The "Sugarbush Thread"

[djd66]

No bubbles, no six-packs.

Yeah,.. enough with all this technology that could improve the customer experience on a cold windy day. Let's go back to tow ropes.

 

[ThinkSnow]

Yeah,.. enough with all this technology that could improve the customer experience on a cold windy day. Let's go back to tow ropes.

Not an issue with technology. If Slide Brook was being considered for a bubble chair, that would be understandable due to the length of the ride. For the short lift ride that is Gate House, it is totally unnecessary (and kind of laughable-just like a 6-pack), especially when talking about it in context of a new lodge at the top of the lift. A gondola to a new GH Mid-mountain lodge would be more in keeping with the mountain aesthetics, and better for off-season events.

 

[djd66]

Not an issue with technology. If Slide Brook was being considered for a bubble chair, that would be understandable due to the length of the ride. For the short lift ride that is Gate House, it is totally unnecessary (and kind of laughable-just like a 6-pack), especially when talking about it in context of a new lodge at the top of the lift. A gondola to a new GH Mid-mountain lodge would be more in keeping with the mountain aesthetics, and better for off-season events.

ok, point well taken.

I doubt this would ever happen under Win,... but i would love to see the slidebrook chair converted to a Gondola or Chondola. 90% of the time I ride that thing - I freeze my ass off. If you are coming from the South, you need to ride 3 lifts before you are skiing.

 

[mrvpilgrim]

Winn posted this on the skimrv forum back in 2015

"For the Mushrooom to operate again as a restaurant it certainly needs work, but the bones are good. However,t he biggest issue is permitting. It will require us to add additional water into the system. Permitting has a formula based on the type of use and the capacity. We would have to drill another well and add that into the system. That is certainly possible and one day we will do it, but it is not the highest priority right now. "

 

[thetrailboss]

ok, point well taken.

I doubt this would ever happen under Win,... but i would love to see the slidebrook chair converted to a Gondola or Chondola. 90% of the time I ride that thing - I freeze my ass off. If you are coming from the South, you need to ride 3 lifts before you are skiing.

I highly doubt we will see Slide Brook become a gondola or bubble. They have cut back its operations for quite some time now.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

I dont know that that's true. if they have to build something anyway, how much more would it cost to make it bigger.

With current usage patterns at North, I can't imagine building an entirely new or dramatically expanded Glen House would pencil out. It's open for 3.5 months a year. Different story if North was used as the early/late season venue (as it should be), but that ship as sailed.

My guess is that an expanded deck with more seating room is the best you can expect.

 

[cdskier]

I highly doubt we will see Slide Brook become a gondola or bubble. They have cut back its operations for quite some time now.

While I agree that I doubt we would see Slide Brook become a gondola or bubble (just isn't a lot of value/ROI to do so), I'm not sure what you mean by they have cut back its operations for quite some time now. They run it 7 days a week if snow-pack on the access trails and temperatures along the line are sufficient. Not sure what more we could ask for.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Not an issue with technology. If Slide Brook was being considered for a bubble chair, that would be understandable due to the length of the ride. For the short lift ride that is Gate House, it is totally unnecessary (and kind of laughable-just like a 6-pack), especially when talking about it in context of a new lodge at the top of the lift. A gondola to a new GH Mid-mountain lodge would be more in keeping with the mountain aesthetics, and better for off-season events.

More so than being overkill for a pod like Gate House, a bubble 6-pack just isn't a smart investment in most cases. There is a reason that Hermitage is BK. There's a reason Ascutney is BK (even though that was a HSQ). Smart, independent resorts don't make those commitments. You're looking at anywhere from $6-10M or more in capital - imagine what SB could do with that money.

Now if you can get that Hermitage 6 pack for a 50% discount, then maybe that starts to make sense. But even then, you'd want to prioritize Bravo well before GH. Bravo is the year-round workhorse and has WAAAAAAYYY more hours on it than GH.

Any suggestion to the contrary is basically fan fic.

 

[tumbler]

What is the life expectancy of a HSQ? Bravo and Gatehouse are 23 years old and as stated above has lot of hours on it. Slide Brook same age but much less hours.

Look at the line at GH on the weekends, those are the skiers you want to get back up on the hill learning to ski and not remembering their experience as standing in line. Thus the reasoning for a 6.

I would love to have Bravo be a 4 seater bubble- it's always windy. Doesn't have to be heated but taking the chill off would be nice. Nothing wrong with improved technology. I don't hear anyone pining to bring the old slow Sugar Bravo triple back...

 

[Hawk]

I think that they already spent a bunch of money the last couple of years upgrading and/or replacing the communications and electronics on Bravo and GH. I doubt that any replacements are in order any time soon.

 

[cdskier]

Look at the line at GH on the weekends, those are the skiers you want to get back up on the hill learning to ski and not remembering their experience as standing in line. Thus the reasoning for a 6.

An HS-6 vs an HSQ doesn't really mean more capacity though. Spacing on a 6 pack is often wider than a quad to allow more time for loading to reduce load errors. So you have more people per chair, but less chairs on the line.

 

[rtjcbrown]

I highly doubt we will see Slide Brook become a gondola or bubble. They have cut back its operations for quite some time now.

I wonder if converting it to a gondola (or bubble chair) would increase it's usage? Isn't the reason that it doesn't run, until there is sufficient snowpack underneath to allow rescue access, because of the risk of frost bite? Wouldn't that lower the risk?

 

[tumbler]

An HS-6 vs an HSQ doesn't really mean more capacity though. Spacing on a 6 pack is often wider than a quad to allow more time for loading to reduce load errors. So you have more people per chair, but less chairs on the line.

good point

 

[ThinkSnow]

Look at the line at GH on the weekends, those are the skiers you want to get back up on the hill learning to ski and not remembering their experience as standing in line. Thus the reasoning for a 6.

Referencing new skiers, they should be very happy with the new lift installed on the beginner hill last year. I would hope the enjoyment of being on an uncrowded ski hill would greatly outweigh the memory of a few minutes wait in a lift line. There is no need for a behemoth 6-pack at any ski hill, unless the need for more skier's on the hill ($$) outweighs the overall skier experience. If you want to talk about long lift lines, I don't remember ever hearing anyone complain that at 6-pack is needed for Castlerock, btw.

 

[cdskier]

Referencing new skiers, they should be very happy with the new lift installed on the beginner hill last year. I would hope the enjoyment of being on an uncrowded ski hill would greatly outweigh the memory of a few minutes wait in a lift line. There is no need for a behemoth 6-pack at any ski hill, unless the need for more skier's on the hill ($$) outweighs the overall skier experience. If you want to talk about long lift lines, I don't remember ever hearing anyone complain that at 6-pack is needed for Castlerock, btw.

I agree. I see a 6-pack as a marketing gimmick primarily and don't see there being a good justification for them.

Very valid point about not wanting to overcrowd trails either. I think the uphill vs downhill capacity of the Gate House side is a very good match right now (particularly for beginners and intermediates).

 

[MorningWoods]

Referencing new skiers, they should be very happy with the new lift installed on the beginner hill last year. I would hope the enjoyment of being on an uncrowded ski hill would greatly outweigh the memory of a few minutes wait in a lift line. There is no need for a behemoth 6-pack at any ski hill, unless the need for more skier's on the hill ($$) outweighs the overall skier experience. If you want to talk about long lift lines, I don't remember ever hearing anyone complain that at 6-pack is needed for Castlerock, btw.

No, but that chair could have at least been a triple or put more chairs on. There is more than enough terrain to support more uphill capacity and take 0 away from the experience up there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[flakeydog]

Lines at sugarbush are pretty short, especially compared to areas elsewhere like most of southern Vermont and certainly outside of VT. Gatehouse is usually the longest but this often exacerbated by the large volume of ski school traffic that is folded into the line. I would hate to see more downhill traffic than there is now.

As and aside, morningwoods I hope you have your helmet on. I suspect bringing up increased capacity on Castlerock will be considered hostile action by some here...

 

[GregoryIsaacs]

I agree. I see a 6-pack as a marketing gimmick primarily and don't see there being a good justification for them.

Very valid point about not wanting to overcrowd trails either. I think the uphill vs downhill capacity of the Gate House side is a very good match right now (particularly for beginners and intermediates).

Have to disagree with you here. Cant count the amount of days that have been extended because of that extra shelter/respite the bubble provides during the inclement weather days ie rain, wind, blowing snow.... I for one would rather sit on a chairlift than a lodge during those days.

There's a reason you see more of them being made every year.

Keep in mind this is coming from someone who initially thought the same way you did until the bluebird was installed at my home mountain.

 

[WWF-VT]

Have to disagree with you here. Cant count the amount of days that have been extended because of that extra shelter/respite the bubble provides during the inclement weather days ie rain, wind, blowing snow.... I for one would rather sit on a chairlift than a lodge during those days.

There's a reason you see more of them being made every year.

Keep in mind this is coming from someone who initially thought the same way you did until the bluebird was installed at my home mountain.

Your home mountain's core clientele is different than the typical Sugarbush skier/rider.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

No, but that chair could have at least been a triple or put more chairs on. There is more than enough terrain to support more uphill capacity and take 0 away from the experience up there.

Hard pass.

Just stop. The current uphill capacity is what makes the experience. A triple chair carries 1800 PPH vs. Castlerock which IIRC is at 600 PPH due to the chair spacing. If you don't think that dumping 3x more people into that pod would impact the skiing experience, the very essence of what Castlerock is and represents, I don't know what to tell you. If you want quantity over quality, go somewhere else.