VPR Reports that Vermont Resorts Had a Good Holiday

[thetrailboss]

I heard this story last night. An interesting read or listen. Thoughts?

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/86800/

 

[drjeff]

I know that Mount Snow had one of their kids programs (snowcamp for 4 to 6 year olds) have the busiest day ever over the holiday week, and just from eyeballing the number of cars up in the Deerfield Valley and seeing the number of folks on the hill (Sunday's wild weather day excluded), I'm guessing they had a solid week.

Of side note, I didn't quite see as much volume in South Central VT of snowmobile traffic (sleds on their trailers being towed into the area/parked at lodges/condos) as I usually notice during a holiday week/weekend

 

[ski_resort_observer]

For many NE resorts the predictions/forecast of a bad holiday week have been proven to be gross exagerations. For the Bush, MRG and the MRV in general it was crazy busy from Tuesday thru Sat. of the holiday week.

 

[Geoff]

For many NE resorts the predictions/forecast of a bad holiday week have been proven to be gross exagerations. For the Bush, MRG and the MRV in general it was crazy busy from Tuesday thru Sat. of the holiday week.

KMart was down slightly year-over-year. Even Saturday when the discount season pass people weren't blacked out wasn't jammed. I had the woods pretty much to myself. I'm sure that if you were in the family areas, using the intermediate groomers, or riding the gondolas, it sucked.

 

[crank]

For many NE resorts the predictions/forecast of a bad holiday week have been proven to be gross exagerations. For the Bush, MRG and the MRV in general it was crazy busy from Tuesday thru Sat. of the holiday week.

Didn't seem that way to me. However, we skied Tuesday during the storm and on Wednesday when it was pretty darn cold in the morning. Sugarbush only had 2 or 3 lifts running Tuesday and the lines were no more than a minute long and most trails we skied were empty. We only waited in 1 line on Wednesday which was at the bottom of Mt Ellen around 10AM. Also, I called 3 lodges looking for rooms and 2 of them had vacancies.

 

[KingM]

We were pretty busy with a few holes. It was looking scary going into the week with that craptacular storm, but things turned out okay. For some reason I still had several rooms available the last Saturday night of the holidays. Usually, I'll fill Sat-only holes no problem but everyone wanted to beat the storm.

 

[chrisrunsi]

Was up in canada and northern VT during the holiday week and it was dead. I hit Jay Peak, Tremblant, Mont Sutton (which was amazing) and Bromont (which got busy after 4 since they have night skiing). Fresh pow every day of the week!

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Didn't seem that way to me. However, we skied Tuesday during the storm and on Wednesday when it was pretty darn cold in the morning. Sugarbush only had 2 or 3 lifts running Tuesday and the lines were no more than a minute long and most trails we skied were empty. We only waited in 1 line on Wednesday which was at the bottom of Mt Ellen around 10AM. Also, I called 3 lodges looking for rooms and 2 of them had vacancies.

When it cold or windy, the people are here but they might not be skiing. The lodging, the restaurants, retail at the Bush and in the valley was a typical busy holiday week vs a not as busy as a normal holiday week last year. The weather didn't cooperate very well last year.

Two weeks prior to xmas this year bookings was down but people were waiting longer to decide this year so they did come. Tuesday Mt Ellen was shut down due to wind but everyone went over to LP. We had a monster day in the LP retail shop. Wednesday Mt Ellen was very busy. I noticed at 3PM the GMX was still filling every chair which is unusual.

I guess it depends on the lodging. I know Claybrook was booked up all week as well as the the condos the resorts rents out. The Pitcher Inn in Warren had a waiting list plus I always check the motels every morning on my way to the mountain, which is pretty early and the parking lots were full. On Sat, 7000 skier/riders is the figure posted over on skimrv and that's the number I heard as well. That's a big number for the Bush.

 

[billski]

I really hope they did have a good run. We all win if they did.

 

[crank]

When it cold or windy, the people are here but they might not be skiing. The lodging, the restaurants, retail at the Bush and in the valley was a typical busy holiday week vs a not as busy as a normal holiday week last year. The weather didn't cooperate very well last year.

Two weeks prior to xmas this year bookings was down but people were waiting longer to decide this year so they did come. Tuesday Mt Ellen was shut down due to wind but everyone went over to LP. We had a monster day in the LP retail shop. Wednesday Mt Ellen was very busy. I noticed at 3PM the GMX was still filling every chair which is unusual.

I guess it depends on the lodging. I know Claybrook was booked up all week as well as the the condos the resorts rents out. The Pitcher Inn in Warren had a waiting list plus I always check the motels every morning on my way to the mountain, which is pretty early and the parking lots were full. On Sat, 7000 skier/riders is the figure posted over on skimrv and that's the number I heard as well. That's a big number for the Bush.

Then I'm really glad we had some tough weather to deal with because, with the storm and the area seeming to dodge most of the rain the skiing was way better than I imagined it would be when we made our last minute decision to head north. I'll bet you sold a ton of balaclavas and face masks on Tuesday.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Then I'm really glad we had some tough weather to deal with because, with the storm and the area seeming to dodge most of the rain the skiing was way better than I imagined it would be when we made our last minute decision to head north. I'll bet you sold a ton of balaclavas and face masks on Tuesday.

At least a ton not to mention the hundreds of Grabber hand, toe and foot warmers. It was also a very tough day for driving around, actually it started around 2PM. A couple of cars had the Access Rd blocked for a couple of hours, vehicles off the road everywhere.

 

[crank]

At least a ton not to mention the hundreds of Grabber hand, toe and foot warmers. It was also a very tough day for driving around, actually it started around 2PM. A couple of cars had the Access Rd blocked for a couple of hours, vehicles off the road everywhere.

Tell me about it. That was some of the most treacherous winter driving I have ever done and I have done a lot. We came up 100 Monday night because we met my nephew at the Long Trail Inn in Kton and it was all snow from there. Saw a Subie off the road north of Rochester in the national forest; they were already being helped. We stayed at this lodge in Starksboro so we had to drive up the pass on 17 past MRG. That was tough . I drive a Highlander all wheel drive and I knew we would make it. But holy crap, coming down the other side was insane. I took it as slow as I could and when I did touch the brakes I instantly broke loose. Bounced off the guard rail at one point , luckily the snowbank cushioned us and redirected my front end back into the road. And when we did the reverse Tues. AM it wasn't any better. There were a ton of cars stuck trying to get up to MRG and that made our going down to Lincoln even hairier. Great adventure!

 

[KingM]

It was also a very tough day for driving around, actually it started around 2PM. A couple of cars had the Access Rd blocked for a couple of hours, vehicles off the road everywhere.

That was ugly. One of our guests said it took an hour to get from LP down to the inn, which usually takes about five minutes. We had another, departing guest try to leave via Northfield road. I told them not to go for the Roxbury Gap, given that they were driving a family wagon and the weather was nasty for driving.

He drove off, and I mean way off the road on Airport Road. Nobody hurt, thank god. Car was not drivable.

 

[Geoff]

That was ugly. One of our guests said it took an hour to get from LP down to the inn, which usually takes about five minutes. We had another, departing guest try to leave via Northfield road. I told them not to go for the Roxbury Gap, given that they were driving a family wagon and the weather was nasty for driving.

He drove off, and I mean way off the road on Airport Road. Nobody hurt, thank god. Car was not drivable.

I was at the KMart ski bum party for a while on Wednesday. All the locals were complaining about the traffic last week. You get an inch of white on the road and the tourists with all season tires and poor snow driving skills are all over the place.

I have already used the tow strap on my SUV 3 times this winter to pull people out of the culvert on the driveway out my front door at my condo complex. It's a mild hill and they inevitably stall out going up the hill and find the culvert backing back down.

 

[billski]

I wasn't around. What happened? - was it simply a matter of an inch or two of snow and a large(er) volume of traffic? How is this different from any ordinary weekend snow? I don't see a lot of traffic issues then. Maybe these are once-a-year skiers, versus weekenders who are regular skiers/drivers?

 

[ski_resort_observer]

I wasn't around. What happened? - was it simply a matter of an inch or two of snow and a large(er) volume of traffic? How is this different from any ordinary weekend snow? I don't see a lot of traffic issues then. Maybe these are once-a-year skiers, versus weekenders who are regular skiers/drivers?

We had a fast and hard snow squall come in and right behind it was very cold air so basically you ended up with tire pressed wet ice. When I was driving into Waitsfield everyone was driving slow, which is a good thing, but on a hill coming into the Rt 17/Rt 100 intersection a young lady in a Prius started going sideways and after about 10 minutes of watching her try to get going again a bunch of us got out of our cars to try to push her up the hill. It was so slick that we only able to push her sideways, shows how slick it was, onto the shoulder so traffic could start moving again. I have driven on much slicker roads but this time it was pretty bad.

Crank - glad you were able to get down the gap without too much damage. There are some very tight steep curves on the Bristol side of the gap.

Michael, have you ever had anyone not be able to stop at the bottom of the Access Rd and end up at your place? I can see that happening once in awhile.

 

[crank]

Crank - glad you were able to get down the gap without too much damage. There are some very tight steep curves on the Bristol side of the gap.

Thanks. No damage at all fortunately it was a kind and gentle snowbank we bounced off. We left SB close to 4PM Monday and there was some traffic still from whatever happened on the access road, not more than a few minutes delay though.

 

[KingM]

Michael, have you ever had anyone not be able to stop at the bottom of the Access Rd and end up at your place? I can see that happening once in awhile.

Yup, although there was only once that someone made it further than the snow bank at the top of the hill and that was a drunk driver who obliterated the sign, which was a pain in the ass to replace in the middle of winter, but he had insurance, thankfully. Just in case, we have some big boulder around the corner of the lodge to keep someone from driving right into the living room of the suite at the bottom of that building.

What we see every year at least two or three times is someone who can't make it up the mountain to their condo or house in a snowstorm and has to spend a night at the inn. There has been more than once when we've had half a dozen non-guests camped in the front room, anxiously waiting for the plow to turn up the Access Road so they can follow it to their slope side accommodations. I once ferried a family of Quebecois to the Sugarbush Inn because I have 4WD and their little car couldn't make it.