F Vail

[DomB]

Yeah, uh, my point was, Epic, Ikon, same thing. Like Republican, Democrat. Although Ikon is better, at the moment.

My head is scratched, too. I always thought the whole point of DV was keeping out people like me.

Setting aside any political analogy, I got the sense that Ikon puts some modicum of effort into limiting crowds. Is that wrong? Not saying I fanboy on them, but skied Copper on a 'crowded' day in 2020 and it was max 5 minute line. I am fanboying on Copper.

 

[Benny Profane]

Back in the day (15+ years ago), the only way mere mortals could ski DV was the Quick Start program, where you flew into SLC first thing in the morning and used your boarding pass to get a free day ticket at one of the Park City ski areas. That's how I was able to could afford lunch there.

My ex wife and I sat through a time share, er, uh, wait, I mean a fractional ownership hour long pitch at a new Park City Marriott something or other hotel, with the promise of two DV tickets if we endured. When it finally ended, we said, where's our tickets? He got weird. My ex was a total Karen at times like that. We won.

We were staying at her best friend's sister's place in Park City a year before. She had these cool transferable season passes we were able to use. It was like a bollo tie thing you put around your neck. I was so special.

Once followed Stein doing a real estate pitch. His Bogner was new, and his hair, of course, was perfect.

 

[Benny Profane]

Vail has never sold a resort, and they just pumped a bunch of money into several legacy Peak resorts that many thought would be sold off. While I expected Mount Snow to eventually get new lifts from Vail, I did not expect Attitash, Jack Frost, or Big Boulder to. They have also restored some of the operating hours they cut over the past two seasons, and are reinstating summer operations at Attitash, which haven't happened since the acquisition.

Attitash in particular had suffered years of neglect under Peak Resorts, and before them ASC. They were held back from reaching their full potential by one lift, the Summit Triple. It was perhaps the most hated lift in the Northeast, a 6200 foot fixed grip that took 15 minutes to ride, and that was their main lift. That's getting replaced in 2023, which will hopefully get them the skier visits they deserve.

First of all, let's get something straight. Vail is a horribly mismanaged company. That is different than saying it's a profitable or highly valuated company. They cannot deliver on their prime product, which is a pleasurable customer experience in a business that is all about literally making people happy. It's one constant fail after another. They have generated so much hate within the skier market, which, in the end, is a small demographic in America, I'm not sure how they can recover. They are their own worst enemy.
Buying Peak was their biggest blunder. I get it if you're such a nerd you evaluate it just from the numbers, but, did anybody actually say, how are we going to manage all that? Or, were they just looking at the next quarterly statement, and Katz wanted a big stupid act as his last as CEO? Well, here they are, stuck to their knees. They may never have sold a mountain, but they sure never bought so many in one full swoop, like a fat guy at the Golden Corral hot buffet. Sooner or later, they have to trim down, and one wonders if there will be enough buyers to catch the trash. Look how long Jay sat on the market, and that's a primo eastern hill and very well developed all year resort. And money is more expensive by a lot.

All I know is I'm never going near one of their hills unless the whole shebang is free, and the woman inviting me is hot.

 

[snoloco]

The ski market is highly price sensitive, and as long as they have the cheapest pass, then they'll continue to sell many of them. Despite their missteps, I don't think they've descended to the level of alienating large percentages of their customers yet. They also don't have the same crushing debt that led ASC to break up and Peak Resorts to sell. I've been hearing about "the downfall of Vail" for several years now, and I'm just not seeing it happening.

But you do bring up an interesting point. For the last decade and a half, Vail has largely set the price of ski resort acquisitions. If they switch to selling resorts, then the resorts they acquired may be worth a lot less than what they acquired them for.

 

[Benny Profane]

Repeating myself...

Benny I totally relate to your current sig, and look forward to the day (2 years) when I'm no longer working on Maggie's Farm no mo.

But that quote above is certainly sig worthy.

Well, best advice I can give is buy individual bonds and ladder them, not bond funds. This has been a really bad year. Good luck!

 

[Ripitz]

Attitash in particular had suffered years of neglect under Peak Resorts, and before them ASC. They were held back from reaching their full potential by one lift, the Summit Triple. It was perhaps the most hated lift in the Northeast, a 6200 foot fixed grip that took 15 minutes to ride, and that was their main lift. That's getting replaced in 2023, which will hopefully get them the skier visits they deserve.

Yikes, they still run that thing? I checked tickets and moved lines at that lift my first year ski bumming in 1992. It was slow then.

 

[tirolski]

Yikes, they still run that thing? I checked tickets and moved lines at that lift my first year ski bumming in 1992. It was slow then.

Yup. According to Peter,

Summit – Attitash, NH

Visit the post for more.

liftblog.com

and Snail’s Attitash trail map,

Trail Maps | Attitash Mountain Resort

www.attitash.com

it’s still spinning.
They should give ya a deal on a chair if it ever stops spinning.
Did they have that lookout tower thingy

 

[snoloco]

The Summit Triple will be replaced after this season by a Leitner-Poma high speed quad. The observation tower at the top has been there for a long time. The lift used to run in the summer for scenic rides. That stopped in 2016, when it was swapped for the Flying Bear lift, due to a zipline also being installed there. Since then, Peak Resorts closed the observation deck and stopped maintaining it.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I skied there 15 years ago. (...) The bathrooms are what I remember most not the skiing

I skied there twice in the early 00s -- both times on comp lift tix, thank god (wasn't DV the first resort that hit the $100 mark? That felt like a mortgage payment back then). Here's the first time, April 2002.

This pic never gets old -- looks like something you'd see at a top-shelf Alps resort:

 

[gorgonzola]

Back in the day (15+ years ago), the only way mere mortals could ski DV was the Quick Start program, where you flew into SLC first thing in the morning and used your boarding pass to get a free day ticket at one of the Park City ski areas. That's how I was able to could afford lunch there.

MrsSnoBunSki and I did that in '12, I think that was the last year. Had a great lunch, ski'd a few runs then met up with the guided mountain tour. They split us up by ability and our "advanced" tour was me and another pa guy that was flying home that afternoon, the guide was amazed anyone from pa could ski We cut lines and hit all the good stuff then met up with MrsS for apres, a most memorable afternoon.