Vail Resorts is buying Peak Resorts.

[catskillman]

Scott skis is buying every mountain in USA and I going to put it on Mary Jane pass negotiations to buy me���� - . "It looked like me some time to realize" the ScottySkis Thank heavens we founds on conquering the ski resort industry." AZ members are breathing a sigh of relief as the everything rand narrowly avoided the oversight. e Machine will play live concert at every hills I own.

I will buy stock in ScottySkis when you go public. And I would like a position on your BOD

 

[BenedictGomez]

Those who think interconnecting Stowe & Smuggs would be impossible, do not understand how State of Vermont "works".

And frankly, that's kind of moot anyway as a giant lift isn't needed. You could run 20 minute snow cat rides through the notch which would be considered an amazing & unique winter tourist experience & confer a marketing advantage of the biggest ski resort east of the Mississippi.

Hell, you could run a 300 foot Magic Carpet at Stowe, with a single drive system in a "completely removable, environmentally-friendly" manner to get folks from Stowe to Smuggs. Admittedly, you couldn't do a Magic Carpet in reverse as Smuggs to Stowe is too uphill, but who cares? I've done that trek 100 times and if you're intermediate or better it's no big deal. None of this is insurmountable.

And if you got clearance for a small surface lift, you can avoid both Sterling Pond & The Long Trail with about a 3,000 foot T-bar with virtually no environmental impact (unless you're an eco-extremist nutjob).

 

[Not Sure]

Me three.

Always seemed to me Platty would surpass in volume what they do in price if they lowered it. The price makes no sense to me.

Pretty fair Liftopia discount on Platty as I recall this past year anyway .

 

[Sirbannedalot]

Where is this bush/mrg joining the freedom pass coming from?

 

[deadheadskier]

Those who think interconnecting Stowe & Smuggs would be impossible, do not understand how State of Vermont "works".

And frankly, that's kind of moot anyway as a giant lift isn't needed. You could run 20 minute snow cat rides through the notch which would be considered an amazing & unique winter tourist experience & confer a marketing advantage of the biggest ski resort east of the Mississippi.

Hell, you could run a 300 foot Magic Carpet at Stowe, with a single drive system in a "completely removable, environmentally-friendly" manner to get folks from Stowe to Smuggs. Admittedly, you couldn't do a Magic Carpet in reverse as Smuggs to Stowe is too uphill, but who cares? I've done that trek 100 times and if you're intermediate or better it's no big deal. None of this is insurmountable.

And if you got clearance for a small surface lift, you can avoid both Sterling Pond & The Long Trail with about a 3,000 foot T-bar with virtually no environmental impact (unless you're an eco-extremist nutjob).

You could absolutely run your removable Disneyland ride in reverse. That whole interconnect trail from the old big pig over to Sterling was flat as a pancake 90% of the way. Maybe a 100' drop in from the Spruce side vs a 50' drop in from Sterling. The quarter mile in the middle is almost completely flat as you skate across to pick your spots to drop into the back/Birthday bowls. Done it from both directions at least a hundred times.

Maybe you are right and they could pull a permit for cat transit in-between, but you'd need dozens of cats to market that as an effective and marketable interconnect. Transit snowcat vehicles max out at what? 15 skiers per cabin? You often gripe about the low capacity of the Jay Tram. Think about how much lower capacity that mode of transport is over a likely 40 minute ride experience. That's likely what it would be given load, unload turn around time. You'd need dozens of Cats running continuously to create an experience that the vast majority of people wouldn't bitch about. Think about how you hardly ever ride the Tram at Jay and extrapolate that reason onto a cat ride through the notch killing your ski day you paid $100+ for. Those cats cost $100k plus plus a piece conservatively. You'd need dozens of them to produce a transfer capacity even half of the Jay Tram.

As for your comment about not understanding how the state of VT works? I dunno BG. I lived there 13 years, vacationed there all my life and have called 10 other states home. VT is easily the most restrictive of any state I've ever lived regarding the type of commerce you believe is so easy to make happen.

I'm pretty confident in my understanding of the climate up there. No Vail removable Disneyland lift or Sleigh ride in at least five years. Care to make a wager?

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[thetrailboss]

Me too.

Ditto. Unfortunately I never knew Pico as an independent resort from Killington, but I know that it was a decent place in its own right before ASC.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[cdskier]

Ditto. Unfortunately I never knew Pico as an independent resort from Killington, but I know that it was a decent place in its own right before ASC.

There was a point where I thought the K/Pico Interconnect would be cool. I'm firmly in the "leave them separate forever" camp now though.

 

[mbedle]

Those who think interconnecting Stowe & Smuggs would be impossible, do not understand how State of Vermont "works".

And frankly, that's kind of moot anyway as a giant lift isn't needed. You could run 20 minute snow cat rides through the notch which would be considered an amazing & unique winter tourist experience & confer a marketing advantage of the biggest ski resort east of the Mississippi.

Hell, you could run a 300 foot Magic Carpet at Stowe, with a single drive system in a "completely removable, environmentally-friendly" manner to get folks from Stowe to Smuggs. Admittedly, you couldn't do a Magic Carpet in reverse as Smuggs to Stowe is too uphill, but who cares? I've done that trek 100 times and if you're intermediate or better it's no big deal. None of this is insurmountable.

And if you got clearance for a small surface lift, you can avoid both Sterling Pond & The Long Trail with about a 3,000 foot T-bar with virtually no environmental impact (unless you're an eco-extremist nutjob).

Can you run a t-bar up and down hills? That would be odd...

 

[Newpylong]

Ditto. Unfortunately I never knew Pico as an independent resort from Killington, but I know that it was a decent place in its own right before ASC.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

It would have continued it's own place - right on the Nelsap web page, if not for ASC.

 

[Bosco DaSkia]

Maybe you are right and they could pull a permit for cat transit in-between, but you'd need dozens of cats to market that as an effective and marketable interconnect. Transit snowcat vehicles max out at what? 15 skiers per cabin? You often gripe about the low capacity of the Jay Tram. Think about how much lower capacity that mode of transport is over a likely 40 minute ride experience. That's likely what it would be given load, unload turn around time. You'd need dozens of Cats running continuously to create an experience that the vast majority of people wouldn't bitch about. Think about how you hardly ever ride the Tram at Jay and extrapolate that reason onto a cat ride through the notch killing your ski day you paid $100+ for. Those cats cost $100k plus plus a piece conservatively. You'd need dozens of them to produce a transfer capacity even half of the Jay Tram.
[/URL]

Right, or you could do something reasonable like the Italians do. Tow ‘em to the top of the notch and let ‘ em slide down the other side..... The tourons will eat that shit right up.


Not every problem takes gobs of money to solve.

 

[deadheadskier]

I could see the horse transfer getting approval before the carpet or snowcat options. That would be very "Vermont" and hard for environmentalists to block.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[VTKilarney]

As for your comment about not understanding how the state of VT works? I dunno BG. I lived there 13 years, vacationed there all my life and have called 10 other states home. VT is easily the most restrictive of any state I've ever lived regarding the type of commerce you believe is so easy to make happen.

If you know Vermont well, you know that Act 250 hasn't stopped development in the slightest. It just makes getting the permits much more expensive and time consuming. Just look at the train wrecks known as Taft Corners and Shelburne Road. And look at all the development at ski areas since Act 250 was implemented in 1970.

I am sure that Vail could figure something out as long as it has a low environmental impact. But it would cost millions of dollars and several years worth of appeals just to get the permit. The question is whether or not Vail thinks that this investment is worth it.

 

[ThinkSnow]

Where is this bush/mrg joining the freedom pass coming from?

Yes, where?

 

[drjeff]

I could see the horse transfer getting approval before the carpet or snowcat options. That would be very "Vermont" and hard for environmentalists to block.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

If cow farts are apparently bad for the environment, could horse farts be much better? :roll::roll::wink:

Plus, there's probably a Bicknell's Thrush nest or 2 somewhere within 87.4 miles of there, thus making it an issue for "Team Tree hugger" I'm sure :wink:

 

[drjeff]

Yes, where?

A friend of a friend, who heard it from a friend who heard it from someone at a bar who heard it from someone at a brewery they were at before the bar, who heard it from someone who knows someone who heard it from someone who once knew someone who had a cousin three times removed who worked at Mad River or Sugarbush (they can't remember which one) back in the early 70's.... :wink:

 

[skiur]

If cow farts are apparently bad for the environment, could horse farts be much better? :roll::roll::wink:

Plus, there's probably a Bicknell's Thrush nest or 2 somewhere within 87.4 miles of there, thus making it an issue for "Team Tree hugger" I'm sure :wink:

Well they could just run the gondola on horse farts like Killington does on cow farts.

 

[jimmywilson69]

why not tunnel? What more of a grandiose Idea than to make the largest ski Resort in the East by connecting it through a tunnel :lol::lol::lol:


(I've put zero thoughts into logistics)

 

[ThinkSnow]

A friend of a friend, who heard it from a friend who heard it from someone at a bar who heard it from someone at a brewery they were at before the bar, who heard it from someone who knows someone who heard it from someone who once knew someone who had a cousin three times removed who worked at Mad River or Sugarbush (they can't remember which one) back in the early 70's.... :wink:

Well, OK then.

 

[EPB]

I know that we've been through this debate before, but why is there a prevailing view here that the Stowe-Smuggs connection is on sacred ground? It probably wouldn't be an eyesore from the valley floor, and there should be ways for a motivated Vail to work a solution around the pond.

The lift infrastructure could probably be handled with a connector (of whenever kind) and two high speed lifts: one in that lower village area to replace the two side by side doubles, and one on Sterling. Madonna doesn't have the downhill capacity to handle more traffic anyway if the top (although perhaps Madonna II could handle higher capacity). Lodge space and parking would need help.

This is Vail though, they spent $50 million or so to connect the Canyons to PC, build a new lodge and upgrade a couple lifts near the interconnect. If motivated, Vail could probably buy and upgrade Smuggs for that, or less. The real question seems to be how badly they want it/how necessary it would be to enhance the guest experience.

Sent from my VS988 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[VTKilarney]

why not tunnel?

I actually had that thought.