Saddleback Mountain-Best Value Around?

[sledhaulingmedic]

It's not a place where you'd make a solo one day trip.

Don't generalize. ;-)

 

[billski]

This is more how I was perceiving value:
Quality and variety of terrain, less crowds, best lodge anywhere, phenomenal views,. You hit the nail on the head with why I believe this place provides the best value. Food and lodging is also cheaper than any other resort.

Saddleback's marketing focus is "we want the $10/hour worker to be able to afford to ski" which implies local/regional. When was the last time you saw Saddleback ads directed at the metro NY crowd? To that end, they were surprised (yet pleased) that a metro Boston ski club showed an interest in them.

You really must answer the question "what do people come to the resort to do?" Ski and Board? Or something else with a little ski and board mixed in? They want to Ski and Board. So you do without the gourmet restaurants are lacking, so are cute but expensive "country stores", high-end b&bs, spas, health clubs, upper-end hotels and valet skiing.

Granted, Saddleback is interested in developing what it has, but I think Dickies will outnumber Bogner for a long time. Saddleback ain't stupid either; look at how they market themselves.

Value is in the eye of the beholder. A smart business will have a target market and drive to it. The "be all things to all people" is just not possible. Life in America is often about compromise: "your time, or your money", that's what I hear in this thread. Example, when business got slow around Christmas, I snuck away for a day trip to Black NH. I sacrificed my time and vertical. But I was clear about what I wanted: lots of untracked, ungroomed powder, cheap and a visit to another area I had not been too before. For other, time is a precious commodity and it's not even on the radar to drive that number of hours. Sled is right, you can't generalize here.

And for those of us who are passionate about skiing,(hard-core ain't the right word), we have to work around the edges, slicing the deals, working the angles, lurking in the shadows for the cheap deals, best snow, best whatever. They don't market to most of the chatter on this forum. We ain't mainstream...