MRG "Lines" at Noon Today

[riverc0il]

Ski on pretty much all day long. My longest wait was three minutes for the 10am morning "rush". On a weekend with 44/45 trails open. I found 6" of untracked powder in off map trees (which isn't representative but there was still much to mine...). Temps in the low 20s, no wind, and bluebird. Really great day today. I was told that yesterday was only slightly more busy.

As an MRG skier, I really appreciate the misconception that MRG always has long lines on the weekend and that it isn't worth skiing unless it is a mid-week powder day (when it has longer lines than non-powder day weekends).

But as a Shareholder, I'd like to encourage folks to challenge the notion that MRG always has long lines on the weekends. Sometimes yes. But often times no. Especially on weekends that don't feature big events, holidays, or recent dumpage.

Get out there and rip it up.

 

[marcski]

Looks like a great day Riv.

And for the record, I, by no means, think MRG "always has long lines on the weekend and that it isn't worth skiing unless it is a mid-week powder day (when it has longer lines than non-powder day weekends)." I don't think my post in that other thread said quite that.

 

[riverc0il]

marcski, my post wasn't intended as a direct response to you or anyone else in particular. This is more of an indirect response to a general feeling I sensed that many people feared skiing MRG on the weekends due to lines.

T'was a great day indeed.

 

[thoran1981]

Pics like this give me even more reason to be sad that MRG continues to ban snowboarders. We're really nice people, I swear......just let us come hang out ;-)

 

[Smellytele]

Cannon had no lines today either. Everyone must have been at home getting ready to watch football.

 

[mlkrgr]

It has been a tough year all around for snow, and thus any resort hasn't been crowded as normal, unless you're talking about wind holds channeling people into a lower than expected amount of open lifts. Even when Stratton was giving away free lift tickets last Friday, it wasn't nearly as crowded as I would thought it would be and heck, even if you'd stay over a night, it'd make sense; and it was obvious that they expected a higher turnout too. And with the economy, you'd think people would really jump on deals like this. Of course, the Pats impact the traffic at a ski resort when you talk about today.

I'd have to side with Thoran; by banning snowboarders, MRG not only misses them, but any skier who goes to the mountain with a snowboarder unless they also ski, and they miss the bus group business too, which in turn is a great way to get people to at least try the resort in the hopes that at least some of them will come back for a ski and stay or become a season pass holder; or at least if they are avid enough to take the bus all the time, they'd be more willing to book on days the bus goes to their favorite resort.

 

[billski]

Temps in the mid 20s? Magic didn't see 20's until around noontime. We started the day at minus eight. Consequently, nobody was in a hurry to get first chairs. When the sun shone, it warmed right up.

 

[abc]

MRG is a co-op. It's only answerable to its share holders. As long as they're happy with the current status, there's no reason to change and upset them.

 

[bdfreetuna]

That photograph must be the shortest line I have ever seen on the single chair at MRG....

I'm pretty sure I've waited like a solid half hour in line before to get on that chair.

Good to see that's not always the case. But in my experience it always has been incredibly long lines on the single...

 

[BenedictGomez]

It has been a tough year all around for snow, and thus any resort hasn't been crowded as normal, unless you're talking about wind holds channeling people into a lower than expected amount of open lifts. Even when Stratton was giving away free lift tickets last Friday, it wasn't nearly as crowded as I would thought it would be and heck, even if you'd stay over a night, it'd make sense; and it was obvious that they expected a higher turnout too. And with the economy, you'd think people would really jump on deals like this. Of course, the Pats impact the traffic at a ski resort when you talk about today.

He makes a couple of good points above.

I'd throw the Giants into the equation too, not as much as the Pats obviously, but you'd be surprised how many Giants fans there are in New England, not to mention all the NY/NJ folks who probably bagged skiing this weekend for the football.

Heck, just football fans in general now that I think about, I mean look how many deals ski places offer on Superbowl Sunday.

 

[riverc0il]

Temps in the mid 20s? Magic didn't see 20's until around noontime. We started the day at minus eight. Consequently, nobody was in a hurry to get first chairs. When the sun shone, it warmed right up.

It started in the negatives but after only three runs, it was pleasant enough that I shed layers.

You guys note the Pats game which is what I thought. But as noted above, Saturday was only slightly more busy and the lot was only 2/3's full according to someone that had skied the day before. And which is part of my point... if you pick your days well at MRG, you don't have to worry about lines.

Also, it seems like billski posted a thread about long lines at Mount Snow so I am not sure I buy that everyone was home watching the game. When Cannon does its Superbowl twofer, it is one of the busiest days of the year even when the Pats play. People still can get in a ski and get home for the game.

And if you guys don't mind, I'd like to keep this thread on topic. We've had enough MRG snowboard ban threads and also other MRG threads devolve into the same old back and forth. In regards to this thread which is about MRG not always having long lines, lifting the ban would make the "lines" even worse. I'm not saying that is a reason to keep the ban. But I am saying that it is irrelevant to the point of this thread.

 

[skidmarks]

Thanks! I would have asumed long lines on weekends at MRG. It's good to know since we're going to be making the slow move to Montpelier VT over the next year and a half-ish.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Another contributing factor may be the preconception that this has been a bad snow year and MRG does not make snow. Therefore, "the skiing can't be any good there right now", and people choose to go else where or watch football.

 

[WJenness]

I think it really was the Pats.

I was at SR this weekend... Conditions were good, but the place was a ghost town by 11:30...

It usually thins out pretty quick on a Sunday, but this was extreme.

Saturday was a little busier, but I only skied the morning and stopped around 12:00 to watch the Bruins game (which started at 1:00).

-w

 

[mlkrgr]

Another contributing factor may be the preconception that this has been a bad snow year and MRG does not make snow. Therefore, "the skiing can't be any good there right now", and people choose to go else where or watch football.

True; I think traffic at ski resorts go with people's conceptions. People will come out in droves, especially when there was no snow towards the later end of the season two years ago to ski on thin cover in comfortable temps. Also, I believe that people do underrate the wind and the possibility that it can have on wind holds. I for one, do not have the money to come up just to see all lifts are on hold and still ski as much as I want to as I generally write off any day with predicted winds above 15 (due to the possibility of them being stronger with elevation gain, etc).

I did see some of the pictures of the lines at Mt Snow from the past Saturday and those aren't still as bad as I've seen it there. Traffic is still not normal as far as I'm concerned even when considering external factors so I think the poor economy is possibly playing a role too along with high gas prices vs previous years. I've been looking at the Sunday River cam to check in with them and the chondola lines and the quad by it are still not as long as I've seen it in prior years. People look like they are trading to the ski buses as I did notice that Boston Ski and Sports sold out both trips this weekend and Nacski had a good showing on their Saturday trip as you can see that they had 18 empty seats online out of the 56 seat bus (they did not have anything on schedule for Sunday though) which is an OK showing for them. When it costs $35/40 in gas to do a round trip, these trips do become more and more compelling as the gas price goes up.

 

[Nick]

How was MRG otherwise? I was considering it this past weekend but given the lack of natural snowfall I'm trying to wait for a good hit to get up there, figured I'd save 2 hrs of driving

 

[Nick]

Another contributing factor may be the preconception that this has been a bad snow year and MRG does not make snow. Therefore, "the skiing can't be any good there right now", and people choose to go else where or watch football.

Err.... yeah that's partially my preconception

 

[HowieT2]

He makes a couple of good points above.

I'd throw the Giants into the equation too, not as much as the Pats obviously, but you'd be surprised how many Giants fans there are in New England, not to mention all the NY/NJ folks who probably bagged skiing this weekend for the football.

Heck, just football fans in general now that I think about, I mean look how many deals ski places offer on Superbowl Sunday.

Bagged skiing for a 6:30 kickoff? Fools. it was a great weekend. sunday was really nice. we left the mtn at 2 and pulled into the driveway at home at 6:27. shoveled my way in and was on the couch before kickoff.

 

[Talisman]

But in my experience it always has been incredibly long lines on the single...

Wow that was a short line for MRG midweek let alone a weekend. My experience has also been 30 minutes or longer. The upside is the low uphill capacity preserves the snow.

 

[steamboat1]

I've seen MRG with long lines & I've seen it with short lines. Either way it's still a good place. I wasn't there this weekend but I'm sure the skiing was good. I have a friend that lives in the MRV & he told me that even though the ski areas in the valley were reporting 4" of snow Thurs. night he had more like 8" at his house. He lives in the shadow of Lincoln peak.