The Mt. Snow rollout

[2knees]

just curious if the decision to only open carinthia is a money (attract the park rats) thing or is there not enough snow left on the main face to get people down. I gotta believe a few of the snowmaking trails on the north face still have decent coverage?

DrJeff, Glenn input?

 

[drjeff]

My take is that there is serious financial advantage to the Carinthia only thing this weekend, and NOT a lack of snow thing. Pretty Much guarentee that you could easily ski off the summit down the main face on atleast Upper Canyon to Standard or Snowdance. Also, Deer Run from the summit to the top of Carinthia *should* still be skiable and I'd bet the farm that a minimum of Chute, Freefall and Plummet are still in good shape.

The issue then is skier/rider volume. The last 3 weekends, I don't think that I waited more than 4 chairs on the main face/Northface and more times than not it was no speed check necessary, just ski right through the corrale ropes and onto the chair. Carinthia on the other hand was consistantly having a 5 to 10 chair wait and sending up atleast a single(more often 3 or 4 folks) per chair - plain and simple the parks and pipe(pipes up until this weekend) have been doing a GREAT job a attracting alot of day ticket buying park users, whereas a much higher percentage of folks I observed on the Main/North faces were pass holders.

Just not enough real skier/rider volume on the Main Face/North face to justify the costs of operating 2 additional chairs and another lodge and maintaining another close to 75 to 100 acres of terrain(and I'm just talking the acreage that they would groom, not extra total acres.

I'm happy with their operations descion and I'm quite sure that they'll have a good volume of day ticket buying folks over at Carinthia and probably a fun atmosphere on the deck over there with the BBQ grills running in view of both the Superpipe and the wooden skateboard 1/2 pipe that is part of the Carinthia deck. While I will admit that I'd like to have lift served Northface skiing this weekend as a spring skiing fan, the business owner side of me COMPLETELY understands and agrees with their choices. The idea of seeding some bumps up on Mineshaft was brought up, but unfortunately there apparently won't be enough cat time/operators to pull this off, BUT, knowing a bit about how the management at Mount Snow operates and listens to suggestions of it's guests, I'd bet that in next years late season plan for Mount Snow that you WILL see the Mineshaft headwall seeded for late season, thus giving them parks, a pipe, bumps and a cruiser all off of 1 chair and out of 1 lodge

 

[deadheadskier]

No way

The park couldn't possibly be drawing more business right now than what the bumps on the Northface could

 

[2knees]

Kind of a bummer that they didnt follow last years end of season thing but still impressive that they're gonna be open.

 

[2knees]

No way

The park couldn't possibly be drawing more business right now than what the bumps on the Northface could

i didnt use the b word or the m word. but thanks for jamming that in!


:lol:

 

[Glenn]

Kind of a bummer that they didnt follow last years end of season thing but still impressive that they're gonna be open.

I know what you mean; they had more terrain open last year at this time. But they also had a better March regarding snow. And April was fairly cool. I can remember skiing in snow in April last year...not much, but it was cold enough to snow.

I haven't been to the mountain since early April/late March; we bought a weekend ski house over in Dummerston and we've been going full throttle on getting that up to snuff. My wife and her folks did take a ride over there last Friday to hit the ski shop and grab a few things that were on sale. My wife talked to a few people who said the conditions were good.

Like Jeff said, it all comes down to volume. Last year, the place was a ghost town in April. Our last day was the 20th of April last year. It was a spectacular day! Sun was temps in the 60's...and no one was there. I couldn't help thinking how much it was costing the mountain to run the chair, to pay the help....all for a handful of people.

While skiing is still on the brain for just about everyone reading this thread, for Joe Average skier, it's not. A lot of folks who ski in Southern VT are from Southern New England, or NY or NJ. Yesterday, I sharpened the blades on my mower and took my quad for a ride up and down the street to blow out the cobwebs. There hasn't been snow on the ground here for months. :-(

Maybe I'll take a ride over to snow in May and do some hiking to make some turns. Or maybe, just maybe...they'll let me ride my quad up and ski down. :beer:

 

[RootDKJ]

Have they actually announced a closing day yet?

 

[Glenn]

Not yet, they're playing it by ear. I have a feeling they'll see how this weekend goes, then re-evaluate for next weekend.

 

[RootDKJ]

Not yet, they're playing it by ear. I have a feeling they'll see how this weekend goes, then re-evaluate for next weekend.

Hey, that's pretty cool. At least they are trying to keep up with their northern competition .

 

[Grassi21]

but thanks for jamming that in!

something tells me you use this phrase often. and in many different contexts...

 

[jack97]

While skiing is still on the brain for just about everyone reading this thread, for Joe Average skier, it's not.

That's the irony of the situation.... so mt snow grooms out the trails to attract the skiers that have already put their brain in "shut down" mode. Yet they leave very little options for the market share of folks that look forward to the spring skiing season.

Comical in a way.

 

[jaywbigred]

Kind of a bummer that they didnt follow last years end of season thing but still impressive that they're gonna be open.

I understand their decisions but after last year's seeded bumps, I was planning on spending my entire april at Mt. Snow. Not doing it this year, they lost 8 days and 8 nights of my money, a non-season pass holder.

I'm still disappointed. :---(

 

[MommaBear]

...we bought a weekend ski house over in Dummerston and we've been going full throttle on getting that up to snuff.

Congratulations Glenn! Welcome to the dual home owners of CT/VT. :grin:

 

[Newpylong]

I understand their decisions but after last year's seeded bumps, I was planning on spending my entire april at Mt. Snow. Not doing it this year, they lost 8 days and 8 nights of my money, a non-season pass holder.

I'm still disappointed. :---(

I can see their desire to reduce to one lift - but it annoys me to lose the North Face with all the good snow still. Maybe for next year they at least seed some bumps at Carinthia late on.

 

[Glenn]

Congratulations Glenn! Welcome to the dual home owners of CT/VT. :grin:

Thanks! We're beyond excited!

 

[RootDKJ]

Thanks! We're beyond excited!

AZ housewarming party???:beer:

 

[Glenn]

AZ housewarming party???:beer:

Hmmmm. I am bringing up the smoker next weekend. :beer:

 

[2knees]

something tells me you use this phrase often. and in many different contexts...

:lol:

 

[Grassi21]

:lol:

that post has been marinading for 3 days now. i'm glad it finally hit its mark! ;-)

 

[2knees]

that post has been marinading for 3 days now. i'm glad it finally hit its mark! ;-)

just saw it today laxman.