few minutes of quiet respite from the usual frenetic scene; I did a lot of thinking on it while catching some rays. It troubles me that they haven't announced their plans- will it be a new lift, or the long talked about trail pod between South and Granite, or nothing at all? Only time will tell. Now the owner who owned it prior to Intrawest has returned; this is the same entity that let the area sadly sink into oblivion during the 80s and 90s, while they were investigated for various shenanigans. Here's a synopsis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Creek
Based on that, I'll believe it when I see it. "Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss"

 

[CollegeKid]

I think it is going to be tough for the new ownership given that Mountain Creek is in the same competition demographic as the Poconos. The Poconos have a much greater advantage in their snow-making capabilities and therefore reliability to attract people from NYC. Also, I feel people who travel in the winter want to get a little bit further away than 60 minutes from the George Washington Bridge. Right now, with all of the development in the Pocono Mountains with new casinos and resorts like Camelback preparing an indoor water park and hotel, it is the place to be for winter vacationers from NYC, NJ, and Philadelphia.

 

[x10003q]

"Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss"

The Who - We Won't Get Fooled Again

Kudos to legalskier - you nailed it.

MC will revert to the old uninsured mountain it was with the Mulvihills back in charge. I would guess the Sojourn chair will never be replaced. The Tents at the base of VV remain a nice touch. I wonder what magic beans these guys are goiing to sell now? Maybe they will sell shares in a real life Farmville. Maybe they will take a page out of the NFL's "How to Steal Legally" book and charge a lift license for the right to buy a lift ticket. I am so happy that for an extra 1/2 hour of driving I can be skiing in the Catskills.



I won't get fooled again.

 

[St. Bear]

I think it is going to be tough for the new ownership given that Mountain Creek is in the same competition demographic as the Poconos. The Poconos have a much greater advantage in their snow-making capabilities and therefore reliability to attract people from NYC. Also, I feel people who travel in the winter want to get a little bit further away than 60 minutes from the George Washington Bridge. Right now, with all of the development in the Pocono Mountains with new casinos and resorts like Camelback preparing an indoor water park and hotel, it is the place to be for winter vacationers from NYC, NJ, and Philadelphia.

A major advantage for most of the Pocono resorts is that they are very close to 80 and 78. MC promotes that they're the closest "big" resort to NYC, but Camelback is much more convenient to get to for most people.

 

[evantrentful]

Like some of the others have said, Mountain Creek is now back in the hands of the same guy who ran it into the ground and literally may have cost some people their lives at action park.

For all the bad rap Intrawest got atleast they spent a boatload of money on the place. 5 new lifts within the first 2 years of operation. Actually opening the southlodge and completely renovating it. Massive investment into snow making infrastructure. And while they didnt run it all the time, they made an effort, especially in the first decade of ownership to have the Sojourn Double and trail open.

I highly doubt in this kind of market that the Double is going to be replaced anytime soon. To me mountain creek is dead now. The last thing I want to do is have to take a shuttle bus everytime I want to get to a different section of the resort. Shit I can just go to Belleayre and Hunter and drive back and forth between the two for the same experience.

 

[bensonr2]

Did anyone notice the price for a chair from the lift? $295

They must be smoking crack.

Also have you seen the increase in season pass prices? The pre season price is now 300 for the weekday pass. I know that's still cheap compared to even most pocono resorts... but I believe last year they sold for 200. Thats a 50 percent increase and they already removed a major interconnecting lift.

Not to mention the pass no longer includes the benefits at other intrawest resorts. They worked out some deals with Waterville Valley and Killington. The discounts are pretty minor. When they were an intrawest resort you could use their season pass for a 20 dollar midweek ticket at Stratton. I know thats not everyone's favorite... but its not a bad hill and thats a great price.

 

[NJSkiBabe]

All of the Fortress Investment Company (Intrawest) resorts have been sold off. Just like the American Ski Company resorts were several years ago.

 

[legalskier]

All of the Fortress Investment Company (Intrawest) resorts have been sold off. Just like the American Ski Company resorts were several years ago.

Some but not all Intrawest/Fortress holdings were sold:

Resorts owned at least in part by Intrawest include:
Blue Mountain, Ontario
Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia
Steamboat Ski Resort, Colorado
Stratton Mountain Resort, Vermont
Mont Tremblant Resort, Quebec
Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia
Winter Park, Colorado (Contract to operate this city park owned by the city of Denver.)
Former Resorts
Copper Mountain, Colorado (November 2009)
Les Arcs 1950, France (October 2009)
Flaine Montsoleil development, France (October 2009)
Panorama Mountain Village, British Columbia (January 2010)
Mammoth, California (March 2006)
Mountain Creek, New Jersey (May 2010)
Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort, Florida (March 2010)
The Village at Squaw Valley, California (January 2010)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrawest

 

[bensonr2]

The NJ Herald has an article online:

http://www.njherald.com/story/news/29Chairs

There is some bad news followed by some good news:

The entire lift is being disassembled, and most likely won’t be replaced by another chairlift. Shuttle buses will get people back and forth from peak to peak this winter, O’Brien said.

A new trail is in the works that would enable skiers to ski from South Peak to Granite Peak, but that work most likely will not be completed until the winter of 2011-2012, O’Brien said.


As far as there being a new interconnecting trail I'll believe it when I see it. I picture any new trail being limited in placement by the old condos and the crystal springs hotel. I imagine any interconnecting trail would need to hook up with the "granite view" trail they removed from later trail maps. That trail was even flatter then the southern sojourn trail. In fact it went literally up hill at one point.

The few times I skied it I gave up took off my skis and walked.

 

[legalskier]

I imagine any interconnecting trail would need to hook up with the "granite view" trail they removed from later trail maps. That trail was even flatter then the southern sojourn trail. In fact it went literally up hill at one point.
The few times I skied it I gave up took off my skis and walked.

I always viewed it as an opportunity to work on my skating skills. :roll:

 

[bensonr2]

On the MC website they have a blog post with further details regarding a new interconnecting trail from GG South to GG North.

http://creektalks.blogspot.com/2010/10/resort-improvements-whats-deal.html

As I suspected it appears that the new trail will hook up with the "granite view" trail that was on earlier MC trail maps.

I guess this is a reasonable solution. Though it was tough enough using that trail as a skier. Since mostly boarders will be using this trail to get back to VV I expect many of them to be annoyed at the amount of walking they will do on the trail. The uphill section on that trail was at least twice as much a pain as the flat section at the end of the "southern sojourn" trail.