The "Sugarbush Thread"

[tumbler]

And that brings us back to lack of communication. Snow report offers some glimpses like trying to open GH this weekend but it's been maybe a month since the last state of the mountain blog post.

 

[Hawk]

My head is going to explode. Didnt they replace the pipe under the access road before Win sold to Altera???
If the problem comes down to labor as you now say, why havent they been investing in more automated systems? previously you said the fan guns are more expensive to operate than tower guns but they can be operated automatically and remotely without any labor other than a guy monitoring from a control room drinking coffee.

can't believe I got suckered into this snowmaking shit again. fook me. I need to make some turns

Howie, it was my understanding that during Win's tenure they fixed the pipe from the river most of the way up to the main pump house because of major blow outs.

 

[Plowboy]

Howie, it was my understanding that during Win's tenure they fixed the pipe from the river most of the way up to the main pump house because of major blow outs.

Correct, not sure how far they went but it was not on the Access Rd. They did a few repairs near Club Sugarbush this summer and one near the Sugarbush Inn a few years ago. Other than that 99% of the Access Rd. pipe is original.

 

[Plowboy]

MRG opening for the weekend, 1 week early.

"This Saturday and Sunday, we’ll be spinning the Practice Slope and Sunnyside Double (to at least mid-station)."

 

[millerm277]

The bottom line is, everything takes money and even with a billion-dollar company every expense has to be justified and decision scrutinized. Just like life, prioritize the areas where you can make the biggest and most effective impact and let the rest sort itself out.

I'm not sure I really buy this argument with lift maintenance or snowmaking system upkeep like we're talking about here, though?

Those are pretty much....the two things that matter for a NE ski area.

Not having your lifts ready to go for a major holiday period is pretty much throwing the rest of the money you spent on the ski area away and is the kind of thing that makes people unwilling to come back for years or ever.

Not having your snowmaking system in order isn't much less bad. They're (so far) getting lucky with far better than usual weather. But even so, with what you're saying here it basically sounds like they're running in a fashion that seems wildly inefficient in terms of both labor and in terms of being able to actually take full advantage of the most optimal (+ most cost-effective) times to be making snow?

 

[fulgoreXC]

Correct, not sure how far they went but it was not on the Access Rd. They did a few repairs near Club Sugarbush this summer and one near the Sugarbush Inn a few years ago. Other than that 99% of the Access Rd. pipe is original.

The pipe was replaced from the pumphouse at the Mad River to the culvert that crosses under the access road at Alpine Options. From Gold Hill Rd. up it's all under or just off the pavement. The section from Alpine Options to the control building is original to '95 and approaching the end of its design life. That's where the leaks have been occurring for the last handful of years. This summer it was down by Club Sugarbush. In recent years it was at the GF intersection. In every case they had to cut the asphalt.