Tenney Mountain 2025-2026 Season

Chris

Tenney should have been a bit more transparent about what happened. Being opaque about this stuff in today’s ski industry is a recipe for brand damage, as evidenced by the social media posts now going around saying “Tenney is scary asf”.

This is a classic example of a lack of transparency in action. They should have just came out and clearly stated what was wrong, what broke, and what they needed to accomplish to fix it, This approach would enable trust between the ski area and the skiing public. Lack of transparency doesn’t build trust, and only leaves more questions than answers, such as, “are they hiding from apparent negligence?”, or “is this lift going to break again while I’m on it?”

I’m pretty sure the ski industry realized a decade ago that transparency was the better approach in these lift safety matters. I’m sure Tenney has nothing to hide, so why act like it?

Anyway, there’s my $.02 … after inflation, $0.001.

riverc0il

I think that is a strong two cents.

We saw this happen with Black recently, though their response was much more transparent and forthcoming. They were super transparent about a significant issue impacting them during a very busy time. They received a ton of praise. Maybe a bit more than deserved for just the response to the problem. But I think the praise was just as much for the transparency than their actual efforts to fix the issue.

Big corporations are damned if they do and damned if they don’t (and for good reason, they deserve all the bad press they get as they need to be held to a higher standard). But smaller operators need to lay their cards out on the table, as that is what their supporters are expecting.

kuryous1

Disclosure note- I have a pass at Tenney because it’s nearby, and priced ok in my opinion. I ski there on weekdays when the conditions are suitable and I have a few hours available.

Communications regarding this situation were routine - The Hornet lift failed January 17 and I received two notices - 1 lift is down and being evacuated / 2 evacuation is done. January 18 I was told the lift is down, we are working on it with suitable personnel yadda yadda yadda…. Easily understood.
January 22 - skied there, saw some chairs off the haul rope and a group of workers / equipment at the base of the lift. Later the same day I got an announcement the lift was fixed and would operate on January 23. Problem solved.

Also noted that Governor Ayotte was at Tenney on the 23rd as part of a state promotional tour. Some good news for the area.

Several questions have been raised about what “really” happened to the lift and why there hasn’t been more full disclosure. That seems simple - NH Tramway rules require a Tramway Incident Report to be sent to the Board within 5 days of the incident. That is where folks will find the official version of what happened. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem these reports are readily available on a public website. I have no reason to go any further down that rabbit hole. I’m happy if the lift runs and the terrain is open.

Final communications observation - The $30,000,000 lodge expansion that was announced almost 2 years ago as ready to start hasn’t happened yet. All the drawings that were on the walls of the lodge last year are now gone. Maybe the lesson learned is - don’t over-promise - just announce what has happened and take credit when things go right.

Chris

Hi kuryous1, welcome to Snow Journal!

I didn’t mean to sound overly critical of Tenney, because I genuinely want to see the place succeed. The terrain is awesome, and I’m happy to see some new life happening there. Lots of potential.

kuryous1

Thanks - I am good with your previous comments. 😃 My interest in this iteration of Tenney is the cost of a season pass. I don’t own any property there and am not on a first name basis with anyone working there. In this case, there was a lift issue on what should have been a busy weekend. The public was told something about the situation in a timely manner. Job done - time to move on.

« Previous Page