Mt. Snow Sunbrook Lifts

[threecy]

I'm not a big fan of the terrain at Mt. Snow, but I know I'd much rather see Sunbrook open than Beartrap.

I have my doubts that a 1,700 vertical foot ski area would lose much business by keeping a 370 vertical foot chairlift and slope closed two midweek days a week - rather, I think they only stand to save money, which translates in to slightly lesser price increases to the consumer.

This could also be a bit of an experiment on their part, as to see if Sunbrook will get used midweek if open - ie would the long rumored lift replacement actually be worth it.

 

[Newpylong]

Oh, I agree, I never really skied that many runs if at all at Beartrap. My buddies used to ski it more than myself. Like I said earlier, my preference is the NF and some woods on the front. However, its still bogus to shut a lift and limit access to terrain, or at least make you ski around and take other lifts when you could just lap it, yet still charge $69 for a lift ticket, at least IMHO.

Sorry to burst your bubble but this is quite the norm for any ski area. Resorts around the country reduce lifts during the week. You think I would run/staff a lift for one trail mid week? I don't think so... Beartrap has sucked for the last 10 years anyway.

 

[ta&idaho]

Beartrap has sucked for the last 10 years anyway.

I think its pretty darn fun, at least in the spring.

 

[marcski]

Sorry to burst your bubble but this is quite the norm for any ski area. Resorts around the country reduce lifts during the week. You think I would run/staff a lift for one trail mid week? I don't think so... Beartrap has sucked for the last 10 years anyway.

Regardless of whether it is the "norm" (although, I don't really see this happening at a lot of major western resorts, ie. alta, snowbird etc. have all lifts running midweek, non-holidays), its bogus. When you go into a Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon...say at 3 p.m. after the morning and lunch rushes, do they charge more for a cup of coffee than say at 8 a.m.? NO. Even though they are not making as much money per cup at that hour since they probably have to throw away more coffee at 3 p.m. to ensure that every cup they serve was only sitting around for no more than 20 mins or so than they would at say 8 a.m. It's a bogus plan. Period. Whether other resorts do it too,....makes no difference. Bogus is bogus.

Like I said earlier, if they had a deep midweek discount lets say $30 or $40, my opinion might differ.

 

[threecy]

When you go into a Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon...say at 3 p.m. after the morning and lunch rushes, do they charge more for a cup of coffee than say at 8 a.m.? NO. Even though they are not making as much money per cup at that hour since they probably have to throw away more coffee at 3 p.m. to ensure that every cup they serve was only sitting around for no more than 20 mins or so than they would at say 8 a.m. It's a bogus plan. Period. Whether other resorts do it too,....makes no difference. Bogus is bogus.

I'm not aware of any ski resorts that charge more for coffee at 8 AM than 3 PM.

 

[marcski]

I'm not aware of any ski resorts that charge more for coffee at 8 AM than 3 PM.

o.k its early in the morning. Perhaps I should have said and meant to say that they don't give you a smaller cup of coffee during the off hours. That's my analogy and I'm sticking to it!

 

[threecy]

Perhaps I should have said and meant to say that they don't give you a smaller cup of coffee during the off hours. That's my analogy and I'm sticking to it!

I tend to get smaller portions of french fries from Common Man Restaurants during off peak hours, but for the same price.

 

[drjeff]

Regardless of whether it is the "norm" (although, I don't really see this happening at a lot of major western resorts, ie. alta, snowbird etc. have all lifts running midweek, non-holidays), its bogus. When you go into a Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon...say at 3 p.m. after the morning and lunch rushes, do they charge more for a cup of coffee than say at 8 a.m.? NO. Even though they are not making as much money per cup at that hour since they probably have to throw away more coffee at 3 p.m. to ensure that every cup they serve was only sitting around for no more than 20 mins or so than they would at say 8 a.m. It's a bogus plan. Period. Whether other resorts do it too,....makes no difference. Bogus is bogus.

Like I said earlier, if they had a deep midweek discount lets say $30 or $40, my opinion might differ.

I don't think that the lift set up of Alta/Snowbird (or many a major Western Resort for that matter) and Mount Snow are reasonable comparisons at all for the following reasons. Mount Snow has lots of redundancy built into their lifts with multiple lifts serving the same terrain, to a much greater extent than most major Western destination resorts do. Plus, if you take a look at the skier/rider traffic of a major destination Western resort vs. an Eastern resort, many of the Western resorts have a higher midweek volume of customers, who are taking a full vacation week, whereas Eastern resorts have more of their business from the weekend crowd and much less from full vacation week folks.

As for the $30 or $40 steep discount lift ticket thing, and I'll use Mount Snow since that's what the thread started with. Given their current mid week lift rotation schedule, on Mon/Wed/Fri when Beartrap is spinning, you have EASY access to the full length of all but 3 of their trails (big + little dipper and moonwalk) or about 95% of their total skiable acreage, one Tues/Thurs when Sunbrook is spinning you have EASY access to all but one of their trails (Beartrap) or about 99% of their total skiable acreage, so is a 40-50% discount in ticket prices warranted for that little of an EASY access terrain loss??? When they do put day tickets on that large of a discount is when they have large scale wind-hold situations that are anticipated for most(if not all) of the day, like they did last week when they cut the day ticket prices to that of the mid-week, 1/2 day junior/senior ticket price of $42.

 

[ta&idaho]

It's a bogus plan. Period. Whether other resorts do it too,....makes no difference. Bogus is bogus.

Hey man, what did Bogus ever do to you?

I do agree that Mt Snow that is outrageously expensive for what you get, especially on days when one of their more interesting terrain pods is only partially accessible.

 

[marcski]

Hey man, what did Bogus ever do to you?

I do agree that Mt Snow that is outrageously expensive for what you get, especially on days when one of their more interesting terrain pods is only partially accessible.

I've never been, but I hear its a super great locals resort.

 

[vlewis]

Hey guys, sorry it took a few days to chime in on this. First off thank you for being so on top of everything and for your great feedback. When we decided on this idea our general manager asked me to solicit feedback so this is very productive.

Just a general response to the comments already made. Basically there is not enough midweek traffic to justify running both Sunbrook lifts. I think it’s important to note that we are not lessening the number of lifts we run midweek with this decision, in the past we have only run the Beartrap Lift midweek. Our thought was to rotate the lifts for a little variety. Allow guests to ski/ride off the quad two days a week to access the Dippers easier, they are great trails and very underutilized.

Someone pointed out that this takes away bump terrain on Tuesdays and Thursdays and you are correct. But our point in making this lift schedule known like we are is to allow people to pick the days they want to come here with this information in mind, so when they do arrive they aren’t disappointed. As well the weather does play a factor here. If its windy or very cold we may switch to the Beartrap lift, sometimes we do have to play it by ear.

This is a work in progress and we appreciate the feedback. We’ll take these comments into consideration when we re-evaluate the decision. Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you on the slopes soon.

-Vinnie

 

[dmoltz]

Thanks to all for you interest and comments on the Sunbrook lift Schedule. I am the guy directly responsible for the current alternating mode, thus you are being heard and we do want to know your opinions. Alternating the lifts is in a trial period and we have been seeking input and feedback from Ambassadors, Patrol and Guests.
I do agree that when the weather in the spring does shine on Bear trap and start to soften the bumps we are going to want to have the Bear Trap lift running. This you can count on.
We are also making every attempt to shorten the ride time on the Sunbrook Lift. We have re-spaced the chairs and received a variance to operate the lift faster, so check it out in the weeks to come.
Sorry to have missed the post, not on the site as much as I should be.

 

[ta&idaho]

Thanks to all for you interest and comments on the Sunbrook lift Schedule. I am the guy directly responsible for the current alternating mode, thus you are being heard and we do want to know your opinions. Alternating the lifts is in a trial period and we have been seeking input and feedback from Ambassadors, Patrol and Guests.
I do agree that when the weather in the spring does shine on Bear trap and start to soften the bumps we are going to want to have the Bear Trap lift running. This you can count on.
We are also making every attempt to shorten the ride time on the Sunbrook Lift. We have re-spaced the chairs and received a variance to operate the lift faster, so check it out in the weeks to come.
Sorry to have missed the post, not on the site as much as I should be.

This sounds perfectly reasonable, especially the part about Bear Trap in the Spring. Thanks for listening!

 

[reefer]

Thank you Vinnie and dmoltz. Sounds like a plan!

 

[jaywbigred]

Thank you Vinnie and dmoltz. Sounds like a plan!

You guys rock and the plan sounds awesome! My stoke for spring bumps just spiked!

 

[Newpylong]

Hey man, what did Bogus ever do to you?

I do agree that Mt Snow that is outrageously expensive for what you get, especially on days when one of their more interesting terrain pods is only partially accessible.

Everywhere is expensive, but they are cheaper than both Stratton and Okemo, midweek and weekend rates - I consider all three to be in the same category. I wouldn't exactly argue a lift ticket value based on Beartrap being closed. If they had all of the North Face closed midweek - that would be a whole different story!

I really look forward to the Quad running faster. that's great news...!

 

[vcunning]

Dave/Vinnie,

Since you've asked for the customer's input . . . can we help pick the music that plays on the tower mounted speakers on Beartrap?

I think DrJeff has a petition floating around for Sirius Channel 23 - Hair Nation.:grin:

Just kidding . . . thanks for listening.

 

[Newpylong]

Dave/Vinnie,

Since you've asked for the customer's input . . . can we help pick the music that plays on the tower mounted speakers on Beartrap?

I think DrJeff has a petition floating around for Sirius Channel 23 - Hair Nation.:grin:

Just kidding . . . thanks for listening.

My first time on Beartrap in the early 90's - Guns and Roses. Never forget it, haha.

 

[drjeff]

Or how about tommorrow afternoon the beartrap speakers have the Patriots/Ravens playoff game on it, so vcunning can hear what playoff football in 2010 sounds like! :lol: I know that Dave wouldn't have any issues with that listening selection!

 

[marcski]

Throwing football team jabs around.... Man this is getting dirty