The "Sugarbush Thread"

[BodeMiller1]

How many of the 90 trails Sugarbush is currently advertising as open require hiking ?

Not enough. Meow

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Suspiciously long stop on mellensummit….

 

[thetrailboss]

Daily Message​

Dec. 23rd, 2024 9:09 AM: *Welcome Mat is on maintenance delay*

Add another to list list.

That's it. Head home. Nothing worth skiing.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Great day.

Love the 2500 vert runs here

Just found a cutie off of rim run

 

[Lotso]

Great day.

Love the 2500 vert runs here

Just found a cutie off of rim run

View attachment 63886

The old Airliner?

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Oh wow. Just went further out in brambles than usual. No lines. Basically pillow fields. Mind the cricks and logs. But shit yea

 

[Lotso]

Oh wow. Just went further out in brambles than usual. No lines. Basically pillow fields. Mind the cricks and logs. But shit yea

View attachment 63887

That's big fun over there...

 

[WinS]

I didn't realize the majority of Sugarbush lifts will be 30-year-old in 2025. Sugarbush needs a local independent group to buy them. With so much aging infrastructure a local group could buy Sugarbush for Pennis on the dollar. I believe Killington sold for $150 Million with an updated snowmaking and Lift system. The number of total updates needed at Sugarbush is probably pushing $100 million. Replace 7 lifts that are 30 years old, new snowmaking equipment, increase snowmaking capacity, new pond(s) etc. I know these projects wouldn't be fixed right away with a new owner, but it does devalue the resort at time of purchase.

Lifts should have an average life much longer than thirty years if maintained properly. The new lifts since 2001 are the following: GMX, Sunny D, Valley House, Village, Castlerock and all the carpet lifts. New drives (the controls which run the high speeds) were upgraded on the following lifts: Bravo, Gate House, North Ridge and North Lynx. I am not sure but I think an upgrade was done on Inverness this past summer. North Ridge was put in by Claneil in the 1980’s in the spot where the GMX lift is now. At the time it was the “fastest lift” in the USA. Unfortunately ASC had Dopplemayr move the Poma lift to its new location and it has been problematical ever since. It is a top chain drive lift which nhindsight was not something that worked well over time and there are not many of them in the USA. I know that John Hammond it putting it’s replacement at his top priority. Hopefully, he get the funding. With that I personally believe that the current lifts if probably maintained should be reliable and good for many years to come. As far as capital, Alterra has provided Sugarbush with significant capital that may not be as visible to all as a new lift is. If you ski at ME and know what to look for it is impressive how the snowmaking there has been upgraded for example. They have also purchased places in the Valley for employee housing. It is very frustrating to have lifts not ready and not functioning. It is frustrating to us skiers as well I am sure to the management team at Sugarbush. As I mentioned early, finding and keeping qualified lift mechanics has been a growing problem throughout the industry for several years now. That impacts the work flow tremendously. I will end by saying that I got back from CT today and rode the HG for the first time. I was impressed. It was a smooth albeit cold ride. It was definitely faster than the triple and the off load was great. Although I might have liked snaking up to warm up before heading downhill. With the forecasted snow tomorrow morning should be great and maybe the best day of the week.

 

[Lotso]

Lifts should have an average life much longer than thirty years if maintained properly. The new lifts since 2001 are the following: GMX, Sunny D, Valley House, Village, Castlerock and all the carpet lifts. New drives (the controls which run the high speeds) were upgraded on the following lifts: Bravo, Gate House, North Ridge and North Lynx. I am not sure but I think an upgrade was done on Inverness this past summer. North Ridge was put in by Claneil in the 1980’s in the spot where the GMX lift is now. At the time it was the “fastest lift” in the USA. Unfortunately ASC had Dopplemayr move the Poma lift to its new location and it has been problematical ever since. It is a top chain drive lift which nhindsight was not something that worked well over time and there are not many of them in the USA. I know that John Hammond it putting it’s replacement at his top priority. Hopefully, he get the funding. With that I personally believe that the current lifts if probably maintained should be reliable and good for many years to come. As far as capital, Alterra has provided Sugarbush with significant capital that may not be as visible to all as a new lift is. If you ski at ME and know what to look for it is impressive how the snowmaking there has been upgraded for example. They have also purchased places in the Valley for employee housing. It is very frustrating to have lifts not ready and not functioning. It is frustrating to us skiers as well I am sure to the management team at Sugarbush. As I mentioned early, finding and keeping qualified lift mechanics has been a growing problem throughout the industry for several years now. That impacts the work flow tremendously. I will end by saying that I got back from CT today and rode the HG for the first time. I was impressed. It was a smooth albeit cold ride. It was definitely faster than the triple and the off load was great. Although I might have liked snaking up to warm up before heading downhill. With the forecasted snow tomorrow morning should be great and maybe the best day of the week.

Thanks, Win!

I was told Inverness "got a new drive" this summer, and they were turning it today, looking like pre-inspection stuff and clearing snow off the seats.

Unrelated: Can you get them to correct Joe Riemer's trail name on the snow report? Classy that you named the trail after him and he deserves that respect. I know it's common to swap the vowels, but anyway...

 

[vtski802]

Any mention of Northridge suspiciously removed from the snow report the last couple of days. Grrrr.

At least it's going to snow a little tonight.

 

[kingslug]

The way things are going here..might have to get on a plane and come back east.
You guys got the goods....

 

[Cheetah440]

Lifts should have an average life much longer than thirty years if maintained properly. The new lifts since 2001 are the following: GMX, Sunny D, Valley House, Village, Castlerock and all the carpet lifts. New drives (the controls which run the high speeds) were upgraded on the following lifts: Bravo, Gate House, North Ridge and North Lynx. I am not sure but I think an upgrade was done on Inverness this past summer. North Ridge was put in by Claneil in the 1980’s in the spot where the GMX lift is now. At the time it was the “fastest lift” in the USA. Unfortunately ASC had Dopplemayr move the Poma lift to its new location and it has been problematical ever since. It is a top chain drive lift which nhindsight was not something that worked well over time and there are not many of them in the USA. I know that John Hammond it putting it’s replacement at his top priority. Hopefully, he get the funding. With that I personally believe that the current lifts if probably maintained should be reliable and good for many years to come. As far as capital, Alterra has provided Sugarbush with significant capital that may not be as visible to all as a new lift is. If you ski at ME and know what to look for it is impressive how the snowmaking there has been upgraded for example. They have also purchased places in the Valley for employee housing. It is very frustrating to have lifts not ready and not functioning. It is frustrating to us skiers as well I am sure to the management team at Sugarbush. As I mentioned early, finding and keeping qualified lift mechanics has been a growing problem throughout the industry for several years now. That impacts the work flow tremendously. I will end by saying that I got back from CT today and rode the HG for the first time. I was impressed. It was a smooth albeit cold ride. It was definitely faster than the triple and the off load was great. Although I might have liked snaking up to warm up before heading downhill. With the forecasted snow tomorrow morning should be great and maybe the best day of the week.

Nice to hear the new lift is meeting expectations. I hated the offload of the triple, not sure just what it was but something about it I didn’t like. Probably me getting old. Can’t wait to get up there!

 

[hovercraft]

The way things are going here..might have to get on a plane and come back east.
You guys got the goods....

Redeye gets you here for the fresh tomorrow morning

 

[Lotso]

Inverness spinning tomorrow. GMVS trains only til noon tomorrow I think, if at all.

 

[urungus]

I thought the "trusty GMX" comment was out of touch as well given it has had significant down time and/or issues so far (including running half-speed on opening day most of the day). I see they updated the report this morning to now say "good ole' GMX" instead of "trusty".

Yeah that “trusty GMX” comment was so out of touch it felt like a deliberate trolling of their customers

 

[Lotso]

Thanks, Win!

I was told Inverness "got a new drive" this summer, and they were turning it today, looking like pre-inspection stuff and clearing snow off the seats.

Unrelated: Can you get them to correct Joe Riemer's trail name on the snow report? Classy that you named the trail after him and he deserves that respect. I know it's common to swap the vowels, but anyway...

Thanks, Win. Name edited on snow report.

 

[urungus]

I will end by saying that I got back from CT today and rode the HG for the first time. I was impressed. It was a smooth albeit cold ride. It was definitely faster than the triple and the off load was great.

Hey Win I greatly value your insider perspective but IMO the new HG off load is too steep and much too narrow for four people to safely navigate. After getting taken down by the kid next to me who skied over my skis, I watched the ramp for a few minutes and saw a few other crashes and many near misses (more than normal). Including one young girl who was so scared she refused to get off the chair and it went all the way around the bullwheel with her alone in the chair, facing out over the steep trail, sobbing hysterically.

 

[NYDB]

Steep is fine….narrow sucks. Especially with everyone being a bit bigger round tha waist nowadays. At least on detachables you can push out at different times, effectively widening the exit ramp.

 

[kingslug]

Redeye gets you here for the fresh tomorrow morning

House full of people coming tuesday night...
And I got called off again...

 

[kingslug]

Sounds like the lift at Bolton valley...scary...