The "Sugarbush Thread"

[thetrailboss]

So the history as I have been told, is this. When Less Otten bought Sugarbush he install miles of pipe that was sources from China. That pipe was made of poor quality steel and totally sucked. It roughed out over the years and now all of it has to be replaced. They have one portions of Gate house, Spring Fling and snow ball, portions of HG and the run down to the River. All of the rest needs replacement. Last year Sunrise blew out and they stopped making snow on it. I have not heard if they fixt that. They have also rebuild pump and valve stations but more work is needed.

Sunday River had the same issues buy I think Boyne has been more proactive. Machski would know.

I've heard that about the pipe over the years as well.

 

[tumbler]

So the history as I have been told, is this. When Less Otten bought Sugarbush he install miles of pipe that was sources from China. That pipe was made of poor quality steel and totally sucked. It roughed out over the years and now all of it has to be replaced. They have one portions of Gate house, Spring Fling and snow ball, portions of HG and the run down to the River. All of the rest needs replacement. Last year Sunrise blew out and they stopped making snow on it. I have not heard if they fixt that. They have also rebuild pump and valve stations but more work is needed.

Sunday River had the same issues buy I think Boyne has been more proactive. Machski would know.

Snowball- Spring Fling was not put in by ASC, it was older than ASC. The same goes for the pipe on Ripcord, that predated ASC. Jester and OG was the new pipe put in by ASC up there. A lot of the pipe that ASC put in was junk but the nice part of it was that most of it was run above ground and only buried where needed. The Sunrise break was where it is buried in the flats at top of GH lift and they chose not to dig it up during the season to repair. I hope that it was repaired.

 

[benski]

Snowball- Spring Fling was not put in by ASC, it was older than ASC. The same goes for the pipe on Ripcord, that predated ASC. Jester and OG was the new pipe put in by ASC up there. A lot of the pipe that ASC put in was junk but the nice part of it was that most of it was run above ground and only buried where needed. The Sunrise break was where it is buried in the flats at top of GH lift and they chose not to dig it up during the season to repair. I hope that it was repaired.

Snowball-Spring Fling is Win era pipe.

 

[Hawk]

Your wrong about ripchord. Les put in the first tower guns and upgraded the pipe. That was one of my first years at Sugarbush. I can understand about spring fling but that is now upgraded so we don't have to revisit that.

 

[vtboarder]

I have loved here nearly 40 years. I don't remember a sports bar. The Den was as close at we got to that, I think? they had football games on a TV or two, but not exactly a sports bar

Yes there was the Den, there was also the Mad Tavern, perhaps not a "pure" sports bar but a fun time.

 

[cdskier]

Yes well aware of the ongoing issues making snow, but with other “big” mountains pumping 10-12k+ gpm, my guess would have been circa 6k gpm.

The numbers are discussed every year as well. 6k for LP would be nice, but as someone else stated, you likely need to address the water storage limitations first before adding more pumping capacity. Sure if the flow is good in the Mad River the storage doesn't matter, but lately I'd say there are more years than not where flow is an issue at least at some point during the snow-making season and they need to shut down to wait for a refill.

 

[crank]

Sugarbush has never been able to solve their lack of snowmaking water issue. Feels like it's been a problem since the dawn of snowmaking.

 

[Snow Way Man!!]

The new Reserve Club has got to be going into the kids Blazer room in VH. There's no way they would use the existing Wonderbar and give up that revenue. Blazers will all be eating lunch in Gate house this year (confirmed).
Also have it on good authority that this whole thing came down from corporate.

Correct...the way they sold it to us Blazer parents back in April is that parents were requesting their kids be able to eat at Gate House and that they were doing us a favor by moving the kids there...no mention of turning the Valley House space into a Snob O Toroium!!

Sugarbush the wanna be "Bushwood of VT!!"

 

[Lotso]

Watch for guns going on Wed. night.

 

[solar]

Sugarbush the wanna be "Bushwood of VT!!"

"You'll get nothing and like it!" - President Hammond Smails

 

[drjeff]

Sugarbush has never been able to solve their lack of snowmaking water issue. Feels like it's been a problem since the dawn of snowmaking.

Not quite sure of what the actual ratio is, but I think there's a bit of Sugarbush wanting to solve their snowmaking water storage issues vs the State of Vt + the environmanetal lobby allowing Sugarbush to work on solving their snowmaking water storage issues

 

[Lotso]

"You'll get nothing and like it!" - President Hammond Smails

"Well? We're waiting!!!"

 

[crank]

Not quite sure of what the actual ratio is, but I think there's a bit of Sugarbush wanting to solve their snowmaking water storage issues vs the State of Vt + the environmanetal lobby allowing Sugarbush to work on solving their snowmaking water storage issues

I remember a few decades ago they were talking about trying to get the rights to use more water and I don't think they ever made any real progress there. I don't have any idea why though.

 

[Lotso]

They need storage closer to LP. I heard talk of making a pond somewhere more than halfway up the hill but nothing concrete

 

[solar]

They need storage closer to LP. I heard talk of making a pond somewhere more than halfway up the hill but nothing concrete

Hammond first hinted at the new snowmaking pond at the '23 Sugarbush Homeowners Coalition, but '24 said the location was set but the $20MM price tag was "too high right now". I believe it was going to be across the road from Fit to be Thai'd.

 

[Lotso]

Hammond first hinted at the new snowmaking pond at the '23 Sugarbush Homeowners Coalition, but '24 said the location was set but the $20MM price tag was "too high right now". I believe it was going to be across the road from Fit to be Thai'd.

That is what I recall. It's easy to take potshots at the "environmentalists" for stopping projects. Sometimes basic construction costs get in the way. Hopefully it can happen, b/c they really need it.

 

[cdskier]

Win mentioned that same location as what they were looking at before he sold. Building that pond eventually is really the key to any expanded snowmaking capacity though. No point in increasing pumping capacity on the mountain without more storage to allow you to actually use that capacity without running dry and having to wait for the pond to refill...

 

[teleo]

The Sunrise break was where it is buried in the flats at top of GH lift and they chose not to dig it up during the season to repair. I hope that it was repaired.

When I was hiking up there this summer they were digging up beside the lift. Crew said they were fixing that blowout.

 

[Lotso]

Snowing up high already. Webcams

 

[slatham]

Like the plan, like the communication. Love seeing snow on cams! Although relatively short, there are several windows over the next week + to put down snow.

“We've got our eyes on the thermometer and are hoping to begin snowmaking this evening. We'll provide more updates as temps fall into place. Thanks to a healthy dose of late fall rain, both of our snowmaking ponds are full and river levels have risen a bit. We're keeping a ready eye on the weather to determine what pod of terrain we will focus on for early operations. If given the opportunity we will focus on opening lower mountain terrain first, but we are prepared to shift to upper mountain terrain if temps don't cooperate down low. Stay tuned for a State of the Mountain blog soon with a deeper dive into our operational plans.”