The 2006 AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge: STRATTON MOUNTAIN (Yes, you heard me right!)

[thetrailboss]

Jeremiah Greco, the Public Relations & Communications Coordinator for Stratton Mountain Resort has agreed to take the 2006 Alpine Zone Challenge!!! This is your opportunity to ask questions, offer suggestions, or say some praise to the men and women who are in charge of the Northeast’s Ski Areas. Please post some suggested questions in this thread and we'll select ten to present for official responses.

Also please don't be offended if we edit/change your question for grammar, tone, or some other minor thing. In order to get in all of the questions we MAY merge some questions but we'll do our best to keep the substance of your question. If we don't get your question in, feel free to post a follow up after we get the results...we are encouraging the representatives follow the threads. :wink:

As always, please be respectful of Jeremiah and keep it civil. Also, please refrain from asking specifics about skier visit numbers, financials, demographic information, etc. Stratton needs to be discrete about certain information.

We are honored to have Stratton join us for their FIRST COMPLETE AZ Challenge!!! :beer: Please take advantage of this special opportunity!

Before we start, I know that Stratton has evoked some strong reactions in the past from folks in here. Mr. Greco has come to us and requested to be a part of this and we are really glad that he did. This is a great chance to speak with a resort that many people have comments about, so let’s make this a win-win for all of us.

Ask away!

Stratton’s Profile

 

[thetrailboss]

Jeremiah: thanks for contacting us and taking the iniative here! I have a confession: I had not skied Stratton until last season in large part because of the high ticket prices. So I had a negative view. But last season you challenged us to give your mountain a try...on your own dime. Ms. Trailboss and I accepted your challenge and came in March. We were very surprised. Your parking shuttle was awesome and easy. Service was great. Lodges were clean and large but retained some of the original character. Lifts were very, very fast and there was good terrain for us to enjoy. No real liftlines per se and the resort is huge. We got a very good impression of your resort.

So two quick questions: First, are you going to run Vermont Residents Day again (free skiing for Vermonters)? If so, when? And why the change in the Snow Days Promotion? I know a lot of people have been grumbling over the new "lottery" format.

 

[Greg]

I'd also like to mention that Jeremiah is new to Stratton and not at all responsible for Stratton's non-participation in the 2004 Challenge.

 

[saus]

Jeremiah, will there be a break on the cost of tickets for Vermonters?

 

[BeanoNYC]

Thanks for taking our questions, Jeremiah.

It is no secret that Stratton's parent company, Intrawest, has been aquired by Fortress, an equity firm. While it's safe to say that Fortress' commitment is to maximize profits for Intrawest, just how does Fortress plan on doing this at Stratton? Will Stratton recognize it's profit goals by improving its skiing experience (i.e. lift, trail and lodge improvements,) therefore increasing its attendance or will it resort to raising lift ticket prices and slashing expenses at the visitors expense? In other words, will Fortress/Intrawest/Stratton learn from other corporation's mistakes and concentrate on building brand loyalty rather than alienating it's core customers?

 

[maplevalleymaster]

Thank you for taking the AZ challenge. I was wondering if there is any possible expansion in the plans anytime soon? Everytime I drive by there, there seems to be more construction of real estate, however the trail count is never changed. The Treetops, Rising Bear, Hearthstone and Founders Lodge are all going to bring a lot of people in to crowd the trails. Although the lift system is quite nice, it only moves the crowd to the top instead of the bottom.

Ever ask Mount Snow or Okemo if they would take an AZ challenge? I think those results might be interesting.

 

[Rushski]

As an S-O-S passholder, am glad to see Stratton's participation in this line of questioning.

Are there any plans to try to open up any boot-burning expert terrain in the near futre? No offense but Stratton is known as an intermediate's mounain (not that there's anything wrong with that).

 

[thetrailboss]

Ever ask Mount Snow or Okemo if they would take an AZ challenge? I think those results might be interesting.

We have not. If you have any inside connections, feel free to PM me. Thanks!

 

[Newpylong]

I wouldn't mind seeing a Mt. Snow challenge, lots of stuff I believe they plan on doing in the future since they have access to Somerset resevoir for water now.

Okemo? Blah? What's to ask about that place.....

 

[saus]

What's to know about that place?

It's a non-threatening mountain that's adored by the backbone of the ski industry in this country - the intermediate skier.

It's a non-threatening mountain to which I comfortably can take my wife and know that she'll have a good time.

It's a non-threatening mountain where I can just open 'er up and let 'er run without scaring the living b'jeesis out of the missus and other happy cruisers.

It has the best grooming this side of Deer Valley - the kind adored by the majority of intermediate skiers. I've seen (at a PSIA clinic) what kind of snow they can deliver in challenging circumstances.

What I'd like to hear is whether they plan construction of any new trails or glades that will appeal to upper level intermediates looking for more of a challenge and to experts who would enjoy their family visits even more if they could just get a little more taste of the trees.

 

[maplevalleymaster]

We have not. If you have any inside connections, feel free to PM me. Thanks!

Sorry, I do not have any connections, I just thought it might be interesting.

 

[Newpylong]

Like I said, what's to know? They have it all going for them... The lodging is in tip top shape, so is the rest of the physical plant. Tough to beat their grooming and snowmaking....

But, they just finished Jackson Gore... and it is what it is. I doubt you are going to see any new terrain anytime soon. This year they added snowmaking on their double diamonds Big Bang and Black Hole, two trails which would rate Blue squares at other areas. So if you're looking for more high level intermediate terrain, there is some there.

What's to know about that place?

It's a non-threatening mountain that's adored by the backbone of the ski industry in this country - the intermediate skier.

It's a non-threatening mountain to which I comfortably can take my wife and know that she'll have a good time.

It's a non-threatening mountain where I can just open 'er up and let 'er run without scaring the living b'jeesis out of the missus and other happy cruisers.

It has the best grooming this side of Deer Valley - the kind adored by the majority of intermediate skiers. I've seen (at a PSIA clinic) what kind of snow they can deliver in challenging circumstances.

What I'd like to hear is whether they plan construction of any new trails or glades that will appeal to upper level intermediates looking for more of a challenge and to experts who would enjoy their family visits even more if they could just get a little more taste of the trees.

 

[saus]

Okemo is one of the places where my wife can feel confident on 85% to 95% of the mountain. That's non-threatening enough.

 

[thetrailboss]

OK folks....this thread is about Stratton, so let's focus on that...

 

[saus]

Stratton is one of the places where my wife can feel confident on 85% to 95% of the mountain. That's non- threaqtening enough.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Sorry to tell you, folks, but the topography of Stratton simply doesn't allow for anything more challenging/steeper than World Cup or Bear Down. Check out the topo:

Clearly the answer isn't finding steeper terrain somewhere on the mountain. This leads to my first question:

1) What has been the response to Bill Koch's "Test Pilot" backcountry run and does Stratton plan to add more of these types of runs in the Kidder Brook basin or elsewhere on the hill? If yes, are there issues with bear habitat that would impeded your ability to accomplish your objectives?

2) Is it safe to say that the days of increasing uphill capacity are over? Is Stratton mgmt concerned with the impact in terms of ski surfaces and skier safety of dropping off up to 32 people on the summit (the combined stated capacities of the upper mtn lifts) every 10 seconds?

 

[maplevalleymaster]

It can be even more if you add the Snowbowl Quad and the Kidderbrook Quad...

 

[Tin Woodsman]

It can be even more if you add the Snowbowl Quad and the Kidderbrook Quad...

Doh! I added wrong. Good thing I work in finance. I'll change the question to reflect the egregious, correct number of 32.

 

[thetrailboss]

OK. Any more questions here?

 

[saus]

I'm ready for the results. I'll be at Stratton for the on-snow demos this February.