VAIL SUCKS

[cdskier]

Well, shows what I know about surface management. They groomed out Upper Blastoff. That skied very nicely. They groomed out whatever (too many dumb trail name sections) to the north. That had cookies. I ski 95% at Magic Mountain where they would preserve the whales, let them drain and groom then out when it gets cold. I see some very hard surfaces ahead.

Sugarbush follows that strategy that Magic uses as well. In fact they just made a post a little while ago pointing this out

https://www.facebook.com/Sugarbush.VT/posts/10160049822373384

 

[IceEidolon]

Not familiar with with mid Atlantic skiing, but I have heard, don’t know if it is true, but I have heard camelback is maxed out for skiers and the ikon pass would just overwhelm the place, that’s why it’s not on the ikon, not sure if this is true or not.

Camelback (and as of this year, Blue Mtn) are owned by KSL, not Alterra. While Alterra is backed in part by KSL money, they aren't the same company and this far haven't indicated that they plan to share passes beyond Blue+Camelback combo passes potentially next year.

 

[PAabe]

I honestly can't see any of the other PA areas flipping hands any time soon... at this point all the non KSL non Vail places have something "weird" about them that wouldn't really fit the Ikon/Epic mold.

 

[JoeB-Z]

I honestly can't see any of the other PA areas flipping hands any time soon... at this point all the non KSL non Vail places have something "weird" about them that wouldn't really fit the Ikon/Epic mold.

Weird like Montage, owned by the county and upside down? I hear they changed the profile of the White Lightening headwall. Too bad. The signs at the entrance were a hoot. Beyond here there be dragons .... Also, the slowest chairlifts imaginable.

 

[eatskisleep]

Saw the summit triple at Attitash is open. So maybe the new GM is better than whoever is running the show at The Cat?

 

[PAabe]

Weird like Montage, owned by the county and upside down? I hear they changed the profile of the White Lightening headwall. Too bad. The signs at the entrance were a hoot. Beyond here there be dragons .... Also, the slowest chairlifts imaginable.

Exactly. I was thinking about montage as the most likely megapass candidate, but yeah, too many weirdnesses. In addition to what you said, neither the lifts or trail layout has a lot of capacity, with choke points in the middle, and their snowmaking is wacky because they use water from the municipal supply lake. Intermediate terrain is not great and Scranton isn't exactly known as a big skiing city.

 

[Cobbold]

Camelback (and as of this year, Blue Mtn) are owned by KSL, not Alterra. While Alterra is backed in part by KSL money, they aren't the same company and this far haven't indicated that they plan to share passes beyond Blue+Camelback combo passes potentially next year.

I believe ksl is one of the owners of alterra

 

[MadKitty]

Saw the summit triple at Attitash is open. So maybe the new GM is better than whoever is running the show at The Cat?

It's like a competition to be the world's tallest midget.

AFAIK wildcat can't pump water above the tomcat chair yet...

 

[Edd]

Newest post from Wildcat on Instagram is 2 days old. Here’s today’s snow report. Not much info to chew on. These non-snow reports are baffling because their surrounding competition is quite happy to tell you what’s happening. It takes so little to provide a couple of paragraphs.

 

[IceEidolon]

I believe ksl is one of the owners of alterra

Yes, KSL is one of the owners of Alterra. KSL also directly owns Blue and Camelback.

 

[kendo]

Vail may suck, but the storm forecast for their Tahoe resorts doesn't suck. 4 - 8' at elevation thru Tues - with additional accumulations daily thereafter.



Information about Winter Storm Warning #GoogleCrisisResponse https://g.co/kgs/KkGbrN


Hoping the Jetstream drops a bit and sends the energy our way.

 

[abc]

My bike got a lot of use. It’s been so warm.

Yawn...

 

[Geoff]

Honestly I haven't seen/been in a line yet this season at Mount Snow, that I would classify as "big" by Mount Snow standards. Waited maybe 10 minutes a couple of times for the Bluebird, but often thus far this season they haven't even had all of the pre-set queue lanes open becuse the lines just haven't been "Mount Snow big" yet.....

And I suppose you could truthfully say that compared to last year, if they loaded say 4 on a 6 or 3 on a 4 that it would be a "more efficient" way to load a lift which they learned from last year!

So DrJeff: Would Mount Snow be worth bothering with tomorrow? (Tuesday) Where do I park assuming I get there early to minimize steps from the car to a lift? My guess would be Carinthia. I'm expecting groomed out death crunch so I don't care about anything with much pitch to it. I was at Sunapee on Friday and that will be awful after 45 minutes since the few ways open all funnel down to one trail.

 

[drjeff]

So DrJeff: Would Mount Snow be worth bothering with tomorrow? (Tuesday) Where do I park assuming I get there early to minimize steps from the car to a lift? My guess would be Carinthia. I'm expecting groomed out death crunch so I don't care about anything with much pitch to it. I was at Sunapee on Friday and that will be awful after 45 minutes since the few ways open all funnel down to one trail.

Carinthia base lodge can literally have you parking right at the snow, maybe 100 feet from the lift, and that lot, up until next Saturday, is still free parking.

Honestly they made a TON of snow, and it faired better than I was expecting through this weekend. I skied Mount Snow yesterday morning and then at Wachusett last night with my kids high-school ski team, and the difference in both quantity and quality of the snow was night and day with Mount Snow having much better base depths and trail width than Wachusett did, even though both mountains are known to be aggressive with their snowmaking. Mount Snow has trails that are consistently 2/3rds to 3/4ths width covered with a few feet of snow that mountain ops did a good job grooming out post freeze up (even yesterday morning) whereas Wachusett was generally 1 to maybe 3 groomer width wide trails down to what is now a bulletproof base of generally what looked to be a foot or less.

If you're looking to get some early season laps on the legs on some groomers tomorrow your Epic Pass at Mount Snow will likely get you what your looking for with some decent snow conditions all things considered right now

 

[Geoff]

Carinthia base lodge can literally have you parking right at the snow, maybe 100 feet from the lift, and that lot, up until next Saturday, is still free parking.

Honestly they made a TON of snow, and it faired better than I was expecting through this weekend. I skied Mount Snow yesterday morning and then at Wachusett last night with my kids high-school ski team, and the difference in both quantity and quality of the snow was night and day with Mount Snow having much better base depths and trail width than Wachusett did, even though both mountains are known to be aggressive with their snowmaking. Mount Snow has trails that are consistently 2/3rds to 3/4ths width covered with a few feet of snow that mountain ops did a good job grooming out post freeze up (even yesterday morning) whereas Wachusett was generally 1 to maybe 3 groomer width wide trails down to what is now a bulletproof base of generally what looked to be a foot or less.

If you're looking to get some early season laps on the legs on some groomers tomorrow your Epic Pass at Mount Snow will likely get you what your looking for with some decent snow conditions all things considered right now

OK. So Carinthia first thing in the morning tomorrow is the plan. My legs were Jello after day 1 at Sunapee. I need to grab a couple of days this week. I have a $29/day Hertz rate for a full size car (Camry) so day trips aren't trashing my car and the improved fuel economy compared to a 6-cyclinder Outback covers some of the rental. I was expecting to get in a lot more days but the Wx hasn't been all that great.

 

[asnowmobiler]

I would not be surprised if Camelback and Blue end up on Ikon next year, being KSL owned now, but I also would not be surprised if they never do, considering that they are already at/over capacity and sell out of expensive season passes.

I really hope they both go IKON but since Camel didn't switch this year I have my doubts.
Maybe it could spread the crowds out to other mountains?

 

[PAabe]

I really hope they both go IKON but since Camel didn't switch this year I have my doubts.
Maybe it could spread the crowds out to other mountains?

possibly, most I could see is "limited partnership" like windham, several days

 

[chuckstah]

Wildcat posted this on social media, and quickly deleted all comments and shut them off. This is the one run open. Yikes.

 

[thebigo]

Saw the summit triple at Attitash is open. So maybe the new GM is better than whoever is running the show at The Cat?

Disagree. The triple should be the last terrain to open not first, 20 mins on the triple is not worth it for groomers. I would go illusion, learning center, morning star, tie the yankee in, the rest of bear, then the top half of attitash.

 

[deadheadskier]

Wildcat posted this on social media, and quickly deleted all comments and shut them off. This is the one run open. Yikes.View attachment 52399

The last person who ran a ski resort so poorly in the East ended up in jail. Maybe we can be so lucky with Wildcat. Lol.