Blue mountain race teams hatred...

[Shadows]

im saying this as a paying customer so dont talk shit about me having a pass and not paying for anything. i spent a fairly large amount of money today at blue. brought the whole fam.

 

the race team/coaches think they own the damn mountain and can do whatever they want.

 

they close razors or challenge throughout the day so we cant ski it then. and its usually closed during prime conditions (not crowded/morning). before it reopens they are supposed to slip the course which they sometimes do and sometimes dont. even when they do its still crappy as hell and you cant lay out your turns which is what i like to do. and when they do slip it, its still all corn/cookie so it still sucks but the grooves arent as big.

 

i brought the family to ski at blue mtn for the night. thought we (or at least I) would have a nice evening skiing together. take a couple runs and the snow is great, nice and soft. do switchback once or twice and love it so we do it again. i get to the top and start skiing my way down making nice wide turns and loving the uncrowded slope. get about a quarter way down and see someone standing right in the middle of the trail. get a little farther down and see the entire race team/coaches standing in the middle of the trail in a nice orderly fasion making it impossible to make even moderately sized carves. i stop and realize they are doing human gate training and making pretty nice ruts on the slope. they are spaced out just like gates and they cover 95% of the trail length. the trail wasnt closed, and sure as hell isnt designated for race training. i go down a little farther and stop next to someone in a blue coat. i asked him "are you guys serious?" he then told me to move before i get knocked over...i was in the "race groove". i than explained to him how i didnt like what they were doing on an open trail and he just replied by saying "we'll be out of here in a minute, relax"

i still got on his case about how its an open trail, not for racing, they were blocking the entire trail, i wanted to ski it with my family etc... by this time ive been following him down the trail until he stopped to gather with the rest of the team at the mainstreet intersection

he didnt care and he even got few lippy/smart ass remarks about how much he didnt care and wanted ME to move on. than he threatened to get ski patrol up here for "harassment" i gave him the old "go for it!" waited for a response (nothing) and then went on my way.

 

on my way into the lodge i see that they closed raceway (ok, ok, designated racing trail...but my story goes on)

so i go in to talk to the GM (i think it was sean, not totally sure) and make a complaint about my confrontation with the race teams/coaches. talked for a while about it and made sure my complaints were heard.

 

by this time im really pissed because not only could i not ski razors when i wanted today cause it was closed, i also couldnt ski switchback when they were being assholes and taking over a trail because they feel like it. they also closed raceway today. that makes THREE trails closed today that i wanted and/or couldve skied on but didnt because it was either officially closed, or being hijacked by the race teams.

 

this guy was a total dick about it too. they think they have so much authority over everything and can do whatever they want.

this is by far the last time i ever bring my family to blue mountain as paying customers. it makes me extremely glad i didnt pay for myself today. never paying for anything (besides food) at blue again.

fuck this shit

[AtomicSkier]

Sorry Dan, but you don't own the mountain either. I could care less if they're doing whatever they want on an open trail, at least it's not closed. They didn't close Razors on Sunday, and I'm sure it was killing the race team, and yes, I did have to avoid them on Razors, but at least the trail was open, and I always put on a good show when I ski by. Anyway, I don't see the race team any worse then random gapers, or ski patrollers blocking my way. There seams to be alot of animosty towards the race team from the park rats, most likely because you guys wish you were entitled to the perks that they get (closed trail). I see nothing wrong with what they were doing. You were simply picking a fight with the race team.

 

Do I hate trail whores? Yes. Do I blow by them a second later? Yes. It's really not worth your time to argue with anyone about it.

[Shadows]

jeff,

and you dont pay to ski, so you dont count

Edited February 28, 2007 by Shadows

[Zonked]

sorry to hear about your bad night.

the ski team/kids or whatever get on my nerves too. But I'm not there enough to really know so I deal with it. I'm usually just happy to ski but I also only get out there once a week, if that..

[tretiak]

dont worry dan they were in the park as well fucking everything up like usual they just dont get it if your not going to hit anything then stay out and not carve on the lips and shit i didnt see a signle one hit a single feature just making huge grooves in the park and it was pissing me off.

[bud]

You have got to be kidding me! I was on Switchback when they went by and it wasn't the entire race team. It was the adult clinic consisting of about 10 people. They were barely taking up any of the trail. Sounds like someone was looking for a fight.

[AtomicSkier]

jeff,

and you dont pay to ski, so you dont count

 

Don't you get a free season pass for being a liftie? I have to pay for mine.

[Shadows]

true, they did "go by".. while taking up the majority of the trail for a pretty long time. and you mustve went down at a different time.

picking a fight, yea... thats exactly what i want to do. a scrawny ass 145 pound kid who looks like he ate sticks for breakfast is trying to get into a fight with a cocky asshole from jersey who would lay me out faster than jeffs bimmer.

[AtomicSkier]

true, they did "go by".. while taking up the majority of the trail for a pretty long time. and you mustve went down at a different time.

picking a fight, yea... thats exactly what i want to do. a scrawny ass 145 pound kid who looks like he ate sticks for breakfast is trying to get into a fight with a cocky asshole from jersey who would lay me out faster than jeffs bimmer.

 

You tried to pick a fight with Ski999 when it was an honest mistake...and he'd lay you out pretty quickly...so who knows?

[Shadows]

ah, touche. but i wasnt yelling at them in any way, just trying to express my opinion and see what they though. which apparently wasnt very much

[Papasteeze]

it's a well known stereotype that racers come across as owning the mountain and the park rats got attitude.

 

Blue is training for the derbies this weekend.

[sexkitten]

I get kind of annoyed by the race team and the closed trails too. I think they should practice/ close trails on off times. (WARNING... bad analogy coming... you have been warned) You don't see bowling alleys having leagues on Friday and Saturday nights. They pretty much don't do it. Leagues play during the week so lanes are open on the weekends for customers who pay full price, buy beers and pretzels and play arcade games. Money, money, money, money. I can't see why Blue doesn't do the same thing. I would think that daytrippers are more lucrative customers for Blue than members of the race team. I guess they figure that they have you. Even with a trail or two closed they are the best game in town. OK, that might just be my opinion, but since this is my post I am stating it as fact.

[Shadows]

day 60 btw, woohoo

[snorovr]

and I always put on a good show when I ski by.

 

Like that one time you broke your collar bone?

 

Seperated shoulder. Still, you f*cked up, and I'm callin' you out on it cuz you were soundin' like a lil biatch!

Edited February 28, 2007 by freeridintre
I was wrong. Jeff was being an ass. I don't wanna study. I was up at Blue too late. Blah blah blah.

[AtomicSkier]

Like that one time you broke your collar bone?

 

I never broke my collar bone.

[sexkitten]

Like that one time you broke your collar bone?

 

Ouch!

[Ski]

You have got to be kidding me! I was on Switchback when they went by and it wasn't the entire race team. It was the adult clinic consisting of about 10 people. They were barely taking up any of the trail. Sounds like someone was looking for a fight.

 

And I think the Human Slalom Gate drill might be the giveway on this, Dan...I can't really imagine a race team doing something generally considered to be so, uh, what's the word..."gay".

 

(Gay as in "too freaking happy"...)

 

You def have the right to be pissed at closures, though...but that's something else entirely.

[bigdaddyk]

And I think the Human Slalom Gate drill might be the giveway on this, Dan...I can't really imagine a race team doing something generally considered to be so, uh, what's the word..."gay".

 

(Gay as in "too freaking happy"...)

 

You def have the right to be pissed at closures, though...but that's something else entirely.

 

At least at JF, they put the course on the side of the trail and keep it open. I don't know if it's the optimal way to train, with other less experienced skiers around, but I'm not bitching.

[Metz the Jersey boy]

Damn terrain parks. They close off great terrain like sidewinder. And that lower "park" is just ridiculous. It leaves such an annoying traverse to get to home stretch. It'd be so much easier if I didn't have to put up with it being there and I could just ski down to the six pack that way. And what purpose do these trails serve? None at all, other than letting some damn kids do twirly things and slide on rails, which most of them can't even do well. Its all just so damn annoying.

 

THIS IS A DEMONSTRATION, AND NOT MY TRUE FEELINGS.

 

Fact of the matter is that we need to look at the fact that racers (or their parents) PAY for these privelages. If you had to pay $200+ a year to be able to ride the park, would you? Furthermore wouldn't you expect a hell of a lot for that additional money?

 

The one thing that I see as inexcusable is the "coach"'s behavior, if it even was a coach... could have been a parent setting up drills. There's no excuse for that. Honestly though, if you paid that much money, you'd expect a lot of perks...

[Papasteeze]

closed trails and park passes - is the only way to go. Seems to me that Blue has had enough races this years to permanently close that trail on weekends.

[First Grade Teacher]

Damn terrain parks. They close off great terrain like sidewinder. And that lower "park" is just ridiculous. It leaves such an annoying traverse to get to home stretch. It'd be so much easier if I didn't have to put up with it being there and I could just ski down to the six pack that way. And what purpose do these trails serve? None at all, other than letting some damn kids do twirly things and slide on rails, which most of them can't even do well. Its all just so damn annoying.

 

THIS IS A DEMONSTRATION, AND NOT MY TRUE FEELINGS.

 

Fact of the matter is that we need to look at the fact that racers (or their parents) PAY for these privileges. If you had to pay $200+ a year to be able to ride the park, would you? Furthermore wouldn't you expect a hell of a lot for that additional money?

 

The one thing that I see as inexcusable is the "coach"'s behavior, if it even was a coach... could have been a parent setting up drills. There's no excuse for that. Honestly though, if you paid that much money, you'd expect a lot of perks...

 

The park analogy is spot on!

 

Racing costs $790 plus a season pass for those privileges. That doesn't include any race fees when Razors holds a race. $30 extra for each of those! How much extra do people pay for the park? I wanna hear the bitching when Blue institutes a $790 "Park Pass"!

[Barb]

I get kind of annoyed by the race team and the closed trails too. I think they should practice/ close trails on off times. (WARNING... bad analogy coming... you have been warned) You don't see bowling alleys having leagues on Friday and Saturday nights. They pretty much don't do it. Leagues play during the week so lanes are open on the weekends for customers who pay full price, buy beers and pretzels and play arcade games. Money, money, money, money. I can't see why Blue doesn't do the same thing. I would think that daytrippers are more lucrative customers for Blue than members of the race team. I guess they figure that they have you. Even with a trail or two closed they are the best game in town. OK, that might just be my opinion, but since this is my post I am stating it as fact.

 

you're right we don't have leagues Friday and Saturday night. We love open bowlers and money!

[sexkitten]

The park analogy is spot on!

 

Racing costs $790 plus a season pass for those privileges. That doesn't include any race fees when Razors holds a race. $30 extra for each of those!

 

OK, I'm going to be controversial... Why is that my problem? Not to stir the pot but but as a weekends and holidays only , non pass holder, who eats at the mountain I spend some serious dough too. I don't get any special privileges. As a matter of fact I get one or two closed trails every time I go even though I pay for 100% open. If you are going to close a trail pretty much every time the majority of your customers show up then take the trail off the map and dedicate it to the racers. At least then I won't feel like I'm paying for 100% and not getting it. OR have practice at an off peak time. There's a novel concept.

[Justo8484]

The park analogy is spot on!

 

Racing costs $790 plus a season pass for those privileges. That doesn't include any race fees when Razors holds a race. $30 extra for each of those! How much extra do people pay for the park? I wanna hear the bitching when Blue institutes a $790 "Park Pass"!

how much extra do people pay for the park? for those that are in freeriders, which would be the tarrain park's equivalent of racing (as in having someone coach you on technique and whatnot,) they pay $490. the freeride programs dont get to close the parks or pipes. i'm not saying i want to pay that just to ride the park, but for the kids who are in that program and want to learn in a safe, structured environment with coaches, they should be getting more perks than they do. they shouldnt have to deal with the same retards sitting on landings that i do, because i'm not paying extra, whereas they are. to add to what shadows posted about the race team, my favorite thing is when they have razors and raceway closed on a weekend, and then the coaches bring their kids through the park, carving trenches across every landing.

[method9455]

how much extra do people pay for the park? for those that are in freeriders, which would be the tarrain park's equivalent of racing (as in having someone coach you on technique and whatnot,) they pay $490. the freeride programs dont get to close the parks or pipes. i'm not saying i want to pay that just to ride the park, but for the kids who are in that program and want to learn in a safe, structured environment with coaches, they should be getting more perks than they do. they shouldnt have to deal with the same retards sitting on landings that i do, because i'm not paying extra, whereas they are. to add to what shadows posted about the race team, my favorite thing is when they have razors and raceway closed on a weekend, and then the coaches bring their kids through the park, carving trenches across every landing.

 

Exactly - Freeride program is about 2/3s of the cost of race team, without a closed trail. I wouldn't want the free ride program to get a closed trail just like I don't want the race team to get a closed trail (although honestly, if you have a trail named RACEWAY then only close that one). I've seen three approaches to race teams.

 

The way Tremblant and some big mountains do it - pick a different trail everyday and close it entirely for the race team, but that is 1 or 2 out of 90 something trails. I have no problem with 1-5% of the mountain being closed for racers, no problem. It is announced on the ski report the night before what trails will be closed

 

The way Mountain Creek does it - one trail is almost always closed, 100% of the time. I think I've skied it two or three times in 3 seasons of 30+ days up there, usually early or late season or like a monday morning when there is no racing, but generally it doesn't even pop into my head as a race trail. The racers stay on it all day - basically have their own lift, have their own trails, never both anyone and we don't bother them. It says on the trail report what will be closed for racing.

 

The Blue Mountain way to do it - where you close one of the 4 best trails on the mountain (tell me again why there are no park passes, something about all customers being able to ski everywhere I believe?), without posting it on the ski report, and then the race team goes and users other trails, AND fucks around in the park. I don't see the differance between a racer slashing across the landing when I'm taking a jump, and me running through the middle of their course during a practice. I could see closing the trails for race days, but on practice days bullshit. They close the park for competitions so it would be equal, but if they come ruining things in the park then I don't see why it doesn't go the other way around. I honestly wouldn't have a problem with the race team kids if they closed a trail and stayed on it, but they close a trail and then still go and fuck things up elsewhere - thats where the problem is.

 

I see why you would expect that for $700 or whatever it is, but make it clearer to the rest of the customers what trails will be closed - and keep the race team kids in line. Just cuz mommy & daddy shelled out for them to be in racing day care doesn't mean I have to put up with them possibly injuring me when I paid $500+ out of my own pocket to ride the mountain during the times I can get up there. If I could come midweek mornings to not have to deal with them - I wouldn't pay the extra for a peak time period pass.

 

I'd also like to add that my move when they were taking up the whole open trail like that (not seeing how it was setup but from your description) would be to drop in and use their human gate course right in the middle of it all - hey its an open trail and they do it in the park, get all of them good and pissed off, and what could they do?