Tenney? Hello? Is this thing on?

[dlague]

That was my life as a student at UVM. Classes on Tuesday & Thursday, ski the rest at Stowe.

First year of college - skied Brodie and Jiminy Peak. Then took a break (grades were crap due to skiing too much), made snow for Jay Peak and skied there a lot before going into the military. In the military, got stationed in Germany and skied some of the smaller hills and some of the Alps even to TDY pay to ski. Got out of the military, back to LSC and skied Jay Peak and Burke ( got way better grades). Definitely had some good times.

PSU sits in a pretty good location in that respect!

 

[VTKilarney]

PSU sits in a pretty good location in that respect!

If your primary concern is skiing, PSU seems to be better than UVM. The one advantage of UVM is that it's one of the cheapest ways to ski Stowe. But PSU's deals are unbelievable, and the skiing is a lot closer than at UVM.

 

[canobie#1]

That was my life as a student at UVM. Classes on Tuesday & Thursday, ski the rest at Stowe.

My bro goes to UVM and lives there. The past two years, he and his large group of ski friends went to stowe. They decided to convert to the other side of the highway and and get season passes for sugarbush and mad river. Thank God.

I really hope Tenny re-opens but an express quad is a must. They can't compete with Waterville, cannon, loon, ragged and gunstock if they don't update.

 

[The Sneak]

Went to UMF and my "all east" ASC season pass was like 299 freshman year IIRC. Maybe 349?

Got something like 65 days in freshman year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[deadheadskier]

My bro goes to UVM and lives there. The past two years, he and his large group of ski friends went to stowe. They decided to convert to the other side of the highway and and get season passes for sugarbush and mad river. Thank God.

Hope they're saving a bunch of money switching to a mountain that averages almost 100 inches less snow and has inferior terrain.

 

[bobbutts]

I like having Tenney available because it's so unpopular it's like a private ski area. Anyone who re-opens it better be in it for the love and have deep pockets. I'd predict it won't re-open, and on the outside chance it does, it closes again within 5 years.

 

[4aprice]

I like having Tenney available because it's so unpopular it's like a private ski area. Anyone who re-opens it better be in it for the love and have deep pockets. I'd predict it won't re-open, and on the outside chance it does, it closes again within 5 years.

That's bad news to hear from a local but unfortunately probably accurate. Caught in that no mans land between the lakes and the bigger peaks of the Whites. If reopened they should try and team up with others to try and drive traffic that way (the NH Super Pass?)

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[canobie#1]

Hope they're saving a bunch of money switching to a mountain that averages almost 100 inches less snow and has inferior terrain.

We have gone to both before and we all think Sugarbush is far superior. Stowe is fun but doesn't have the character that the bush has. IMO

 

[Higgl]

My bro goes to UVM and lives there. The past two years, he and his large group of ski friends went to stowe. They decided to convert to the other side of the highway and and get season passes for sugarbush and mad river. Thank God.

I really hope Tenny re-opens but an express quad is a must. They can't compete with Waterville, cannon, loon, ragged and gunstock if they don't update.

It'll be really hard for anyone trying to buy that area to find the money to immediately purchase a high speed quad. Whenever someone purchases an area, their goal is almost always to get a high speed lift in there and to justify that they have to build up something resembling a skier base before spending 5 or 6 million. It took Peak Resorts at Crotched nearly a decade to do it.

I think a carpet loaded lift is the way to go. It's a small enough area and it'll make anyone who wants to go there very happy with a 5 or six minute summit ride.

I'll sadly be shocked if Tenney ever reopens though

 

[doublediamond]

I think a carpet loaded lift is the way to go. It's a small enough area and it'll make anyone who wants to go there very happy with a 5 or six minute summit ride.

Uh... Hornet Double is 5985 ft. You could squeak out a 10-minute ride with a variance.

 

[vermonter44]

How fast do conveyor chairs typically run?

 

[Higgl]

Woops, yeah I do not know what I was thinking. Sugarloaf's Skyline is about 4,000 ft with an 8 minute ride. I still cannot see them opening a high speed even if the mountain does open again without at years of successful seasons under their belt.

 

[vermonter44]

I don't think I've never ridden West Mountain. Is the 24 minutes an honest timing or an exaggeration? That length of time would stand out to me. I guess it's possible. I think the Attitash Summit lift is like 16 minutes for 6200 feet and while slow, it's conceivable a chair could be 40% slower like West is apparently.

I believe I timed the Hornet at Tenney around 16 minutes also. I know I could get in 3 runs an hour off the thing, but not more than that. No way that place succeeds without either replacing that lift with something faster, or breaking it up into two lifts. I doubt a HSQ would ever make sense, but maybe something like this would:

The area above the end of the shortened Hornet lift is fairly flat and just ok. The area below, especially Snap Dragon and parts of the lift line are great fun. Adding the Upper Mountain lift I did would allow you to lap the Sweet William area of the hill without the long run out or super long lift ride back up to the top.

I enjoyed Tenney the one season I had a pass there. Lots of character trails. Not a ton of pitch, but a fun little mountain. I think it was 7 years ago now. $99. I only skied there half dozen or so times after a storm. Loved the lodge there too. I assume much of the glades have grown in by now, but they had some pretty sweet low angle trees. Here's a picture from years ago:

Given the length of the hornet, Deadheadskier's layout would probably work the best, and one of the two lifts could have a conveyor as well

 

[doublediamond]

How fast do conveyor chairs typically run?

Max by code is 500 fpm for a double, 475 for a triple, and 450 for a quad. Some ski areas have variances if they have a conveyor, but none run any faster than 600 fpm. You need to add lots of sensors at that speed. That's why Ascutney's HSQ never ran faster than 600 fpm.

 

[vermonter]

You need to add lots of sensors at that speed. That's why Ascutney's HSQ never ran faster than 600 fpm.

That seems like a waste of a high speed quad... Why pay for the detachable if your not going to run it at high speeds??? Explains a lot about the past management there. A shame, was a good mountain too .

 

[doublediamond]

Maybe "lots of" is an overstatement. They needed rope-alignment sensors (one on every sheave train) to run at full speed. Once one goes bad, they gotta run at 600 until its replaced, so instead of spending the money on replacing sensors, they just never ran it full speed.

Also that, as well as not running it midweek, saved on grip maintenance costs. Every 25,000 full up/down laps, you need to tear apart and rebuild a detachable grip.

But yes; penny-wise & pound-foolish. Investing in a snowmaking pond instead of a HSQ to nowhere would have saved them.

It seems a lot of ski areas have bad management.

 

[thetrailboss]

Maybe "lots of" is an overstatement. They needed rope-alignment sensors (one on every sheave train) to run at full speed. Once one goes bad, they gotta run at 600 until its replaced, so instead of spending the money on replacing sensors, they just never ran it full speed.

Also that, as well as not running it midweek, saved on grip maintenance costs. Every 25,000 full up/down laps, you need to tear apart and rebuild a detachable grip.

But yes; penny-wise & pound-foolish. Investing in a snowmaking pond instead of a HSQ to nowhere would have saved them.

It seems a lot of ski areas have bad management.

Good to have a lift tech on the boards. It is too bad that Ascutney was so short-sighted. Too bad that Tenney did not get the HSQ. However I heard that after removal and transport it was almost as expensive as a new HSQ. Burke had a contract to buy it, but the costs and legal issues involved with the former owners made it not work out. Also Poma said that they'd give Burke an offer they could not refuse....

As to Tenney, every year that goes by is another year that they fall further behind making it more difficult to reopen. The snowmaking and other infrastructure probably is not being maintained. And, IIRC, there has been at least one if not two auctions where equipment has walked away. That said, are the lifts still standing? The Lodge? What are they doing with those items? Did they get the chairs and haul rope back up on the Hornet? And I think that the last season that they ran was what, 2009-2010?

 

[Higgl]

"While the lifts still remain, some of the snowmaking equipment has been sold." from Newenglandskihistory.com on Tenney. Also as of summer 2014 Hornet was still standing complete with chairs and haul rope still up. The lodge is still standing too and nothing bad has appeared to happen to it. I really loved that lodge.

Does anyone know anything about the wind farm on top? Would that impede anything?

Getting any kind of snowmaking up and running at Tenney would take millions for sure. You'd have to start basically from scratch I think.

 

[witch hobble]

Problem with this layout is you can't lap forget me not > snapdragon with one lift ride. Sweet William was cut as a lift line, why not just put the hypothetical chair where it was intended?

 

[witch hobble]

For those booting up at the car , Tenney was perfect. You don't even need to go thru the lodge area, you just spill out of the lot onto the Hornet and go.