The "Sugarbush Thread"

[PowderDreams]

The lift line photos from Saturday were certainly Ikonic, but it was also entirely predictable. The hurricane force SSW wind gusts Saturday morning were well-forecasted. TBH, the holiday hordes were lucky SB was able to spin any lifts at all. That weather pattern often shutters the entire mountain.

If you look at a topo map, it’s obvious why SB could barely run, while other mountains had no issues. Most ski areas are oriented primarily to the north, and are thus shielded completely from southerly winds. SB is oriented primarily to the east. All of our favorite lifts are either completely exposed to a southerly cross wind, or just downslope of a mellow ridgeline that catches and strengthens that crosswind. Luckily, there’s a “little” ski area on our pass, that is basically invulnerable to southerly winds thanks to its topography. It’s the best-kept secret in VT, hiding in plain sight.

Anyway, I think yesterday was the best day of the season so far for me at Ellen. Snow coverage is excellent. Nice soft turns until the sun went away.

 

[djd66]

Need to change the name of this site from Alpinezone to Sugarbushzone!

we had our own site up until a few years back (skimrv.com ) but the site broke and we all moved over here.

 

[Tonyr]

"Credibility" sums up nicely.
As a professional in an industry that demands delivering the product we promised, if a client ever tells us our credibility is being questions, we have failed that client and we do whatever it takes to gain our credibility back with them, we then trace our steps backwards to see what lead up to this and implement safeguards to not let it happen again.

Yes, that is the way to properly correct things. In the ski industry a resort can post on their website that they are 100% open on a morning when in actuality half the mountain's lift served terrain was closed due to wind holds and face no repercussions. In the financial industry you would get terminated immediately at one of the Fortune 500 financial companies for falsely advertising.

Looking at Sugarbush's 16 most recent Google reviews, 7 of them are negative and no current reviews have posted yet from this past weekend. The management team definitely needs to address this if they want the revenue to continue rolling in.

I brought the Claybrook up earlier as they charge guests now as much or more per night than a stay in Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Park City, or Jackson Hole and those places have very little fear of half the mountain randomly being shut down over rain or wind. Again, that's East Coast weather that is out of everyone's control but then you really need to make sure all the little things are being done right if you want to charge prices like the big boys do.

 

[Smellytele]

Yes, that is the way to properly correct things. In the ski industry a resort can post on their website that they are 100% open on a morning when in actuality half the mountain's lift served terrain was closed due to wind holds and face no repercussions. In the financial industry you would get terminated immediately at one of the Fortune 500 financial companies for falsely advertising.

Looking at Sugarbush's 16 most recent Google reviews, 7 of them are negative and no current reviews have posted yet from this past weekend. The management team definitely needs to address this if they want the revenue to continue rolling in.

I brought the Claybrook up earlier as they charge guests now as much or more per night than a stay in Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Park City, or Jackson Hole and those places have very little fear of half the mountain randomly being shut down over rain or wind. Again, that's East Coast weather that is out of everyone's control but then you really need to make sure all the little things are being done right if you want to charge prices like the big boys do.

They could be half closed for union strikes (Park City).
Also lines can be 100 times worse at JH from what I have seen.

 

[letitsnow1]

Need to change the name of this site from Alpinezone to Sugarbushzone!

Better than utahzone

 

[Tonyr]

They could be half closed for union strikes (Park City).
Also lines can be 100 times worse at JH from what I have seen.

Im not sure what your point is? The Park City strike was the first of it's kind and Vail's stock price was hit hard for the mishandling of it. Snowbird and Alta close for interlodges, Lake Tahoe resorts close occasionally for too much snow. Sh*t happens.

The fact of the matter is none of these expensive places to ski mentioned above ever close 50% or more of the mountain numerous times a year for rain or wind holds. It's a tough spot for any East Coast resort which is why it's even more important to hit all the little details, especially if your trying to get away with charging premium lodging prices like the Claybrook does.

Look, there is no way around the fact that the resort was deceptive on Saturday. The website advertised 100% of the terrain was open when they knew only 50% was good to go in the morning. Even when half the mountain was still closed at 10 and 11 am the website advertised the resort as being 100% open.

 

[Newpylong]

Jesus Christ give it a rest.

 

[cdskier]

Do any resorts update trail status to reflect trails that can't be temporarily accessed due to wind holds? I've honestly never seen any resorts do that, but maybe I've just missed it or never cared enough to look that closely. Updating the entire trail report every time there's a temporary lift hold seems excessively over the top. It really isn't difficult to figure out what can/can't be accessed on your own if a particular lift is on hold.

 

[Lotso]

Jesus Christ give it a rest.

+1

 

[Tonyr]

Do any resorts update trail status to reflect trails that can't be temporarily accessed due to wind holds? I've honestly never seen any resorts do that, but maybe I've just missed it or never cared enough to look that closely. Updating the entire trail report every time there's a temporary lift hold seems excessively over the top. It really isn't difficult to figure out what can/can't be accessed on your own if a particular lift is on hold.

Yes, of all places Vail does!

 

[solar]

Rough start with the wind holds & resulting lines on Saturday but turned into an A+, and surprisingly quiet, weekend. Runs of the weekend; FIS, Stein’s, and Lift Line. Hike to CR was nice way to keep warm with today’s 3° start. Zero lift lines today which was awesome. We could have been content just lapping the far right of Stein’s all day today but the legs weren’t and we were nowhere near 38k.

 

[WinS]

I get it, having HG down all morning paired with the Castlerock double not repaired and spinning during one of the busiest days of the year made it a frustrating morning for lots of skiers.

We still had a great time in the afternoon but I think the resort could have managed the issue better. No updates on the wind hold were made for almost 3 hours. They advertised the resort as being fully open on the website at the open when in reality it was only about half open up through noon. We almost left after lunch but ran into an employee on the way to the car that told us to give the lift one more shot.

In any event, the communication at the very least was not good. If I were a paying customer of the Claybrook this weekend, which had rates well over 1k per night, I'd be really pissed.

Windholds are determined by the Lift mechanics, They will do everything to run a lift safely including slowing it down. They will watch form the top and watch to see if the chairs are swaying or if people can’t not unload safely. I never overrode a lift mechanics decision, and I am sure the current team will not either. It is very frustrating when a wind hold is called but imagine a chair getting clogged in the bull wheel and having to evacuate hundreds of people on a cold windy day.

 

[SkiTheEast]

So the thing this weekend was purely donated to charity supposedly. I’m still against it. Early ups I don’t get (although toying with the idea for next year), but I still think offering single day options if they still do that is wrong for precisely the reasons you mentioned. Haven’t looked if they still offer the single days this year though. Although they do have an early up/lesson combo for an hour in the morning that was quite reasonably priced.

They raised less than $30k so thats about 300 extra people tops - which was 100% a charitable donation. I know people that unlocked and only ended up skiing one of the 2 days.