joshua_segal
Hmmm $65,000 to ski next year and if I get 65 days in that’s umm how much a day?
I don't think there are many poor people at the Hermitage (except the staff).
Consider a condo owner at Spruce Peak at Stowe. $1.5M tied up in a slopeside condo. Taxes + condo fees plus opportubity cost for $1.5M (say 5%) comes out to say $85K per year. For us mortals, $65K sounds like a lot of money. For many, it's chump change.
newpylong
Unlike the balance of the industry, covid is going to play into their wheel house. I suspect they will have a very good year.
I see an SV10 tower in that article, I wonder what is left for snowmaking equipment on the hill post auction. Vail got all the Techno Alpins? I am assuming things didn't get far enough along liquidating the HKDs.
DrJeff
Unlike the balance of the industry, covid is going to play into their wheel house. I suspect they will have a very good year.
.
100% agree with this! I'm sure some of the marketing will be along the lines of regardless of what day it is and when you decide you want to come ski/ride, you will never face the chance of being blacked out due to COVID-19 capacity limitations at the club.....
And with a solid numbers of members of the old club still with 2nd homes in the immediate area, and the potential uncertainty of how Vail Resorts may/may not limit the numbers of guests on the hill at Mount Snow this coming season, they will have a very likely interested customer base, many of whom who won't look at that $65k membership fee as outrageous before they need to heavily start marketing the club to other demographics
ski_it
I see an SV10 tower in that article, I wonder what is left for snowmaking equipment on the hill post auction. Vail got all the Techno Alpins?
Have a picture at Mt Snow and they had at least 14 of them. Can't recall for sure, but there may have been more the week before. Most were T40s & a couple M18s.
Oh yeah here it is. They got 41 guns.
https://saminfo.com/headline-news/9525-former-hermitage-club-sold-at-auction
Hmmm $65,000 to ski next year and if I get 65 days in that’s umm how much a day?
I don't think there are many poor people at the Hermitage (except the staff).
Consider a condo owner at Spruce Peak at Stowe. $1.5M tied up in a slopeside condo. Taxes + condo fees plus opportubity cost for $1.5M (say 5%) comes out to say $85K per year. For us mortals, $65K sounds like a lot of money. For many, it's chump change.
Yep. I'm not in that crowd but thought (fantasized) about it for a moment.
ski_it
The latest:
https://www.benningtonbanner.com/stories/hermitage-prepares-for-new-future,610725
Hmm was that the latest? Funny, they didn't mention the Hayfever Triple is going to be sold and removed according to NESH on 7/27.
Same NESH article says Bousquet Mountain is installing a triple.
ridgerat
Bousquet has removed the Hall double and removed chairs and cable from the Yellow douple. There are triple chair parts and drive terminal in the parking lot.
ski_it
But did they come from Haystack? It's a Poma white/ gray terminal.
Liftblog says it is, so I guess it is. Where are our valley spies?? I'm still in the red so I can't go.
PS: and no guesses save one.
NELSBEER
10% of the number of skiers at Mount Snow on a weekend is attractive. However, that participation level on weekdays is what led to the closing of lifts on a number of days (Mon-Wed?) during all but holiday weeks by the prior management. Cutting costs on 'weak' days makes it hard for staff that works 3-5 days a week to make ends meet.
Weekdays, with reduced crowds, groomed slopes that last for hours and few kids tend to draw the senior citizen group. You know, the grand dads that have the money to buy full time retirement homes. They just drove over to Mount Snow the last few years.
Will 200 customers be paying everything or can the ski area come up with a paradigm that gets enough customers with hard dollars to spend in the gate while avoiding crowding? Maybe 'special event packages' , "Lost Ski Area Day", "Snow Journal Day", "Warren Miller Weekend", "Fat tire Bike Day", "North American/New England Premium Beer Slalom"...
The "BEST" cheese sandwich that is promised may have grilled home-smoked gouda and avocado on fresh baked bread and be served with hand cut potato chips. Cheaper than Lobster, sure... but not what I want for a fussy 6 year old who expects "AMERICAN" on white and eats two mouthfulls. They will have to know and please their audience(s).
Pulling an excess lift yields a little income and reduces staffing costs to run the place, with a HS Bubble it won't be missed.
They have as good a starting point as they could hope for, it will be interesting to see if they can pull it off. Hope they come up with T-shirts and Beers Glasses that are 'to die for' so we can collect them.
joshua_segal
Replying to NELBEERS's comment:
Real ski areas are open 7-days a week. Pico can get away with it because its owned by nearby Killington. If the Hermitage was owned by Vail, they could get away with it. But if you're not open on weekdays, you don't get the ski-week vacationers and it eats into your season pass sales - in addition to the part-time staff issues which Nelson mentioned.
marcski
Replying to NELBEERS's comment:
Real ski areas are open 7-days a week. Pico can get away with it because its owned by nearby Killington. If the Hermitage was owned by Vail, they could get away with it. But if you're not open on weekdays, you don't get the ski-week vacationers and it eats into your season pass sales - in addition to the part-time staff issues which Nelson mentioned.
I don't really agree with your blanket definition of a ski area being based solely on those where you can take a ski week holiday. First, other than school vacation weeks, how many people are actually vacationing midweek at ski areas? You, of all people, should know that a "real ski area" does not depend on who may ski there or what type of frills the mountain may offer.
And, Nelsbeer, midweek skiing has always been the domain of the retired.
jaytrem
Real ski areas are open 7-days a week
Never realized I skied so many fake ski areas out west.
joshua_segal
Real ski areas are open 7-days a week
Never realized I skied so many fake ski areas out west.
What western ski areas aren't? (BTW: The NE of NELSAP is New England.)
jaytrem
Real ski areas are open 7-days a week
Never realized I skied so many fake ski areas out west.
What western ski areas aren't? (BTW: The NE of NELSAP is New England.)
Oh, so your silly rule doesn't apply to the west, got it. Anyway, in just Montana alone...
Bar Paw
Blacktail
Great Divide
Lookout (I think they may have gone to 7 days a week since I've been there)
Lost Trail
Maverick
Showdown
Teton Pass
Turner
Does make for tricky trip planning.
NewEnglandSkier13
BMOM is only open 4 days a week, although our model is different than most mountains.
joshua_segal
While I don't know about any of the western areas listed by jaytrem, BMOM is not what I would categorize as a resort - but as a place (a great place) to ski. BMOM is not competing for ski-weekers nor is it masquerading as a destination resort.
jaytrem
I was just a little surprised and disappointed by the "real ski area" comment. Probably half the ski areas in Maine are open less than 7 days a week. When I visit one I don't go and tell the folks running the place that "sometimes I like to take a break from the real ski areas". I'm guessing you were just trying to take shot at Hermitage club for some reason. Unfortunately it came off as more elitist than anything I've ever heard any of their club members say. As for the NE is for New England comment. Really??? This isn't one of your lists and there are ski areas from coast to coast that are open less than 7 days a week. Those MT ski areas are all quite nice. I think they all have at least 1000 vert so they'er all real ski areas. ;-)
I'll leave you with a quote form the great Lemmy Kilmister...
"I swear I love 'em all, I don't care if they're small
I don't care if they're tall, love 'em anyway"
Dirk109
I think pulling Hayfever is a mistake. Redundancy is key in our sport. If Barnstormer goes down, no skiing at Hermitage….
joshua_segal
jaytrem: My "real ski area" comment seems to have struck a nerve with you. In using the term "real ski area" I was differentiating among the following:
- Local Hills - Limited openings, generally old surface lifts
- Regional Day Trip Area
- Destination Resort - Places with large trail systems with many beds and apres ski activities available
For the fun of a silly season argument, I will suggest that most local hills are not "real ski areas" and the all destination resorts are "real ski areas".
So let's look at 3-"Regional Day Trip Areas."
Wachusett, Mtn. Creek, BMOM.
Wachusett with access to 8M people from the greater Boston area
Mtn. Creek with access to 18M people from the NYC Metropolitan area
BMOM with access to 70K people from the greater Portland area.
It quickly becomes clear why BMOM (and most smaller ME areas) can't support a 7-day a week product, while Sunday River and Sugarloaf can!
So - who wants to offer a counter?
rickbolger
If you can put on skis, get mechanical transport up a hill, and then slide down the hill, I call it a real ski area. I don't care if it's a rope tow in your cow pasture or a 10,000' mountain. It's a ski area, really.
Of course if you reverse the order, it's then an upside down ski area. But it's real.
Tell the lady who serves the burgers at Northeast Slopes that it ain't a real ski area, and then post the photo of your bumps and bruises. ;)
joshua_segal
If you can put on skis, get mechanical transport up a hill, and then slide down the hill, I call it a real ski area. I don't care if it's a rope tow in your cow pasture or a 10,000' mountain. It's a ski area, really.
Of course if you reverse the order, it's then an upside down ski area. But it's real.
Tell the lady who serves the burgers at Northeast Slopes that it ain't a real ski area, and then post the photo of your bumps and bruises. ;)
Sorry. I can't find an equivalence/parity between Blue Hills and Wachusett, and I can't find an equivalence/parity between Wachusett and Sugarbush!
And unless the burger lady is really stupid, I doubt she considers her area (Northeast Slopes) a destination resort!
