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VAIL SUCKS

2Planker

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35 years working in the Ski Industry - Patrol & Mgmnt.....
Every skier in the MWV I know, HATES Vail w/ a passion.

It has been said many times before - Vail has NO interest at all in maintaining or upgrading Att or The Cat.

They turned down a very fair offer 3 years ago, and look what's happened since, absolutely NOTHING at all.
 

snoseek

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I've been doing alot of wildcat am, attitash pm days. They're definitely taking advantage of the weather. They've laid down quite a bit at attitash honestly. Its the crossover trails that kill them, that sucks up alot of hours.

Saco.and northwest off the top. Massive piles on tightrope. Spillway was getting pushed out. Mostly just morning star and pinball alley along with the crossover stuff. The did have the higher less traversey outback to the bear quad which is essential for laps there.

Wildcats efforts have all been to polecat this week. Probably pushed out after the rain? Would be nice to see them hammer all of lynx but in reality they'll probably work on wildkitten next. Really wildcat just needs a couple proper coastal storms with thick snow.
 

Edd

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Nov 8, 2006
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Newmarket, NH
I've been doing alot of wildcat am, attitash pm days. They're definitely taking advantage of the weather. They've laid down quite a bit at attitash honestly. Its the crossover trails that kill them, that sucks up alot of hours.

Saco.and northwest off the top. Massive piles on tightrope. Spillway was getting pushed out. Mostly just morning star and pinball alley along with the crossover stuff. The did have the higher less traversey outback to the bear quad which is essential for laps there.

Wildcats efforts have all been to polecat this week. Probably pushed out after the rain? Would be nice to see them hammer all of lynx but in reality they'll probably work on wildkitten next. Really wildcat just needs a couple proper coastal storms with thick snow.
To my knowledge, Atticat still shares a GM. Are you getting the sense there are separate snowmaking crews now?
 

snoseek

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To my knowledge, Atticat still shares a GM. Are you getting the sense there are separate snowmaking crews now?
I honestly can't answer that. Everyone in the northeast just had a best case scenario early season snowmaking window and they didnt squander it.

Im curious to when they actually spin the snowcat chair. They put snow down on those trails and say they fixed the lift.
 

pinion

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Oct 2, 2020
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Norfolk, MA
waiting on load testing and approval apparently. Fingers crossed it's soon.

promising..........
 

2Planker

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promising..........
What's it been ? 2 years... maybe 3...
 

dB.cooper

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Jan 29, 2025
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Look at the historical data on open/closing dates on Attitash. They are right inline or slightly better now. This year they opened top to bottom. They never did that in the old days.
Peak opened top to bottom multiple years, 2018 was last year it was open top to bottom
 

thetrailboss

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Jun 4, 2004
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NEK by Birth
Vail is doing great! Don’t believe the 3 haters on here.
"That's right! Sing it, brother!"

SD_SD201310130209956AR.jpg
 

EPB

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Nov 13, 2005
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35 years working in the Ski Industry - Patrol & Mgmnt.....
Every skier in the MWV I know, HATES Vail w/ a passion.

It has been said many times before - Vail has NO interest at all in maintaining or upgrading Att or The Cat.

They turned down a very fair offer 3 years ago, and look what's happened since, absolutely NOTHING at all.
I’m right with you up until the last paragraph. I’ve never been able to figure out what this offer was and on what basis it was determined to be “fair”.

This is no defense of Vail, but it’s worth pointing out that you need to do better than a “fair” offer when the other party isn’t trying to sell. I highly doubt anyone here would take a “fair” price for their house, car, or other substantial purchase when they’re not looking to sell. Wildcat, unfortunately, is no different for Vail.

I’m also still curious how actionable this offer was (did the buyers have the funding in hand, or were they looking to pass a hat around and get a loan for the rest?). If it was the latter and the price was no more than “fair”, I wouldn’t expect any owner to take the offer seriously.
 

AdironRider

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Nov 27, 2005
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It wasn't a legitimate offer.

35 year jaded locals never like change. It is a story as old as time in the ski industry.
 

benski

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Jun 18, 2014
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Denver, CO
Vail has invested a lot of money into feeder hills outside of Peaks, between a few they bought separately, and investing in new lifts for a bunch of them especially early in pursuing the feeder hill strategy. I believe they stopped because they accomplished there goal of making sure the epic pass included a resort in most relevant markets. I guess they could get something closer to NYC or Boston, if your want to be real picky. I think Big Snow would be a great target. The only one they pulled out of was ski Broadmore in Colorado Spings back in the 1990s, which is too low in elevation for a Colorado resort.

There business model is to have resorts spread around the world so the can run the business as a subscription to minimizing the risk of bad snow and including enough resorts in that subscription that customers can broadly ski where they want so they don't feel trapped. This strategy requires Vail to bundle the destination and local resorts, and by all accounts the strategy has worked. Wall Street is very happy with the predictable revenue stream it provides. That is why the Ikon pass is imitating them.
 

jaytrem

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Oct 22, 2007
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Vail has invested a lot of money into feeder hills outside of Peaks, between a few they bought separately, and investing in new lifts for a bunch of them especially early in pursuing the feeder hill strategy. I believe they stopped because they accomplished there goal of making sure the epic pass included a resort in most relevant markets.
Yup, other than Afton Alps, their lifts are all pretty new. Why? I guess Halls never die.
 
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