What makes certain areas lightning rods?

[2knees]

Reading the thread about the skiing mag article regarding hunter and was just wondering, why certain areas seem to invoke so much passion in people. Hunter and whiteface come to mind. both good and bad. Killington, even before the powdr thing, has its fair share of comments. MRG, although that may be more because of the snowboard thing. Just curious about peoples opinions on this.

 

[Greg]

Great topic. This one should be fun.

 

[severine]

It's sort of like how politics and religion are always touchy subjects, eh? I suppose there are always going to be things in all parts of life that people will feel very strongly about. It's not necessarily a bad thing... we can't all have the same side all the time. Brains are muscles that need exercise, too.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I think it may be because of preconceived notions that people have about a place. They hear Hunter is crowded, Joeys, etc., Whiteface is iceface, it’s too cold, etc. and they just jump on the bandwagon.

I got into an argument with some kucklehead in here about WF a year or 2 ago. He was going on about how it was always icey. Turns out he had only been there a few times and the last time was about 10 years ago.

There are a lot of people who only ski a handful of times a year. That’s fine, the industry needs them, and to each their own. However, Internet experts who don’t really have a clue about what they think they know can be annoying.

 

[Greg]

True, HPD. You can't fairly evaluate a place after only a handful of visits. I also love it when someone will criticize a place after a thaw-freeze. :blink: Duh. Of course the skiing is gonna suck. :roll:

 

[ctenidae]

It's much easier to take someone else's opinion than it is to form your own. It's also much easier to get loud and huffy and pound the table if you haven't had to bother yourself with knowing anything about the subject before hand.

 

[Greg]

It's also much easier to get loud and huffy and pound the table if you haven't had to bother yourself with knowing anything about the subject before hand.

Those that know the least know it the loudest, right?

This coming from the guy with the most posts here... :lol:

 

[Johnskiismore]

Every ski season I hear the same opinions from a group of people who don't like Cannon. They talk about that it's icy, that it's cold (this is a winter sport!!! DUH!!!!), the trails aren't cut right, blah, blah, blah.

Cannon is one of my favorite places to ski, and no matter what report I give about the mountain, they go back to their normal complaints. These skiers and riders have only visited the mountain a couple of times, or haven't been there in years.

Now when I hear them (or anyone) complain, I just think, that'll be less of you on the mountain tomorrow!!

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Not so much here, but on SJ, Magic is the ultimate lightning rod. More than half the threads on it get locked. There are a host of reasons.

Great terrain vs. lack of grooming, snowmaking

Incredible potential vs. the past management's total lack of effort to improve the place

It's not Stratton vs. we like that it's not Stratton

Tastes great vs. Less filling.

 

[millerm277]

Not so much here, but on SJ, Magic is the ultimate lightning rod. More than half the threads on it get locked. There are a host of reasons.

Great terrain vs. lack of grooming, snowmaking

Incredible potential vs. the past management's total lack of effort to improve the place

It's not Stratton vs. we like that it's not Stratton

Tastes great vs. Less filling.

That has, from what I've seen there...been mostly from one or two people with a bunch of aliases.


Killington, before the Powdr stuff, inspires a lot of debate, because of it's layout and the crowd that goes to it. It is incredibly difficult to figure out where the hell you're going if you haven't been there much, and a lot of the good trails/woods are not obvious when you're skiing. (Not even talking about unmarked stuff, which there is plenty of).

 

[Brettski]

They are right...don't go to Hunter or Whiteface, and smuggs is deadsville

Please go to Stowe, Mount Snow or Stratton

 

[Brettski]

Every ski season I hear the same opinions from a group of people who don't like Cannon. They talk about that it's icy, that it's cold (this is a winter sport!!! DUH!!!!), the trails aren't cut right, blah, blah, blah.

Cannon is one of my favorite places to ski, and no matter what report I give about the mountain, they go back to their normal complaints. These skiers and riders have only visited the mountain a couple of times, or haven't been there in years.

Now when I hear them (or anyone) complain, I just think, that'll be less of you on the mountain tomorrow!!

Oh, and Cannon, don't go there either, go to Bretton Woods

 

[mattchuck2]

Mountains only become lightning rods if they have passionate people supporting them.

We could start a "Mount Pisgah Sucks" thread and it would die after 20 posts because nobody gives a crap about that mountain and nobody skis it. However, there are a lot of people who ski Hunter, Whiteface and Killington who rush in to defend their home turf anytime somebody says anything remotely insulting towards them.

And really, is the stuff people say that insulting? I mean, saying "Whiteface is Cold and Icy" (or Killington is full of a-holes, or Hunter is crowded as hell) isn't even on the same level as saying "You're a no-talent loser who sucks at life and will never amount to anything", but people seem to get more mad about the first comments than they do about the second.

Also, these viscious "insults" only have legs because they have some element of truth to them. Maybe Whiteface isn't the coldest mountain in the east, but it's up there. Maybe Killington doesn't have the most a-holes, but they definitely seem to have a large amount of them. Nobody would ever say that Bromley is too dark, because that would be totally ridiculous . . . But to say the runs at Sunday River are too short, people only need to look at a map to verify.

Bottom line is, whenever anyone says stuff about my mountain, I've decided from now on to let it go. I'd invite everybody to come up and see for themselves, but I'm not going to waste time fighting with idiots about snowfall amounts, grooming patterns and clientele. I'll leave that to someone more passionate than me.

 

[Warp Daddy]

opinions are like assholes everybody has one -- :argue:

 

[JimG.]

Mountains only become lightning rods if they have passionate people supporting them.

We could start a "Mount Pisgah Sucks" thread and it would die after 20 posts because nobody gives a crap about that mountain and nobody skis it. However, there are a lot of people who ski Hunter, Whiteface and Killington who rush in to defend their home turf anytime somebody says anything remotely insulting towards them.

And really, is the stuff people say that insulting? I mean, saying "Whiteface is Cold and Icy" (or Killington is full of a-holes, or Hunter is crowded as hell) isn't even on the same level as saying "You're a no-talent loser who sucks at life and will never amount to anything", but people seem to get more mad about the first comments than they do about the second.

Also, these viscious "insults" only have legs because they have some element of truth to them. Maybe Whiteface isn't the coldest mountain in the east, but it's up there. Maybe Killington doesn't have the most a-holes, but they definitely seem to have a large amount of them. Nobody would ever say that Bromley is too dark, because that would be totally ridiculous . . . But to say the runs at Sunday River are too short, people only need to look at a map to verify.

Bottom line is, whenever anyone says stuff about my mountain, I've decided from now on to let it go. I'd invite everybody to come up and see for themselves, but I'm not going to waste time fighting with idiots about snowfall amounts, grooming patterns and clientele. I'll leave that to someone more passionate than me.

Now that I've met you and skied a few runs, this cracks me up.

And you're right. But I still won't let it go...yet.

But I'm getting pretty close. Opinions are a changing.

And I'll be up at Gore sometime later this season. Because even though the day I got there last year had awful conditions, the mountain is clearly alot of fun to ski.

 

[Hawkshot99]

There are many people who heavily defend there mountains. This is great that they feel this passionate, be cause obviously there has to be something great to make them passionate.

Lets go with Hunter.....It is always crowded, crazy lift lines, all of the city yuppies, cant think of more, but I know they exist. While I am not a regular there I have been many times. The huge lift lines that exist, well I have never seen them. I do mostly go on weekdays, but have been there several times on weekends, and still waited very short amount of time for the lift if at all. The trails can get a bit busy, but no worse than any other mountain I have been to. All of these city people that are out there? Again, I must be blind. there are a few, but no worse than any other place.

The opinions of Hunter were formed a long time ago when it was more crowded and the huge numbers of buses used to come up. Maybe the people spitting these thoughts still actually visited there when that is how it was, but most likely they heard it from there friends, uncle's, sister, who has blown it way out.

Go visit if you want to make your comments, then you actually have a leg to stand on.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

That has, from what I've seen there...been mostly from one or two people with a bunch of aliases.


Killington, before the Powdr stuff, inspires a lot of debate, because of it's layout and the crowd that goes to it. It is incredibly difficult to figure out where the hell you're going if you haven't been there much, and a lot of the good trails/woods are not obvious when you're skiing. (Not even talking about unmarked stuff, which there is plenty of).

With all due respect, it's been a hot topic there from before this forum was on the net. The recent stuff is mild compared to 4-6 years ago.

 

[loafer89]

Sugarloaf seems not to be one of these places. Most people that I have come across have only skied it a few times if at all. The mountain does seem to have a fierce and loyal following.

 

[Marc]

I suspect the fact that the summit of a lot of mountains is the highest elevation in the immediate area, and since the materials on the top of a mountain (rock, earth, trees, me) are more electrically conductive than air, and are closer to the polarizing plane, lighting naturally discharges to these spots frequently.

:dunce:

 

[Greg]

With all due respect, it's been a hot topic there from before this forum was on the net. The recent stuff is mild compared to 4-6 years ago.

With all due respect, AZ has been online longer than SJ...