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Not to get too far off-track, but I'd prefer Snowmass in general. It has a better mix of terrain and, crucially, much better powder preservation due to a smaller number of expert skiers gunning for the best terrain. That's where I spend most of my days now when I'm in town visiting local...

Right - I was just playing the "$25MM falls in my lap" fantasy game. Since that's not happening in any dimension we're living in, you would definitely go the quick and dirty route on the off chance those permits are ever secured again.

Which is why everything you need to do there should be modest and incremental. Try to move too fast and it's a recipe for debt, unhappy investors, or both. This is why I think the backside is dead for good - between lawyers, environmental investigations and consultants, it will cost too much...

This is really the key here. Variability in weather is so high here, that it's folly to make such an extravagant investment unless you're talking about major new terrain. Banks don't care if you had a bad season - they expect that check every month. Agreed that there is a minimum standard you...

Ditto what Admin said. You may choose to wordsmith and call it an "investment", but what do you call the monthly repayments of interest and principle? That's cost, or "expense" if you prefer. For an area that does 50K skier visits, if you assume that they generate $60 per visitor (that's...

Obviously I was joking around with much of that list. I agree with Tony that getting started on the Stockton Flats expansion is priority #1 in a fantasy world in which you have $25MM to put to work. Between permitting, legal battles, improving Lytle Creek road, building some sort of base area...

Sounds like a plan! $6MM - Snowmaking upgrades including doubled reservoir capacity and installation of snowmaking along Turket Shoot, Roller Coaster and Sugarpine $5MM - HSQ to replace Ch 1 $2MM - Enhanced snow removal capability on access road $1MM - Refurb Ch 3 and Ch 4 to ensure long life...

I think that's pretty weak sauce. This was my first winter in SoCal and of the 4 days I skied at Baldy, I caught three fantastic powder days and a perfect corn day. I didn't sit on my ass waiting for the latest from the Baldy website. Rather, I tracked the weather closely on places like the...

While I'm all for progress, I don't think it's realistic to discuss a gondola at Baldy. Sure it would help things in terms of their non-skiing and off-season business, but a fixed grip lift costs $1.0-1.5MM vs a gondola at $8MM or so. That's several times more money than Baldy generates in a...

Fully agree on the importance of opening up intermediate terrain. Despite the steepness of Sugarpine (some of which could be mitigated with selective grading), I would think you'd agree that at some point it's important to have terrain for most abilities top to bottom. Perhaps it's not the...

Interesting to hear about the snowmaking observations. That's helpful perspective. The Ch 1 and ticket window issues are inter-related somewhat. Essentially, their entire introduction to their clients has to be overhauled. It's tough to find useful information on the place. It's tough to...

Don't the Ch 4 runs already have snowmaking? They hold snow far longer than the trees in between, but perhaps that's just the effect of skier/groomer packing. Regardless, Sugarpine's exposure may not be ideal, but the upload/download scenario is a massive disincentive to a large contingent of...

I agree it's important to keep it in the public eye, but they are realistically a minimum of 10 years away from turning a single shovel of dirt once all of the approvals are secured and legal challenges overcome. Quite frankly, I'd be quite surprised if Tom Treaccar and his partners could...

Any reasoning for the change? Not related but that backside fire road appears to be an optimal slackcountry egress route for explorations off Ch. 4. It's kind of a shame they still have the future expansion down to Lytle Creek still on the map. Given the information you received this...

I'm heading up on Saturday for my 2 year old daughter's second day on skis. While I'd prefer Waterman due to the shorter drive and overall vibe, I'm inclined to hit MH instead b/c of the convenience of the beginner area being right at the base. My understanding re: Waterman is that I'd need to...

Help me understand why such a policy would be in place. Are the dead trees a danger to skiers in some way? What's the justification for restricting public access to our forest?

Might try to get up there Friday for an early half day depending on work. Hard to imagine any chain requirements in the absence of snow in the forecast.

I think that's it. I encountered this at Stratton about 5 years ago and nearly broke my neck as a result, with the ice fog accumulating on my goggles. As far as I can tell, it's nothing more strange than a fog layer on the hill when temps are at or just below freezing. With a moist air mass...

You're never going to get it right all the time, but in the absence of information, people invariably assume the worst.

They did this on the Wednesday I was there. Had 1-2 people come out at different times to deal with either cash ticket sales or the special deals from a local retailer. They would have been better off setting up a temp booth to just handle more people on a consistent basis. Two things about...