Pico Will Not Operate 7 Days A Week

[SkiDog]

Closing pico on tuesday and wednesday is not something that is going to negatively impact a big portion of the skiing public. And last i knew, there wasnt much in the way of housing on slope at pico so i dont think there are too many property owners impacted.

How would you feel about it if you were a property owner at Pico? Just ask yourself that....then answer if its a big deal.

I know if I had a condo in a rental program at Pico that id be pissed....whos going to rent it for a week or more at a clip if 2 days out of that week they STILL have to travel somewhere to ski????

M

 

[Greg]

i agree absolutely. I may have misread Jims earlier post but it almost sounded like he was inferring Powdr introduced a cheap Pico pass for this year while in reality it already existed.

Right. And the fact that Powdr did something to still be able to offer a "cheap" pass in and of itself is a good thing.

Regardless, its amazing the legs these killington/powdr topics get. I can understand the frustration over some of the moves, ie shortened season at killington, but other moves just dont seem to be that big of a deal for the majority of the people out there.

Closing pico on tuesday and wednesday is not something that is going to negatively impact a big portion of the skiing public. And last i knew, there wasnt much in the way of housing on slope at pico so i dont think there are too many property owners impacted.

Agreed. Dog days of summer, my friend...

I guess everyone just wants to hear some tangible good news out of Killington.

 

[JimG.]

Interesting observation. JimG. will however argue that not that many people bought a K pass expecting to ski Pico on Tuesday or Wednesday...

Ah, you are becoming wise grasshopper.

I like nycskier's comments because he is true to his vision of what K/Pico should be. So despite my constant defense of the owners, they are going to have to deal with the die hard K skiers like him eventually.

It's clear he likes skiing there.

 

[JimG.]

How would you feel about it if you were a property owner at Pico? Just ask yourself that....then answer if its a big deal.

I know if I had a condo in a rental program at Pico that id be pissed....whos going to rent it for a week or more at a clip if 2 days out of that week they STILL have to travel somewhere to ski????

M

I'd be pissed at myself for not paying attention to what has been happening there and at K in the past 6 years. Pico has not been a skiing powerhouse for years. In fact, most of the posts here brag about how empty it always is. If that kind of performance made you confident as a property investor, I've got a bridge...

You make it sound like all this snuck up on them and then just got dumped on them with no warning.

That's just not true.

 

[threecy]

I don't get it...where do you expect the money to come from? Who do you expect to pay to keep Pico open with no skiers, just so that you have the *option* to ski it at a cheap rate Tues-Wed non-holiday? Who do you demand subsidize this?

 

[nycskier]

I like nycskier's comments because he is true to his vision of what K/Pico should be. So despite my constant defense of the owners, they are going to have to deal with the die hard K skiers like him eventually.

It's clear he likes skiing there.

I do like skiing at Killington I guess that's why I care about the place.

There is a community of us who commute up and ski there every or every other weekend. We want Killington to be the best. To be the Beast of the East.

My fear is that the new owners don't see things the same way and might be driving away the younger weekend "ski house crowd". Which is a shame becasue that has always been Killington's main demographic.

Closing Pico on Tues and Wed really doesn't effect me. I've never skied Pico on a Tues or Wed. but its seems to be part of a trend.

Raising prices, cutting hours and firing staff seems to be what Powdr is all about and yes a lot of us customers aren't too happy about it.

 

[SpinmasterK]

The $299 Pico pass was not an early purchase but in season price. Meaning you didn't have to buy it in July but could get it in November (and I think even in December). So the comparison is not really apples to apples. The cheap Pico pass was available to purchase AFTER the cheap A41 pass deal expired.

Actually, the in-season price was $499
$299 was trhe early-season price

 

[Greg]

Actually, the in-season price was $499
$299 was trhe early-season price

Welcome to the firestorm! Actually, Tom I think you'll see a bit more civility here than on K-zone...

 

[Vortex]

Thankx for coming over Tom. Up to date info good or bad helps everyone.

 

[snowman]

i think a poll might be in order: maybe in a new thread??

good that they are not open 7 days

bad they are not open 7 days

as a pico skier my vote goes to bad

As a Pico skier?!?!? Your own ski day signature tally logs you with 2 days at Pico last year. 2 days out of 120 or so you had the option to ski there. Are you seriously sitting there telling me you're gonna have trouble snagging those 2 days again this year because the possible days you can ski there has shrunk to 95 or so?!?!? :smash:

 

[Vortex]

As a Pico skier?!?!? Your own ski day signature tally logs you with 2 days at Pico last year. 2 days out of 120 or so you had the option to ski there. Are you seriously sitting there telling me you're gonna have trouble snagging those 2 days again this year because the possible days you can ski there has shrunk to 95 or so?!?!? :smash:

That was funny,:lol:

 

[dardevle]

I think for anyone to be able to bitch about this decision they had to of skied Pico more than 15 days last year.

 

[JimG.]

Welcome to the firestorm! Actually, Tom I think you'll see a bit more civility here than on K-zone...

This has been the most interesting discussion I have yet had on any skiing forum. And it's branched out into 4 or 5 threads now, all about the same basic topic.

It's good we have role players here who can be loyal to a point of view without trashing anyone else personally.

Let it continue good people!

 

[jimmer]

it seems like most of you dont even ski pico, witch is fine i havnt been there for some time now, but you gotta ask your self what if it happened to your home hill, id be really PO, as i pretty much ski only mid week, it would affect me alot. i just hope its not a sign of things to come. theres allready enough places that have closed there doors, we dont need any more.

when we were kids we skiied pico alot, and i allways liked the place, just kinda far to drive, so when we head that way, we go to killington now, so i guess im part of there problem.

 

[JimG.]

it seems like most of you dont even ski pico, witch is fine i havnt been there for some time now, but you gotta ask your self what if it happened to your home hill, id be really PO, as i pretty much ski only mid week, it would affect me alot. i just hope its not a sign of things to come. theres allready enough places that have closed there doors, we dont need any more.

when we were kids we skiied pico alot, and i allways liked the place, just kinda far to drive, so when we head that way, we go to killington now, so i guess im part of there problem.

I'll be the first to admit I'd be upset about it. And if they closed on the 2 days I could ski I would be livid. But I would also have to realize I am probably in a very small minority of skiers.

I would also first look at the big picture (the rest of the world outside of me) to see why these decisions are made. I would try to understand. And I would hope to justify staying at my current home hill anyway. You sure won't find me suddenly trashing the hill and owners, the place I've skied at for the past 25 years.

To me, that doesn't make sense. But that's me.

 

[millerm277]

I would also first look at the big picture (the rest of the world outside of me) to see why these decisions are made. I would try to understand. And I would hope to justify staying at my current home hill anyway. You sure won't find me suddenly trashing the hill and owners, the place I've skied at for the past 25 years.

The problem, it isn't just this one issue, that I could tolerate, it's a variety of issues that they seem to be making poor decisions on....lifetime passes, season length, investment in the area, pricing....etc.

Also, I could understand doing this if Powdr had tried for a year or two to get people to ski Pico during the week, but they haven't done anything of that sort. I haven't seen any ads or promotions for Pico in the last 5 years, it's not much of a surprise that they aren't getting enough people there as many have forgotten about it. Basically, rather than try to fix the problem of not enough people midweek, they're just giving up before even starting and not opening midweek.

 

[nycskier]

What is kind of funny about this whole thing is when ASC sold Killington I kept hoping that the new owners would plan to build a Pico interconnect now I am hoping that they just plan to keep Pico open.

I know Powdr just took over and I want to be patient but so far it seems like only bad news coming out of them.

Believe me I hope Powdr makes Killington and Pico a better place. But right now it seems that they are just making it a more expensive place with a shorter ski season.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

I don't get it...where do you expect the money to come from? Who do you expect to pay to keep Pico open with no skiers, just so that you have the *option* to ski it at a cheap rate Tues-Wed non-holiday? Who do you demand subsidize this?

By that logic most resorts would not operate mid-week. This is just another piece in the continuing trend for Powdr in which the bean counters are driving the decisions instead customer service.

If Powdr had any clue about customer service, ie meeting or exceeding customer expectations rather than cutting them off at the knees, they would honor Pico passes at kmart on Tues/Wednesday on par, not making them pay $35. If the numbers are so low then it would not cost them much to do this. A small price to pay for a return in good will.

 

[Zand]

If Wachusett closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, yeah, I'd be pissed. But Pico is different. First, there are a lot less skiers there. Second, it has Killington right next door... whats the big deal about driving another 5 minutes?

 

[snowman]

One of Wa's bread and butter crowds would be afterwork mon-fri crowds, so that's not going to happen anytime soon.

I was thinking today about a way to turn Pico into a revenue creator, not loser, that would make everyone happy and get it back open 7 days a week. Night Skiing?!?!? K draws a good ski week crowd, and not everyone is a "apres ski type". Some people like to keep on skiing! Now, where they are operating K and Pico seperately, Powdr could potentially make their lift ticket money off the ski week crowds during the day a K, and have 10% of them show up at Pico at 4 pm forking over yet another $25 or so for night skiing and ON MOUNTAIN beer purchases?!?! Is the Rutland area not getting built up as well, creating a local mon-fri night skiing crowd?? Is there somewhere else around there offering night skiing or not? Feel free to shoot holes in my idea if I'm missing something, I'm not up on K region demographics.