Bristol Conditions

[Johnny V.]

Big contrast from yesterday in terms of weather. On and off snow with a 2"-3" layer on top of the grooming. Our 12 year old granddaughter ripped (in control) through the piles-guess the brigades have paid off! Busy with lots of kids with the day off, and we quit around noon-4 days in a row left me with rubbery quads.

Things like shortening operating hours and closing the Galaxy lift on weeknights. It's even worse now as I see they don't even run Galaxy on some weekdays. Without the Galaxy lift in my opinion they impair or make a significant proportion of the best intermediate/advance trails unusable, including Northstar which is the BEST run at the mountain. Added on top of that they often will impair or close runs for race and bumps training weeknights. So without the Galaxy chair running we just decided it wasn't worth it. It's just too small a mountain to not run lifts while they close or partially close other runs, especially for what they're charging for passes.

You're not wrong on a lot of this Andy. I can understand the earlier closing time. When I started skiing in the '80s, we had night passes-we'd ski until 10:00 then hit the bar which often was busy. In the last few years of Wednesday beer league racing, the slopes died as soon as the schools left and the bar was dead except for the racers. Not sure for the change in opening times on weekends, but both Holiday Valley and Greek open at 8:30 on weekends too. Not running the Galaxy chair nights can be a pain as the Comet chair is a zoo at night (one of the reasons I stopped racing Wed. nights!) but the only slope not accessible is Lower Northstar, as U/L Universe is not lighted.( I know Upper Universe used to be).

About racing on Northstar, who knows if and when it will actually happen. I may be either not skiing or dead by the time they make the change, if ever. Regarding the half pipe, I think a lot of places have eliminated them as they are expensive to maintain. I think Bristol has put their efforts in the Challenger park area. I hated to see Challenger changed as I always thought it was a cool little trail.

I have my many criticisms of things Bristol does, but to have it 45 minutes from home ain't bad. I'm not going to pay to join Hunt Hollow and ride the slow chairs and limited terrain, and Swain is farther and has pretty creaky old facilities. I know my view is skewed as I can ski during the week and either avoid weekends and nights or adjust my expectations down and just deal with the crowds. Hope to do a fist bump with you some time!

 

[Andy_ROC]

Big contrast from yesterday in terms of weather. On and off snow with a 2"-3" layer on top of the grooming. Our 12 year old granddaughter ripped (in control) through the piles-guess the brigades have paid off! Busy with lots of kids with the day off, and we quit around noon-4 days in a row left me with rubbery quads.

You're not wrong on a lot of this Andy. I can understand the earlier closing time. When I started skiing in the '80s, we had night passes-we'd ski until 10:00 then hit the bar which often was busy. In the last few years of Wednesday beer league racing, the slopes died as soon as the schools left and the bar was dead except for the racers. Not sure for the change in opening times on weekends, but both Holiday Valley and Greek open at 8:30 on weekends too. Not running the Galaxy chair nights can be a pain as the Comet chair is a zoo at night (one of the reasons I stopped racing Wed. nights!) but the only slope not accessible is Lower Northstar, as U/L Universe is not lighted.( I know Upper Universe used to be).

About racing on Northstar, who knows if and when it will actually happen. I may be either not skiing or dead by the time they make the change, if ever. Regarding the half pipe, I think a lot of places have eliminated them as they are expensive to maintain. I think Bristol has put their efforts in the Challenger park area. I hated to see Challenger changed as I always thought it was a cool little trail.

I have my many criticisms of things Bristol does, but to have it 45 minutes from home ain't bad. I'm not going to pay to join Hunt Hollow and ride the slow chairs and limited terrain, and Swain is farther and has pretty creaky old facilities. I know my view is skewed as I can ski during the week and either avoid weekends and nights or adjust my expectations down and just deal with the crowds. Hope to do a fist bump with you some time!

I must sound like a grump

Anyway I agree Johnny that while not running the Galaxy chair technically only eliminates 1 run, my beef is it takes out the best top to bottom intermediate/advanced run on the mountain. Also of significance the Galaxy HS quad allows you to not only access Polaris-Northstar top to bottom but also access upper Rocket and upper Meteor without going back to the base. Sure you can ski lower Galaxy, but in order to ski it you really have to cruise and maybe a little hike and then you're subjected to the "zoo" of people as you said. Also since not many go the lower Galaxy route it then forces most to lower Meteor. Lower Meteor not only gets very crowded but also all chopped up, which is a challenge for many. It becomes prime ground for being struck from behind by a meat missile, especially on ski club night.

Bottom line, without the Galaxy HS quad it really hobbles too much and promotes crowding. Like you said this in part drove your decision to stop Weds night league. It's precisely one of the main reasons me and my buddies decided to dump season passes, lockers and regular evening skiing completely--- it just wasn't pleasant or worth it anymore.

I'd agree clipping the hours to 900PM instead of 10PM wasn't too bad. But the delayed opening time really was frustrating. It took the reward away from earlier risers because it shortened the golden time of a bit more peacefulness on the mountain before the masses started to arrive. I have no idea if it was 8 or 830 and maybe they've even changed it back again-- but I do remember not being happy about a later morning start.

Then there's other Bristol management factors that are problematic as well. I remember a time when families would bring crockpots into the lodge and picnic outside. But there seems to be new rules for a lot of that now--- probably because they want you to buy their expensive food. Not really family friendly. I also remember a time when you could bring a couple of your own apres beers to the outdoor picnic tables. Now you'll get scolded and told to dump it. My buddies 25 year old son was forced to dump his premium can of beer in the snow by someone from management as he watched a competition on Challenger -- she threatened to call the cops if he didn't. He wasn't disorderly in any way and was simply there with his dad watching the competition.

Because of many of these factors Bristol and I (and my friends) have grown apart. 10 years ago me and a few buddies probably each spent $2k-$3K/year there including family season passes, lockers and food/bar. Now I'd be surprised if it's more than $500.

I get it, we're lucky to have a mountain so close to our metro area. They're the only ski hill at ~1/2 the drive time compared to other options and they have excellent lifts (when running), the best snowmaking and the most vert. They're busy and pretty much have a monopoly and therefor don't really need to care much about customer satisfaction--- it certainly shows! I know my feelings aren't isolated-- a lot of folks I've chatted with have similar gripes about Bristol and their management.

Yup some day we'll have to meet up for a pole tap. I'm pretty sure you know a golf buddy of mine. I'm actually a friendly and affable guy-- just that certain things I have little patience for

PS I was thinking about going with some friends tonight but that's off the table now --- the Galaxy HS Quad is only open till 3PM... ugh!

 

[Johnny V.]

All valid points! Yes, they should run the Galaxy quad instead of the Rocket triple evenings-staffing would be the same. I'd recommend writing your complaints to Dan Fuller-he is responsive to customer dissatisfaction. There's a lot of things I don't like-I've got 4 grandkids and they all pay the full shot for a pass instead of a youth rate. Expensive for my daughter's family. No buddy passes-if my brothers in law visit, they've got to pay full shot. I can think of a lot more............but it hasn't kept me from renewing.