The "Sugarbush Thread"

[Lotso]

Completely agree,... Why would they spend $500K on a magic carpet when this is much more important to the skiing public? (assuming a pump replacement is $500K)

That thing was a half a million???? Wow... the ROI on that will be minimal...

 

[thetrailboss]

Completely agree,... Why would they spend $500K on a magic carpet when this is much more important to the skiing public? (assuming a pump replacement is $500K)

Seems very odd.

 

[Getskied]

That thing was a half a million???? Wow... the ROI on that will be minimal...

In a vacuum it seems like a reasonable decision to bring back a surface lift for beginners at Ellen. Hopefully they can generate additional ski school revenue as a result. As a parent who had to drop off and pick up kids at both mountains in the past because there was no real program for beginners at Ellen I’d call it a big upgrade. Also now they can be almost assured to have two open “lifts” when GMX and Inverness go on simultaneous holds this winter.

 

[thetrailboss]

In a vacuum it seems like a reasonable decision to bring back a surface lift for beginners at Ellen. Hopefully they can generate additional ski school revenue as a result. As a parent who had to drop off and pick up kids at both mountains in the past because there was no real program for beginners at Ellen I’d call it a big upgrade. Also now they can be almost assured to have two open “lifts” when GMX and Inverness go on simultaneous holds this winter.

Well, that with the lift issue, but a new carpet means nothing if they do not have snow.

 

[cdskier]

Well, that with the lift issue, but a new carpet means nothing if they do not have snow.

Ellen's snow-making system isn't too bad given the size of the mountain and the fact that it doesn't open until later in December. Unless there was a super warm November AND December, they'll generally have no problem at ME with snow to run the carpet by the time it opens for the season.

Why haven't they been fixed in 9 years? that is borderline unbelievable.

Yea...it makes absolutely no sense to perform regular maintenance on something that they seemingly have no plans to use (for whatever bizarre reason). Still begs the question though of whether the cooling has been broken for 9 years or if they just chose not to use those compressors for 9 years and the cooling broke more recently. Either way, clearly seems like actually fixing (and using) these compressors would be a big help early season in marginal temps.

 

[Getskied]

Well, that with the lift issue, but a new carpet means nothing if they do not have snow.

Sure, and not saying adequate amounts of compressed air isn’t important for a major east coast ski resort either. Although as was stated earlier, Ellen has enough air and frankly since they don’t open until the week before Xmas and don’t resurface trails ever I would say the current system there isn’t really undersized for what is demanded of it. If this cold month continues as it appears to then Ellen will likely open with a high percentage of snowmaking terrain open as well.

 

[djd66]

In a vacuum it seems like a reasonable decision to bring back a surface lift for beginners at Ellen. Hopefully they can generate additional ski school revenue as a result. As a parent who had to drop off and pick up kids at both mountains in the past because there was no real program for beginners at Ellen I’d call it a big upgrade. Also now they can be almost assured to have two open “lifts” when GMX and Inverness go on simultaneous holds this winter.

I'm sure the new carpet will get used and will be nice for beginners. But if one of your main snowmaking water pumps is broken for 9 years,... fixing that should be a priority .

To the guys above who know more about this stuff than most of us,... thank you for sharing the inside info. I'm guessing 99.9999% of the skiing public has no idea this situation exists, which explains why they figured why spend the money on fixing something nobody knows about anyway..