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SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
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Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
823
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Wyoming
Well then, Frankly, were you the one that torched the Soldier Mountain lodge near Sun Valley? It went up in smoke right after the season ended in 2009. I mean, within hours of the season ending....

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/s...cle_9547b2af-164a-5dfb-b3ce-2317bd119fe7.html

They got a shiny new lodge, but Bruce Willis still had to give it away; no buyers. Went on sale again in 2015 after a local consortium ran out of money, selling for only $149,000 (what they were currently in debt for)

http://www.steezminimag.com/2015/10/22/so-you-want-to-buy-a-small-ski-resort/

White Pine Ski Resort near Pinedale, WY has been through a rocky few years, and is probably for sale again. Last time it was on the market for I think $6 million in 2012. Current owners/operators are way too cranky for me, judging from their surreal 2017 Eclipse viewing debacle.
 
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K2 Rat

Out on the slopes
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Joined
Jul 4, 2017
Posts
482
Pretty funny. Maple Valley has not operated in close to 20 years. So, it might take a bit more work than paint and grease to operate. And it pretty much closed because people would blow right by it on the way to Stratton, Bromley, etc. I think it was lack of skiers.

One of our friends bought a smaller area about 20 years ago. It was close to closing, and he had grown up skiing there, and owned a house there. Great place for little kids, about an hour from his home. He decided to go to the auction, and when the gavel was hammered, he owned it. Did not tell his wife until he got home that night, as I recall.

I thought he was borderline nuts. But he's a smart guy. He knew two things. He knew exactly what it was worth as timberland, if things turned that way. He had paid for some advice on how much logging could be done without disturbing the ski area itself. And he learned that it was too small a parcel for the real big guys to bother with, and that the paper business locally was in a slump, so the local guys would not be bidding. His fall back was to become a lumber baron.

Turned out that the area did pretty well, and he eventually sold it for a very modest profit, considering what he put into it. Probably his time worked out to about $.02 a hour. Place is going great guns these days. Nice to see. Key, I think, is that it never closed.

Maple Valley? $950K is wishful thinking, but you have not start somewhere. Ha! Last time I pulled I there to let our dogs out of the car was about 10 years ago. The rental shop, closed for 10 years was full of rental skis and bindings. FULL. Buyer will need a big dumpster and more. Wonder what scrap lift towers fetch?

And on Missoula, classic. Just classic!

For the town of Brattleboro, VT, it was a bummer that Maple Valley closed. After Hogback closed in the '80's, Maple Valley was the last place where the locals from Brattleboro could afford to ski. Back in the day, Brattleboro had a thriving ski community. But as skiing got more expensive, it started to decline. In the '70's into '80's, the Brattleboro Outing Club ran programs and competed in alpine , cross country and nordic jumping. The alpine program was run at Hogback, but would also attend races at Maple Valley and I raced J3 and J4 's race at Maple Valley in about 1973. BOC held an annual Ski-Meister Competition consisting of a slalom, Downhill, Cross-country and Nordic jump. Most competed in all four events for the crown, but iIonly did the alpine. I won the Downhill, which was pretty much a joke since it was held at Hogback. I did go fast on my 195 cm K2 Five Comp skis, but it was no downhill ! BOC is still active in cross country skiing in addition to tennis and rowing in the summer.

Until Maple valley closed, Brattleboro High School had an alpine ski team. Now that Mt Snow is the closest area at about an hour way, the ski team is no more. Maple Valley also used to get after school learn to ski programs and school gym classes ( using those rentals !). There was also a Monday night racing league under the lights.

Basically , a real shame that Brattleboro is left with no local ski area, or one that is affordable. But I guess, the locals were not enough to make Maple Valley work. I drive by there every weekend on the way to Mt. Snow, but like you said, I nor anyone else would stop there to ski.
 
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Muleski

So much better than a pro
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Nov 14, 2015
Posts
5,243
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North of Boston
Great post ^^^^^, @K2 Rat!

I remember racing in the spring at Hogback a couple of times, on warm sunny days with huge ruts. Kind of like the original banked SL. Fun memory. I also remember skiing one day with my parents at Maple Valley while my older brother was tuning up for an XC race in Brattleboro. The very last time I jumped was at the BOC, I think I was 15 or 16. Such a neat spot. My college coach tried get me to fill in and jump there a number of years later.....no chance! Nordic was not close to my thing.

Cool DH win! It's interesting to talk to younger "kids" about racing back in the 1960's and early 1970's. Every single college carnival recognized a skimeister. XC, jumping, SL and what we called DH...which was more like SG to a fast GS. The skimeister guys, or the really good ones, were pretty talented.

Too bad about Brattleboro, the school teams, etc. The last time I saw Hogback was when we picked up a new puppy in West Dover, and on the way back pulled into the parking lot at Hogback. That was a fun place.

Sad to see the past, but not hard to understand given the challenges of running a ski area. Any ski area.
 
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K2 Rat

Out on the slopes
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Joined
Jul 4, 2017
Posts
482
Great post ^^^^^, @K2 Rat!

I remember racing in the spring at Hogback a couple of times, on warm sunny days with huge ruts. Kind of like the original banked SL. Fun memory. I also remember skiing one day with my parents at Maple Valley while my older brother was tuning up for an XC race in Brattleboro. The very last time I have jumped was at the BOC. Such a neat spot. My college coach tried get me to fill in and jump there a number of years later.....no chance!

Cool DH win! It's interesting to talk to younger "kids" about racing back in the 1960's and early 1970's. Every single college carnival recognized a skimeister. XC, jumping, SL and what we called DH...which was more like SG to a fast GS. Those guys were pretty talented.

Too bad about Brattleboro, the school teams, etc. The last time I saw Hogback was when we picked up a new puppy in West Dover, and on the way back pulled into the parking lot at Hogback. That was a fun place.

Sad to see the past, but not hard to understand given the challenges of running a ski area. Any ski area.

I grew up skiing at Hogback and have such fond memories of that place. Us kids just skied around in a pack looking for jumps and having fun. Our parents never had to worry about us and you certainly could not get lost there. I was in the BOC race program and we trained on Saturdays. The coaching was more like local soccer : a bunch of volunteer Dads. I got lucky and was assigned to probably the only guy who really knew how to race : Jerry Sears. Between him and studying, How the Racers Ski, I got ok. It was the kind of place where on a Sunday, I would ask the head of the ski school, Bill Douglas, if I set a SL course. Answer was sure and he would give you a bundle of bamboo and a metal bar. Small local places were so much fun and are so missed. BTW -- Hogback put out some great ski racers - Sally and Sue White ( owners daughters and I know Sally well from Mt Snow) and Boomer and Kim Mumford to name a few.

Hogback has some nice hiking trails cleared now and some ski trails cleared enough for back country skiing. Some day I will ski there again, but I have gone to trail clearing work sessions in the last couple of years. All the lift towers and lift buildings are there and they bring back the memories.

I raced for Syracuse and at least my first two years ( '79 and '80) we had 4 events : GS, SL , X-C and jumping. I never jumped but all of our jumpers were alpiners. One guy broke his leg practicing on a small jump we had on the campus. There was also a small hill with a rope tow that they trained some SL on, but that closed a couple of years before I got there. Except my Sophomore year when a Norwegian guy joined my Fraternity and he said he jumped as a kid. I thought I had found our secret Norwegian weapon. I did get him to come to one meet and I think it was up at Tupper Lake NY. The night before in the hotel room when he was drunk, he was demonstrating his technique by running across the room and diving on the bed. He had not jumped in 8 years he said but did ok and came in top 20. But retired from college jumping right then.

Those were the days !
 

David G Dziuban

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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Joined
Oct 26, 2017
Posts
8
I grew up skiing at Hogback and have such fond memories of that place. Us kids just skied around in a pack looking for jumps and having fun. Our parents never had to worry about us and you certainly could not get lost there. I was in the BOC race program and we trained on Saturdays. The coaching was more like local soccer : a bunch of volunteer Dads. I got lucky and was assigned to probably the only guy who really knew how to race : Jerry Sears. Between him and studying, How the Racers Ski, I got ok. It was the kind of place where on a Sunday, I would ask the head of the ski school, Bill Douglas, if I set a SL course. Answer was sure and he would give you a bundle of bamboo and a metal bar. Small local places were so much fun and are so missed. BTW -- Hogback put out some great ski racers - Sally and Sue White ( owners daughters and I know Sally well from Mt Snow) and Boomer and Kim Mumford to name a few.

Hogback has some nice hiking trails cleared now and some ski trails cleared enough for back country skiing. Some day I will ski there again, but I have gone to trail clearing work sessions in the last couple of years. All the lift towers and lift buildings are there and they bring back the memories.

I raced for Syracuse and at least my first two years ( '79 and '80) we had 4 events : GS, SL , X-C and jumping. I never jumped but all of our jumpers were alpiners. One guy broke his leg practicing on a small jump we had on the campus. There was also a small hill with a rope tow that they trained some SL on, but that closed a couple of years before I got there. Except my Sophomore year when a Norwegian guy joined my Fraternity and he said he jumped as a kid. I thought I had found our secret Norwegian weapon. I did get him to come to one meet and I think it was up at Tupper Lake NY. The night before in the hotel room when he was drunk, he was demonstrating his technique by running across the room and diving on the bed. He had not jumped in 8 years he said but did ok and came in top 20. But retired from college jumping right then.

Those were the days !
Do you know for sure that Whitecap is closed for this season? Thanks.
 

SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
Skier
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
823
Location
Wyoming
Soldier Mtn seems snake-bit; so many owners can't make a profit. If the hill just had some decent steep terrain, maybe it would have a chance.
 

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