VAIL SUCKS

[Smellytele]

Today at Okemo there was no sucking. Great effort to de ice lifts and get most things open by lunch time and all scheduled lifts by later in the day. No crowds, no lines and all things considered the runs were in better than expected conditions. You would not want to wipe out and fall as very hard surfac, but if you enjoy hard and fast surface it was good. Only bad thing was any lifts that had not been put away for the night were covered in a coat of ice which was a bit chilly on the behind going up!

So you like the surface hard and fast? That sounds suck to me.

 

[Former Sunday Rivah Rat]

You said above, "But it seemed to me that Joshua Segal and at least one other Crotched employee, took, and responded like, any criticism of Vail was a personal attack."

I think you are mistaking "seems to me" as being a fact. Feelings are not facts.

Personal attack is when someone calls me a D-bag, an A-hole or an S-head, because they don't like my POV.

That being said, if you can cite something that someone ever said about Vail that I claimed to be a personal attack, I would be grateful if you cited it - and since this is mostly about things that happened on SJ, SJ might be a more appropriate venue for this aspect of the discussion. The thread of the same name is still active on SJ.

You are coming from the micro viewpoint of a longtime Crotched employee. You seem happy to just have a deep pocketed employer. I doubt a small ski area like Crotched suffered the worst of the Epic pass fueled lines, traffic, and parking surcharges that other, more populare Vail/Epic mountains see. Most of us could give a flying fu#k at a rolling donut about Crotched.
Turning top mountains like Attitash/Wildcat into the bargain basement of sking is a crime against skiers of the Northeast.

 

[urungus]

You are coming from the micro viewpoint of a longtime Crotched employee. You seem happy to just have a deep pocketed employer. I doubt a small ski area like Crotched suffered the worst of the Epic pass fueled lines, traffic, and parking surcharges that other, more populare Vail/Epic mountains see. Most of us could give a flying fu#k at a rolling donut about Crotched.
Turning top mountains like Attitash/Wildcat into the bargain basement of sking is a crime against skiers of the Northeast.

Crotched suffered horribly under Vail … went from being open 7 days a weeks to only 5, curtailed night skiing hours, reduced snowmaking, limited terrain open, and on and on …

 

[KustyTheKlown]

So you like the surface hard and fast? That sounds suck to me.

No sucking. Just super firm uncontrollable hard pack. Def did not suck.

 

[ss20]

Vail "flagship" properties certainly get a majority of the attention. Proof being Mount Snow replacing the Sundance reliever lift than only ran weekends and Stowe's relatively new 4,000ft Mountain Triple getting replaced before Attitash getting a new HSQ.

 

[SteezyRob]

View attachment 55516
Might’ve been a couple AZ’ers in this photo the whole time

he looks like an off-brand elon musk except he doesn't listen to the people who use his services

 

[joshua segal]

Crotched suffered horribly under Vail … went from being open 7 days a weeks to only 5, curtailed night skiing hours, reduced snowmaking, limited terrain open, and on and on …

Utter nonsense: Last season Crotched was unable to hire due to the strong economy (under 2% unemployment in NH). This season, with the $20 per hour minimum wage, Crotched is fully staffed, 7-days a week, snowmaking whenever there is the elusive thing called cold weather, 5-days a week of night skiing, Midnight Madness is back, there are extended hours in the cafeteria and the bar, etc.

When you lose a GM in the fall who did nothing over the summer to prepare for the season, the new GM had an impossible task and she did (and continues to do) an admirable job.

There are many valid things for which to blame Vail - many of them discussed over the almost 400 pages of this thread. Crotched's problems last season were not Vail related.

 

[drjeff]

Vail "flagship" properties certainly get a majority of the attention. Proof being Mount Snow replacing the Sundance reliever lift than only ran weekends and Stowe's relatively new 4,000ft Mountain Triple getting replaced before Attitash getting a new HSQ.

I look at it like Vail, with the Sundance lift in particular, is "fixing" the mistake ASC made 20yrs or so ago, when they moved the base of the Sundance lift up from where the new six pack starts to where it was for the last 20 years or so and then installed Tumbleweed.

Way back when, the "original" Sundance Triple was from the Sundance Lodge to where it drops off now. Almost another base to summit lift like it once again is.

Vail replacing the Summit Triple at Attitash for next season is maybe a sign that they finally get that giving some love and attention to their North Conway area properties vs neglecting them as has been the case the previous few season is actually a good business model.... Time will tell I guess

 

[jaytrem]

I look at it like Vail, with the Sundance lift in particular, is "fixing" the mistake ASC made 20yrs or so ago, when they moved the base of the Sundance lift up from where the new six pack starts to where it was for the last 20 years or so and then installed Tumbleweed.

Way back when, the "original" Sundance Triple was from the Sundance Lodge to where it drops off now. Almost another base to summit lift like it once again is.

Vail replacing the Summit Triple at Attitash for next season is maybe a sign that they finally get that giving some love and attention to their North Conway area properties vs neglecting them as has been the case the previous few season is actually a good business model.... Time will tell I guess

I think when they first installed Sundance they advertised it as the longest chairlift in the world, or something along those lines. They also had the length listed at over 7K. Funny how the new lift in pretty much the exact location is shorter.

 

[abc]

No sucking. Just super firm uncontrollable hard pack. Def did not suck.

Uncontrollable hard pack didn’t suck?

You just talked me out of going to Windham tomorrow. Thanks for the honest to god description. I mean it in a positive way.

 

[thetrailboss]

"Wishing you all a fucking EPIC Christmas!"

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Uncontrollable hard pack didn’t suck?

You just talked me out of going to Windham tomorrow. Thanks for the honest to god description. I mean it in a positive way.

I was being facetious. I was not at okemo

 

[abc]

I was being facetious. I was not at okemo

Ah, sorry. Didn’t catch that.

 

[zoomzoom]

the jaws of a detachable chairlift grip encircle the haul rope to such a degree that it cannot be plucked off without great force, a faulty spring, or jaw wear from a the haul rope running through it { as in the case of a deropement leading to a carrier being stuck in a sheave train }. impact from slamming into a tower due to a wind event isn't sufficient to dislodge a grip from the rope. this is known, so i did a little digging.

according to the owner/operator, the carrier was swinging and entered into the top terminal and became dislodged there. of course this is where the jaws enter the grip opening section of the conveyance system. this makes more sense, and isn't "extremely rare".

“This could not have happened anywhere,” Sara Lococo, a spokesperson for Vail Resorts, said in an email response to a question from Summit Daily about whether the chair could have come dislodged anywhere along the tow. “This event was specific to the abnormal wind gust and the chair coming into contact with components of the upper terminal.”

‘An extremely rare event’: Safety board says wind twisted chair coming into Breckenridge lift terminal, leading to fall

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct a headline with an incorrect date and a misspelling of a name in the body text. Blustery winds whipped, making it hard to see or hear much...

www.summitdaily.com

 

[joshua segal]

I look at it like Vail, with the Sundance lift in particular, is "fixing" the mistake ASC made 20yrs or so ago, when they moved the base of the Sundance lift up from where the new six pack starts to where it was for the last 20 years or so and then installed Tumbleweed.

Way back when, the "original" Sundance Triple was from the Sundance Lodge to where it drops off now. Almost another base to summit lift like it once again is.

Vail replacing the Summit Triple at Attitash for next season is maybe a sign that they finally get that giving some love and attention to their North Conway area properties vs neglecting them as has been the case the previous few season is actually a good business model.... Time will tell I guess

At the break-up of ASC, most of their resorts were in serious states of deferred maintenance. When Peak Resorts took over Mount Snow, they spent a lot of money - specifically on snowmaking. If I remember right, there were a limited number of years for which they had access to Haystack's water. After spending a bundle on that - not to mention the Bluebird, they needed a few more seasons to absorb those costs. That's when they were purchased by Vail. My trips to Mount Snow this fall showed more than a trivial interest in continuing to upgrade Mount Snow.

The parking issue is another subject entirely and one appropriate on this thread its title.

 

[machski]

the jaws of a detachable chairlift grip encircle the haul rope to such a degree that it cannot be plucked off without great force, a faulty spring, or jaw wear from a the haul rope running through it { as in the case of a deropement leading to a carrier being stuck in a sheave train }. impact from slamming into a tower due to a wind event isn't sufficient to dislodge a grip from the rope. this is known, so i did a little digging.

according to the owner/operator, the carrier was swinging and entered into the top terminal and became dislodged there. of course this is where the jaws enter the grip opening section of the conveyance system. this makes more sense, and isn't "extremely rare".

“This could not have happened anywhere,” Sara Lococo, a spokesperson for Vail Resorts, said in an email response to a question from Summit Daily about whether the chair could have come dislodged anywhere along the tow. “This event was specific to the abnormal wind gust and the chair coming into contact with components of the upper terminal.”

‘An extremely rare event’: Safety board says wind twisted chair coming into Breckenridge lift terminal, leading to fall

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct a headline with an incorrect date and a misspelling of a name in the body text. Blustery winds whipped, making it hard to see or hear much...

www.summitdaily.com

Also how Sunday River dropped a cabin off the Chondi last year or the year prior (can't recall which).

 

[machski]

Utter nonsense: Last season Crotched was unable to hire due to the strong economy (under 2% unemployment in NH). This season, with the $20 per hour minimum wage, Crotched is fully staffed, 7-days a week, snowmaking whenever there is the elusive thing called cold weather, 5-days a week of night skiing, Midnight Madness is back, there are extended hours in the cafeteria and the bar, etc.

When you lose a GM in the fall who did nothing over the summer to prepare for the season, the new GM had an impossible task and she did (and continues to do) an admirable job.

There are many valid things for which to blame Vail - many of them discussed over the almost 400 pages of this thread. Crotched's problems last season were not Vail related.

So it could have been the economy but it also could have been a massive wage miscalculation by overlord Vail. I have heard stories local managers wanted to up the hourly wage but we're blocked/denied by Bloomfield. In that case, major screw up by Vail. And for this skier, they lack of operating days/nights at Crotched last year was a huge turn off to giving them the $ for a full Epic this year. Did a 3 day to get a day of Stowe or 2 and a day or 2 with friends at Attitash/WC. That's it, they pissed me off last season (don't care what the excuse was, cost me a ton of planned skiing at Crotched) and it won't rub off soon.

 

[thetrailboss]

So it could have been the economy but it also could have been a massive wage miscalculation by overlord Vail. I have heard stories local managers wanted to up the hourly wage but we're blocked/denied by Bloomfield. In that case, major screw up by Vail. And for this skier, they lack of operating days/nights at Crotched last year was a huge turn off to giving them the $ for a full Epic this year. Did a 3 day to get a day of Stowe or 2 and a day or 2 with friends at Attitash/WC. That's it, they pissed me off last season (don't care what the excuse was, cost me a ton of planned skiing at Crotched) and it won't rub off soon.

Agreed. Market dynamics are one thing and can't be controlled. How Vail responded to the market is another. With a company that size, change comes slowly. I feel badly for Crotched folks who had a bad season last year. In fact, all the Vail resorts in NH had bad seasons in some form or another.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Got 16 runs in at Okemo today from 930-3. Everything was groomed, nothing icy or bare and no lines. 12 of 16 runs were off the Sunburst bubble due to the cold, which led to me doing more vertical feet than I ever had in a day - just shy of 25k. That's what a fast groomed surface and no lines on an express lift will do - even with 3 breaks to escape the cold.

 

[Kingslug20]

I have one big issue with Stowe...SB has 80 runs open now..and before the storm they were almost 100% open...Stowe...30%
So to me it's like going to the buffet..paying full price...and getting 5 dishes to choose from.....and pay to park on weekends.
Really???