F Vail

[tirolski]

What a shit show

Yup

Chair falls off lift at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett, authorities say

The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's Office and the Passenger Tramway Safety Board are investigating after a chair fell off a ski lift at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett.

www.wmur.com

Chair Falls from Lift at Attitash

Photo credit: David G. via X. A quad chair detached mid-line on Attitash’s Flying Bear lift this afternoon, injuring one person. A photo posted to the Ski the East Facebook page showed the ch…

liftblog.com

 

[Campgottagopee]

Yup

Chair falls off lift at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett, authorities say

The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's Office and the Passenger Tramway Safety Board are investigating after a chair fell off a ski lift at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett.

www.wmur.com

Chair Falls from Lift at Attitash

Photo credit: David G. via X. A quad chair detached mid-line on Attitash’s Flying Bear lift this afternoon, injuring one person. A photo posted to the Ski the East Facebook page showed the ch…

liftblog.com

Dang!

There's something you don't see everyday

 

[MarzNC]

I don’t know if the other mega companies are any better than vail, but after what happened I can’t imagine why anyone would book a big vacation with them next year. Maybe if bookings go way down they will be forced to treat employees and guests better.

Tom

Bookings have been going up and down the last decade and are watched closely by the industry in general. Weather and snow conditions impact those numbers more than anything else. There are many Epic pass holders who don't stay in VR lodging, especially in CO, UT, Tahoe. Plenty of alternatives to expensive slopeside lodging owned/operated by VR.

What investors watch is the number of Epic passes and the revenue change for Epic passes over time. VR stated that 75% of the people at Epic resorts are using some type of Epic pass, including the Epic Day Pass (1-7 days).

Alterra's business model for how a resort is operated is quite different than the fully centralized approached used by VR. Look at a few resort websites. For instance, for Epic resorts the home page is clearly using the same framework. The look for PA resorts and Park City is similar. That's not the case for Alterra resorts. Compare the websites for Mammoth and Solitude. See if you get the impression from the homepage that they are owned by the same company.

 

[Andy_ROC]

Yup

Chair falls off lift at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett, authorities say

The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's Office and the Passenger Tramway Safety Board are investigating after a chair fell off a ski lift at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett.

www.wmur.com

Chair Falls from Lift at Attitash

Photo credit: David G. via X. A quad chair detached mid-line on Attitash’s Flying Bear lift this afternoon, injuring one person. A photo posted to the Ski the East Facebook page showed the ch…

liftblog.com

Wow that's scary! I'm sure we've all been on some chairs that are very high at some points where a fall like that would have been death. Hope the person is okay!

 

[Andy_ROC]

Bookings have been going up and down the last decade and are watched closely by the industry in general. Weather and snow conditions impact those numbers more than anything else. There are many Epic pass holders who don't stay in VR lodging, especially in CO, UT, Tahoe. Plenty of alternatives to expensive slopeside lodging owned/operated by VR.

What investors watch is the number of Epic passes and the revenue change for Epic passes over time. VR stated that 75% of the people at Epic resorts are using some type of Epic pass, including the Epic Day Pass (1-7 days).

Alterra's business model for how a resort is operated is quite different than the fully centralized approached used by VR. Look at a few resort websites. For instance, for Epic resorts the home page is clearly using the same framework. The look for PA resorts and Park City is similar. That's not the case for Alterra resorts. Compare the websites for Mammoth and Solitude. See if you get the impression from the homepage that they are owned by the same company.

For sure! When I was at Steamboat last year you had to be observant and know it was owned by Alterra/Ikon--- everything had an independent look and feel. Also as you know ~3/4 of Ikon Pass mountains are done via partnership of some type, not ownership so they are really independent. Very much unlike Vail with their Corporate chain store look and feel and centralized management.

 

[MarzNC]

Very much unlike Vail with their Corporate chain store look and feel and centralized management.

What was funny to me during my Michigan ski safari was that in the hallway at Mt. Brighton, the tiny hill near Detroit, the pictures of Epic destination resorts included one in Australia.

I only stopped in for a look and didn't bother to boot up since I was on my way from Ohio to Caberfae that day. It was midweek and there were park rats happily lapping a terrain park using a very fast rope tow. I chatted for a while with a retired man who worked in the rental shop. There were few customers that day. The place felt like a local hill in most ways. But at the same time, it was clear that it was an Epic location with plenty of VR marketing.

Snowshoe is the Alterra resort in the southeast. I haven't been since the ownership change. Based on what folks on DCSki and SkiSoutheast have been saying, nothing much changed other than there is the option of getting Ikon instead of a Snowshoe-only season pass of some sort. Slowly but surely, Alterra has been providing money for major capital projects such as renovating a base building or replacing a lift. Note that the current resort at Snowshoe was designed and built by Intrawest after the initial independent development by knowledgeable southerners. Lots of slopeside lodging for an upside down resort, with three different areas for ski trails, and plenty of 4-season activities that have nothing to do with snow.

Mt Brighton signs, January 2024

Outside the Mt. Brighton ski shop

 

[Andy_ROC]

Some interesting info about the chair incident at Attitash.

More Details Emerge Regarding Attitash Chairlift Detachment

Yesterday, a passenger was injured following a chair detachment at Attitash Mountain Resort.

unofficialnetworks.com

 

[Peter Minde]

Copied and pasted from the Ski the Northeast FB page:

"At Attitash on the Flying Bear lift- the jaw which an opens and closes suffered a metallurgic failure. This did NOT just get there and is indicative of lack of inspection. From the looks of the metalurgy the crack has been forming for some time.
More concerningly there is eyewitness testimony that the grip sensor tripped more than once. The lift operator either on their own- or more concerningly possibly under direction from someone upstairs- reset the lift safety sensor and sent it anyways. A man fell 30’ down as a result. That could have been you.
—————
The mobile jaw (part that opens and closes) broke on the dopplemayr grip at the bear peak incident today.
There’s eye witness reports there was a loud bang and it threw a grip force sensor at the terminal. In my opinion: Judging by the look of the metal there was a detectable stress crack forming in that grip for some time.
Whoever was operating the lift is at fault for overriding the safety stops on the machine turning it back on again. What a shame:
“A grip force fault on that type of lift can be reset from the operator control panel. A grip position paddle switch has to be physically reset in the terminal. On a Doppelmayr lift of that vintage. If a grip force fault occurs the lift must be reversed and the carrier brought back into the terminal. The carrier that caused the fault must be unloaded and the grip inspected before the carrier is relaunched.”
Eyewitness report posted to Facebook noting the override of the safety features
“I was in line when this chair #57 went through the terminal. There was a loud bang that caused some snow and ice to dislodge from the terminal and triggered a safety stop. The attendants reset and it was business as usual. I was on chair 60. The lift stopped after chair 58 smashed tower 6 and again the lift was reset and started running again at full speed. An individual on chair 59 was on the phone demanding the lift be stopped and it was.” (Eyewitness Copied from a seperate [sic] skiers group)"

 

[Andy_ROC]

More vultures circling Vail Resorts

https://www.wtrf.com/business/press-releases/accesswire/981220/vail-resorts-inc-is-being-investigated-for-securities-law-violations-and-investors-with-losses-are-urged-to-contact-the-schall-law-firm/

 

[x10003q]

More vultures circling Vail Resorts

https://www.wtrf.com/business/press-releases/accesswire/981220/vail-resorts-inc-is-being-investigated-for-securities-law-violations-and-investors-with-losses-are-urged-to-contact-the-schall-law-firm/

Meh - those vulture law firms will attack anything anytime for any reason. My brother is general counsel for a medium size pharma, you cannot believe what he has to deal with when these aholes start filing lawsuits.