F Vail

[x10003q]

Hey I asked a bunch of Hunter skiers why Westway never get snowmaking. These are people who have skied Hunter for decades, and it is their truth. I shared it.



That's a reason. You may not think it's a legit reason, but again, it's not your money, or mine. For whatever reason, you've now had three different owners who all saw it the same way.

Orville and Izzy always opened Annapurna until they started to cede decision making to the next generation. Peak Resorts bought Hunter in 2015. They only owned Hunter until Vail bought Peak in 2019. Peak really did not even establish a pattern, other than they had less snowmaking than the Slutzkys. Here in the East, Vail has repeatedly shown they do not care to offer the best product at many of their ski areas.

 

[Harvey]

That whole damn ski area is a bloody mess from a design standpoint. In all honesty it’s no spot for a ski area. There’s much better places to naturally place ski runs in the Catskills.

The only reason there is a ski area there is that two hard headed brothers owned the land, and everyone told them it was an insane place to put a ski area. Once they heard that... it was full steam ahead!

I’m still standing by my claim that the mega pass affect will eventually be a good thing for some privately owned areas like Plattekill, but we shall see.

It's already having that effect, or maybe it's covid.

 

[Zykamps]

So I'm late to this but...
I am someone who has dropped Hunter like a bad habit due to the neglect of the west side. After the North expansion (under Peak) the west side seemed to be an afterthought. Not running the Zephyr midweek was the end for me. That trail pod, with or without westway open hits the marks for me.
High speed lift
Respectable vertical
Steep terrain with very little run in / out
Yes it all needed work but, as mentioned, far less than the ridiculous marketing experiment that is the north side.

 

[Harvey]

What percentage of skiers really care about skiing? I hate to oversimplify (actually i love it ha) but if we are only 10% of total skier visits (or revenue really) we are screwed. If we are more than half, the pendulum will swing back in our direction.

 

[Brownski]

What percentage of skiers really care about skiing?

A large percentage. How many obsess over every minute detail the way we do so that they can articulate exactly what kind of skiing they prefer? Much lower percentage. How many actually like skiing steep trails on cut up, mangled natural snow or stringing together a top to bottom run on melted out ribbons of dirty snow? I don't know. Probably not that many

 

[Zykamps]

How many actually like skiing steep trails on cut up, mangled natural snow or stringing together a top to bottom run on melted out ribbons of dirty snow?

I resemble this remark. I'm not so good but enjoy finding the challenge in the margins. Granted I agree that this is probably a small percentage. Also personally I am not good for the overall revenue stream. How many also fall into that category as well?

 

[da-bum]

I don't know Westway being so dangerous as to lead to fatalities. People are unlikely to slide into the woods on it due to its width, unless they are skiing fast on the edge of the trail. Unlike Anapurna where people regularly slide into the trees, or Twilight with its dual fall line right on the turn, which leads people into the trees.

Overlook in the north is as close to steep fall line skiing as there is in Hunter, with its relatively long and wide trail, its just the huge roller at the bottom and long runout that I might have a slight issue with. Pluses are no crowd and best snow condition toward the 2nd half of the day.

Vail should cut some intermediate trail down the west side, attracting more of the non-experts from the main mountain, thus justifying running the Z lift along with opening the other west side trails. Its not feasible to do the Belt Parkway (passing the Flyer) /Way On/Way Out route for more than a few times.

 

[Brownski]

How many also fall into that category as well?

I don't know but I'm pretty sure Vail doesn't care

 

[SayvilleSteve]

Vail should cut some intermediate trail down the west side

I don't know that cutting a blue trail on the west side is possible. They had a good one (Way Out) that was ruined by the Hunter North addition. Hunter North had three fatalities in its first season. Annapurna had one back in 2017. The response has been to re-rate Twilight and Overlook to black and essentially ignore that Annapurna exists. Unfortunate. Not doing Epic next season and with day rates the way they, it may be some time before I make it back there.

 

[tirolski]

I don't know but I'm pretty sure Vail doesn't care

Mainly about Stowe & VailFail in this one.

Why Is Everyone So Angry At Vail Resorts? – VT SKI + RIDE

Look at it one way and it’s the classic American business success story: Young Wharton Business School grad gets tapped

vtskiandride.com

"“You can’t offer unlimited access to something that has a limited supply. It’s as if you had a restaurant with 40 seats and then told an unlimited number of people they can come in and have a meal. You’re going to run out of space, materials and what a staff can deliver,” says Jonny Adler, a Stowe local and a partner in The Skinny Pancake restaurant business."

"“I don’t think losing a few customers is going to make a difference,” says Adler. “Vail’s a big corporation. If you ask Kirsten Lynch if she cares more about skiers or her shareholders, she’s going to say ‘shareholders,’—she should, it’s America and that’s her job,” he notes."