The "Sugarbush Thread"

[skiur]

Mt. Snow’s forecast shows a consistant pattern of colder weather compared to Killington and Sugarbush. Even though K has an elevation advantage, they won’t be able to make snow enough snow across the mountain with limited time this week. Not sure about Mt. Snow either but if I had to guess, they have a bit better of a chance of opening. To shredmonkey’s point, he’s right about the profit already being there with pass sales, but you can’t sell passes and then open on only natural snow on a much later date than normal. They don’t have to rush, but they should give an attempt to open.

National Weather Service

forecast.weather.gov

This killingtons forecast for the week at 3500'. They could open this weekend if they wanted to with the k1, north ridge quad and snowdon triple.

 

[Slidebrook87]

Still not seeing whatever you're seeing. I just looked at NWS and see temps within a degree or two of each other at Mt Snow and K through Friday night. In some cases K is colder and in some cases Mt Snow is. Overall it averages out pretty close. And I still think the elevation advantage helps K.

Another factor...does Mt Snow push it in marginal temps? K will (especially using their old air hog guns). Does Mt Snow use those style guns or are they only using all newer low-E guns? Is Mt Snow blowing snow right now? I don't know if there's a webcam view anywhere. The one on their website doesn't seem to work.

Honestly I don't really care who opens when right now. I'm in no rush to get out there as I want better clarity on what's going to happen this year. Unless I move up to VT for the winter, I don't see how the current rules would allow me to make it up there much.

You’re right. Temps have warmed up since I last checked. They were below freezing/at freezing for 3 days straight.

 

[CastlerockMRV]

Snowing here at the mountain now. 3-4" expected thru tomorrow. Temps look good for snowmaking the next 2 days as well. Not sure if it will be enough tho.

 

[Hawk]

Nope. Just basing it on prior years.

 

[pinnoke]

UGH

From today's snow report update:

Given the mild temperatures we have seen recently, our original projected Opening Day of Saturday, November 21st for Lincoln Peak has been delayed. Currently, we are looking at later this month for an opening, weather dependent, and will update you as soon as we have more clarity.

 

[cdskier]

UGH

From today's snow report update:

Given the mild temperatures we have seen recently, our original projected Opening Day of Saturday, November 21st for Lincoln Peak has been delayed. Currently, we are looking at later this month for an opening, weather dependent, and will update you as soon as we have more clarity.

Not one bit surprised. Even later this month could be a struggle to get the bottom of the mountain open given the weather patterns at the moment.

 

[Slidebrook87]

UGH

From today's snow report update:

Given the mild temperatures we have seen recently, our original projected Opening Day of Saturday, November 21st for Lincoln Peak has been delayed. Currently, we are looking at later this month for an opening, weather dependent, and will update you as soon as we have more clarity.

Makes total sense considering the temperatures they’re working with. Hopefully the following weekend.

 

[LasersInTheTaiga]

i guess the upside of all of this is that I can look at these bad snow reports and just ... not care.

 

[gorgonzola]

My daughter has a 4-pack of passes from a spring trip she had planned for last season that didn't happen due to the 'rona. It doesn't look like she'll be able to use them this season either as 'bush is only giving her until 12/24, sucks as she is a health care worker in pa that sb won't give her until the end of the season to try to use them. Seems goofy to me as they already have her money, why wouldn't they extend them in hopes she may be able to use them and spend more?
I assume they are transferable, pm me if anyone is interested in them

 

[cdskier]

My daughter has a 4-pack of passes from a spring trip she had planned for last season that didn't happen due to the 'rona. It doesn't look like she'll be able to use them this season either as 'bush is only giving her until 12/24, sucks as she is a health care worker in pa that sb won't give her until the end of the season to try to use them. Seems goofy to me as they already have her money, why wouldn't they extend them in hopes she may be able to use them and spend more?
I assume they are transferable, pm me if anyone is interested in them

I'm not sure how it works this year with the leftover ones, but historically the owner/purchaser of the quad pack had to actually be the one to redeem them at the window (although they could then subsequently give them to whoever they wanted to). So they were transferable to a point.

That said, in this particular situation have you tried reaching out to them directly to see if they could do anything? With the current current travel restrictions from the state, they really should be a bit more lenient if people aren't able to "legally" get there. I understand the original logic in why they didn't want to let them be used all season, but that decision was announced long before most people expected there to still be major issues by this point.

 

[mikec142]

I'm not sure how it works this year with the leftover ones, but historically the owner/purchaser of the quad pack had to actually be the one to redeem them at the window (although they could then subsequently give them to whoever they wanted to). So they were transferable to a point.

That said, in this particular situation have you tried reaching out to them directly to see if they could do anything? With the current current travel restrictions from the state, they really should be a bit more lenient if people aren't able to "legally" get there. I understand the original logic in why they didn't want to let them be used all season, but that decision was announced long before most people expected there to still be major issues by this point.

Not sure if it's the case for everyone, but for the past two years, the quad packs get mailed to you in advance. They look like the reloadable cards you get for the SugarXpress. If so, easily transferable.

 

[witchway]

I'm not sure how it works this year with the leftover ones, but historically the owner/purchaser of the quad pack had to actually be the one to redeem them at the window (although they could then subsequently give them to whoever they wanted to). So they were transferable to a point.

That said, in this particular situation have you tried reaching out to them directly to see if they could do anything? With the current current travel restrictions from the state, they really should be a bit more lenient if people aren't able to "legally" get there. I understand the original logic in why they didn't want to let them be used all season, but that decision was announced long before most people expected there to still be major issues by this point.

I wouldn't expect much help. I know of a college senior that skied only one day last year ( March 14th) the day they shut down for covid. He was planning to ski that spring after finishing classes and they wouldn't do anything for him.

 

[djd66]

My daughter has a 4-pack of passes from a spring trip she had planned for last season that didn't happen due to the 'rona. It doesn't look like she'll be able to use them this season either as 'bush is only giving her until 12/24, sucks as she is a health care worker in pa that sb won't give her until the end of the season to try to use them. Seems goofy to me as they already have her money, why wouldn't they extend them in hopes she may be able to use them and spend more?
I assume they are transferable, pm me if anyone is interested in them

I feel bad for your daughter, but they easily could have been shut down early due to a massive meltdown. That is the chance you take when you buy quad packs at a discount and don't use them during the winter season.

 

[SLyardsale]

I have a quad pack as well and had scheduled my trip the week of 3/17 well in advance. Indeed, they announced you could use em this year until 12/24. They keep sending updates that info about how to redeem them will be forthcoming - but nothing yet.

 

[hovercraft]

I feel bad for your daughter, but they easily could have been shut down early due to a massive meltdown. That is the chance you take when you buy quad packs at a discount and don't use them during the winter season.

Stop, only giving people till 12/24 to use the quad pack is total BS. That is horrible guest service. They won’t even open to Thanksgiving weekend so you think 4 weeks to use the quad pack is reasonable?

 

[cdskier]

Stop, only giving people till 12/24 to use the quad pack is total BS. That is horrible guest service. They won’t even open to Thanksgiving weekend so you think 4 weeks to use the quad pack is reasonable?

To be fair, people had about 17 weeks last year to use them and only had 6 or so weeks left in the season at the point they closed (if you wanted to take the risk that the snow would last that long). And let's be honest...most people last year that still had quad packs left by mid-March were probably planning to use them within the next few weeks after that. I doubt very many are typically saved until late April.

Personally I probably would have allowed leftover quad packs from last year to be used this year anytime from mid-March on to make it truly comparable. But at the same time I wouldn't have found requiring them to be used by 12/24 if they opened on time and things were normal to be unreasonable. With a delayed opening and covid still going strong, I can see the argument that maybe they should reconsider (And who knows...maybe they still will. The current decision being talked about was made quite a while ago. And with everything else going on right now revisiting that decision probably hasn't exactly been a priority up to this point).

 

[hovercraft]

To be fair, people had about 17 weeks last year to use them and only had 6 or so weeks left in the season at the point they closed (if you wanted to take the risk that the snow would last that long). And let's be honest...most people last year that still had quad packs left by mid-March were probably planning to use them within the next few weeks after that. I doubt very many are typically saved until late April.

Personally I probably would have allowed leftover quad packs from last year to be used this year anytime from mid-March on to make it truly comparable. But at the same time I wouldn't have found requiring them to be used by 12/24 if they opened on time and things were normal to be unreasonable. With a delayed opening and covid still going strong, I can see the argument that maybe they should reconsider (And who knows...maybe they still will. The current decision being talked about was made quite a while ago. And with everything else going on right now revisiting that decision probably hasn't exactly been a priority up to this point).

The intent when buying the quad is you get to use them for the whole season whenever you want. The season wasn’t cut sure for a massive heatwave. It wouldn’t hurt them to let you use them for the whole season this year. Black out the typical busy holiday weekends which is reasonable. It doesn’t cost them anything except good PR. Just my two cents......

 

[ducky]

Each year folks try to unload Quad Packs (and the MRG equivalent) late-season on Front Porch Forum at discounted prices, some even free as April arrives. My guess is they will extend the expiration date. As CD said, they're kinds busy.

Due to the recent spike here (of around 100 new cases a day, 40% in the MRV's Washington County), Vermonters are now on CT's quarantine list! It took 88 days to reach 1,000, 142 days to reach 2,000, and just 23 days to reach 3,000. Gov Scott and his excellent team are scrambling to "put out the fires" with contact tracing and cross-family social gathering restrictions. He did say most new cases were not caused by out-of-state visitors but by Vermonters dropping their guard over Halloween; pandemic fatigue or over-confidence, bit of both maybe. Hopefully, we'll all be skiing soon. On a personal note, we cancelled Thanksgiving dinner with our in-laws who live in Warren and have not left the state.

Over 150 Valley homes have sold this year, a huge number, and many second-homes are occupied so expect to see a spike in midweek skiing vs weekends. Many of these buyers are younger families so this bodes well for the future, both for schools and the local economy.

 

[hovercraft]

I sent an email to Sugarbush yesterday about the quad packs asking what the thought process was on the end date of the 24th. Here is their response. Case closed environmentally unaware!

“Your Quad Pack is can be redeemed until December 24th 2020. We are currently making and receiving snow and opening day is just around the corner.”

 

[gorgonzola]

I'm not sure how it works this year with the leftover ones, but historically the owner/purchaser of the quad pack had to actually be the one to redeem them at the window (although they could then subsequently give them to whoever they wanted to). So they were transferable to a point.

That said, in this particular situation have you tried reaching out to them directly to see if they could do anything? With the current current travel restrictions from the state, they really should be a bit more lenient if people aren't able to "legally" get there. I understand the original logic in why they didn't want to let them be used all season, but that decision was announced long before most people expected there to still be major issues by this point.

yea she's emailed them a few times and gotten a surprisingly snarky response each time. I told her to try calling... humans are usually not so douchey face to face or on the phone

Just seems like a really shitty move on their part, bad customer relations and turning away potential future $ in a potentially disasterous year?!?!?
This kind of thing sticks with people and as a young adult starting a family she'll probably look elsewhere for future trips