The NEW Magic Mountain

[urungus]

Stratton's strattitude pass is <$650 for 7 day a week skiing from thanksgiving until easter. There is no comparison. Even if that strattitude pass were $1050 it would still be a better value due to approx. 2x as many open days in a season.

Yeah but then you would have to ski Flatton all year long, no thanks

 

[KustyTheKlown]

i would never get a stratton only pass, the boredom would kill me. but i really appreciate it as part of the unlimited ikon. being only 4 hours from home when done skiing on a sunday is really nice. i prefer when i can be 4 hours from home at magic tho. glad i didn't get the magic sunday pass this year. didn't get the value out of it last year and it looks like i wouldn't this year. looking forward to at least 2 days on indy.

 

[drjeff]

Yeah but then you would have to ski Flatton all year long, no thanks

Atleast one could have already skied at Stratton this year...

If mother nature doesn't cooperate, and the "roto rooter guy" can't get that pipe issue resolved soon, the Magic pass holders may not be looking at their pass getting them lift served turns until potentially Christmas time or beyond

 

[Hastur]

most magic pass holders that I know have an additional pass someplace. at least for early and late season.
and you just can't go to stratton on the weekends and have an enjoyable time imo. maybe on blackout weekends? but I think the stratton only pass has blackouts? midweek it's fine.

stratton is underrated imo especially for tree skiing but you can't only roll with a stratton only pass. you may as well quit the sport.

 

[Hastur]

put me on the list of people who don't get the vitriol directed at the current management. sure they have fucked up a bit, but they are trying their best I think more or less.

. was there a different management group ready to take over 5 years ago with the new ownership group? did someone's buddy not get hired and these people are mad at current management?

Im a bit concerned with all the project missteps and the fact that do work left but the alternatives are what exactly?

does Geoff have the full faith of the current group of investors / owners?

 

[Keelhauled]

I'm not sure the criticism is so much at the management decisions as the way they've been communicated. You certainly can't say they're pursuing the wrong things in snowmaking upgrades and reducing the single points of failure in the lift system.

I think the openness in communication is appreciated, and I get that they're trying to show their commitment to the mountain and pass holders, and obviously they want to project optimism. The trouble is that they've gotten bit before by promoting things that didn't turn out on the schedule they promised, and then they kept making the same mistakes. I'm absolutely stunned that they knew Black's haul rope was questionable all summer long and kept saying it was going to be open this winter anyway. After all this time it's ridiculous that they'd promise anything without the state's certificate in hand.

I know shit happens and it's unavoidable, but it seems like at every turn they act as though it's not going to happen and then get surprised and have to eat their words when it turns around and does. At this point it's a pattern. Yeah the challenges of running a an operation that depends on a lot of machinery aren't always under their control, but the way they choose to communicate those challenges is, and that's where they're lacking and burning all the credibility they have left.

 

[ss20]

I think they played "F around and find out" with Pfister."

It's a small industry and while there's not a ton of options in the way of competition, they do exist. Don't tell me Pfister is blowing off a client for no reason. A check bounced, Magic is being uncooperative- something.

Like I said earlier, there's no instance of a lift taking this long to re-install. It's not Pfister blowing off magic and trashing their own reputation in the process. I don't buy that for a second, and it reflects poorly on Magic for them to pass off all the blame. Come on... that's total BS.

 

[slatham]

I think they played "F around and find out" with Pfister."

It's a small industry and while there's not a ton of options in the way of competition, they do exist. Don't tell me Pfister is blowing off a client for no reason. A check bounced, Magic is being uncooperative- something.

Like I said earlier, there's no instance of a lift taking this long to re-install. It's not Pfister blowing off magic and trashing their own reputation in the process. I don't buy that for a second, and it reflects poorly on Magic for them to pass off all the blame. Come on... that's total BS.

I do not know the current situation with Pfister, but I do know that in the past they have been a no show while working at another area getting that area's one/critical lift running so the area can open/re-open.

 

[bigbob]

I think they played "F around and find out" with Pfister."

It's a small industry and while there's not a ton of options in the way of competition, they do exist. Don't tell me Pfister is blowing off a client for no reason. A check bounced, Magic is being uncooperative- something.

Like I said earlier, there's no instance of a lift taking this long to re-install. It's not Pfister blowing off magic and trashing their own reputation in the process. I don't buy that for a second, and it reflects poorly on Magic for them to pass off all the blame. Come on... that's total BS.

I would guess that Pfister had other jobs scheduled when at the last minute they where asked to replace the haul rope. They only have so many bodies and are proably spread to thin as it is. After a while you get tired of returning phone calls when you tell the customer that I can't get there till this date. I am a contractor and have to do this sometimes when a customers gets on your nerves.

 

[JoeB-Z]

I was tuning my skis tonight in the garage and the venerable iron just gave out on the second pair. Meter showed failure. How the hell does an iron just fail? Only 50 years old. I vaguely remembered setting a spare iron from a yard sale aside and gadzooks, there it was in the cabin basement. Two comments re Magic. Sometimes availability beats reliability. Sometimes you make your own luck. Getting that haul rope actually changed out instead of just buying it would be an instance of making your own luck. Getting the pond "done" at the last minute is pushing your luck. Turning back to availability (redundancy), if Red breaks down I am going to hit the roof. The gambling is with my money. On the other hand, it only costs a buck to pick up an extra iron at a yard sale.

 

[slatham]

I was tuning my skis tonight in the garage and the venerable iron just gave out on the second pair. Meter showed failure. How the hell does an iron just fail? Only 50 years old. I vaguely remembered setting a spare iron from a yard sale aside and gadzooks, there it was in the cabin basement. Two comments re Magic. Sometimes availability beats reliability. Sometimes you make your own luck. Getting that haul rope actually changed out instead of just buying it would be an instance of making your own luck. Getting the pond "done" at the last minute is pushing your luck. Turning back to availability (redundancy), if Red breaks down I am going to hit the roof. The gambling is with my money. On the other hand, it only costs a buck to pick up an extra iron at a yard sale.

Need to remember that the new haul rope couldn’t be installed until after the sheave work, new tower arm, etc. That was only finished in what, late October? The haul rope could not have been done over summer.

 

[Bubba]

It seems they are always finishing critical projects at the last minute. Why don’t they ever start these projects in April?

 

[JoeB-Z]

Need to remember that the new haul rope couldn’t be installed until after the sheave work, new tower arm, etc. That was only finished in what, late October? The haul rope could not have been done over summer.

Actually the old rope was an ongoing liability. It didn't suddenly go bad. The could have discovered the sheave problem with a new haul rope. Just another gamble.

 

[IceEidolon]

Actually the old rope was an ongoing liability. It didn't suddenly go bad. The could have discovered the sheave problem with a new haul rope. Just another gamble.

I heard a lift mechanic comment - over beers and in a different context - about damaged haul ropes from misaligned sheaves. I wonder if installing the old haul rope for the initial season turned into "well, if it gets damaged during the major sheave replacement work we'd better hurt the old one, not the replacement."

Anyway, the deck is done per Facebook - late, but before their previous scheduled opening day. That's about on par with a couple capital projects I've been involved with for other resorts.

 

[JoeB-Z]

I heard a lift mechanic comment - over beers and in a different context - about damaged haul ropes from misaligned sheaves. I wonder if installing the old haul rope for the initial season turned into "well, if it gets damaged during the major sheave replacement work we'd better hurt the old one, not the replacement."

Anyway, the deck is done per Facebook - late, but before their previous scheduled opening day. That's about on par with a couple capital projects I've been involved with for other resorts.

That makes more sense about the haul rope if it did get damaged. Coming off the sheaves must not have been pretty. I once had the pleasure of reporting a half million dollar cannon "wreck" at the Underhill range to the CEO.

 

[bigbob]

It seems they are always finishing critical projects at the last minute. Why don’t they ever start these projects in April?

April is mud season, not a good time to be starting most construction projects. Roads are posted so heavy trucks and equipment can't get to jobsites.

 

[Bubba]

April is mud season, not a good time to be starting most construction projects. Roads are posted so heavy trucks and equipment can't get to jobsites.

Magic’s access road is paved. Plenty of construction occurs in Vt during mud season. Also the roads dry out by May, so what about May? Why do they always wait until September? Ridiculous.

 

[slatham]

Magic’s access road is paved. Plenty of construction occurs in Vt during mud season. Also the roads dry out by May, so what about May? Why do they always wait until September? Ridiculous.

Not sure what you are referring to, but deck and pond started at the beginning of summer, not September.

 

[ThatGuy]

Saw on Facebook its not looking like an easy fix for the snowmaking.
Chances of natural only Magic this season with no summit access??
Hughconways dream scenario coming to fruition…?

 

[Hastur]

no snowmaking?
old man winter better start getting his shit together. an 120-150" season would be nice.