Vail is just okay..but not great.. they do install new lifts

trackbiker

Beast Patroller;c-52174 wroteI want to congratulate Vail in helping skiers & riders to realize how great the independent ski areas are. I'm sure Ikon is also very appreciative for the extra business they're sending their way too!

I skied Montage yesterday on my Indy Pass and rode the lift with several people who have Epic passes and want nothing to do with Jack Frost after their hour long lines and only two lifts running from the bottom. Including three retired guys who live 10 minutes from JF and only go on weekdays now. Montage has always suffered from people from Philly and North Jersey having to drive by several areas to get there. Vail has helped this independent area attract new customers including a couple from Philly there for the first time commenting on how short the lift lines were, how good the conditions were, and how reasonable the lift tickets were. Vail has really helped to get Montage on the map!

ciscokid

I used to be one of those that never made it past Camelback to try Montage ( or was it called something else back in the eighties?)

lotsoskiing

ciscokid;c-53531 wroteI used to be one of those that never made it past Camelback to try Montage ( or was it called something else back in the eighties?)

Snö

Chuckstah

Nice day at Mt Snow today. Every lift we came across was open, on a Monday no less, and there were no lines except a minute or two on the Bluebird. Fun albeit thin snow on the naturals with plenty of bumps around. And we saw a bobcat on the side of Long John (Deer Run?). That's a first skiing.

ski_it

1/21/2022 Vail Resorts plan to reduce lift lines includes phone free zones/
Vail Phone Free Zones They should do the same on the highways in & out of ski areas...

Beast Patroller

ski_it;c-53551 wrote1/21/2022 Vail Resorts plan to reduce lift lines includes phone free zones/
Vail Phone Free Zones They should do the same on the highways in & out of ski areas...

Ha! They can't keep people from smoking or drinking in the lift lines. What makes them think they can control this?

Brklynskier

ski_it;c-53551 wrote1/21/2022 Vail Resorts plan to reduce lift lines includes phone free zones/
Vail Phone Free Zones They should do the same on the highways in & out of ski areas...

Begin Snark

But I'm looking at my Trail Map!

End Snark

Quietman

Wow, had to really look for this thread with a last post of 2/1.

Appears that Vail will increase its min wage at all of it's properties to $20/hr next year, $21 for patrollers.

https://snowbrains.com/vail-resorts-announced-20-minimum1/

Chuckstah

That's great news. Hopefully it will greatly reduce posts in the "other" thread.

DrJeff

Not to mention added investment in employee housing, the ability for managers to work more remotely and not just live by the corporate HQ in CO (maybe the East and Middle Atlantic area managers will actually live in the East and Middle Atlantic now) and a large increase in customer service agents.

Seems like Kirstin Lynch is choosing to listen to numerous complaints this season and implement many things to address them.

Guess we'll see how this affects attracting more and retaining existing employees

conrad

That's huge news. Finally they were able admit that things were not exactly rosy. And they've decided to compete again. In a very Vail way. They could have decided to give more resources to the ski areas to attract staff in the traditional ways. But paying $20 an hour across the board will help solve the staff problem as well! You invest in the people and somehow other problems get solved. 2022-23 will be a much better year at all Vail Resorts.

Ski Area Management article: https://www.saminfo.com/news/sam-headline-news/10051-vail-to-invest-175-million-in-pay-increases-housing-hr

Beast Patroller

This is definitely a move in the right direction. Too bad it took at the complaints & bad press to finally pressure them to do the right thing!

Unfortunately even with the latest news they still have to address the overcrowding at areas on weekends. Hopefully they will address that by doing away with the K-Mart "bluelight special" pricing. Guess we'll just have to wait & see what the pass prices will be next year?

tedede

Will $20 be enough by the time snow flies in the fall?

newpylong

Beast Patroller;c-54710 wroteThis is definitely a move in the right direction. Too bad it took at the complaints & bad press to finally pressure them to do the right thing!

Unfortunately even with the latest news they still have to address the overcrowding at areas on weekends. Hopefully they will address that by doing away with the K-Mart "bluelight special" pricing. Guess we'll just have to wait & see what the pass prices will be next year?

Too bad Killington is a relative ghost town compared to Epic hills now. Never thought I would say it, but it's true.

I don't think they are going to solve any crowding problem without a sharp price increase.

DrJeff

New GM named for Mount Snow. Time will tell if they nailed it with him. Sounds promising, especially heading into a Summer of new lift construction in a way that may very well transform how traffic flows around the resort!

"Brian Suhadolc, currently Vice President of Mountain Operations at Vail Mountain, will be the next General Manager of Mount Snow in Vermont. Brian will succeed Tracy Bartels who was recently appointed as Vice President of Maintenance, Planning & Projects effective April 1. Brian will continue in his role at Vail Mountain until a transition plan unfolds later in the spring.
Brian has had a long history in the ski industry, leading operations for Vail Mountain since 2020 and preceded by a progression through multiple leadership roles over 28 years at Park City Mountain. During his time at Park City, Brian played a critical role in executing the $50 million capital project to connect Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort, High Meadow Park and the Over and Out lift. In his tenure at Vail, Brian was instrumental in leading the optimization of the recent multi-million dollar snowmaking investment to result in the earliest opening in the history of Vail Mountain. Brian is one of the strongest leaders across our mountains having served as the enterprise operations leader of the Mountain Operations Leadership Team (MOLT) and the leader of the Operational Reliability workstream for the Lift Optimization Project to achieve dramatic improvements in lift capacity all across the Company. Brian has been a valued member of Vail Mountain Senior Leadership Team and has helped develop countless new leaders throughout his tenure at Vail, Park City and his enterprise leadership roles.
Brian is a New Jersey native and excited to return to the Northeast with his wife where skiing began for him in his youth."

slatham

Well at least he has some East Coast experience. Hope he does well.

lotsoskiing

Brian was instrumental in leading the optimization of the recent multi-million dollar snowmaking investment to result in the earliest opening in the history of Vail Mountain.

I hate corporate-speak.

I also thought Vail early snowmaking was a junk show this year, but maybe that was the pre-opening snow on the training venue. Heard they had to shut down due to chemical spill into the river and I know their club was at Copper much of November

DrJeff

From a very reliable source this past weekend, in addition to the 2 new lifts at Mount Snow going in this Summer, they will also be reusing some of the triple chairs from the going away Tumbleweed and Sundance lifts and upgrading Heavy Metal to a triple to provide some more capacity out of the Carinthia base area!

Apparently a good deal of the existing infrastructure on Heavy Metal now will be able to handle the triples, so in the big scheme of things, it is a fairly easy project as I was told. Upgrading to a quad would of been much closer to a full tear down and new installation with much more tree clearing along the line, so it really wasn't that much of an option at this time

newpylong

Sounds like a good move. The cross arms for Yan Triples and Doubles I believe are the same length, so possibly some train swap outs to handle the additional tension and a larger motor and associated safety systems if they aren't large enough.

jaytrem

I guess they should have plenty of parts. I'll miss it being a double, but no doubt a good move.

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