President week crowds

[slatham]

I am wondering what everyone thought about the crowds during Presidents week? The weekend seemed to be a blockbuster from what I saw at Bromley and Magic, and heard about from a few other areas. But the week seemed very quiet at Bromley, Magic and Mt Snow. I know that not everyone had the week off etc but from having been at Mt Snow for at least a day or two each of the past 10+ years it seemed that it was less crowded than normal. Thoughts?

 

[jmgard]

I was at Mt. Snow on Wednesday, it was definitely less crowded than I expected. Bluebird line didn't look much different from maybe an average Sunday (or even less), and GS/Nitro/North face were all ski-on or just a couple chair wait.

 

[Savemeasammy]

I envy those of you who had vacation last week. Our vacation is this week...

I wonder if last year scared people away from ski vacations this year? Maybe they all went to Florida instead?!


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[billski]

uber-mobbed at Sugarbush Sat. Feb 18th. Never saw lines so big at Mt. E either. Looked at the Mt. Snow web cam at noon on wed. and it was ski on. Ski hills made their money, good for them.

 

[billski]

Maybe they all went to Florida instead?!
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Most skiers who went to Florida did so to prevent marital discord, or ran away from the rain.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Saturday at Jay Peak was chaos and madness, with the obnoxiously longest lines I've ever seen there. An employee told me the tram line was 1.5 hours (really) wait for your (single) ski run and that they broke their attendance record.

Sunday at Jay Peak was crowded, but completely tolerable and expected for a PDW and not bad at all.

 

[yeggous]

Crowds were as bad as they get. Several ski areas ran out of parking.


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[joshua segal]

In general, most everyone saw good crowds on Sat./Sun. (Feb. 18/19). My observation at my home area and inputs from friends at other areas would indicate Feb. 20 to 26 were lighter than expected. Those of you who suggested it was mobbed on Saturday: Were you referring to the 18th or 25th?

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

Saturday at Jay Peak was chaos and madness, with the obnoxiously longest lines I've ever seen there. An employee told me the tram line was 1.5 hours (really) wait for your (single) ski run and that they broke their attendance record.

Sunday at Jay Peak was crowded, but completely tolerable and expected for a PDW and not bad at all.

Holy shit. At 1.5 hrs wait per lap you could literally get more runs in by skinning up instead of riding the lifts.

 

[raisingarizona]

Holy shit. At 1.5 hrs wait per lap you could literally get more runs in by skinning up instead of riding the lifts.

Yup. And this is why, in part that touring gear sales have been steadily rising for the last few years.

 

[thetrailboss]

Great post. I was going to ask the same thing.

For a perspective from Utah, I can tell you that last weekend was NUTS at LCC (Alta/Snowbird). Cars parked on the road. Liftlines running 15 minutes or so at pretty much every lift. We had to help an outside consultant find a room in Sandy, Utah for Wednesday night--every major hotel had no vacancy. Yet, I skied at Solitude on Wednesday and there were no real crowds per se (not that there are any ever there).

Those that came found good conditions to start that only got better as the week progressed. Today was packed as well. And yes a lot of folks from back east skiing and riding. All happy.

 

[4aprice]

Great post. I was going to ask the same thing.

For a perspective from Utah, I can tell you that last weekend was NUTS at LCC (Alta/Snowbird). Cars parked on the road. Liftlines running 15 minutes or so at pretty much every lift. We had to help an outside consultant find a room in Sandy, Utah for Wednesday night--every major hotel had no vacancy. Yet, I skied at Solitude on Wednesday and there were no real crowds per se (not that there are any ever there).

Those that came found good conditions to start that only got better as the week progressed. Today was packed as well. And yes a lot of folks from back east skiing and riding. All happy.

I-70 was supposed to be an absolute horror show last weekend.

Just want to add that I was happy to see the crowds last weekend. Was at dinner the other night and over heard a group of baseball coaches plotting their training schedules so spring sports are starting and a majority of the tourists are are on to other things. I secretly smiled (the wife caught me).

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[dlague]

I-70 was supposed to be an absolute horror show last weekend.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

Well is was not on Friday or Sunday - no stoppages either direction. We skipped Saturday anticipating craziness. Loveland and A BASIN were packed. We skied Keystone because it was blacked for many alternative pass products that included Keystone. We had ski on ski off both days. So far we are noting that Keystone is a good play on President's Day weekend, things are quiet at Vail on New years day and Christmas is a good day to go too. The advantage of Holiday weekend - traffic generally heads into the mountains on Friday night and then heads back on Monday evening which were the worst. The day trippers are minimal in between.

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[thetrailboss]

I-70 was supposed to be an absolute horror show last weekend.

Just want to add that I was happy to see the crowds last weekend. Was at dinner the other night and over heard a group of baseball coaches plotting their training schedules so spring sports are starting and a majority of the tourists are are on to other things. I secretly smiled (the wife caught me).

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

I agree. I am happy to see the resorts doing well. It's been a long six years of drought out here. Still some good skiing, but this is off the wall good. And it will begin to quiet down as base depths continue to increase.

 

[Smellytele]

Attitash bear peak side was fine on Saturday. Peak triple line sucked. Went there after Wildcat had power issues. Whaleback was great on Sunday. It was crowded for whaleback with cars up and down the access road but no more than a 2 minute liftline wait.

 

[Savemeasammy]

Whaleback was great on Sunday. It was crowded for whaleback with cars up and down the access road but no more than a 2 minute liftline wait.

Unless of course you were with us for the lineup for the lift to start spinning at 9! It might of been one of the longest lines in the history of Whaleback.

Looking forward - the line wrapped around a big puddle.


Looking back. The line is somewhere near the deck.


*Full disclosure: Whaleback was hosting "Masters of the Mountain", so we had 130+ kids, plus parents and coaches on the mountain. After late morning when we moved over to the terrain park in the learning area, the chairlift was deserted.


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[Kleetus]

At Gore PDW Saturday they ran out of parking around 11 and started turning people away. Gore had multiple lots plus a 2 mile long access road. When I left they were parked to the end of the road, which was the first time EVER I have seen that happen.

That being said, actually wasn't crazy busy on the hill, but I skied Burnt Ridge and the woods almost 100% of the day which in general don't see the traffic like the lower mountain.

I heard Whiteface PDW had 12,000 people between Saturday and Sunday which is a record or close for them. Couldn't find numbers for Gore. Regardless it was busy out in the ADK's.


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[Bumpsis]

I was at Sugarloaf this past week. Although I skipped Saturday 2/18, I know the lines were not too bad despite all parking lots being filled.
I did ski on Sunday, 2/19 and for the most part, it was almost ski-on or less than 5 minutes, for most of the day. The mountain's lifts really do spread out crowds really well and for some reason, King Pine's lines tend to be the shortest.
For the rest of that school vacation week, there really were no lines.

 

[albert a ripper]

2/18 at Gunstock was unlike anything I've ever seen before. We got there "early" at 8am and had to wait in line to get in the driveway. For real, there was a line down the road to get in the driveway. They posted on facebook later that day saying they were sold out of everything, no more parking. They stayed open an extra hour to compensate for the wait times. It was madness.

 

[slatham]

2/18 at Gunstock was unlike anything I've ever seen before. We got there "early" at 8am and had to wait in line to get in the driveway. For real, there was a line down the road to get in the driveway. They posted on facebook later that day saying they were sold out of everything, no more parking. They stayed open an extra hour to compensate for the wait times. It was madness.

Staying open longer is simply a classy, client focused thing to do. Good for them.