Windham Mountain Going Private?

[Milo Maltbie]

4,000 skiers per day and open to the public doesn’t seem very private.

I guess it depends on what you think "private" means. Windham has at least 2 private clubs, and more if you count the private lockers and the adaptive program. Those people aren't mixing it up much with the riff raff, except in the lift lines. Limiting it to 4000 skiers is a way to add value to the clubs without given up too much revenue.

mm

 

[Ripitz]

I guess it depends on what you think "private" means.

I have skied at two private ski areas, Mt. Greylock and Yellowstone Club. Both were the same, only members and their guests could ski. Neither are available for the general public to purchase a lift ticket. It’s not a hard concept to grasp.

 

[TheGreatAbyss]

This is more about branding then actually being a private club. I honestly don't hate it, each Catskill mountain kinda has it's own thing now.

Depending on price I could even see myself booking a long weekend at Windham with young kids and no season pass anywhere else.

 

[Milo Maltbie]

This is more about branding then actually being a private club.

QFT
OTOH it’s Big Money taking over the whole town and trying new strategies to take all the money out. IME that’s never a good thing and if it works it will spread everywhere like a virus.

No one here cares much about Windham but this is all part of the shitification of skiing and the economy generally.

mm

 

[Deez]

QFT = Quantum Field Theory ?
I'm not good with the abbreviations

 

[Brownski]

QFT = Quantum Field Theory ?
I'm not good with the abbreviations

Gonna stick my neck out and say “Quite Fucking True”?

 

[dubstar]

"No one here cares much about Windham"

I sure do. I think a lot of people focus on management and other non-skiing issues and overlook / forget / miss out on what Windham has to offer up on the actual mountain. I say that as someone who really, really dislikes many of the recent decisions the owners and management have made. There's a lot of great terrain and lesser known areas that the casual visitor might miss out on. That's why the lack of trail expansion both within the existing trail footprint (Wilderness Bowl area, for example) and off the back of East Peak in the newly purchased area is so aggravating. Not only would this open up new trails, it would also create new ways of accessing the existing trail layout and reduce congestion and traffic in certain bottleneck areas. They also need to expand snowmaking to cover all the cool switchback and connector trails that are often closed due to lack of snow. Hopefully some of this will happen now that the private club plans have been put on the back burner.

December 2022

 

[Benny Profane]

QFT
OTOH it’s Big Money taking over the whole town and trying new strategies to take all the money out. IME that’s never a good thing and if it works it will spread everywhere like a virus.

No one here cares much about Windham but this is all part of the shitification of skiing and the economy generally.

mm

Oh, calm down. This isn't even working at Windham. They tried, but can't get enough stupid money behind it. Most of that NY money they're chasing spends it in the Hamptons and gets on a plane to cool places in the winter. I mean, there's some of it there, Windham ain't Tannersville, but not enough to create a Yellowstone east.

 

[Milo Maltbie]

Oh, calm down. This isn't even working at Windham. They tried, but can't get enough stupid money behind it. Most of that NY money they're chasing spends it in the Hamptons and gets on a plane to cool places in the winter. I mean, there's some of it there, Windham ain't Tannersville, but not enough to create a Yellowstone east.

I think they thought the Hamptons were full, and they could get Sagaponack money for a golf course they haven't built yet. They were gonna rebuild the course this summer but it's open now so obviously that part of the plan failed.

The part that still might work is high price season passes + limited day ticket sales and tying lift tickets to lodging. It's like a different way forward for independents without getting into mega-passes. That might be good for skiers but bad for property owners.

mm

 

[Benny Profane]

Windham is too close for lodging investment. Didn't take off at Hunter. Too many day trippers.