Recent content by Milo Maltbie

All heat pumps in cold climates have always had a back up furnace for cold days, and it's all controlled automatically. Gas furnace back up systems are relatively new but they're controlled from the same thermostat as the heat pump. Ideally you want your system controlled from one thermostat...

Heat pumps don’t get confused, but they circulate air at a lower temperature than gas furnaces. That’s what prevents them from recovering temperature quickly. Also, because of the lower temperature, you don’t want to use a 2 speed fan with a heat pump, the way you can with a furnace. That...

It's not just the stock market. Arbitrary and chaotic policies create uncertainty, and investors hate uncertainty. Everyone will suffer from this, regardless of their portfolio, unless you had the foresight to short the entire economy. The first question is who did that? and the only other...

That sounds like you have more heat loss from the longer upstairs circuit than from the downstairs one. Maybe it's just the length but probably the upstairs is more wind exposed. Maybe you even have air moving in the walls somewhere. Either way, hay bales upwind of the compressor won't help...

We can’t talk about investments without talking about politics. Soon we won’t be able to talk about anything without talking about politics. In a healthy democracy politics is something that you need to think about for a few hours every couple of years. We’re fucked. mm

Look for something blocking the heat exchanger. They get clogged up with debris every year. mm

What if the oligarchs learned in 2008 that they come out in a better position than before the crash? Or what if it’s not oligarchs, just a stupid guy with unchallengeable authority? mm

Not so fast. We’re in uncharted waters here. It’s been almost a hundred years since anyone was stupid enough to deliberately start a trade war mm

Windham always had a lot of rich guys, including several Goldman Sachs partners, and there was always a private club there for them, They're just leaning into that crowd now. Discounted group tickets for bus trips, free all in beginner packages and the other promotions they used to do...

It's a good sign that they are planning $2.5 million at Belleayre and Whiteface, but $4.5 million at Gore. Maybe they are responding to all the public complaints about Gore earlier this year. I hope this means things will be better next year. mm

That's good to hear. One of the disappointments this year was the poor condition of Sunway near the Saddle. It's the one spot that almost everyone skis several times almost every day. They really need to focus on keeping that area in good shape. mm

Congratulations on your daughter’s wedding! Also, Hans and Impossiblegoatee are both me. I don’t know why liftblog renamed me. mm

It means they type fsater than they profread. mm

I have done Vail on other places, but Vail only interests me as a synecdoche (look it up) for the market concentration and financialization of the entire economy. That's too big an issue to have any effect on from a regional ski forum, it is intrinsically political and the mental energy to get...

I went back to Facebook a few weeks ago to rant about Gore's poor snowmaking. I'm sort of proud that at least one of my posts was deleted, and my :"Gore Top Fan" status was revoked. But it all seemed to work. ORDA made dramatic improvements at Gore. The same thing happed at Whiteface last year...