Sugarloaf,Seth Wescott on Wski to the CVA board of Selectmen

[Vortex]

http://www.wskitv.com/vid-thisweek.shtml


Take a look. thankx to wski. Talk about how to get a new lift and work with the community. Very impressive by Seth.

 

[AdironRider]

Ill admit Im at work and can only watch the vid in bits and pieces, but a convenient oversight in Wescotts argument is that he leaves out the cost of these "signature lifts" Jackson's Tram cost the owners 32 million. Thats almost half of what they paid for Sugarloaf and Sunday River combined. Now a gondi to the top of Sugarloaf wont cost 32 million, thats for sure, but its not going to be cheap.

Sugarloaf is the only ski area Ive ever been to where I thought they had to many lifts, old rickety ones at that. The gondi could solve this problem, and eliminate some lifts in the process, but there are plenty of lifts there already, and not all of them are in tip top shape if you ask me. The two doubles right next to each other (forget the names) that access pretty much the same terrain are prime examples. Ive ridden that thing during holiday periods and prayed it didnt topple down.

The gondi would seriously limit their future capital expenditures, which would probably go down as they shut down other lifts and let the terrain grow back in. But they still have a lot of work to do on other lifts in the coming years to keep em running tip top.

This seems to be a consistent theme with all of ASC's old resorts. Sunday River, Killington, and Sugarloaf all seem old and run down alot of the time. Look at the faded neon designs of the K gondi as a prime example. Top shelf 10 or 20 years ago, dated and looking run down today.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

Ill admit Im at work and can only watch the vid in bits and pieces, but a convenient oversight in Wescotts argument is that he leaves out the cost of these "signature lifts" Jackson's Tram cost the owners 32 million. Thats almost half of what they paid for Sugarloaf and Sunday River combined. Now a gondi to the top of Sugarloaf wont cost 32 million, thats for sure, but its not going to be cheap.

Sugarloaf is the only ski area Ive ever been to where I thought they had to many lifts, old rickety ones at that. The gondi could solve this problem, and eliminate some lifts in the process, but there are plenty of lifts there already, and not all of them are in tip top shape if you ask me. The two doubles right next to each other (forget the names) that access pretty much the same terrain are prime examples. Ive ridden that thing during holiday periods and prayed it didnt topple down.

The gondi would seriously limit their future capital expenditures, which would probably go down as they shut down other lifts and let the terrain grow back in. But they still have a lot of work to do on other lifts in the coming years to keep em running tip top.

This seems to be a consistent theme with all of ASC's old resorts. Sunday River, Killington, and Sugarloaf all seem old and run down alot of the time. Look at the faded neon designs of the K gondi as a prime example. Top shelf 10 or 20 years ago, dated and looking run down today.

I agree with some of your points, yes it would be expensive, but if they do nothing then the old lifts continue to get old, even the newer lifts have there issues....newer being 15 years old. Something needs to be done. The two things I believe this lift in any form would do is open up more terrain and perhaps create more areas for development of more properties, which is where the real money is. As for being rundown, I think Sugarloaf has done alot to address those problems, Sugarloaf is one of the more athstetically (sp) pleasing resorts I have been to. New signage, fixing bullwinkles, taking down the gondi mid station, fixing up the base village, etc. I can't speak to Sunday River and Killington is somewhat ugly, but from what I have gathered they are addressing updating the base areas.........they do need to get rid of the 80's looking K symbols as in the color schemes if that is what your refering too.

 

[AdironRider]

I have to admit, I havent skied Sugarloaf since 2006, so things very well could have been spruced up a bit.

That being said, the whole lipstick on a pig analogy applies here. Paint, some new signs, and removing that hideous old gondi station are a good start, but hardly change the "face" of the resort so to speak.

Wescott does have something with the "signature lift" idea. They do help ski resorts become something more, but that always doesnt result in more skier visits. Jackson actually had their best season on record the year before the new tram opened. Now the economy and 100" less inches of snowfall surely put a damper on their numbers, but a new lift cannot overcome everything.

There is something to be said for having a tram, and Sugarloaf would be a great mountain to install a tram at. Cons are they are rediculously expensive for the amount of uphill capacity they provide, and your not constantly sending skiers up the hill, more like 50-100 every ten minutes. Chairs and gondis certainly provide more in uphill access. However, trams provide a huge "wow" factor. They bring in summer business ten fold compared to summer chair or gondi rides, and can access more vert in a shorter time period than any chair out there for those riding it. A tram's "wow" factor is also a big draw to non skiers as well, and Jacksons tram provided something like 100,000+ rides this past summer. At 12 dollars a pop thats some serious income generation for one lift running in the summer.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

I have to admit, I havent skied Sugarloaf since 2006, so things very well could have been spruced up a bit.

That being said, the whole lipstick on a pig analogy applies here. Paint, some new signs, and removing that hideous old gondi station are a good start, but hardly change the "face" of the resort so to speak.

Wescott does have something with the "signature lift" idea. They do help ski resorts become something more, but that always doesnt result in more skier visits. Jackson actually had their best season on record the year before the new tram opened. Now the economy and 100" less inches of snowfall surely put a damper on their numbers, but a new lift cannot overcome everything.

There is something to be said for having a tram, and Sugarloaf would be a great mountain to install a tram at. Cons are they are rediculously expensive for the amount of uphill capacity they provide, and your not constantly sending skiers up the hill, more like 50-100 every ten minutes. Chairs and gondis certainly provide more in uphill access. However, trams provide a huge "wow" factor. They bring in summer business ten fold compared to summer chair or gondi rides, and can access more vert in a shorter time period than any chair out there for those riding it. A tram's "wow" factor is also a big draw to non skiers as well, and Jacksons tram provided something like 100,000+ rides this past summer. At 12 dollars a pop thats some serious income generation for one lift running in the summer.

Please don't use "the lipstick on the pig" analogy.......god it makes me think of that awful annoying "pig" from Alaska Mrs Palin.

In regards to the Paint, Fixing the base area, bullwinkles etc, I guess I dont' know what you mean by rundown?