Weekday or Weekend?

[JimG.]

My most horrendous liftline experience in nearly 25 years of skiing was at Hunter, while I was waiting for a chair on Z lift at Hunter West. The liftline was easily 30 minutes +, and probably closer to 45 minutes, but besides that one time, Hunter has been good to me.

I'll bet Y lift was open and you just missed the cutoff for it. They usually open Y when Z gets that busy.

I've seen long lines on Z lift with Y lift running and nobody riding it. In fact, I've often taken 2 or 3 laps on Y while folks I know stand and wait at Z. You gotta pay attention.

Voluntarily standing on a long lift line when an empty lift is available does not make a mountain crowded.

 

[John84]

I'll be doing almost all of me skiing on Saturday or Sunday unless I go night skiing on a night with small amounts of homework.

 

[loafer89]

I'll bet Y lift was open and you just missed the cutoff for it. They usually open Y when Z gets that busy.

I've seen long lines on Z lift with Y lift running and nobody riding it. In fact, I've often taken 2 or 3 laps on Y while folks I know stand and wait at Z. You gotta pay attention.

Voluntarily standing on a long lift line when an empty lift is available does not make a mountain crowded.

Y lift was not running, this was a long time ago, but I think there was no snow to the lift.
I have also waited at least 1/2 hour in the days before the HSQ to the summit on a weekend.

 

[JimG.]

I have also waited at least 1/2 hour in the days before the HSQ to the summit on a weekend.

The days before the quad? That is a long time ago. How old were you back then?

The days of the old summit double (A lift) are where Hunter got the rep for being crowded.

I too remember waiting on LONG lines for that thing, but that's gotta be over 20 years ago..

 

[loafer89]

I think that the HSQ was installed in 1987? I remember skiing there on opening weekend when they where load testing the new lift with sandbags on the chairs to simulate the skier weight, and it was neat to see how much faster the new lift was side by side with the double chair it replaced. At that time only Hellgate/Broadway/Eisenhower where open, but the place was deserted.

Before that I skied the mountain 5-10 times with the old double chair and I was 14 when I first skied at Hunter, and it did have long lines at times.

 

[JimG.]

Before that I skied the mountain 5-10 times with the old double chair and I was 14 when I first skied at Hunter, and it did have long lines at times.

Oh yeah, no argument here...the lines for the old A lift were horrendous.

 

[riverc0il]

lemme try posting again since the forum software didn't like my last attempt.

i mostly ski weekends, saturday and sunday equally, though sunday is usually less busy. the places i choose to ski at are generally not crowded on weekends unless it is a powder day, i consider four minutes a long lift line, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest. i take 10 vacation days and a few floaters throughout the winter, generally for powder days or when something special comes up. i don't take a full vacation during the winter (i have tried, they always suck) preferring to wait until good snow and powder is in the forecast and then put in for a vacation day or two following the day of the storm. this is definitely the way to go if you are a powder hound. other than that, i work m-f, so the weekends are where it is at!

 

[ALLSKIING]

My wife and I both agreed that this year we are going to be skiing midweek as much as possible with the exception of our yearly K trip that involves much partying over MLK weekend. I even plan to pull my daughter out of school to make these weekdays a reality. The funny thing is that its not the crowds on the slopes but the traffic on the roads that I really want to avoid.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Weekend or Weekday?

I fought the week-end and holiday weeks crowds for nearly 30 years! I had to because the kids needed to be in school, and I had to work. About twice a year I took a "mental health for Dad" day and skied mid-week. Kids grew up, and I retired over five years ago. That is when I swore off week-ends. In the last five winters I have skied exactly ONE day on a week-end; and that was because it was the last day of a trip to UT. It was a Saturday, and we were at Snowbird. Guess what? A combination of new snow, sunny skies, and some sort of local gas station "fill-up" discount coupon had the mountain jammed! At least the Tram was jammed. Actually, once we got up on the mountain we really had very short waits at the upper mountain lifts. It was good to rest a few minutes after some of our runs. People we met later in the day at our hotel mentioned that both Alta, and Solitude were virtually empty. In any case, the only reason I would ski on a week-end, or during a holiday week in the future is if that were the only time one of my kids, nephews, or neice's were able to join me. In that case I would be doing it more for social reasons rather than pure skiing motives. I met Jim G on one of his weekday trips when NYDrew and I made a run to Hunter one WEEK DAY!

 

[deadheadskier]

I generally have Sunday off and one other day during the mid-week - so probably a split for me

 

[deadheadskier]

My most horrendous liftline experience in nearly 25 years of skiing was at Hunter, while I was waiting for a chair on Z lift at Hunter West. The liftline was easily 30 minutes +, and probably closer to 45 minutes, but besides that one time, Hunter has been good to me.

Was this in the singles line?


In my 24 years of skiing, I really don't think I've ever waited more than 25 minutes - anywhere -because if it looks like it will be more than ten minutes to share a ride with my friends, I ALWAYS hop in the singles lane. I just have no patience for liftlines

 

[loafer89]

Was this in the singles line?


In my 24 years of skiing, I really don't think I've ever waited more than 25 minutes - anywhere -because if it looks like it will be more than ten minutes to share a ride with my friends, I ALWAYS hop in the singles lane. I just have no patience for liftlines

No this was for the doubles line, and when you are at Hunter West, the chairlift is the only way out. The liftline for singles or doubles was just as bad.

I waited at least 20 minutes in January for the double chair at powder ridge, and the line was made worse by people forming double and even triple width lines where the singles line should have been, this was a prime example of poor management.

 

[SkiDork]

WEEKENDS.

 

[JimG.]

No this was for the doubles line, and when you are at Hunter West, the chairlift is the only way out. The liftline for singles or doubles was just as bad.

Z lift doesn't really have a singles line...that's why they usually open Y lift to alleviate the mess at Z that does occasionally form.

I know that Y was closed that day loafer, but even when it's open alot of folks ski right past it and get on the line at Z. Baffling.

 

[Lostone]

I'm planning on skiing more weekdays, because there are more of them. :wink:

For those that have been taking Fridays off, may I suggest Mondays? Fridays are by far, the most crowded weekday. Many people show up for the second half of the day. :uzi:

Besides, aren't most meeting held on Monday morning?

Let's see... Meeting? or Chairlift? :roll: 8)

 

[Zand]

The only weekday skiing I get is at Wachusett... and since that's night skiing it's about a similar crowd to a weekend, but only for a few hours. Oftentimes, weekend nights are less crowded. I usually go north on weekends and sometimes those trips extend over to a Monday off from school.

 

[skibum9995]

Mostly weekdays for me. I'll be graduating in December and I don't plan on geting a real job so I'll be able to ski midweek but I'll also do some weekends, mostly Sundays.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

I will try to do alot of my skiing either at Night or on Fridays as Saturdays are very busy and i have to work Sundays.. Crowds or no crowds shouldnt everyones answer to this question be whenever i can without risk of losing my job or dropping out of school?

 

[Razor]

Perk of retirement ... weekdays

Retired, with the ASC bronze pass. Check where the best snow is on Monday and head there to ski Tues., Wed., Thurs. After a teaching career and only being able to ski weekends and school vacations, I'm loving those weekdays. Only problem is that sometimes some lifts are closed. But a small price to pay.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

I believe I skied weekend days out of 40 last year. (I didn't end up patrolling much): Cat Skiing at Grand Targhee and JHMR.

I ski weekdays. I guess I don't play well with others:roll: