The "Sugarbush Thread"

[ducky]

Guns set up on Ripcord and look ready to go. Pretty good morning out there.

 

[Lotso]

Guns set up on Ripcord and look ready to go. Pretty good morning out there.

Nice...

 

[djd66]

JP, head of lift attendants, is getting lung replacement surgery. Here's his gofundme. https://gofund.me/67b78049
All those kids are bright university students but just need to be shown direction.

Thanks for the back info Ducky. That is a very sad story and I only wish JP and his family the best.

 

[shadyjay]

Agree that line management was an issue at GH and Bravo. No rhyme or reason. Sometimes we’d get skipped over multiple times. Seemed like the lift attendants lost track or were just too worried about matching up pairs of two that they ignored any sequence in letting people go.

Why don’t they just call out “front row” and let all people in the front of their respective lines move forward at once? No need to pair up doubles when there are plenty of people waiting in the singles lines to fill in the gaps. This works at many other mountains and requires no logic whatsoever.

It's actually harder than it looks. You really have to be proactive and "own the space". There are always going to be people trying to weasel their way in out of turn. Think of it as trying to direct traffic on a highway. We've all driven, and everyone takes turns merging. Right? Right????
I actually enjoyed doing crowd control. The "front row" concept I think was done away with at Bravo in favor of the groups of 4 alternating, then the singles line coming in after the merge point (so there's no front row anymore).

Saw the "front row" at a couple lifts at Mt Snow on Sunday and they had it going pretty efficiently. Its those groups that come out as 4 and then become 2 somehow.

 

[tumbler]

Bravo doesn't have the merging concept anymore, it's 4 to 5 lines on either side and someone manages when people go. It's not too hard but when they put an inexperienced ambassador it gets wonky. Just start at the lines nearest to lift and work your way up telling people to go. Walk behind the last group and do it again.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

the downhill singles line gets the shaft (i think?). i have headphones in so i am deaf, but it looks to me that the uphill singles line ends up moving faster because the groups moving down the aisle hit that singles line first. if they are actively calling singles for every chair i am not sure. sometimes i make eye contact with the caller. sometimes i sort of assume its my turn when i see a 2 or 3 group from the uphill side. sometimes i just bum rush where i see a hole to fill. again, am deaf, so unsure if i am missing constant audible singles line management

 

[kendo]

Saw the "front row" at a couple lifts at Mt Snow on Sunday and they had it going pretty efficiently. It's those groups that come out as 4 and then become 2 somehow.

... or the person who doesn't understand how a busy single line works.

I'm in the single line for the Six at Stowe. Dude ahead of me goes out with a group of 5 to fill the next to load stalls. They slide up to the chair and he stays planted in the stall. The group of 5 I'm following with, slides up to him to fill the now empty stalls and behind me is another group of 6. I'm left as a boxed out single taking up the Six, with people jeering ... didn't care!

It looks like skiers at SB are more forgiving.

 

[jdr14]

Bravo doesn't have the merging concept anymore, it's 4 to 5 lines on either side and someone manages when people go. It's not too hard but when they put an inexperienced ambassador it gets wonky. Just start at the lines nearest to lift and work your way up telling people to go. Walk behind the last group and do it again.

Yes. It's not that complicated if they just go in order and tell one group from each line to go. But they don't do that. For some reason, they think they can outsmart the logic by pairing doubles from different lines. The problem with this is that they lose track of which lines have gone when, and they also slow down the singles line(s) from filling in.

The "front row" concept is pretty idiot-proof. It requires no memory of which line went last. All the lift attendant needs to do is alternate in calling the front row from uphill lines to the front row from downhill lines, while in-between letting the ski school folks go. And it moves the singles lines along more quickly. Simple, fair, efficient.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

as a constant single skier, boo to pairing doubles!

 

[MrGlen]

I’m hoping this year they make some extra snow on Ripcord and Organgrinder and keep it open extra late with the new lift. After ending the season on that side of the mountain early last year it would be great if they could keep it open until end of April (though understand the sun hits this part of the mountain pretty hard).

 

[Lotso]

Webcam shows a little sneaker dump last night...close to 6" at Allyn's; same up top

 

[Hawk]

as a constant single skier, boo to pairing doubles!

Kusty, all the years you have been a road warrier you haven't found a fellow NY'er to be your wing man?