Terrain park poll part 3

[BC-Mark]

Part 3

[Papasteeze]

Every "true" park rat will descend on you if you stay open after everyone else has closed... It really sucked last year seeing all those fully covered slopes. There are several threads/topics about early closings on here from last season.

 

At a minimum, pile as much up as you can and cover it, insulate it and then later on ,open it up, spread it out and have a well organized spring fling!!

[VTmark]

i really like your ideas. but please for the love of god dont lose the boarderx thats the main reason i go to bc.

[NightRider]

Spring conditions are super fun (yesterday was a blast, albeit a bit slow in sections). Being willing to close the mountain and pull remaining caches of snow from the surrounding areas to continue to pull of the maintenance of the park would be a bold and most likely rewarded move.

 

On a side thought, Mark, does management have reasoning assigned to the drop-off of skier traffic come spring? Do kids get out of school and parents take them elsewhere? Do people just get tired of winter? The answer to this may influence my thought process on this. Especially seeing how season passholders already paid their money. I am sure the driving force here is how many day-raters can you lure in to continue to drive positive cashflow (afterall the rest of the facility and staffing has to be there I suppose).

[BC-Mark]

Typically we see a dramatic decrease in skier visits after the first full weekend in March even it the conditions are perfect. We notice that park users in particular are the first to come in the early season and the last to stay in the late season. The idea would be to shut down ski school, daycare and rentals, go to a minimal menu in the cafeteria and run a couple ticket windows. We are trying to determine whether the operating costs can be offset by an increase in visitors. We have readjusted our power buying schedule and can make snow relatively affordably through March if conditions allow.

[BC-Mark]

April riding in the park is a possibility as long as the weather turns around. If that happens, we will pound Black Bear and Cascade to try and extend things into April.

[swdorsey]

yeah mark so many kids would come from all the mountains

theres rountop liberty mountain creek all the pocono mountains and all those kids want to ski park so if you can even keep a jib garden going with the quad running it would be sweet

[Hallraker]

Typically we see a dramatic decrease in skier visits after the first full weekend in March even it the conditions are perfect. We notice that park users in particular are the first to come in the early season and the last to stay in the late season. The idea would be to shut down ski school, daycare and rentals, go to a minimal menu in the cafeteria and run a couple ticket windows. We are trying to determine whether the operating costs can be offset by an increase in visitors. We have readjusted our power buying schedule and can make snow relatively affordably through March if conditions allow.

 

i see this as a great idea, and as was said above me, kids from other mountains would definitely come out to ride park if thir local mountain is closed.

[NightRider]

Typically we see a dramatic decrease in skier visits after the first full weekend in March even it the conditions are perfect. We notice that park users in particular are the first to come in the early season and the last to stay in the late season. The idea would be to shut down ski school, daycare and rentals, go to a minimal menu in the cafeteria and run a couple ticket windows. We are trying to determine whether the operating costs can be offset by an increase in visitors. We have readjusted our power buying schedule and can make snow relatively affordably through March if conditions allow.

 

Great info Mark. I too have noted that March seems to have a drop based on my own observation. If the push was put behind the park (which it clearly seems to be), and maintenance was kept up with given the typical warmer conditions, I think the park crowd would certainly still make it a point to 'ride out the season'. I like your angle on the cost cutting, makes sense to me. Interesting point as well about the power, I know lights must be a big part of it...

[Guest jeenyus2690]

i really like the idea but for the local riders the problem is going to be that it is going to be so crowded its not funny. Plus if there is only one run open it is going to be inpossible to ride with all the people. im not trying to put down the idea cuz i would love to snowboard in april, but its just going to be so crowed, especialy if all the other mtns are closed. maybe have a certain time during the day when on season pass holders can come out and ride for a while. that would be awesome!!

[Papasteeze]

i really like the idea but for the local riders the problem is going to be that it is going to be so crowded its not funny. Plus if there is only one run open it is going to be inpossible to ride with all the people. im not trying to put down the idea cuz i would love to snowboard in april, but its just going to be so crowed, especialy if all the other mtns are closed. maybe have a certain time during the day when on season pass holders can come out and ride for a while. that would be awesome!!

 

 

I had to comment, that a comment like that, will not motivate a ski resort to close early

[Sno Mountain Skier]

If conditomns were good enough, i would pay 35 for the park all day. But crowd control would be an issue. Maybe some type of way of limiting the number of users.

[dwnhlldav]

Typically we see a dramatic decrease in skier visits after the first full weekend in March even it the conditions are perfect. We notice that park users in particular are the first to come in the early season and the last to stay in the late season. The idea would be to shut down ski school, daycare and rentals, go to a minimal menu in the cafeteria and run a couple ticket windows. We are trying to determine whether the operating costs can be offset by an increase in visitors. We have readjusted our power buying schedule and can make snow relatively affordably through March if conditions allow.

 

 

Has management considered that they may not see enough dollars this season to offset costs, but perhaps more season passes next season by staying open into april?

[VTmark]

they probly woun't see a big return on their investment this year even if they did stay open. It just takes time to get the word out. but the second seson you do it is when it would really start to make money.

[@thecreek24/7]

i think that word will get out i mean i know were not havin the best season so far but if things turn around and the word gets out that we are stayin open for some spring boardin we should have some kids comin. I just realized being in the park last night that there seemed to be alot of riders. seeing this made me think about how crowded it would be this year if we did it, but on the other hand if we were successful this year with some spring riding next year with improvements the part adding a beginers area and a big hit section with a super pipe new lighting and all the new hits and jibs for next year would be awesome. this year would be alot of fun, and next year would be even more. In all i think it would be a kick ass idea.

[bendzee]

Extending the season is a great idea and I think you'd be surprised at how many kids descend on Bear Creek. All the mountains around here always close down right when the conditions get more favorable (and forgiving) for going bigger and trying new tricks. Right when were all getting dialed in and starting to push our limits, we get shut down. So hopefully by keeping our season alive and keeping us stoked, you'll also be able to bring in a profit to make it sustainable and justifiable for future seasons.

And as far as all these kids talking about potential overcrowding, that's the kind of problem I would think you would want. And if it does become a problem, have a limited number of tickets available for the day and for the night sessions so when the tickets are gone, they're gone. Bear Mountain in SoCal does it like that on weekends cause they get so many freakin people trying to get into a small mountain and it works out pretty well for them.

Thanks Mark for all your ideas and your commitment to making Bear Creek better than any mountain around here.

[Papasteeze]

Has management considered that they may not see enough dollars this season to offset costs, but perhaps more season passes next season by staying open into april?

 

Thats a good point and worth repeating.

 

 

Thanks Mark for all your ideas and your commitment to making Bear Creek better than any mountain around here.

[bombshellcutie]

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! keep the park open as long as possible!!! the worst time of the year is mid march when the mtns close and then i have to wait 9 loooong greuling months to ride again! keep it open as long as possible!

[t.b.c. snow]

i can honestly say that i am a "park rat" and the only reason i go to bear is to ride park, if the park stays open after everyone else shuts down i will def get everyone i know to go as much as possible, it kills me inside knowing theres still snow in the poconos but we cant ride it cause mountains only care about profit and not riding in general. bear should def stay open later, you dont need a full staff to do this just ski patrol and lift op's. do whatever it takes to get this done please.

[Justin]

The problems I see:

 

1. This will be the only resort with snow left, but just the park will be open. This could mean that there would be tons of people, both park and non-park users.

 

2. Keeping hits consistant. I know for a fact that the hits, lips, and landings will be worked all through the day. Even on glaciers in the summer hits are mush by the afternoon, and thats just with normal riding (no assholes riding over lips), so I don't know how you are going to be able to keep hits in good condition throughout the day with retards riding over lips and casing landings. You aren't going to be able to blow any more snow than what you have on the ground at that time, so how would you be able to keep everything in good condition?

 

I'll probably still come out no matter what though, and if I'm there I have no problem helping out the park crew or whatever needs to get done to make this happen.

[VTmark]

have you guys ever thoguht about carpeting the park? it would be a sweeeeeeeet idea. i was reading throught the archives and it remined me of this poll you should look into it. you would have the first one in the U.S. and you'd get a lot of extra cash flow b/c of that.

[starfire14]

I drive an hour to get to bc (when I have time) as it is just for the park, even though cb is just ten min away. I would absolutely make the journey over for a park when everything else is closed. Crowded or not.

[Tyler]

i'll be there all i can til the closing day

[GNU_rider]

If you stayed open and operational longer it would be the greatest thing ever more time on the parks and more time to ride, I've been going as much as possible since opening day and I plan on being there until and on closing day whenever it will be. I also know many other people that would and are excited about the idea of you guys being open longer please make this happen for the sake of snowboarding.