Mt Snow Thread

[Smellytele]

MT BLOW!!!!

 

[SLyardsale]

while the dentist was resetting b-net on southbowl,,,

 

[jaytrem]

I picked a good weekend to go west. No line at America's steepest chair...

 

[MidnightJester]

Posted on r/icecoast
View attachment 60866

NOT OK, NOT COOL, FUCK THAT SHIT!! GLAD I WASNT THERE, NOT FOR THOSE SUSPECT "ICY" CONDITIONS!!

 

[slatham]

Yes I can’t imagine waiting in those lines for post ice storm conditions. It’s obvious the average skier is unaware of the weather and its impacts on lifts. Which amazes me given the proliferation of weather apps, and ski news via social media.

 

[Newpylong]

Did they not have Ego or Grand Summit running?

 

[drjeff]

Did they not have Ego or Grand Summit running?

Neither was running. The Grand Summit hadn't been de-iced yet. Canyon, Sundance and Nitro took priority in the de-icing list on Saturday - heck, Ops finally got Nitro de-iced and spinning about 3PM so it isn't like they took the afternoon off after getting the Bluebird de-iced and spinning.

As for Ego, there is a rumor going around, and I have zero clue if it is or isn't true, so it's just a rumor I heard from someone who is far from knowing the real situation, that Ego won't be spinning ever again, until it's taken down and a new replacement is installed. It is definitely an OLD lift, that is an amalgamation of multiple lifts. All I can say for sure is that there hasn't been any snow pushed onto the unloading ramp (and there's ample snow available on Link right there), and the lift hasn't moved atleast in a few weeks since they made snow on Ego, as the few chairs that were in the line of fire from a few guns are still covered in snow and in the same position on the haul rope as they have been since the trail opened up for the season 10 days ago or so.

 

[Newpylong]

Surprised they would considering replacing it - but it is the only fixed grip out of the main base. Carinthia has Heavy Metal and they could get people out of Sundance on Seasons if need be. Unlike other hills, that place I think is more seriously handicapped during an icing event without alternatives.

 

[drjeff]

Surprised they would considering replacing it - but it is the only fixed grip out of the main base. Carinthia has Heavy Metal and they could get people out of Sundance on Seasons if need be. Unlike other hills, that place I think is more seriously handicapped during an icing event without alternatives.

Race Team likes to have Ego available as well as they can get their athletes to both Ego and Charlie's Chase without having them use any of the base area highspeed lifts and adding to lines there.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if in the not too distant future there's a Sky Trac FGQ there (as that seems to be who Vail is using for the new Fixed Grip installations currently), and the barn around the current top terminal of Ego is gone for good. Just my 2 cents

 

[slatham]

IMHO they need that FGQ on the north face before they use one to replace Ego Alley.

 

[MikeDeJ]

IMHO they need that FGQ on the north face before they use one to replace Ego Alley.

Ego is a perfect place for a reinstall lift. Plenty of them around and will only run at most 2 days a week .

 

[MikeDeJ]

I was at the mtn today really don’t know what is going on with some of the natural snow trails. One more time, challenger, pdf , little steep moonbeam etc all closed? I know there is not a ton of snow on them but open them already!!! Not sure what we are waiting for. At least Olympic and uncles are open.

 

[drjeff]

I was at the mtn today really don’t know what is going on with some of the natural snow trails. One more time, challenger, pdf , little steep moonbeam etc all closed? I know there is not a ton of snow on them but open them already!!! Not sure what we are waiting for. At least Olympic and uncles are open.

Read on the Mount Snow Passholders FB group page, about One More Time in particular, an ambassador posted that there are still multiple wide open water bars on the lower half of it, and that's why it's still ropes up. Wouldn't surprise me at all right now with some of those others you mentioned as ropes up, if there some tree debris blocking things after last weekend's icing event. I know for a fact that various ops folks, in addition to whacking that over an inch of ice off of the lifts, had to put their lumberjack stuff on and clear trees from various lift corridors and/or other trails

 

[NYDB]

It would be interesting to see what level of suckage Mt snow would have to achieve before Dentist Jeff stopped defending them.

 

[drjeff]

It would be interesting to see what level of suckage Mt snow would have to achieve before Dentist Jeff stopped defending them.

I just try and add objective information. I have my personal opinions about some things that I think need to be done differently (such as F&B pricing which I mentioned a page or 2 ago), but those, since they are just my opinion and not an objective observation, I tend to keep to myself

It seems at times, and I know I have heard this directly from some past senior Mount Snow management folks, some of whom are still in the Industry, but not at Mount Snow, and some of whom have retired, that far too often, what the general public thinks is going on, and why they think that, verses what is actually going on, are 2 very different things when it comes to operation decisions. And ultimately when it comes to operations decisions, safety (of both guests and employees these days) is going to come first, and that is something that I fully agree with. Heck, when I am starting a race, ultimately after conferring with the chief of the course, if we don't feel that something is as safe as it can be, regardless of if the technical delegate (the "boss" of the race) wants to start a racer, I won't send that racer out of the starting gate until the safety issue has been addressed, and sometimes that has meant calling an early end to it, or other times after a race or training has concluded, if we on the race crew feel that a trail shouldn't be opened to the public because of snow conditions, even though it may look fine from the other side of a closeout rope to the general public, we keep it closed, and not just so we can do laps on it ourselves.

Mount Snow, in it's pre Vail ownership days, was so much more forward with communications with their customer base about what was happening (both good and bad), and that is something that I have said before, and still feel strongly about, and an area where the folks in Broomfield should definitely cede that job back to the local resort staff and give them some greater latitude to get out infront of things from a communications. There are plenty of onsite staff members who will gladly share the information that they have with guests, since for many who work there, it's their longtime home mountain, and they take a great deal of pride in it, and see how some changes, that happen with ownership changes, haven't improved the situation from where it was. There are times when doing/changing something, just because one feels they have to, verses the situation warrants changing, definitely makes things worse

 

[Newpylong]

IMHO they need that FGQ on the north face before they use one to replace Ego Alley.

I would only agree if it becomes increasingly hard to keep the triples running due to parts availability. As far as capacity wise they are more than adequate and having the redundancy is nice. Of course they could replace Challenger with a FGQ and keep Outpost as a backup.

 

[SLyardsale]

in no particular order

conditions are best of the year currently. Exhibition from top of Ego down is exceptional and no one is skiing on it. Ego Alley 2nd place.
the rope drop / water bar excuse above is BS. There are water bars but easy to navigate. Vail owns a shit ton of bamboo. use it. more likely the problem is staff. No ropes have been dropped in ages. Poaching is prevalent. Obviously, there is no respect for ropes currently which causes a whole other problem IMO. There is no patrol on weekdays to catch poachers. All patrol was over on gulch today for some super impressive aerial jumping thing. the number of ropes up is insane.
ego the lift - I had an employee tell me it will not run this year but will next year. He said they needed parts and got them late so decided to skip this year and fix it this summer.
a detach might ruin north face. leave the 2 fixed grip IMO
it is much slower / less crowded here tues, weds thurs when compared to past 2 years -
i have no idea if F &B is good or bad. I haven't spent a dime on that yet but likely will this coming weekend as my daughter likes the iron loft

 

[ctdubl07]

Ego rumor is inaccurate....it has not been abandoned, lost its certification, missing parts, etc. Just fell in priority to others.

It's been a sh!t season and as noted above, lots of variables behind scenes that public isn't aware of but are seemingly experts on. Now if it were to ever be replaced....could be a spot to reintroduce Tbars to East coasters.

Rep of FB is suffering for sure. Prices are not the issue for me. Food quality in base area/Sdance is. Options are deteriorating by the wknd.

Only bright spot is new menu, bartenders and later operating hours at Iron loft and return of Carthn ramen!

 

[Smellytele]

Ego rumor is inaccurate....it has not been abandoned, lost its certification, missing parts, etc. Just fell in priority to others.

It's been a sh!t season and as noted above, lots of variables behind scenes that public isn't aware of but are seemingly experts on. Now if it were to ever be replaced....could be a spot to reintroduce Tbars to East coasters.

Rep of FB is suffering for sure. Prices are not the issue for me. Food quality in base area/Sdance is. Options are deteriorating by the wknd.

Only bright spot is new menu, bartenders and later operating hours at Iron loft and return of Carthn ramen!

There are other Tbars/Pomas in the east. Killington, Cannon, etc.

 

[SLyardsale]

Ego rumor is inaccurate....it has not been abandoned, lost its certification, missing parts, etc. Just fell in priority to others.

It's been a sh!t season and as noted above, lots of variables behind scenes that public isn't aware of but are seemingly experts on. Now if it were to ever be replaced....could be a spot to reintroduce Tbars to East coasters.

Rep of FB is suffering for sure. Prices are not the issue for me. Food quality in base area/Sdance is. Options are deteriorating by the wknd.

Only bright spot is new menu, bartenders and later operating hours at Iron loft and return of Carthn ramen!

haha. Dr dentist is a vail employee...