VAIL SUCKS

[wa-loaf]

Where can I get one of those????

Hats, Beanies, and Snapbacks

Mountain Gazette logo snapbacks and hats available in a variety of styles and colors. The day you don't need a hat to go outside is... well, it's another day in the wild. You're crazy—put on a frickin' hat.

mountaingazette.com

 

[snoseek]

Apparently wildcat will be closing at 4 instead of 330 for the rest of the year which will be nice when spring comes for sure

 

[Smellytele]

Apparently wildcat will be closing at 4 instead of 330 for the rest of the year which will be nice when spring comes for sure

They usually don’t start with the 4 o’clock closings until Later in the season.

 

[snoseek]

They usually don’t start with the 4 o’clock closings until Later in the season.

It's always been way later. Most days I'm out by like 2 or 3 as I like to get it early but this is good for the late risers. They are doing better and putting in a better effort all around. I don't like vail overall but will give credit where due. Wildcat has been better, attitash wayyyy better, crotched appears to be better although I can't personally confirm.

 

[abc]

I will personally fund the antitrust case.

Good luck with that. I’ve actually asked a couple of law professionals in the last couple years. They don’t see any such possibility. The government is too busy infighting than actually enforcing laws to help the economy and/or consumers of the country.

 

[Domeskier]

The FTC and the DOJ have been rather aggressive under the Biden administration in challenging acquisitions they believe to be anticompetitive. It's unlikely that the DOJ would try to break up Vail (since they haven't challenged any of Vail's prior acquisition as far as I'm aware), but they would very likely challenge a Vail acquisition of Alterra.

 

[joshua segal]

I predict Vail will eventually buy out Alterra. Cancer is hard to stop.

ASC, with far less holdings than either Alterra or Vail, was forced to divest Waterville and Cranmore under threat of antitrust laws. I am surprised that hasn't happened in PA where they operate almost half the major areas in the state.

 

[jimmywilson69]

.I am surprised that hasn't happened in PA where they operate almost half the major areas in the state.

I'd say they own more than half of the major areas.

They own 8 ski areas in PA. 7 I would consider major. The other "major"s would be Elk, Camelback, Montage, and Blue.

They own the western and Central PA markets which I would guess is somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the skiers visits in the state.

I'm no antitrust expert but I'd say they are very close if not over the line in PA

 

[drjeff]

ASC, with far less holdings than either Alterra or Vail, was forced to divest Waterville and Cranmore under threat of antitrust laws. I am surprised that hasn't happened in PA where they operate almost half the major areas in the state.

I think that has more to do with the major difference in the level of scrutiny that the gov't is giving big business these days vs 25 - 30 years ago than anything else.

Hypothetically speaking it wouldn't surprise me at all if say Vail did buy Alterra (highly doubt that will happen) and the gov't didn't even blink an eye at a merger like that in the current gov't oversite world, especially since both companies are doing their best to publically put for both a green business model as well as a diverse business model

 

[snoseek]

Just took my first run of the day at the cat and it has no business being as good as it is.

 

[BenedictGomez]

MTN earnings out this morning. They expect FY23 EBITDA to be in the lower half of their guidance range as visits have been lower than they expected, and they seemingly blame this on bad December weather & the airline flight cancellations

 

[AdironRider]

Well both of those were real issues....

I think a lot of people are forgetting that Alterra (and Vail to a lesser extent on their Epic) doesn't own all the resorts on the Ikon pass, so this whole argument of Ikon and Vail having an antitrust lawsuit is pretty ridiculous.

This board (and skiers like us) make up such a small minority in terms of the skiing market it always amuses me when people think Vail gives a shit about our opinions.

The average skier skis like 4-5 days per year, and frankly cares a lot more about the overall experience and not about lines. When I ski with my non-skibum buddies they don't give a shit about the lines because they are out of ski shape and enjoy the break.

 

[BodeMiller1]

ASC, with far less holdings than either Alterra or Vail, was forced to divest Waterville and Cranmore under threat of antitrust laws. I am surprised that hasn't happened in PA where they operate almost half the major areas in the state.

Interesting, who warned them of the antitrust actions? I miss ASC. I would have never made it to: Killington, Sunday River Sugarloaf and many others. Supposedly, Antitrust laws are to be tightened up which is long overdue.

I miss a Quarter Pond meal for $5.00 and skiing all over New England for $400.00 / year (ASC Silver Pass).

 

[BodeMiller1]

As far as the late risers go, I don't know where to begin. like a lot of people on this board, when I ski ,I wax and pack the night before. Get up at 4ish and put my boots in the car and floor it.
When I ski with any of my friends, they want to start at the crack of 8:00 and stop and have a sit down breakfast. Then we finally get to the hill (after we go 20 miles out of the way using google maps) and they want to do anything at the mountain besides ski. So, they finally start to move toward the chair like sloths. Oh well we're here we might as well have a lengthy discussion with the lift attendant

Then they can't ski the woods because their wife doesn't allow it. Butt, the wife is not there.

The worst part (and I hope you've never been through this) they have to carry their cell phones just in case she needs us to pick something up on the way back.

I BLAME VAIL​

 

[2Planker]

Just took my first run of the day at the cat and it has no business being as good as it is.

Shhhhh
The last few days have been great .
EXCEPT for the power failure(s).

 

[Domeskier]

I think a lot of people are forgetting that Alterra (and Vail to a lesser extent on their Epic) doesn't own all the resorts on the Ikon pass, so this whole argument of Ikon and Vail having an antitrust lawsuit is pretty ridiculous.

It ultimately depends on how the DOJ views the business. Vail and Alterra are the primary sellers of multi-resort passes. If the DOJ focuses on that aspect of the business, the ownership of the resorts is likely to be less important to the case. The being said, the DOJ seems focused primarily on big tech these days, and probably wouldn't see any political value in using substantial resources to ensure that rich people continue to get cheap access to multiple premier ski resorts.

 

[deadheadskier]

With the way Live Nation and Ticketmaster have one of the most obvious monopolies in the country with respect to the live music industry, I don't think the feds would give two shits about a Vail / Alterra merger.

 

[Smellytele]

Wasn't ASC one done by the State of NH?

 

[SnowRock]

With the way Live Nation and Ticketmaster have one of the most obvious monopolies in the country with respect to the live music industry, I don't think the feds would give two shits about a Vail / Alterra merger.

A Completely vertically integrated one at that.

 

[bigbob]

Wasn't ASC one done by the State of NH?

I thought a resident from Rhode Island started the lawsuit.