Not sure what is there now but there used to be two intakes from the river. One that opened and closed with river height to take the proportional amount of water that was monitored and the other was a high flow intake that if the water reached that height you could take all you wanted. Total Catch-22 here with wanting water but not washing everything away.
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The "Sugarbush Thread"
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
Newpylong
Well-known member
Also some mis-info I see on the Ellen snowmaking system. Van Loon (Fayston school intake) pumps to CB2 (the boosters at Ellen) and then on to the main mountain. The little pond at Inverness is redundant. Ellen could do just under 3,000 GPM prior to them adding the new pumps for GMVS, which now total 2,000 GPM. So I think between the two pumphouses they can now pump what Lincoln can do - which is 4,000 GPM. Ellen has less storage (they essentially pull in real time) but that water source tends to flow with more regularity than the Mad River.
Yep. Like I noted, the pond was a good 3' below high water line yesterday with guns off. Today with guns open from Walts down Which Way and down much of Straight Shot, the water was halfway to the top line on the pumphouse. Will see tomorrow morning how far down it has gone.
Good for ME, just don't know when it can be skied on...with lifts I mean...
MadPadraic
Active member
The Vermont NPR podcast Brave Little State did an episode on Vail, and they mentioned Alterra. It was a fun listen, but for most of us there isn't a whole lot new.
I do think they should have done a little bit of work investigating the anecdotal claims by locals. For instance, one complained about new condos at Stowe, which may have been planned (or even started) well before Vail bought them. They also talk about the ongoing housing issue, but didn't make any attempt to tease out if the housing crunch is worse in Alterra and Vail ski towns than non-Alterra/Vail resort towns (they'd really have to look beyond just VT for this).
I do think they should have done a little bit of work investigating the anecdotal claims by locals. For instance, one complained about new condos at Stowe, which may have been planned (or even started) well before Vail bought them. They also talk about the ongoing housing issue, but didn't make any attempt to tease out if the housing crunch is worse in Alterra and Vail ski towns than non-Alterra/Vail resort towns (they'd really have to look beyond just VT for this).
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Plowboy
Member
Didn't realize how many were here today until I drove out an hour ago. You'd think they would have some food service for them.?? Been a tough early season, but I have to say decision making has been a total fail!
Damn, great minds think alike. I heard that podcast and had the same concerns. I was going to post it here. It seemed like a good topic that they did an OK job of generally discussing the issue, but like you said, it was shallow in many regards. The development that was mentioned at Stowe pre-dates Vail and even today is not at all controlled by Vail. So that was a complete red herring. The podcast also spent a lot of time Vail-bashing with no mention of Alterra. They also did not discuss why the industry is moving towards season passes. Finally, there was talk about the impact of insurance costs but nothing really said about Vermont's ridiculous regulatory environment and how that has pretty much forced ski resorts to be owned and operated by larger conglomerates with the resources to plow through those processes while local places died. I used to love VPR but they don't seem to really ask tough questions of those in power.
MadPadraic
Active member
That same podcast did a really really good job on homelessness in Vermont. I suspect that they need fluffier pieces like the Vail story that can be put out with less effort so that they can dedicate more resources to ones like the homelessness one.
That being said, I would like to hear an episode on why it seems so hard to VT ski areas to get permits to make upgrades.
are vt ski resorts more corporate owned than those in Utah or other states?
BodeMiller1
Well-known member
Please ask again when I can say no.
According to Microsoft AI:
No, Colorado has more corporate ski areas than Vermont.
Vermont has around 15 major ski resorts, with fewer than a dozen being corporate-owned. On the other hand, Colorado boasts 32 ski areas at peak operation, with major corporate entities like Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company operating 38 and 17 resorts respectively across the state.
edit: AI is not your friend.
Hawk
Well-known member
Whatever. Does it make any difference.? They do what they do with the money and weather they have.
Hawk
Well-known member
I see this year as a good thing. Maybe the crowds will go down. I like the sound of that. Maybe they will learn and get beter. Maybe they will sell and the new owner will put the pass prices back up high and we can have our resort back. It's all good to me.
The same reason why they took no audience questions or even asked tough questions when they interviewed the new State Senate Majority Leader--because they don't want to offend those in power. Again, I used to love VPR and listened and contributed questions and comments regularly. Back then they would hold folks accountable. But my love of them changed during Irene when people's lives and homes were in serious danger and instead of helping relay emergency information (like WDEV did) VPR just played classical music all day long. That was a very bad look. I think that they have gotten pretty soft in terms of their journalism.
nhskier1969
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2016
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- 432
- Points
- 28
Sugarbush released a statement about thier water issue on unofficial networks. Sugarbush mentioned their lack of water to make snow is hurting them but they left out why the didn't open up Bravo on natural and Castlerock as hike to.
Sugarbush Explains How Drought Has Impacted Snowmaking Operations
Sugarbush shows how bare its snowmaking ponds are.
unofficialnetworks.com
And quoting the Brattleboro Ski Hill is pretty hilarious. I never would have compared the plight of Sugarbush, owned by a multi-billion dollar ski conglomerate, to a community ski hill. But this is UN so take some of their "reporting" with a grain of salt.
keyser soze
Member
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Hey guys, I've been on this forum for a while and don't post much but I read a lot of Vermont ski threads. I love Sugarbush, but damn it seems there is always some issue or another that makes the experience less than it could be. If it's not lifts, it's snowmaking. I'm on several ski forums and most threads people are posting stoke but this thread just seems to always be discussions of snowmaking or lift problems. There is plenty of stoke posted when they have good conditions but even then there always seems to be something that is not quite up to snuff.
When they got bought by Alterra I thought there would be some money invested and improvements made, but I haven't seen it. It's a shame because the terrain is fantastic and the vibe is pretty cool, especially in the plaza having a brewski or two after a day on the hill. I'm keeping my optimism that they start to invest more in the mountain to make it as great as it could be. Cheers.
When they got bought by Alterra I thought there would be some money invested and improvements made, but I haven't seen it. It's a shame because the terrain is fantastic and the vibe is pretty cool, especially in the plaza having a brewski or two after a day on the hill. I'm keeping my optimism that they start to invest more in the mountain to make it as great as it could be. Cheers.
MadPadraic
Active member
The sad reality is that they have comparable amounts of terrain open; even if Brattleboro hasn't actually opened yet.Sugarbush Explains How Drought Has Impacted Snowmaking Operations
Sugarbush shows how bare its snowmaking ponds are.
And quoting the Brattleboro Ski Hill is pretty hilarious. I never would have compared the plight of Sugarbush, owned by a multi-billion dollar ski conglomerate, to a community ski hill. But this is UN so take some of their "reporting" with a grain of salt.
Lots of investment: millions in snowmaking pipe and gun upgrades (both mt), more pumps (ME), new HG. Just got bitten by drought, bad temps, and inability to make/execute a Plan B (ME; open non-snowmaking trails/lift pods) ahead of schedule if the GH early season plan did not work out. Be that due to lack of staff, lift inspections, who knows. Hopefully they can recover on Thursday and Friday. Will be down to the 2 routes down on GH unless they open ME with RR/Elbow/WW/SShot, as SB/SF are going to take a while, if they get enough water...oy.
That's not cool. Even in jest, especially given the week's national news.
I don't see any actual statements released by Sugarbush in that article. It just seems to be an article written by someone that read their snow report, blog post, and social media posts and decided to turn that into an article.
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