Granite Gorge Up For Auction

NewEnglandSkier13

I wish them luck in the future, it's a fun ski area! I hope that they'll start offering regular full day lift tickets, otherwise it's hard justifying driving any distance to ski there for only a few hours.

joshua_segal

I skied GG back in 2015. I wanted to see what our competition had to offer. (I also checked out the new beginner area, Cascade Basin, that was just opened at Pat's Peak.)

If I were to categorize the skiing at GG, it is roughly like the Valley Chair pod of Crotched Mountain. Similar vertical and both served by an FG lift. I think that region of NH, with Keene about 10 miles away, has a viable market for their product with minimal impact on CM. Most of our traffic comes from the south and the east.

newpylong

NewEnglandSkier13;c-60405 wroteI wish them luck in the future, it's a fun ski area! I hope that they'll start offering regular full day lift tickets, otherwise it's hard justifying driving any distance to ski there for only a few hours.

Mid-week? If so it will never happen. For the mom and pop ski areas the action doesn't start until school let's out.

NewEnglandSkier13

newpylong;c-60407 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60405 wroteI wish them luck in the future, it's a fun ski area! I hope that they'll start offering regular full day lift tickets, otherwise it's hard justifying driving any distance to ski there for only a few hours.
Mid-week? If so it will never happen. For the mom and pop ski areas the action doesn't start until school let's out.

I wouldn't expect them to be open all day midweek, but this past season they only sold lift tickets in 2 and 4 hour blocks. You couldn't buy a full day lift ticket on weekends.

joshua_segal

NewEnglandSkier13;c-60408 wrote
newpylong;c-60407 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60405 wroteI wish them luck in the future, it's a fun ski area! I hope that they'll start offering regular full day lift tickets, otherwise it's hard justifying driving any distance to ski there for only a few hours.
Mid-week? If so it will never happen. For the mom and pop ski areas the action doesn't start until school let's out.
I wouldn't expect them to be open all day midweek, but this past season they only sold lift tickets in 2 and 4 hour blocks. You couldn't buy a full day lift ticket on weekends.

I could be wrong, but I thought that was for tubing - not skiing.

NewEnglandSkier13

joshua_segal;c-60410 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60408 wrote
newpylong;c-60407 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60405 wroteI wish them luck in the future, it's a fun ski area! I hope that they'll start offering regular full day lift tickets, otherwise it's hard justifying driving any distance to ski there for only a few hours.
Mid-week? If so it will never happen. For the mom and pop ski areas the action doesn't start until school let's out.
I wouldn't expect them to be open all day midweek, but this past season they only sold lift tickets in 2 and 4 hour blocks. You couldn't buy a full day lift ticket on weekends.
I could be wrong, but I thought that was for tubing - not skiing.

It was for both. I read a number of trip reports from there this season and remember seeing it on their website. It seems the website no longer shows the ticket options now that they are closed for the season.

NewEnglandSkier13

joshua_segal;c-60410 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60408 wrote
newpylong;c-60407 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60405 wroteI wish them luck in the future, it's a fun ski area! I hope that they'll start offering regular full day lift tickets, otherwise it's hard justifying driving any distance to ski there for only a few hours.
Mid-week? If so it will never happen. For the mom and pop ski areas the action doesn't start until school let's out.
I wouldn't expect them to be open all day midweek, but this past season they only sold lift tickets in 2 and 4 hour blocks. You couldn't buy a full day lift ticket on weekends.
I could be wrong, but I thought that was for tubing - not skiing.

Found it. Here are their tickets prices from this season, showing that they only offer 2 and 4 hour blocks:

lotsoskiing

Personally, 4 hours at a place that size would more than suffice for me.... Leaves the afternoon free for something else. I skied 4 hours at Northeast Slopes and was more than done...

NewEnglandSkier13

lotsoskiing;c-60413 wrotePersonally, 4 hours at a place that size would more than suffice for me.... Leaves the afternoon free for something else. I skied 4 hours at Northeast Slopes and was more than done...

To each their own, but plenty of people can have fun skiing a full day at smaller ski areas. There a reason that even places like Spruce Mountain sell full day tickets. If I'm going to drive a decent distance to ski somewhere, I want to ski a full day. When I used to ski at Granite Gorge, I drove 1.75 hours each way to ski there. I wouldn't drive that far if I could only ski for 4 hours.

I wonder, why wouldn't they sell a full day ticket? I doubt that crowding has been an issue. I don't know of any other ski area in the area that doesn't sell a full day ticket, except for Wachusett which does have crowding issues.

lotsoskiing

NewEnglandSkier13;c-60414 wrote
lotsoskiing;c-60413 wrotePersonally, 4 hours at a place that size would more than suffice for me.... Leaves the afternoon free for something else. I skied 4 hours at Northeast Slopes and was more than done...
To each their own, but plenty of people can have fun skiing a full day at smaller ski areas. There a reason that even places like Spruce Mountain sell full day tickets. If I'm going to drive a decent distance to ski somewhere, I want to ski a full day. When I used to ski at Granite Gorge, I drove 1.75 hours each way to ski there. I wouldn't drive that far if I could only ski for 4 hours.

I wonder, why wouldn't they sell a full day ticket? I doubt that crowding has been an issue. I don't know of any other ski area in the area that doesn't sell a full day ticket, except for Wachusett which does have crowding issues.

Understood. My NE Slopes day was an hour each way, and it was a hoot. I imagine if I had driven further I'd want to linger. I was pooped, though...

newpylong

I don't know how anyone could ski there for more than 4 hours. Sure it would be easy to just have the ticket but they did have access to the numbers from the previous owner so they likely analyzed it closely.

NewEnglandSkier13

newpylong;c-60418 wroteI don't know how anyone could ski there for more than 4 hours. Sure it would be easy to just have the ticket but they did have access to the numbers from the previous owner so they likely analyzed it closely.

You really can't even understand how someone would enjoy a small ski area for more than 4 hours? Not all of us need to ski a different trail each run of the day to have fun skiing. I regularly have fun skiing full days at places like Baker, Titcomb, and Hermon, just to name a few places that are even smaller than GG. Heck, I once even spent an entire day skiing at Arrowhead and had fun.

pagamony

haha, that just means you're spoiled. Try skiing down here (NC) and you will easily find yourself skiing all day on essentially one lift and 3 actual slopes :). Fun is Fun anywhere.

joshua_segal

NewEnglandSkier13;c-60414 wrote
lotsoskiing;c-60413 wrotePersonally, 4 hours at a place that size would more than suffice for me.... Leaves the afternoon free for something else. I skied 4 hours at Northeast Slopes and was more than done...
To each their own, but plenty of people can have fun skiing a full day at smaller ski areas. There a reason that even places like Spruce Mountain sell full day tickets. If I'm going to drive a decent distance to ski somewhere, I want to ski a full day. When I used to ski at Granite Gorge, I drove 1.75 hours each way to ski there. I wouldn't drive that far if I could only ski for 4 hours.

I wonder, why wouldn't they sell a full day ticket? I doubt that crowding has been an issue. I don't know of any other ski area in the area that doesn't sell a full day ticket, except for Wachusett which does have crowding issues.

+1

Selling tickets like that is just stupid marketing, which one might expect of new ownership.

And given their product, their price for season passes is insane!

newpylong

NewEnglandSkier13;c-60421 wrote
newpylong;c-60418 wroteI don't know how anyone could ski there for more than 4 hours. Sure it would be easy to just have the ticket but they did have access to the numbers from the previous owner so they likely analyzed it closely.
You really can't even understand how someone would enjoy a small ski area for more than 4 hours? Not all of us need to ski a different trail each run of the day to have fun skiing. I regularly have fun skiing full days at places like Baker, Titcomb, and Hermon, just to name a few places that are even smaller than GG. Heck, I once even spent an entire day skiing at Arrowhead and had fun.

No, I cannot. I'm good for a couple hours at a place the size of GG, 4 at the most on a pow day if it's wide open.

Not offering the ticket is odd though.

joshua_segal

newpylong;c-60434 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60421 wrote
newpylong;c-60418 wroteI don't know how anyone could ski there for more than 4 hours. Sure it would be easy to just have the ticket but they did have access to the numbers from the previous owner so they likely analyzed it closely.
You really can't even understand how someone would enjoy a small ski area for more than 4 hours? Not all of us need to ski a different trail each run of the day to have fun skiing. I regularly have fun skiing full days at places like Baker, Titcomb, and Hermon, just to name a few places that are even smaller than GG. Heck, I once even spent an entire day skiing at Arrowhead and had fun.
No, I cannot. I'm good for a couple hours at a place the size of GG, 4 at the most on a pow day if it's wide open.

Not offering the ticket is odd though.

Interesting how we all take skiing differently. Every October-November, I spend an entire day at Killington, just doing Rime again and again. And every May, I spend an entire day doing Superstar again and again. It never gets old for me.

NewEnglandSkier13

joshua_segal;c-60439 wrote
newpylong;c-60434 wrote
NewEnglandSkier13;c-60421 wrote
newpylong;c-60418 wroteI don't know how anyone could ski there for more than 4 hours. Sure it would be easy to just have the ticket but they did have access to the numbers from the previous owner so they likely analyzed it closely.
You really can't even understand how someone would enjoy a small ski area for more than 4 hours? Not all of us need to ski a different trail each run of the day to have fun skiing. I regularly have fun skiing full days at places like Baker, Titcomb, and Hermon, just to name a few places that are even smaller than GG. Heck, I once even spent an entire day skiing at Arrowhead and had fun.
No, I cannot. I'm good for a couple hours at a place the size of GG, 4 at the most on a pow day if it's wide open.

Not offering the ticket is odd though.
Interesting how we all take skiing differently. Every October-November, I spend an entire day at Killington, just doing Rime again and again. And every May, I spend an entire day doing Superstar again and again. It never gets old for me.

I agree. It don't really care how much vertical there is or how many different trail options there are, if there's snow to ski on and a lift to bring me up, I will likely have fun all day long. Granted, if there's only a rope tow, I will likely have to take a couple of extended breaks during the day, but that's due to a lack of upper body strength, not because I'm bored.

riverc0il

Four hours is usually good enough for me at any area, lol. Unless the snow is really good. Go hard for four hours, no breaks, then get home for dinner fully spent and satisfied. Obviously, I am not paying full weekend walk up rates, or the value would be truly awful. To each their own.

I think having 2 and 4 hour ticket windows might make a place "seem" smaller than it really is. When I was growing up, no one skied Bradford a full day. There was a morning crew, then the after school programs, then the evening crowds.

So, I see where they are going with the four hour blocks for a "local focus" type ski area. But I think a full day and a half day rate would be sufficient pricing. Not having a full day price is definitely a turnoff for some skiers, why alienate potential customers?

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