Nice Article on Ski Maynia

[benski]

Sugarbush I guess did better becouse they had a lot open and the closest mt to NYC with natural snow Trails open. Sugarbush got about 2.5X the snow ski areas south of it got. Killington's snowmaking failed lagged behind for much of the season, especially Christmas break.

 

[chuckstah]

Anyone go? How was it?

It was a good weekend. Three routes down with classic spring conditions. Lots of good cover, thin cover, bare spots, ice. Sunny Saturday, cloudy Sunday. A few sprinkles began after 1 on Sunday that signaled it was time to go. Great job fixing the base area from the previous weekend.

 

[chuckstah]

Couple pics

 

[machski]

A couple more from Saturday

 

[dlague]

Skier visits down 10%. I'm surprised it's that small a drop!

After a winter like this having skier visits only down 10% is better than I would have expected.

That seems low. Christmas break was a bust. MLK weekend was not very good and IIRC presidents day not great. Some closed early too.

 

[steamboat1]

In a record year for skier visits in VT. last season Killington's skier visits were up 9%, more than twice the statewide average.

 

[steamboat1]

Peak Resorts reported a 23% decline in skier visits. This even after the purchase of Hunter.

 

[Vortex]

There was a Globe article I believe earlier in Feb or March where they said they were down 5%. The lack of Canadian vacationers during the March weeks hurt them. What helped was all the racers. K teams as well a other areas had their racers train a good part of the year at the River. The Mountain seemed to sell quite a few day tickets at times. Word was wow you have this much open. We saw a decent NY crowd stay on property. They usually go to Vermont. As far as Ski Mania. It was about Average. The skiing was better last weekend than the week before. Like Early season they trucked snow to get a way to the bottom. All things considered they did a great job. They made snow from October Through April. The elevation and sun angle kills them in the spring. Glad this is where I ski most days. Got 70 here and most were pretty good. Just followed the guns.

 

[machski]

That seems low. Christmas break was a bust. MLK weekend was not very good and IIRC presidents day not great. Some closed early too.

MLK was a good weekend at SR, a six inch storm to kick it off and new trails opened daily from snowmaking.

 

[abc]

Actually, I think in years of low natural snow, places like SR, Okemo might do better than other mountains with their near 100% snowmaking coverage.

For vacation planners, they have high trail counts compare with mountains that rely on good natural snow.

For serious skiers, low natural snow means the woods and other off-piste are out of play. So the difference between SR and Sugarloaf kind of disappeared.

It really elevates the groomer-heavy mountains to higher on the list. I doesn't surprise me they suffer less than a more varied mountain like Killington or Sugarbush.

 

[machski]

I think what sets SR apart is their snowmaking plan. They push to get all Peaks open quickly (even if just one trail off each). This helps to spread the crowds and put all their lifts into play. They then go back and fill in the other runs.

I think Killington is recognized as having a very large snowmaking system and coverage. But the difference can be seen. When did Bear finally open this year? End of January or so? Meanwhile, Sunday River had all their pods in play by MLK (even if not every run off those pods). Not saying that one gave actual better conditions or not, but it looks different to the casual skier.

 

[steamboat1]

I think Killington is recognized as having a very large snowmaking system and coverage. But the difference can be seen. When did Bear finally open this year? End of January or so?

Bear opened 1/14/16. Both Bear & Needles were open for MLK weekend along with their other terrain.

 

[Savemeasammy]

I think what sets SR apart is their snowmaking plan. They push to get all Peaks open quickly (even if just one trail off each). This helps to spread the crowds and put all their lifts into play. They then go back and fill in the other runs.

I think Killington is recognized as having a very large snowmaking system and coverage. But the difference can be seen. When did Bear finally open this year? End of January or so? Meanwhile, Sunday River had all their pods in play by MLK (even if not every run off those pods). Not saying that one gave actual better conditions or not, but it looks different to the casual skier.

I skied SR the day after thanksgiving. They had several lifts spinning, but a very limited trail count per lift. Honestly, I'd rather see them focus on getting several trails open on a given peak, rather than spreading out and having one run per peak... I definitely liked having high speed lifts spinning, but it seems like it would make more sense to consolidate some and not spin as many lifts. I'm sure from a marketing standpoint it looks good on the trail report, but having to jump all over the resort to ski different trails is a bit silly.


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[skiMEbike]

I skied SR the day after thanksgiving. They had several lifts spinning, but a very limited trail count per lift. Honestly, I'd rather see them focus on getting several trails open on a given peak, rather than spreading out and having one run per peak... I definitely liked having high speed lifts spinning, but it seems like it would make more sense to consolidate some and not spin as many lifts. I'm sure from a marketing standpoint it looks good on the trail report, but having to jump all over the resort to ski different trails is a bit silly.


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I think this year was a little different....In that, Spruce was down for repairs early season (replacing the haul rope ??), and it made for the early season navigation a little more tricky. I believe you were forced to go to SRidge (which I loathe) in order to ski over at Aurora. Typically Spruce is in play before Aurora to avoid some of the jumping around you mentioned.

 

[machski]

I think this year was a little different....In that, Spruce was down for repairs early season (replacing the haul rope ??), and it made for the early season navigation a little more tricky. I believe you were forced to go to SRidge (which I loathe) in order to ski over at Aurora. Typically Spruce is in play before Aurora to avoid some of the jumping around you mentioned.

True, the haul rope on Spruce was fine. They discovered a cracked bull wheel which needed replacement.

 

[deadheadskier]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they also expand to Aurora earlier than normal this year because we struggled with warm weather early season and it's higher base elevation (I know it's minimal) made more sense to focus snowmaking???

 

[Jully]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they also expand to Aurora earlier than normal this year because we struggled with warm weather early season and it's higher base elevation (I know it's minimal) made more sense to focus snowmaking???

They did. I'm not sure what the mountain ops management ended up thinking of the move after all was said and done. I remember hearing that they were considering making the move to Aurora early on a more permanent staple in their early season plan depending on how everything turned out.

 

[machski]

It would not surprise me in the future, T2 is first to open real early, followed by up/down loads on chondi with Aurora for Gen public and T2 and MM next on Locke held just for race team training. This would make sense, using South Ridge for F&B (Peak Lodge would be better but they tend to not open that til later), season pass office right there with SR Sports and rentals. We'll have to wait and see if this past year carries anything forward.

 

[Jully]

I would like that better than riding the Locke triple!