Shawnee Peak Maine - Lodge Addition

[salsgang]

Visited Shawnee Peak Maine today. I was looking forward to seeing and using their new addition to the lodge. Much needed to alleviate the overcrowding on busy days.

This area is a new addition to the front of the base lodge, totally separated from the little food cafe. Nicely built. Lots of windows bringing in light. However, there are signs as you enter saying:

"Cafe food only. No Coolers, No Gear, No Loitering"

This makes no sense to me. Restricting the area to cafe customers limits the effectiveness of the over-crowding of the lodge. They have to store their gear in other areas of the lodge anyway. I have seen areas restricted in other ski lodges, but they are for table serviced eateries... not cafeterias! Two thumbs down for this policy. While I am sure they are trying to drive cafe sales... skiing with a family of four means tight budgets and no cafe food for me... so I hope they can reconsider.

 

[tcharron]

Shawnee has always had a ghettofabulous lodge. I always gear up in the parking lot, personally.

 

[deadheadskier]

I plan on skiing there Saturday and look forward to seeing the addition. I didn't realize it was planned. Their policy isn't rare, plenty of places have a 'brown bag' area and a food court area of their lodge. I managed a food court / ski lodge that had a very strict 'no camping' policy. You could eat your own food, but there was a limit. You couldn't store your coolers and bags all day at a table, effectively 'holding' the table and making it uncomfortable for other skiers who are looking for a seat to have a bite. They had a free bag check though in the corner of the lodge where you could come and retrieve your belongings when needed as many times as you liked throughout the day. That was what was enforced strictly. The staff responsible for bussing tables and emptying trash were also responsible for bringing unattended baggage to the bag check area. The year I worked there was the first year the policy was introduced and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

I see both sides of the argument as to whether having such areas are a good thing or bad thing. I too would rather eat my own home brought food and save some money. I brown bag 90% of the time I ski, but typically do so out of my car as that's where I boot up and feel most comfortable keeping my belongings.

However, when I put myself in the shoes of a ski resort operator who wants to ensure enough seats for the person who buys a $60 lift ticket to enjoy a comfortable lunch without having to squeeze into a table crowded by bags, coolers and a reading aunt Edna guarding the table with her snack display for the family to enjoy when they come in from the cold.......that's pretty much lost seats and a diminished experience for a number of my guests. Some areas, such as Wachusett, have seen the financial opportunity in Aunt Edna and rent out 'suites' for the day right in the lodge for groups.

I'm not saying you're Aunt Edna, but she's the reason resorts have such a policy.

 

[Terry]

I think it makes a nice place for people to sit down and enjoy their food without the mess and smell of ski bags, boots, and etc all around you. Deadhead Tam and I will be there tomorrow as well. I will look for you. They had a ton of guns running from new years eve on. It should be pretty good on the groomed runs. Very icy elsewhere though.

 

[salsgang]

At Saddleback, they have a cafe but no restricted area. And at least the times I have been there they have been good about enforcing the not storing the bags at the tables policy. Signs up saying if you don't move them to a cubby, they will move them for you which they do.

Not a whole lot of room for this policy at Shawnee so I guess the restricted cafe area is one way to do it. With a family of 4 booting / storing stuff in the car is difficult so personally I am at the mercy of the lodge designs and policy good or bad. I guess I would be more happy with the Shawnee situation if they had a more effective bag storage / table management mechanism that benefited everyone.

 

[Terry]

When it is open, go to the east lodge. Much less crowded and less confusion. Only problem is it closes at 4:00 so you can't night ski from there. Just a suggestion. It works for us on weekends.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

I wonder if the new condos they built a few years ago have sold....always thought SP as more of a day/night skier ski hill than a destination resort. No bags in the table area of the base lodge is happening at many places nowadays and not having a place to store them seems to be pretty common as well. Not very customer friendly.

 

[salsgang]

When it is open, go to the east lodge. Much less crowded and less confusion. Only problem is it closes at 4:00 so you can't night ski from there. Just a suggestion. It works for us on weekends.

Thanks for the suggestion. We typically like to get a few night ski runs in during our days at Shawnee, so that's a trade off, but might be worth it!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I plan on skiing there Saturday and look forward to seeing the addition. I didn't realize it was planned. Their policy isn't rare, plenty of places have a 'brown bag' area and a food court area of their lodge. I managed a food court / ski lodge that had a very strict 'no camping' policy. You could eat your own food, but there was a limit. You couldn't store your coolers and bags all day at a table, effectively 'holding' the table and making it uncomfortable for other skiers who are looking for a seat to have a bite. They had a free bag check though in the corner of the lodge where you could come and retrieve your belongings when needed as many times as you liked throughout the day. That was what was enforced strictly. The staff responsible for bussing tables and emptying trash were also responsible for bringing unattended baggage to the bag check area. The year I worked there was the first year the policy was introduced and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

I see both sides of the argument as to whether having such areas are a good thing or bad thing. I too would rather eat my own home brought food and save some money. I brown bag 90% of the time I ski, but typically do so out of my car as that's where I boot up and feel most comfortable keeping my belongings.

However, when I put myself in the shoes of a ski resort operator who wants to ensure enough seats for the person who buys a $60 lift ticket to enjoy a comfortable lunch without having to squeeze into a table crowded by bags, coolers and a reading aunt Edna guarding the table with her snack display for the family to enjoy when they come in from the cold.......that's pretty much lost seats and a diminished experience for a number of my guests. Some areas, such as Wachusett, have seen the financial opportunity in Aunt Edna and rent out 'suites' for the day right in the lodge for groups.

I'm not saying you're Aunt Edna, but she's the reason resorts have such a policy.

Don't be hating on Aunt Edna..she usually has the crockpot going with meatballs and sausage..mmm sausage..you know this one guy I know on a skiing site makes his own sausage..mad steezy yo!!!8)