The NEW Magic Mountain

[ThatGuy]

I don’t know shit about snowmaking but if the pond freezes before being fixed its f**ked right?

 

[JoeB-Z]

Where did you see that on Facebook? The Alpine Update implies they have fault isolated to the pond pump. I see nothing on Facebook. The situation is bad enough...

 

[drjeff]

Drove by Magic today on my way to/from the Okemo Mountain School where I was taking a Race Officials exam.

Looks sad with no snow on it. Hopefully between today and later this week, it will atleast get enough of a covering of snow to not look so desolate

 

[JoeB-Z]

Where did you see that on Facebook? The Alpine Update implies they have fault isolated to the pond pump. I see nothing on Facebook. The situation is bad enough...

I did see some gloomy stuff from Geoff on Friends of Magic Facebook.

 

[IceEidolon]

Even if the transfer ppump is down for the season, so long as they can access the pipeline somewhere near the pond they can splice a rental high head pump or two in, throw a suction line into the pond, and get running again. That takes effort and money but isn't particularly challenging technically, and it's far less financially painful to rent a pump and fuel it for a few months than to potentially miss a season.

 

[Newpylong]

Sounds like that's where they are currently at, it's about all you can do with the obstacles against them this time of year.

 

[zyk]

So, please correct me if I'm wrong, unless Magic pulls a rabbit out of their hat...
No summit lift service
No snow making
And I can enjoy this for $850?
Seems like some sleight of hand...

My ski3 pass was cheaper and they're open every day.

 

[slatham]

So, please correct me if I'm wrong, unless Magic pulls a rabbit out of their hat...
No summit lift service
No snow making
And I can enjoy this for $850?
Seems like some sleight of hand...

My ski3 pass was cheaper and they're open every day.

No, there are backup plans for snowmaking as IceEdolon pointed out.

And there is no threat to Red running for summit access. Some work, yes, but straightforward and well under way (they were on chair 98 the other day, but I cannot confirm they started on #1).

 

[zyk]

No, there are backup plans for snowmaking as IceEdolon pointed out.

And there is no threat to Red running for summit access. Some work, yes, but straightforward and well under way (they were on chair 98 the other day, but I cannot confirm they started on #1).

Fair enough. I'd like to get back there for some days.

 

[slatham]

Update from Magic late yesterday:

"The problem with the pond system has been narrowed through a series of tests to most likely the underwater pump stack losing water though some type of pipe wall damage or gasket or seal failure. This makes it very difficult in the short term to fix. We have confirmed a work-around concept with the experts so we are obtaining another pump that pushes our desired 1500 gpm, with heavy duty hose to place in the pond and connect it by a new pipe arm into the existing pipe on the uphill side of the pond pumphouse. This will bypass the pumphouse at pond altogether with enough water volume at pressure to then send up the Mountain to the base area pumps. The rental pump and hoses will get here Tuesday and then a good amount of welding will take place. If all works according to plan, we hope to be making snow by end of this week."

They (everyone) are also hoping for a dump Friday! Could be enough to open but still too early to call thats for sure.......

 

[jimmywilson69]

At least the pump rental company called them back...

 

[kancamagus]

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

I've worked before at a (non ski resort) company that always tried to delay until the last possible minute projects, to reduce the time between when they spent money on a project ramp up, and when they get money back from sales. In variably, they would delay until the schedule only works out if every traffic light you hit is green. That pretty much never happens, so hitting a single red light would mean project delays and upset customers. It then frequently took a ton of emergency spending to try to expedite and catch projects back up - money that wasn't directly reflected on the P&L for a project, but cost the company just the same. So on paper, projects looked efficient, but they were quite wasteful.

Things just happen in life, and you need schedule and cash buffers to account for that. Frequently, it's expensive to be poor. It can be much cheaper overall if you don't skimp the first time and follow a "buy once, cry once" mindset, spend money sooner to give more time for contingencies, etc. Then again, that's a lot easier if you have the cash flow to accomplish that...

Yet more arm chair quarterbacking with no visibility on internals, but I would have to imagine that they should seriously look at just biting the bullet for the eventual Red Chair replacement and just hire Skytrac for a new fixed grip lift, even if Skytrac does one of their phased replacements.

 

[IceEidolon]

Red's still got some parts availability and it's had some major wear items recently changed out - in ten+ years, maybe they start looking at either serious mechanical work again (I mean beyond routine wear items, like new tower foundations or a control system replacement) and call Skytrack, but if I was calling the shots I'd really want to spend a few years of capex on snowmaking if at all possible.

Rental pond pump is on site per Instagram, with the potential for snowmaking testing on Wednesday.

 

[Newpylong]

I've worked before at a (non ski resort) company that always tried to delay until the last possible minute projects, to reduce the time between when they spent money on a project ramp up, and when they get money back from sales. In variably, they would delay until the schedule only works out if every traffic light you hit is green. That pretty much never happens, so hitting a single red light would mean project delays and upset customers. It then frequently took a ton of emergency spending to try to expedite and catch projects back up - money that wasn't directly reflected on the P&L for a project, but cost the company just the same. So on paper, projects looked efficient, but they were quite wasteful.

Things just happen in life, and you need schedule and cash buffers to account for that. Frequently, it's expensive to be poor. It can be much cheaper overall if you don't skimp the first time and follow a "buy once, cry once" mindset, spend money sooner to give more time for contingencies, etc. Then again, that's a lot easier if you have the cash flow to accomplish that...

Yet more arm chair quarterbacking with no visibility on internals, but I would have to imagine that they should seriously look at just biting the bullet for the eventual Red Chair replacement and just hire Skytrac for a new fixed grip lift, even if Skytrac does one of their phased replacements.

With the Quad finishing up eventually Red is likely last on the list.

 

[Newpylong]

Red's still got some parts availability and it's had some major wear items recently changed out - in ten+ years, maybe they start looking at either serious mechanical work again (I mean beyond routine wear items, like new tower foundations or a control system replacement) and call Skytrack, but if I was calling the shots I'd really want to spend a few years of capex on snowmaking if at all possible.

Rental pond pump is on site per Instagram, with the potential for snowmaking testing on Wednesday.

Rock paper scissors, loser has to keep that pump fueled all night lol.

 

[zoomzoom]

"Red's still got some parts availability"

no one's stocking anything anymore. especially rare pieces like the gearbox output shaft ajax couplings { two types }, bullwheel backstop one-way clutch, input shaft rollback device, Cat drive seal, spare grips and spring packs, restraint bars, drive motherboard. am wishing the folks there a good winter for sure.

US3911765A - Ski lift bullwheel - Google Patents

Ski lift cable bullwheel characterized by a hub containing a planetary gear speed reducer. A brake drum for arresting motion of the bullwheel is affixed to the hub. In the illustrated and preferred arrangement of parts, the planetary gearing is disposed in the upper portion of the hub and the...

patents.google.com

 

[ne_skier]

No chance they replace Red anytime soon without anything major coming up to prompt them to do so. The major upgrades it has gotten over the past years is an indication that they plan to keep it around for a while. Parts availability will become a problem in the future, as it is with all old lifts someday, but they've got bigger priorities on their plate over the next 5 years than replacing a lift that as of right now does not need replacing. Maybe after they get the quad done, get the rope tow in the beginner area running so you can actually ski it, and expand snowmaking to a few more trails (cough cough Kinderspiel), they can evaluate the situation, but I'd be surprised if they find anything that warrants an immediate replacement right on the heels of another major costly summit lift project.

 

[skithetrees]

I feel strongly that the next lift project needs to be an actual beginner chair in the beginner area. A rope tow just doesn’t cut it for beginners. But this is admittedly not an urgent need. With the quad and red both turning, frankly, there will be as many people as I care to see on the trails at one time. Red is kind of iconic at this point and I view it similar to the single chair. only way I would put in a new lift would be to put a dedicated lift on the west side (if they could get access to the power company land and cut trails over there). That would be a pipe dream though.

 

[Hastur]

they are teasing a sunday opening if the storm hits big. I wonder if they'll let us hike / skin for turns sat.

 

[thetrailboss]

they are teasing a sunday opening if the storm hits big. I wonder if they'll let us hike / skin for turns sat.

You should have stayed here. We're up to 45" since Sunday at Alta.