Interesting article about Crested Butte and Vail

[Mike King]

Crested Butte may be the gem in Vail Resorts’ portfolio, but its lifts must be fixed before it can shine
https://coloradosun.com/2019/02/18/crested-butte-investment-vail-resorts-ski-lift/

 

[Jilly]

Interesting about bringing the mountain back and not the real estate. I was talking to someone this past weekend at Tremblant. We had way too many people in the resort and on the hill. We've got the beds, we need runs and lifts. Alterra is moving that way too hopefully.

 

[HardDaysNight]

When you show people like Wais the money their opinions change. No surprise Vail can’t operate the lifts at CB properly. They can’t run them worth a damn at Park City either although with less excuse. Note to Jarnot- avoid K2 skis, especially if you’re going to pretend to explore terrain that’s like rad, man.

 

[headybrew]

It seems like every article with a Vail executive starts off saying something like "we don't want to change the character of the mountain" and then after some fluff they describe how they're going to operate the place

throwing "big money at chairlifts"
"mow down seedlings — saplings, actually — choking some of the area’s runs"
"But it only appeals to a narrow segment of the overall market,” Jarnot said. “We need the destination market"
"strategy to entice skiers to buy its wildly popular Epic Pass"

Humans are complex and often entertain conflicting views, I just wonder if these guys actually believe their BS or if they're just two faced liars.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Why does everyone complain about I70 when they could go the other direction and stay a night or two at Crested Butte?

 

[nay]

Why does everyone complain about I70 when they could go the other direction and stay a night or two at Crested Butte?

Go price that option across a 40-50 day ski season. Especially when I won’t day trip Epic resorts from my house becuase they are generally too far away.

And I will have two kids at Western in Gunnison, so I have a major reason to get Epic. But it isn’t worth it, so I will ski Monarch off my Loveland pass.

 

[Tricia]

If there is one thing Vail knows how to do, besides build bed space, its improve lift service.

 

[Callistoal]

If there is one thing Vail knows how to do, besides build bed space, its improve lift service.

I'm not so sure; they've done almost nothing at Kirkwood, despite plans for new chairlifts pre-aquisition.

 

[Tricia]

I'm not so sure; they've done almost nothing at Kirkwood, despite plans for new chairlifts pre-aquisition.

I'll give you that one on Kirkwood.

 

[raytseng]

I'm not so sure; they've done almost nothing at Kirkwood, despite plans for new chairlifts pre-aquisition.

They fixed everyting so it actually works, instead of breaking down every other day; so that counts as an improvement just in itself, over old kirkwood where you had to plan and look to make sure it wasn't stuck or broken before heading over.

 

[Monique]

Why does everyone complain about I70 when they could go the other direction and stay a night or two at Crested Butte?

For me, it's almost 5 hours best case to CB vs 2 hours best case to Breck. The route also requires driving some gnarly stretches if there's bad weather.

 

[HardDaysNight]

They fixed everyting so it actually works, instead of breaking down every other day; so that counts as an improvement just in itself, over old kirkwood where you had to plan and look to make sure it wasn't stuck or broken before heading over.

In that case what Kirkwood has gained PCMR has lost. The lifts this season have been, let us say, less than reliable. I suppose it’s been better than two seasons ago when they set the King Con lift on fire .

 

[raytseng]

lol, well the deal seems to be you get a 1 time cap improvement, then you are pretty much ignored for 7 years and better bring in the dough. if you blew it on a new lodge and new lift instead of refurbishment and rebuilds then you're screwed.

 

[James]

We had a lift go down because rodents chewed the wires.

 

[mdf]

We had a lift go down because rodents chewed the wires.

Park rats?

 

[focker]

If there is one thing Vail knows how to do, besides build bed space, its improve lift service.

Here in MN at Afton Alps the epic pass has brought HUGE Crowds, but Afton (epic) still won't run all the lifts they have even when it's busy. You'll never see me at their resorts again. Their penny pinching has cost them my $$.

 

[Tricia]

Here in MN at Afton Alps the epic pass has brought HUGE Crowds, but Afton (epic) still won't run all the lifts they have even when it's busy. You'll never see me at their resorts again. Their penny pinching has cost them my $$.

I will say Vail tends to trip over dollars to save pennies.

 

[TonyPlush]

Here in MN at Afton Alps the epic pass has brought HUGE Crowds, but Afton (epic) still won't run all the lifts they have even when it's busy. You'll never see me at their resorts again. Their penny pinching has cost them my $$.

Haha, so true. I'll never forget my first (and only) visit to Afton. Was pretty excited at the trail map which shows something crazy like 16 different lifts. Got there on a Saturday mid-season and... 4 lifts running. Half the mountain was closed all day for no apparent reason. I've never been back.

 

[focker]

Haha, so true. I'll never forget my first (and only) visit to Afton. Was pretty excited at the trail map which shows something crazy like 16 different lifts. Got there on a Saturday mid-season and... 4 lifts running. Half the mountain was closed all day for no apparent reason. I've never been back.

That's pretty typical. Place is all about the $$ and nothing else. It was great before Vail bought it. Not so much now.

 

[James]

I really don't understand why ski areas don't start investing in small turbine generators that run on natural gas. They could even use the waste heat for heated pools etc. I think they're actually more efficient at cold temps.

I think one of the big reasons mts don't turn lifts on is the huge $ charge from the power company for powering up.