VAIL SUCKS

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

I bet. Most people think this is all weather related...
Next week starting monday will be prime snow making weather...we shall see

yeah not so much unfortunately- at least for the more southern mountains. cold/warm/cold/warm. I can totally see them saying why blow snow today when it will melt tomorrow...

I day tripped Stowe today. Live in Nashua. What a great day with super nice soft snow and no lift lines. Put in over 25k vert in 5 hours.

I'll be doing the same next week from londonderry. hopefully its the same

 

[crystalmountainskier]

Another deep dive on Vail's problems...

At Stevens Pass, epic lines, not-so-epic times amid staff shortage | HeraldNet.com

Skiers, snowboarders and employees blame owner Vail Resorts for a “dysfunctional” season. Management cites industry-wide issues.

www.heraldnet.com

 

[Geoff]

So how do you find out where the New England Vail resorts are making snow? I’m used to Killington where it’s an icon on any trail they’ve blown snow on in the last 24 hours. The Epic Mix iPhone application is pretty useless. Same for the individual resort web sites.

 

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

The Monday/Tuesday closure at crotched is such BS.

Anyone care to guess when the next best snowmaking window is for that mountain? Spoiler: this Monday and Tuesday, when its closed....unless they will have Mtn ops there, which I'd doubt. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt this year because the weather has not been the best for natural snow obviously and at first glance it would seem the same for snowmaking.

Yet Sunapee and crotched opened late with very few trails and still have a very limited number of trails while other similar mountains in the same general area have more trails more snow and opened earlier.

Wachusett has been open since November 50 miles south of any NH Vail Mountain.... Pathetic.

On top of that we get this crotched closure, rumor has it Sunapee is not going to open the lower mountain that has all the terrain parks. Rumor has it Okemo isnt going to open one of their areas- i think its the south face I could be wrong.

Vail should be ashamed.

I was looking at this pass is a season pass to Sunapee and Crotched, both about an hour so from my house with the opportunity to do a few trips to the other mountains. Cost-effective, close so my kids don't have to sit through 2 hours drives every weekend, I get some variety so I'm not at one mountain every weekend with the opportunity to visit other mountains for gas and hotel costs. All they had to do to keep me as a customer was not fuck up Sunapee and Crotched.

They have failed. Spectacularly.

Sunapee is crowded but actually not super crowded (see conspiracy theory below) but its an ice sheet with way too many skiers on the trials that are open. no terrain parks that I am aware of. Crotched is better due to the warm weather softening up the snow and ice, but certain trails are scrapped down to ice and suck because they are overused- the two trails to get down from the top of the mountain on the right side of the trail map. And you have to ski down them to get to the TINY terrain park they have and to get down from the top. I was looking forward to having a place close by to take the kids night skiing during the week, and now that isn't happening at crotched anytime soon at least. I was at Sunapee this past Monday and at Crotched this past wed and friday.

I am convinced that if mother nature doesn't give us some serious help, the more NH mountains will have way less than half their terrain open all year and it will suck because of the insane amount of traffic over it.

I mean Sunapee has 22 trails open. WC and Attitash combined have 26 trails open (18 and 8 respectively) ???????????

Put another way, Sunapee and crotched have 32 trails open vs. WC and ATSH at 26 trials...????????????

How the hell does that happen? seriously? I cannot get my head around that, unless..... vail has decided the northern most NH mountains wont be big draws anyway so screw them, decided to open Sunapee and crotched just enough to say they are open, while keeping the number of trails open there low enough that people will go to Mt snow and Okemo where there are more trials open, there is alot of pay parking and everything is more expensive- food, drinks, anything really. .

So, I will ski their mountains every chance I get and not spend a dime there. VAIL SUCKS!

 

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

So how do you find out where the New England Vail resorts are making snow? I’m used to Killington where it’s an icon on any trail they’ve blown snow on in the last 24 hours. The Epic Mix iPhone application is pretty useless. Same for the individual resort web sites.

also, I cannot find an email about Crotched being closed mon/tues anywhere on the vail app, crotched's website or twitter. I didn't get an email that I can find and I'm a passholder for god sake.

How was that info disseminated?

and yeah, the app sucks, it is never accurate for the trails that are open and has only tyht most basic info.

 

[thetrailboss]

also, I cannot find an email about Crotched being closed mon/tues anywhere on the vail app, crotched's website or twitter. I didn't get an email that I can find and I'm a passholder for god sake.

How was that info disseminated?

and yeah, the app sucks, it is never accurate for the trails that are open and has only tyht most basic info.

They posted in FB from what I saw.

 

[Quietman]

 

[machski]

So how do you find out where the New England Vail resorts are making snow? I’m used to Killington where it’s an icon on any trail they’ve blown snow on in the last 24 hours. The Epic Mix iPhone application is pretty useless. Same for the individual resort web sites.

Apparently Vail doesn't think this is important information to skiers/riders. The only way is A. A resort is kind enough to post on their report or social media feed (rare) or B. You can see it from the webcams. Complete BS, I do not care for the plain vanilla Vail experience. All too corporate for me.

 

[machski]

also, I cannot find an email about Crotched being closed mon/tues anywhere on the vail app, crotched's website or twitter. I didn't get an email that I can find and I'm a passholder for god sake.

How was that info disseminated?

and yeah, the app sucks, it is never accurate for the trails that are open and has only tyht most basic info.

Well Crotched will have night skiing, just Thurs-Sat only and only til 9pm. Completely sucks. I do expect them to make snow Mon/Tues, we shall see. My guess is the snowmaking team (whatever that consists of) has been doing double duty on lifts as well. Not that it matters much, with only 2 of 4 chairs in operation and the Park Triple likely to not spin at all this year. Other resorts are having staffing issues, but it is quite muted and not affecting the skiing itself experience to the extent it is at Vail resorts. Can't expect long time employees to stick around when you axe all of the resort managers and replace with newbies, many of which have never spent time in NE.

 

[IceEidolon]

I'm hesitant to defend Vail, but I have to point out that closing the mountain is actually better for snowmaking. 1. If your snowmakers were pulled to other departments or pulled from other departments, they're now at least in theory available to work. 2. Assuming you have someone available to make snow, they won't have to shut down trails to groom them out, they won't have to worry about guests getting in the way, generally it's far easier making snow on a closed section/closed mountain.

If I thought Vail had done it for operational reasons and not staffing, I might be fractionally more sympathetic. At least their horrible mismanagement should make it a little easier on their Mtn Ops crews, or whatever's left of them.

 

[eatskisleep]

The ASC failed and Vail/MTN will too. Only a matter of time.

 

[abc]

The ASC failed and Vail/MTN will too. Only a matter of time.

It's looking more and more likely as time goes by...

 

[snoseek]

In regards to wildcat at what point does the forest service have a look at what's going on up there? Wouldn't it be in their best interest to have a somewhat competent operator up there?

The nh resorts got their ass saved last season when we had that long stretch of non rainy weather that came in right about now. They better hope that happens again or the general public will see it clear as day to what it actually is.

 

[ThatGuy]

ABC not finding a contrarian take on Vail failing….must be getting pretty serious lol

 

[JimG.]

Good to see Vail still sucks.

When do people wake up and stop buying this "cheap" product. You buy cheap and you get cheap. It's not rocket science.

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

 

[zyk]

In regards to wildcat at what point does the forest service have a look at what's going on up there? Wouldn't it be in their best interest to have a somewhat competent operator up there?

The nh resorts got their ass saved last season when we had that long stretch of non rainy weather that came in right about now. They better hope that happens again or the general public will see it clear as day to what it actually is.

I wonder what the forest service could do if they were so inclined. Such government agencies often have substantial power, although Vail has plenty of money...

 

[slatham]

From the Stevens Pass article, the Denver Post article, comments here and elsewhere from prior employees, and a high up former employee family member, Vail fired too many local managers and pissed off lower level employees resulting in fewer returning employees. A questionable strategy in the best of times which has been fully exposed by the pandemic-magnifying labor issues. The question will become recourse (very questionable) and season pass holder reaction next season.

I also wonder if Vail won’t divest some areas that are not core. Wildcat for instance was part of the Peaks acquisition and IMHO wouldn’t have been a target otherwise. Of course then you have the issue of a buyer willing to pay a price Vail will accept.

 

[abc]

ABC not finding a contrarian take on Vail failing….must be getting pretty serious lol

Where were you all of last week when I had been arguing the contrarian view that Vail had to jettison NH mountains?

 

[IceEidolon]

I'm concerned that when Vail sells off areas, they'll be stripped of their best assets - snowguns, snowcats, potentially even lift removals. The loss of cash would be easily offset if they maintain their regional monopoly with fewer competitors. Take Roundtop or Liberty out of Southeast PA or one of the three NH resorts out of the loop. Move the working lifts and the snowmaking assets to another regional location, leave just enough to pretend the remaining resort is viable, pass off the next five years of stagnation/closure on the new owners.

 

[Edd]

I'm concerned that when Vail sells off areas, they'll be stripped of their best assets - snowguns, snowcats, potentially even lift removals. The loss of cash would be easily offset if they maintain their regional monopoly with fewer competitors. Take Roundtop or Liberty out of Southeast PA or one of the three NH resorts out of the loop. Move the working lifts and the snowmaking assets to another regional location, leave just enough to pretend the remaining resort is viable, pass off the next five years of stagnation/closure on the new owners.

A competent buyer won't accept that.