Why was Belle late to open today??

[raisingarizona]

Yeah, I did some poaching and there was plenty of terrain that was good to go. Then they started posting ski patrol at the top of the gondola, to keep people off the other 80% of the mountain. I was irate.

That sounds like a bad state of mind to be in while skiing, on your day off from work. Sorry to hear.

 

[marcski]

My wife was the only one who made it in this morning. Most of her team never made it. 3 feet of snow changes the rules.

Not even close to 3' at Belle. 2' tops.

Leaving aside whether it was reasonable to open late, what was unreasonable is that they had the same trails open on Thursday that they did on Wed.

Tomahawk was spinning by 10. (I don't get skiing the Gondi at Belle anyway, but that's for another thread). As far as the chair, it seemed as though they were waiting for ski patrol. The chair was spinning well before 10 but they weren't loading it right away.

Yeah, I did some poaching and there was plenty of terrain that was good to go. Then they started posting ski patrol at the top of the gondola, to keep people off the other 80% of the mountain. I was irate.

Some slight of hand (or legs with skis) and you were able to slide by those "armed" guards. While the mountain was "skiable" there is no base combined with super fluffy snow makes for hitting bottom on the headwall at least for the general public, hence the continued closure(s). Good thing the Belle headwall is only about 3 ski lengths long ? because after the headwall it was all fresh pow, but after the headwall, IMHO, Belle is just too low to angle for that much snow.

 

[saratogahalfday]

You taught at Greek? Nice. What year would that be?

2004-2006.

 

[rebel1916]

Tomahawk was spinning by 10. (I don't get skiing the Gondi at Belle anyway, but that's for another thread). As far as the chair, it seemed as though they were waiting for ski patrol. The chair was spinning well before 10 but they weren't loading it right away.

Spinning empty does no one any good. Customer Service told me that Tomahawk was not open @ approx 11:15. After hours of being told 15-20 minutes. A buddy messaged me that they were open, or I might still be waiting at Overlook to this day. They actually called lift ops in front of me and still were relaying the wrong info. I blame that knucklehead Transue.

Some slight of hand (or legs with skis) and you were able to slide by those "armed" guards. While the mountain was "skiable" there is no base combined with super fluffy snow makes for hitting bottom on the headwall at least for the general public, hence the continued closure(s). Good thing the Belle headwall is only about 3 ski lengths long ? because after the headwall it was all fresh pow, but after the headwall, IMHO, Belle is just too low to angle for that much snow.

I did not poach after I spoke to the patrol members posted at the top. I try not to be a dick to the under (or in many cases completely un)paid. I believe they were frustrated as well. But much of the moderate stuff from the top was very skiable. Belleayre, Wanatuska, Mohawk were all fine and risk free to bottoms. The snow was so light that Belle's moderate pitch was OK as long as you showed some gumption from the top.

PS, I don't think they should have opened everything BTW. The have a responsibility to turn a bunch of that fresh into base, but they did an awful job. Again, Transue has been bad for Belle's weekday customers.

 

[marcski]

I did not poach after I spoke to the patrol members posted at the top. I try not to be a dick to the under (or in many cases completely un)paid. I believe they were frustrated as well.

We are never a dick to patrol. They do have one of the hardest jobs on the hill. And, we don't duck ropes, we always ski around them).

Spinning empty does no one any good. Customer Service told me that Tomahawk was not open @ approx 11:15.

We were definitely loading by 10:15 regardless what customer service told you. We had a few runs before the gondi was loading.

 

[rebel1916]

We are never a dick to patrol. They do have one of the hardest jobs on the hill. And, we don't duck ropes, we always ski around them).


We were definitely loading by 10:15 regardless what customer service told you. We had a few runs before the gondi was loading.

Oh, I'm aware. One of the things I'm so unhappy about is that the desk at both Overlook and Discovery was still saying nothing was open for so long after they actually had a lift open. They did a bad job.

 

[marcski]

Agreed. Its not like this snow was a surprise storm.

 

[Cornhead]

They did the same thing last December. They got close to two feet and had 3 trails officially open. The entire mountain was skiable. There were weeds protruding several feet through the snow on some trails, and water bars were also prevalent. I didn't see patrol trying to stop anyone from skiing wherever they wanted. I assumed the ropes were to prevent a "Here's a blue honey, let's ski this one" only to hit the weeds and water bars. One of my best days at Belleayre.

 

[Harvey]

"Here's a blue honey, let's ski this one"

 

[ScottySkis]

They did the same thing last December. They got close to two feet and had 3 trails officially open. The entire mountain was skiable. There were weeds protruding several feet through the snow on some trails, and water bars were also prevalent. I didn't see patrol trying to stop anyone from skiing wherever they wanted. I assumed the ropes were to prevent a "Here's a blue honey, let's ski this one" only to hit the weeds and water bars. One of my best days at Belleayre.

That was a very enjoyable snow day for Sure