VAIL SUCKS

[eatskisleep]

Somehow they missed NH

Are Vail Resorts Mountains Really Struggling to Open their Terrain? We Took a Look. — PeakRankings

In recent days, Vail Resorts has come under fire for not opening terrain fast enough at several resorts. Given the gravity of these claims, we’ve decided to investigate whether Vail Resorts has really struggled to match its competitors’ terrain offerings—and if so, how far they are lagging behind.

www.peakrankings.com

 

[Edd]

Somehow they missed NH

Are Vail Resorts Mountains Really Struggling to Open their Terrain? We Took a Look. — PeakRankings

In recent days, Vail Resorts has come under fire for not opening terrain fast enough at several resorts. Given the gravity of these claims, we’ve decided to investigate whether Vail Resorts has really struggled to match its competitors’ terrain offerings—and if so, how far they are lagging behind.

www.peakrankings.com

Pretty big miss; there’s 4 Vail areas here with multiple competing mountains. I think Vail would have come out looking worse had they covered NH.

 

[IceEidolon]

They also missed the Hunter/Windham comparison. Those two mountains and their snowmaking crews used to brawl, but Hunter's hardly able to throw a punch this year. In PA, look at the delayed openings and lower trail counts at JFBB compared to Blue, and compare the Snowtime operations to Bear Creek and Shawnee.

 

[cdskier]

They also missed the Hunter/Windham comparison. Those two mountains and their snowmaking crews used to brawl, but Hunter's hardly able to throw a punch this year. In PA, look at the delayed openings and lower trail counts at JFBB compared to Blue, and compare the Snowtime operations to Bear Creek and Shawnee.

Even comparing to Belleayre would be interesting. Since that article is using the % open metric, Belleayre is currently at 70% to Hunter's 56%.

 

[snoseek]

I've been out skiing quite a bit all over. The general consensus from chairlift conversations is never again. The masses are going to take notice. Nh people are pissed and over in vt they all seem to be too despite semi normal. I think sunapee has been run fairly good but all those regulars aren't happy. The crotched people might be the saltiest....for good reason.

Right about now winter comes in and people quiet down but I'm not sure about this year. I think vail will lose a huge share in the northeast.

 

[thetrailboss]

I don't know if this was posted, but here is the Seattle Times article on Stevens Pass:

Stevens Pass complaints reach fever pitch, and many season-pass holders are demanding refunds

The ski season is off to a rough start at Stevens Pass. Customer complaints have soared as over half of the mountain remains closed due to inadequate staffing, which has led to unplowed parking lots, long lift lines and bare-bones...

www.seattletimes.com

 

[gittist]

I've been out skiing quite a bit all over. The general consensus from chairlift conversations is never again. The masses are going to take notice. Nh people are pissed and over in vt they all seem to be too despite semi normal. I think sunapee has been run fairly good but all those regulars aren't happy. The crotched people might be the saltiest....for good reason.

Right about now winter comes in and people quiet down but I'm not sure about this year. I think vail will lose a huge share in the northeast.

Most everyone will piss and moan but go right back to Vail next year but I truly hope that the masses will notice and next year Vail has so few sales that they don't have the revenue stream to rent a port-a-pot for a week.

How about we put the upper management into a port-a-pot and push them down a steep slope?

 

[thetrailboss]

Most everyone will piss and moan but go right back to Vail next year but I truly hope that the masses will notice and next year Vail has so few sales that they don't have the revenue stream to rent a port-a-pot for a week.

How about we put the upper management into a port-a-pot and push them down a steep slope?

Rob Katz is counting his money and smiling.

I think Vail got too big. The fact that they just bought more ski resorts when they cannot run the ones they have is laughable.

 

[abc]

Most everyone will piss and moan but go right back to Vail next year but I truly hope that the masses will notice and next year Vail has so few sales that they don't have the revenue stream to rent a port-a-pot for a week.

It takes several years before any of such effect to be felt. So don't expect any quick turn around.

Of those who piss and moan:
1) Those who have property in one of the Vail mountains don't have much of a choice unless they sell out and move to a different town
2) More new comer will replace those who can and do leave Vail. Until they got pissed off enough and leave, the "churn" will keep the pass sale figure stable.
3) Vail can buy more mountains to make it look good on paper.

So no, I'm not counting on Vail being pressured into changing for the better any time soon. I'm fortunate I'm free to leave.

 

[thetrailboss]

So I just looked at Crotched. It is 12:17pm there and 32 F. Two lifts running--West Mountain, the carpet. Rocket is "delayed" for some reason. Seems really weird.

 

[oldfartrider]

Was planning on heading up after work for my first Crotched day this year. What a disappointment

 

[gittist]

Rob Katz is counting his money and smiling.

I think Vail got too big. The fact that they just bought more ski resorts when they cannot run the ones they have is laughable.

I was thinking (as painful as it is)..maybe Vail bought all of these little areas so they'd have a place to train people for the big areas? Like AAA baseball, the AHL, and a lot of the smaller hockey leagues. Having a manager vail at Wildcat is one thing, at Beaver Creek is another.

Yeah, katz probably saw the gravy train was coming to an end so he jumped off.

 

[ss20]

I was thinking (as painful as it is)..maybe Vail bought all of these little areas so they'd have a place to train people for the big areas? Like AAA baseball, the AHL, and a lot of the smaller hockey leagues. Having a manager vail at Wildcat is one thing, at Beaver Creek is another.

I doubt that as there is little-no mid-level management at the resorts Vail owns. They can't train you to become a good accountant if you're just running some local numbers and then sending them off to Corporate. You can't train someone in Purchasing if 70% of the suppliers are dictated by Corporate. You can't be a solid GM if you're just executing what Corporate wants you to do, rather than making real decisions.

I worked in a decision-making lower management role at my old ski school. The pay is crap. The people are fun, but challenging. The hours are long. Really the only redeeming quality I found was that my inputs/choices could make a genuine difference in the quality of lessons we were putting out, staff morale, and guest satisfaction. If I worked under Vail and was put in a box where I had a limited ability to change things I didn't like I would certainly not take the role. Why come to work to be the person in-charge and have customers/staff complain to you all day without having any way to fix the problems/issues that are so blatantly obvious yet out of your control? That's just 5 months of torture.

 

[thetrailboss]

Well now....

Mount Sunapee Becomes Latest Vail Mountain to Issue Apology

After a slow start to their snowmaking efforts this season, along with a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on Saturday, Mount Sunapee released a video

unofficialnetworks.com

 

[jimmywilson69]

Vail...

 

[mtskifan]

Lots of good info in this thread, wish I had found it prior to buying Vail passes for the season! Really disappointing start to the season without enough snowmaking at the four NH mountains. Looking at webcams, the main chairlift at Crotched (Rocket) is still idle at 2:30 PM on Friday before the holiday weekend. Really wonder what is going on there...

 

[eatskisleep]

Vail Resorts reports skier visits are down for start of the season

Vail Resorts reported Friday that its skier visits at its North American resorts from the beginning of the season through Jan. 2 are down 1.7% from the prior year, and down 18.3% compared with the…

www.vaildaily.com

 

[thetrailboss]

Lots of good info in this thread, wish I had found it prior to buying Vail passes for the season! Really disappointing start to the season without enough snowmaking at the four NH mountains. Looking at webcams, the main chairlift at Crotched (Rocket) is still idle at 2:30 PM on Friday before the holiday weekend. Really wonder what is going on there...

Their Twitter says they are "still fine tuning" the lifts. WTF? That is what they are supposed to do in OCTOBER.

 

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

So I just looked at Crotched. It is 12:17pm there and 32 F. Two lifts running--West Mountain, the carpet. Rocket is "delayed" for some reason. Seems really weird.

west was shut down for a bit yesterday for "maintenance"...they got everyone off, then about an hour or so later it was going again.

 

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

Their Twitter says they are "still fine tuning" the lifts. WTF? That is what they are supposed to do in OCTOBER.

I want to go there monday as it only 27 miles from my place but:

1. its all back roads, and NH is a plow optional state on some back roads; and

2. I'd hate to get there after risking death only to find one of the main lifts not working.

All vail had to do to keep me happy was not fuck up sunapee and crotched.

task failed successfully. I'm done after this year. I tried, I'm good.

and with the cold that scoming tomorrow, is anyone going to bet that there are no lifts issues at Okemo or mount snow like they've had all year? Im not....