method9455

It looks like deadly steeps to me too I'm shitting my pants right now. If they don't want to put up lights and snowmaking, would it still be possible after snow or did they not connect it at the top? Just open it without lights during the day, and close it at night. I bet since the grass is short there will be at least some time in the year it will be usable.

I'll put my $ is on Nov 10th for Mount Snow & Sunday River, Nov 17th for Belleayre and BB's Freedom Park, Killington, Okemo and Stratton. I'm just guessing but it sounds good to me.

That was later in the year, when they where opening they blew during the day. They can def open freedom in a few nights. The fan guns put out so much snow there, it could happen. What was the date last year? I feel like I want to say Dec 5th?

Is it round or square tubing? Do you have access to a welder? How thick is the lexan?

The 17th looks more solid, how long did it take them to get freedom open last year? 3 nights? 4? I might go look back to last years threads when I get a chance.

Is that rail in the back new? I'll be interested to see if the new jibs this year can match the quality of those made last year or not.

Yea but that is GROWTH not total. We sell many more regular skis than we do twin tips, even though the number of twin tip sales on the wall has tripled. It also doesn't mean those people are going to TRY the park, they just like the gear. On the snowboard side, half the boards are park boards or "can be used in the park" boards but only about 10% of the girls and 30% of the guys coming say they ride park. There are a lot of people around here who WISH they could ride park, so they buy the gear for that "someday", but in reality with such a short season not very many people become good at it. I'm not sure betting your whole mountain on it works for Mountain Creek. It is one thing to stand out in that area, but this might be too much. It works for Boulder because they still have JF for free riding, and because they have a lot of immediate competition that has more acreage, so they have to differentiate somehow. MC doesn't have any local competition, aside from the PA mountains but a lot of people see those as "too far" so we'll see how it pans out. I think a better balance is to do what they've done to vernon, possibly less racing area there - they only seemed to have one racing trail before why do they need 2? Make south a park, leave bear as all free ride. Its a minor shift, but now no matter what base you park at there is free riding and park (counting the superpipe at Vernon) and it would require less snow since you are only buildling features on one peak instead of two. And seroiusly, we know they aren't going to be 100% open, with 100% of the park open - until the 2nd to last week, so why not just make Bear say free ride and open south 100% so as not to start the season by alienating so many people.

The club is there, the tram was never built. VV/GG also once had GE jet engines to compress air for their snowmaking, it has a crazy history.

You'd be suprised, about 20 years ago VV/GG was really hot, my dad used to go up all the time when they where talking about building a playboy hotel there. A lot of those guys still go mornings on the weekends.

Undoubtedly weekends are very crowded. It basically feels like a big camelback, its good for strong blue skiers really. The north face has some good bumps but generally its all decently wide groomed blues.

Response on another forum (alpine zone?) about people complaining about losing all of the south terrain to park and some of the main area to racing. Another response from the creek today, wow this one is a long one. hey, sorry it took so long to get back to you, but we really took your comments to heart and wanted to address everything you wrote about. You have hit on exactly some, if not all, the very questions and concerns that we posed to ourselves when we began surveying how to best manage our growth through this initiative nearly 2 years ago. These changes have been made only after very careful, unprejudiced, quantifiable measure of our customers demographics, habits, critical pinch points, and quite frankly, our need to address some key issues have the largest impact on the greatest number of guests. To your points, we are both blessed, and challenged as a mountain resort in a most unlikely location. Blessed, because at less than 50 miles from New York City, we're easy-to-get-to for a snow fix. Challenged because the mid-Atlantic weather is never reliable. This has been true since Jack Kurlander and Otto Schneibs launched Great Gorge in 1965. In the summer of Intrawest's acquisition, one of the largest one-time installations of modern snowmaking was completed for opening day...and we've continued to invest more than $1million every year since to build the kind of firepower necessary to not only open 175 acres of ragged, rocky, snow-eating topography; but also to nurse these slopes through in inevitable thaw-freeze cycles that blow up the valley from the same New York City and New Jersey harbors that fuel our customer base. There's no question that our trail opening priorities closely follow the pattern of the guests that first arrive en masse...the racers, the 'parkies', and the seasonal beginners that flock like swallows to Capistrano on December 26th. Historically this has meant Bear Peak and getting an initial park up for maximum play in minimal space, while we establish a top-to-bottom beginner route on Horizon. Only then can we go back to serially open additional trails based on providing for the largest segments of our business first. You'll see some shifts this season. For one, Vernon will open first with focus on 'the Backside' intermediate terrain; with South scheduled to follow a week later. A lot has changed in skiing in the 42 years since Great Gorge first opened, much of it in the last decade. The sunny, infectious Warren Miller movies of that era serve as a quaint reminder of the pace, and yes the crowds, that graced the time. Check out Warren's latest films for a startling juxtaposition. Advances in equipment, in lift service, in snowmaking and grooming, and in participant speed and performance have all dramatically influenced our present-day expectations. Whether it's a 16-year-old boy on a snowboard, or a 56-year-old skier...we're all benefiting from the R&D inherent in the spirit of invention largely jump-started by the snowboarding industry. Easier-turning skis, faster skis, safer bindings, and comfortable boots if you can imagine that! The snow...well, that still relies on cold weather even with the latest machinery. (Incidentally, a 1970

We're opening for Halloween - what are you going to wear? You have one day to come and get an early season treat. We'll spin lift 4 starting late in the morning sometime between 10 and noon depending on when the sun softens things up. The forecast is for sunny skies and warm temps. We're opening for Halloween only - season projected opening remains Nov 9. Come ski T2 if you are itching for turns. There will be two small rails up thanks to the park crew. Snowmaking pics! Lift tickets on Halloween will be $25 for all ages. If you bring 3 cans of food for donation we'll give you your ticket for $15. Uploading and downloading on lift 4 will be required. To quote our general manager:

For me I take a few trips a year, and one of those trips is about 15 people who are all relatively beginner/intermediate aside from 3 of us. We could go to Kmart or anywhere really, we just need a motel or house to party at and some greens/blues for them and a few blacks for us, but I'm making it a point to bring all those people to Mount Snow because of their managament. I might travel to Jay or Stowe for better snow for myself, but the big friends trips they're getting my money. ANd thats 15 people x 4 days = 60 lift tickets * $50 = $3000, so yea, their attitude does equal money in the bank for them. Consider pre ASC sale, we where going to Killington this year after a good year at Mount Snow just for a change, but POWDR turned me off and so we're going back to Snow.

No I"ll be the first to admit that the terrain at Mount Snow is flatter shorter and less varied than the other places, they get less natural snow etc. BUT - they are going to run that hill better than any other mountain in Vermont for those of us who are serious about skiing and riding. Which makes me hope that they continue to be profitable and snap up some other bigger places. Mount Snow is the biggest mountain they have managed, so if they keep making money maybe someday they will own a few more New England mountains. They are going to force everyone to compete with them on their terms since they own two resorts up there now.

Yea Peak gets two points for condoning people to hike at Mount Snow and a point for making the most snow for the first 24 hours period at Attitash,POWDR gets a point for snowmaking on the first cold snap.Yea Peak gets two points for condoning people to hike at Mount Snow and a point for making the most snow for the first 24 hours period at Attitash,POWDR gets a point for snowmaking on the first cold snap.

They where handing out lift tickets for free, for liability reasons, and allowing people to hike. That slope is about the size/pitch of the sugar slope at Mountain Creek or the freedom park at JFBB or the tubing hill at Blue. Some places farther north pumped out more snow but Mt Snow was the only one officially letting people use it.

The Warren Miller premiere is also at the Ski Bum in Newark, DE on the first sunday in december. I'll get more info if anyone is interested.

Well if you hang out there a lot sure, but from the moment I hit the parking lot in the morning to the end of the day I want to be on the hill riding. If I am going to sit on a couch and hang out with friends, no need to drive hours to get somewhere. Its different for locals though who go up after school and what not. I consider myself a regular but not a local, so I guess I'm not the target market.

I'd like to hit both Stowe and Jay, they are 1, 2 on my list of places to go on the E.C. that I've never been to. Last year I looked into going to Stowe but it never panned out, this year I'm looking at Jay. I'll compare the two and go the cheaper route. I'm going out to Bachelor, a trip to Mount Snow with high school friends, and 2 season passes, so I have a lot of money invested in this season already. If I get to either, it will be based on the cheapest weekend I can get.

Yea Philpug is right - the thing Powdr is doing is setting Killington up for long term profitability - by cutting costs - which is unpopular. Killington has so many lifts and lodges that it costs a lot more per acre than most places. In the END, it is the right thing to do, but it sucks NOW, and I'm riding NOW so sorry guys, I'm not a charity when it comes to my leisure time and money. Especially when tickets are over $70. The only time I would hit them is late season when everyone else is closed or early season when they have appreciably more terrain - but that is over. So Powdr just lost me for this year, but not forever. I hope they pull it together because Killington run well would be awesome, it has so much untapped potential and it already is better than most places. Let some yuppie sucker pay for their prices in the mean time, I'm planning to drive the extra bit for Jay Peak this year.

Blue's park has definitely been getting better and better every year its almost a problem for me now when I have to decide between all the various mountains since everyone has stepped it up so much.

I'm giving Killy a year off. I'm not saying they won't turn it around, I'm just saying I don't think they will turn it around enough for me to go there this year when I'd rather hit other mountains. I hope they do make it a lot better because like you said ASC ran that place into the ground, but it sure looks like Peak at Mount Snow has a better attitude about turning around ASC's disasters than Powdr. Thats why people are complaining. Peak put in 100 new fan guns and is trying to open early, Powdr painted and carpeted (which while necessary, doesn't really excite me) and said they would open later and close earlier, and cut off lifetime season pass holders. And didn't do anything appreciable about snowmaking or grooming as far as I can see. (From my computer a hell of a lot further away than your eyes on the ground, I'm just saying if they did - put up some damn pictures or something). That stair case is nice as hell by the way.

Agreed, I started in Premiere and it does render like crap. My friend switched to a Mac with Final Cut so I borrow that, so I know how to do color correction in Final Cut but not Elements, sorry.

I'm a believer in averages, I'll take my warm weather up front please. We're still a long way from snow making in PA, 6 weeks at least. So right now means nothing. No one even thinks about making snow until Halloween so not to worry just yet. Plus this week is a fluke, cooler air is coming back this week. And believe me no one likes it less than I do, I'm stuck in a room with no AC and barely any ventilation, about 100 miles south of you guys.

What program are you editing in?