Crotched Mountain - 2021-2 Season

ciscokid

song why can't we be friends

hazlntskier

Having been to Mt. Snow on Wednesday 12/29 (busy day as it is normally during holiday week) where there seemed to be plenty of staff, can't they hire people for the NH resorts. I know it is a different state with different politics but rural NH isn't a hot spot of employment last I heard. Is the vaccine mandate the biggest hurdle? How can Pats Peak be almost 70% open with the same unfavorable weather?

joshua_segal

hazlntskier;c-52556 wroteHaving been to Mt. Snow on Wednesday 12/29 (busy day as it is normally during holiday week) where there seemed to be plenty of staff, can't they hire people for the NH resorts. I know it is a different state with different politics but rural NH isn't a hot spot of employment last I heard. Is the vaccine mandate the biggest hurdle? How can Pats Peak be almost 70% open with the same unfavorable weather?

You ask a great question. Most of the major resorts use J1 visa foreigners and they have on-premises employee housing for them. Sunapee and Crotched don't have that program.

Re Pat's Peak: The mountain has deep roots within the Henniker community and a GM who loves the mountain. They operate in the summer as a wedding venue, so they can offer year-around jobs. By contrast, the local communities have been almost hostile to CM. E.g.: There were several heated public hearing when CM was installing its HSQ and Francistown has made it clear that the current CM will not be permitted to expand to the east (i.e toward the Old CM).

Peak Resorts was beginning to develop a summer program at CM that included foot races, mountain-bike races, etc. They were reasonably successful. However, these programs were canceled in the last year or two of Peak's ownership for reasons that are beyond the scope of this thread.

As best as I can tell, no efforts have been made to reach out and meet with the Selectmen in the abutting towns to build relationships.

In other words: It's complicated.

I can say that the current CM staff is passionate about our mountain. It's just that there are not enough of us!

MrMagic

Just saw they will be reducing their operating hours from Wed to Sunday closed monday/Tuesday a number of reasons stated by the GM staffing struggles one of them. Wounder how much of that is true and how much might be coming from the vail mother ship.

Quietman

The staffing issues are real. A number of ski instructors were running the lifts and checking tickets on opening day. Lifties where always tough to find in the best of years, are almost impossible now. Pay levels seem to be a factor and the cheap season pass as a benefit doesn't help.

newpylong

I am sure it is very real, and was a tough decision and they have the data to show it.

Was their fine print when purchasing the Epic Pass that hours of operation could change at will or will a class action be forthcoming?

NewEnglandSkier13

newpylong;c-52567 wroteI am sure it is very real, and was a tough decision and they have the data to show it.

Was their fine print when purchasing the Epic Pass that hours of operation could change at will or will a class action be forthcoming?

Especially for those who purchased a midweek pass

Chuckstah

What is going in across the street where the falling down motel was? Seems that could have been a good spot for employee housing. Hindsight, I know.

Quietman

Rehab center.

Chuckstah

Thanks, been wondering for a while.

yardsale

joshua_segal;c-50886 wrote
ski_it;c-50885 wroteHow many employee & volunteers will not return with Vail Resorts vaccine mandates for all employees?
Good question. If they leave for that reason, I say, "Good riddance." While most of the work I do is outside, I really don't want to be unnecessarily exposed even though I've had 3-shots to date. I have two fully vaccinated friends who have had bad breakthrough cases.

I'm wondering if you are still saying "good riddance" to those employees that were let go with what we now know about the vax etc and that fact that your home Mt has gone to 5 days due to staffing problems.

Its not just the ski industry - every aspect of the tourism industry, the service industry, the health care industry will come at us. Sad situation.

NewEnglandSkier13

yardsale;c-52598 wrote
joshua_segal;c-50886 wrote
ski_it;c-50885 wroteHow many employee & volunteers will not return with Vail Resorts vaccine mandates for all employees?
Good question. If they leave for that reason, I say, "Good riddance." While most of the work I do is outside, I really don't want to be unnecessarily exposed even though I've had 3-shots to date. I have two fully vaccinated friends who have had bad breakthrough cases.
I'm wondering if you are still saying "good riddance" to those employees that were let go with what we now know about the vax etc and that fact that your home Mt has gone to 5 days due to staffing problems.

Its not just the ski industry - every aspect of the tourism industry, the service industry, the health care industry will come at us. Sad situation.

I doubt that's the real root of the staffing issue. Look at other mountains with vaccine mandates for employees including Camden, Dartmouth, & Shawnee Peak. They don't seem to have any staffing issues, and they aren't cutting back on operations. I think people simply don't want to work for Vail where they get treated poorly and paid less than at other areas.

newpylong

yardsale;c-52598 wrote
joshua_segal;c-50886 wrote
ski_it;c-50885 wroteHow many employee & volunteers will not return with Vail Resorts vaccine mandates for all employees?
Good question. If they leave for that reason, I say, "Good riddance." While most of the work I do is outside, I really don't want to be unnecessarily exposed even though I've had 3-shots to date. I have two fully vaccinated friends who have had bad breakthrough cases.
I'm wondering if you are still saying "good riddance" to those employees that were let go with what we now know about the vax etc and that fact that your home Mt has gone to 5 days due to staffing problems.

Its not just the ski industry - every aspect of the tourism industry, the service industry, the health care industry will come at us. Sad situation.

Oh it would take a lot more employees than the extremely few that left due to vaccination requirements at Vail to get them back on track numbers wise. The staffing shortages being felt across the country are a similar situation.

yardsale

newpylong;c-52603 wrote
yardsale;c-52598 wrote
joshua_segal;c-50886 wrote
ski_it;c-50885 wroteHow many employee & volunteers will not return with Vail Resorts vaccine mandates for all employees?
Good question. If they leave for that reason, I say, "Good riddance." While most of the work I do is outside, I really don't want to be unnecessarily exposed even though I've had 3-shots to date. I have two fully vaccinated friends who have had bad breakthrough cases.
I'm wondering if you are still saying "good riddance" to those employees that were let go with what we now know about the vax etc and that fact that your home Mt has gone to 5 days due to staffing problems.

Its not just the ski industry - every aspect of the tourism industry, the service industry, the health care industry will come at us. Sad situation.
Oh it would take a lot more employees than the extremely few that left due to vaccination requirements at Vail to get them back on track numbers wise. The staffing shortages being felt across the country are a similar situation.

Agree. Healthcare/hospitals are so short. Some are figuring it out - some are not. Sam's point too - in this environment, you need to be competitive and recalculate your old employment/employee models. If you need staff, you need to be on the upper part of the scale.

I do wonder how many employees they lost though. At a place like Crotched, was it less than 10 or more more than 10 and what was the breaking point to lead them to the 5 days?

Quietman

Blowing Plutos this morning!

rickbolger

This staffing shortage spotlights the glaring miscalculation of over-reliance on selling advance blanket orders during an inflationary period.

Materials, production & delivery costs keep skyrocketing, but you're locked in at a pre-determined sale price of every single unit.

:#

Not many people are willing to stand outside and bang chairs at 10ºF for $15/hr and a pass.

But if you pay them enough, they'll do it. Everything is for sale if they price is right.
Where do you get the money for that, at this stage of the game?

NELSBEER

Actually, Crotched seldom if ever kept as many as 10 people on staff thru the summer.
Most commonly 5-6 outside and 3-4 inside, with some part time and long vacations encouraged. Many folks had alternate jobs for the summer, landscaping, golf course, heavy machines, parks... a flexible lifestyle that paid the bills.

Two years in a row of heavier than normal reductions had staff way down causing people to accept alternate, better paying, fulltime jobs. I would be surprised if the Covid Vax question caused more than 2 people to leave.

Vail came back to the hiring table this fall a little late and with more money but didn't find the usual folks waiting to return. Erratic schedules, Covid, kids at home and better opportunities had changed the paradigm.

Crotched responded fairly well, bringing in paid professionals to do formerly inhouse jobs like summer LIFT PM & trail weed whacking. For other tasks staff from other areas were brought in and a few critical staff were transferred in. Every area had a leader fairly quickly, staff backfilling has been a challenge.

Between management changes & late starts some tasks got behind. One PB Groomer is still reportedly at another area getting maintenance done. The Rocket, carpet and West lifts were ready for opening day, the Valley lift is the next priority due to its capacity and status as Rocket back-up, it should be running soon. The triple (now Rover) will take a little longer due to its Riblet chairs taking longer to install on a new rope. This is the stuff that has outside crew overwhelmed for the time being at a time when snowmaking and grooming are normally their main concerns. Monday and Tuesday are giving them time to catch up & have things in place as the real crowds start to roll in soon.

Inside the lodge seems to be in good shape. Everything is cleaner than it has been in a while. The food service is able to handle crowds with minor lines. Menu is simpler but adequate and the bar is open with real 'bar food' - outside access from the rear deck.

Rest assured the remaining cohorts still consider Crotched 'their' ski area and are doing their best to make it work. Look carefully, it is like a circus, with roustabouts moving from job to job, if they need another lift operator you may see a ski patroller or instructor doing the loading... but where else do you get a Ph.D. or MBA loading with a big smile on their face?

Quietman

Thank you for the update! Good news that Valley should be up and running soon.

rickbolger

NELSBEER;c-52691 wroteRest assured the remaining cohorts still consider Crotched 'their' ski area and are doing their best to make it work. Look carefully, it is like a circus, with roustabouts moving from job to job, if they need another lift operator you may see a ski patroller or instructor doing the loading... but where else do you get a Ph.D. or MBA loading with a big smile on their face?

At other locally beloved operations that have been assimilated.

When you pre-sell a bunch of tickets to a band concert, but you neglect to meet with the union that represents the stage crew, the lighting crew, sound crew, and security...and then they don't show up for work on the day of the concert, who does all that stuff?

The band fills in! They roll up their sleeves and do a great job with the sound, lighting, etc. And they smile! The concert promoter is happy, but the music suffers.

obienick

Stopped by Crotched today from 11-3:30.

Had the day off and was looking to go somewhere. Watching the weather I was a little hesitant considering yesterday, especially as I noted on the webcam at midnight that it appeared most if not all grooming was completed. But WeatherUnderground said Francestown got only 0.01” of rain so I figured I’d just go a little late and hope it softens a little, figuring I’d easily get a close spot at Crotched.

Parking was a breeze. Popped in and went straight to the Double for a warmup a lap on Supernova. If any of you have never been (I’m sure most here have), Supernova is one of the best green runs anywhere. Just make sure to bare left onto Re-Entry if it’s open to avoid the pitch right in front of the lodge.

Skating up to the lift and a bit disappointed the corral wasn’t taken out and groomed overnight. But I was met with a very friendly visiting Vail Resorts employee on loan from another mountain to scan me. I have to say the smaller scanners that are used at Crotched are night and day much better than those bulkier ones at Okemo. These read quickly and from far away. The ones at Sunapee the scanner must get real close and it seems to take 5 seconds for it to register if valid.

The Double was running only at ~365 fpm by my count and Supernova ended up being covered in death cookies at the start but improved further down.

At the bottom, off to the right past the Rover lift to head to the Rocket. The Rover (new name for the triple) is still incomplete. Chairs still have not been hung.

The Rocket did not live up to its hype today. Only running at ~785 fpm by my count. Perhaps slowed a bit by the slight breeze. I remember it used to fly. First run off the top was Moon Walk —> Galaxy. This ended up being the run of the day, and as such probably saw 80% of the skier traffic. Good depth. Good grooming. Held up save the usual scratch area just below where Retro enters Moon Walk and one small skied off section in the middle after the turn on Galaxy.

I ended up doing 3x off the Double and 30x off the Rocket. SkiTracks claims I did 29,985 vertical. But if I add up the surveys verticals for the Double (485’) and the old quad before Crotched West went bust (878’) I get 27,795’.

Meteor was firm and fast — which normally would be lots of fun — but groomer ruts and potholes galore. The left-most groomer pass was quite smooth, firm, and fun, but slowly became covered in pine debris. Quite dangerous later in the day as the clouds rolled in and the light got lower. Eventually it was closed off for slalom training I hope the racers were OK. Good news it appears a new load of B-netting has arrived. But if I was a racer I’d be disappointed they still haven’t connected the snow to the start huts. In a normal year in MA, HS racing has already started.

Same situation with the grooming over on Velocity.

Satellite Summit was death cookies up top and skied off at the bottom. There was basically one thin line you could take.

Big ice patch and chunks missing on the pitch leading into Milky Way. Easy for someone like me but I saw a few struggle through there.

And that brings us to Magnitude. That trail shouldn’t have been open, plain and simple. One groomer pass from last night up top (a bit wider presumably from the day before but frozen solid) and widens to maybe 3. Pure pure hardpack. Barely edgeable and ruts and bumps left from the groomer galore. I attempted it. I never saw anyone else attempt it until late in the day I saw 4 boarders attempt it and failed.

Firm and fast is fine. Hard surfaces following warm days is expected. But what is absolutely not expected is unmarked potholes left and right all over the mountain from grooming mistake after mistake. To me, completely unacceptable — a major safety concern.

The Double went down around 1:00. The scanners and lifties moved over to help at the Rocket. Maintenance fixed it fairly quick. I don’t know what time it went live, but I think by 2:00.

All in all…Crotched was a better experience than Sunapee’s in December. Especially the fact that staff was much friendlier. I’m happy Crotched fixed the snow report: earlier several trails were erroneously listed as open over the holidays where they have not even started making snow. But what Crotched delivered today was most certainly not what it once was like under Peak and not what I imagine a company with the experience of Vail with $1.5B cash on hand could or should be able to deliver.

I did not head into the lodge so I do not know how the food/bar/vax check situation is like.

Low intermediate skiers… Might want to wait to see how much the storm delivers and if not much, give some time for further reworking of the snow following Wednesday’s warmth. There’s only 1 way down for you and you might get bored fast.

Vail… This summer they promised EpicMix tracking would be live at all resorts this year. When I saw no gantries I figured the hand scanners would upload but nope. Does not appear in app. Again, the same kind of over-promise under-deliver that Vail has been doing (at least in the East).

Staff great (minus grooming). Vail just sucks. Perhaps it’s from the fact most C-suite people are new within the past year. Perhaps they still can’t grasp how to run an eastern resort. Perhaps they bit off more they can chew by doubling their resorts by purchasing Peak, but you can’t blame the local help.

Finally, what’s with the no name tags? One liftie had her name on a piece of paper. Everyone else had no name tag.

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