What's new at your hill?

[Bad Bob]

Seems like a good time to start asking what is happening around the hills. There is always new stuff and some of them can be real game changers.

Here in the Spokane region the biggest change will be an expansion at Mount Spokane, the first real terrain addition since the 70's. It is a really good local ski area that is really not that small with some really good tree skiing; please don't tell anybody though, it is a secret. Anyway they are finishing off on what should be a fairly high quality expansion with a 7th chairlift and a hand full of new runs on the North Side of the mountain. Here is a clip about it:

https://vimeo.com/242274642

So what is happening around you and your hill? It's Summer, what else do you have to do?

 

[Chris Walker]

Welcome upgrades at Winter Park:


https://theknow.denverpost.com/2018/03/12/winter-park-28-million-upgrade-gondola-snowmaking/178966/


"The $16-million gondola will replace the four-person Zephyr Express, increasing uphill capacity from 2,600 to 3,600 per hour, and will be the first new lift built at Winter Park since 2007."

and, in my opinion even more importantly:

"In addition to the gondola, Winter Park will begin to upgrade its 42-year-old snowmaking system at cost of $4 million with hopes of opening more terrain earlier in the season beginning next fall. "

(emphasis added)

 

[Sibhusky]

I think they are taking a summer off here.. They have some new summer things, but nothing mentioned about new projects for skiing for the first time in a while.

There had been talk in the past of extending Chair 4 and moving Chair 8, but it's not on their projects page, nothing in the press releases.

 

[Jilly]

Alterra is spending money at Tremblant.

Major addition to the lodge at the top of the mountain. New quad to replace the old fixed triple. Reno's to the base lodge on the north side. New glade runs on the north side. And probably more stuff that can't be seen but can only improve the place.

It's about time some money was spent!!

 

[Bill Miles]

At Sun Valley, they are replacing the old Cold Springs double with a HSQ which will extend 3400'; further down the canyon and publicly open the Turkey Bowl terrain on the east side of Seattle Ridge.

 

[Ken_R]

Loveland is replacing the legendary lift 1 with a new quad and A-Basin is installing a lift in the Beavers area for the first time in history. These are pretty significant improvements to both areas.

 

[Bill Talbot]

What's new at your hill?

Vail Resorts, Inc.

 

[Bad Bob]

What's new at your hill?

Vail Resorts, Inc.

Unfortunately, that has kind of ceased to be new.

They have not moved into my neighborhood, YET.

 

[Bill Talbot]

Unfortunately, that has kind of ceased to be new.

They have not moved into my neighborhood, YET.

How could it 'kind of ceased to be new'? They haven't even closed yet?

 

[Guy in Shorts]

^^^ Stowe appears to survived under the Vail Resorts brand and I suspect that Okemo will too. Being one of my former home mountains the old Okemo holds a special place in my heart. First ski mountain that I took the wife to when we started dating. She told me in the Sitting Bull Lounge at the end of that day that I was not her knight in shining armor and she was cutting me loose. Fast forward a couple years later she bought us a ski house near the mountain. The Mueller's have spent the last 35 seasons successfully altering Okemo into a copy of Stratton and they deserve to reap the rewards.

The 20 million that Pwder is pumping into Killington this season is targeted at making Killington friendlier to the intermediate blue terrain skier. They may be successful in taming "The Beast" a little but it will be hard to alter the hardcore backbone of this slice of the Green Mountains.

 

[BS Slarver]

Between hills right now ......
Major changes at Hunter Mountain with the addition of Hunter Mountain North. A long overdue expansion giving access to some fantastic terrain without having to bother with the main base area.

Then there’s this, waiting for me.In MT

 

[Bill Talbot]

^^^ Stowe appears to survived under the Vail Resorts brand and I suspect that Okemo will too. Being one of my former home mountains the old Okemo holds a special place in my heart. First ski mountain that I took the wife to when we started dating. She told me in the Sitting Bull Lounge at the end of that day that I was not her knight in shining armor and she was cutting me loose. Fast forward a couple years later she bought us a ski house near the mountain. The Mueller's have spent the last 35 seasons successfully altering Okemo into a copy of Stratton and they deserve to reap the rewards.

The 20 million that Pwder is pumping into Killington this season is targeted at making Killington friendlier to the intermediate blue terrain skier. They may be successful in taming "The Beast" a little but it will be hard to alter the hardcore backbone of this slice of the Green Mountains.

Hardly!

I do not enjoy much about Stratton. I find the mountain and the regulars to be quite different... thankfully. The Mueller's have done good things in Ludlow for sure and I do wish them a happy 'retirement'. But I have no good feelings about VRI taking the helm. None at all actually.

 

[Magi]

"In addition to the gondola, Winter Park will begin to upgrade its 42-year-old snowmaking system at cost of $4 million with hopes of opening more terrain earlier in the season beginning next fall. "

The new pipe on Hughes is going in this week!

 

[Bill Talbot]

The new pipe on Hughes is going in this week!

Anything going on @ MJ?

 

[Wilhelmson]

With Ikon we'll be visiting a bunch of new places and revisiting old ones, so everything will be new to us. It usually takes a couple years to find all the secret stashes and dive bars so we'll be exploring a lot. Not stoked about Stratton but we're keeping an open mind and are happy anytime we're skiing in the mountains.

 

[Magi]

Anything going on @ MJ?

My understanding is that the snowmaking expansion is a three part (three summer) process:

Part 1 (This summer) Rip out the 40 year old pipe system across most of the existing coverage, and then bring everything up to modern standards. This will dramatically increase our efficiency and ability to produce snow on currently served terrain (snowmaking crew can make more snow faster). We're still water constrained though, so we can't do much in terms of increasing area.

Part 2 (Next summer) Build a new retention pond to allow for increased snowmaking capacity. Expand snowmaking to dramatically increase coverage using new pond and new lines. [This is where we'd see MJ/Vasquez snowmaking expand]

Part 3 (Next next summer) Complete expansion, circle back and improve any deficiencies discovered while operating the new system.

Giant disclaimer: I have no inside information - this is just what I'm hearing through the grapevine.

 

[x10003q]

Stratton is replacing the Snow Bowl FGQ with a much needed HSQ and, as an added benefit, the Snow Bowl FGQ has been trucked 10 miles over to Magic Mountain to solidify their lift situation.

 

[Wasatchman]

PCMR is going through a few notable changes this summer.

The Park City base is undergoing extensive renovation to modernize it with the goal to also enhance the look and feel to mountain mining. Secondly, the popular Cloud Dine restaurant on top of the Dreamscape and Dream Catcher lifts is undergoing a major expansion to increase seating capacity and to also add another beer station. 200 additional seats will be added to Cloud Dine which should hopefully help alleviate significant congestion at the restaurant at peak times. I think both changes will be a positive.

In New Zealand, TC has added a free shuttle up the mountain this season and now has a formal business strategy centered around premium ski experience versus getting the most bums on seats.

 

[KingGrump]

The old snow bowl quad will be good for Magic. They needed a new chair badly. Last time I was there (quite a few years back), the Red chair was down and they only had the black chair running. More disturbing was that they were loading two on the black triple chair due to safety reasons. The skiing was great though. Definitely the gem of SVT.