I've passed on an AZSB passes thus far. I may end up grabbing a Loveland pass in part because of the reciprocal days.
I have a Taos pass, but may be spending time in CO.
It’s feeling kind of drought-y right now.
Looks like Sunrise Park is on the Indy Pass this year: https://www.sunriseskiparkaz.com/indy-pass
Good for them for finally exploring some sort of cross-promotion! But the page on their website looks like it was written by a non-skier... calling out a handful of east coast resorts, then "see the full list below." Maybe they were just shy about mentioning any ski areas that are actually better than Sunrise?
The Indy Pass site (https://www.indyskipass.com/resort/sunrise-park-resort/) says Sunrise has 6 lifts. I know Cyclone and the backup chair on Apache have been out of commission. Did they also get rid of the surface lifts? Or lose another chairlift?
Check out the map for this season and the nice MS Paint job they did on Cyclone.
https://www.sunriseskiparkaz.com/copy-of-mountain-info
Last season they were going to run a cat operation on Cyclone but I don't know if that came to fruition. There has also been talk of a few different lift configurations along with a Chondola to replace Cyclone but I haven't heard of any actual movement on construction. Doubt the tribe has the cash.
I really hope it works out and Sunrise bounces back. I haven't skied there in a very long time, but when I lived in Tucson it was my preferred place over Snowbowl, and it will always have a soft spot in my heart. Sad to hear that it has fallen on hard times and the rumors that the new management is even worse than the last. That was back long before Coleman bought Snowbowl and made a ton of improvements, and back when all the Sunrise lifts were working.That's some high-class MS Paint work! Still shows 9 lifts though, not the 6 reported on indyskipass.com. It'd be cool if the Indy Pass can inject enough cash for them to start rebuilding, but seems like a tough sell down in the southwest unless Indy Pass can sign up a few more in the region.
I think the indy pass could also make sense for someone in the far east valley who values uncrowded skiing. Drive time is similar from Apache Junction to Snowbowl or Sunrise; cheap flights are available at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway for long weekends at Red River (Billings), Lost Trail (Missoula), Castle (Calgary), Beaver (Ogden) and Hoodoo (Redmond). But that's a pretty specific niche market.
Sunrise replied to me on Facebook and they will have the cat operation running two new cats on Cyclone this season. It will be faster than the lift is the claim. Should be interesting. They also stated the new lift bid was 10 million and tribe doesn't have the cash.
It is looking and feeling like fall in N. AZ. I spent Saturday cruising the cinders OHV area outside Flagstaff. You ever seen anyone ever ski or ride these volcanoes @raisingarizona ? Almost seems like you could do it with no or minimal snow.
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It kind of seems like any manager, ivy league or not, who tries holding folks to expectations like "be at your assigned spot on time and ready to work" or "follow the documented procedures" would get a lot of pushback. It doesn't seem like there are any good answers. Having it actually shuttered would be a big blow to the tribe and the region, but mustering up the willpower to prevent it looks tough. I suspect the tribe's spent too long vilifying Snowbowl to ever countenance partnering with Coleman, and Vail or Alterra seem like long shots.I know some of the AZ tribes with better-located casinos have business development branches that extend off-reservation... I wonder whether there'd be any appetite to partner with one of them.
The natives vilifying Snowbowl (Navajo/Hopi), are different to the natives that run/own Sunrise (Apache), so there may be no barrier to a partnership with Coleman. And, if you will forgive the cynicism, the use of recycled water is perfectly acceptable when it is being used on tribal owned golf courses (Ak-Chin, Wildhorse, Ft McDowell) and tribal owned ski resorts (Sunrise). So....who knows?