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  1. Tony Crocker

    Is the market sniffing out a forced asset liquidation at Vail Resorts?

    This is no different from reduced advance bookings following bad snow years 30-50 years ago. That's just the way the casual ski consumer (and most people) think: short term recency bias.
  2. Tony Crocker

    Eldora: Town of Nederland Acquisition

    Can Nederland elected officials be recalled? Most western states have such provisions in law.
  3. Tony Crocker

    Is now the best time to buy ski gear?

    Transceivers are rarely if ever on sale. I got mine via a ski patroller who was eligible for pro-deals. I have never seen them listed among ski journalist pro-deals.
  4. Tony Crocker

    U.S. Presidency #47

    With Trump, everything is personal. I posted about Canada on this thread a year ago. As an ex-Republican I think my level of outrage at this presidency is often worse than from those who have always been left of center. Gotta ask @jimk, have you had enough yet? I'm not ragging on his 2024...
  5. Tony Crocker

    Patrick's Streak, Ski Travel Priorities

    It's safe to say that Patrick's boycott will last to January 2029. Political comments are not censored here, but I have moved them to the appropriate thread. Patrick's FB page says he was in Montreal Aug. 22-23 but in Banff as of yesterday. I think he's going to Parker Ridge, where he claimed...
  6. Tony Crocker

    Is the market sniffing out a forced asset liquidation at Vail Resorts?

    I have no experience in the VC business. But it's hard for me to see how value could be extracted from a breakup of Vail. Did Vail way overpay for some of its properties, especially the two in Europe? Sure, but that can't be undone. A buyer won't get that many $$ from selling the overpaid...
  7. Tony Crocker

    South America 2026

    The more stories I read, the more glad I am we are going as late in the season as we are. The lake was frozen Sept. 6-7, 2007 despite the quite warm weather at the time.
  8. Tony Crocker

    Europe (Switzerland): Skiing the Alps by Train

    Who is going to Switzerland Dec. 12-20 and being addressed in the above analysis? I'm guessing that with those dates and required to buy 30+ days in advance, ChrisC would never do this in December. The rental car flexibility is priceless in terms of ski quality, and no one has exercised that...
  9. Tony Crocker

    South America 2026

    Going into this storm, seasons totals were 322 inches at Portillo and 202 inches at Valle Nevado.
  10. Tony Crocker

    Caminito del Rey, Spain, Aug. 18, 2026

    Very late in the trip planning, Jimmy Petterson informed me by e-mail that we HAD to do this if we were going to be in southern Spain. It was a tight squeeze. We were driving south from Madrid to Grenada Aug. 16 to visit the Alhambra the next day, but our flight home from Madrid was on the 19th...
  11. Tony Crocker

    Golf

    I have never been remotely proficient in a sport as I have been with skiing since 1979. There may have been a pathway in golf given my amateur progress at pitch-and-putt but I knew I would have to invest time and get a lot of instruction to break bad habits. But this was coincident with the...
  12. Tony Crocker

    Eclipse August 12, 2026

    I won't argue with that one. It's not an accident that my first was at age 46. Both Liz and I should have done Baja in 1991, but I didn't quite "get it" in that pre-internet era and my kids were 2 and 6 years old at the time. Liz and I are travel junkies. All of the 17 eclipse trips I have...
  13. Tony Crocker

    Australia and New Zealand 2026

    Spencer Creek mid-August snowpack is lowest since 1989.
  14. Tony Crocker

    South America 2026

    I reread Jimmy's chapters on Argentina and Chile yesterday. Like skiandgolfnut, he waxes ecstatic about Hotel Portillo. Hotel Portillo is a relic of a bygone era where ski areas served mostly all inclusive onsite guests. The best analogy in my experience would be the late St. Bernard Lodge...
  15. Tony Crocker

    South America 2026

    We are renting a 4x4 so hopefully will not need chains. Portillo is not that big or difficult to navigate. It did not occur to me to hire guides any of these places in Chile in 2007. Everything is above tree line and visible so you can decide for yourself what’s in your comfort zone.
  16. Tony Crocker

    South America 2026

    We are staying in Farallones the nights of Sept. 16-18 if you want to meet up. You should look into that Hotel Valluga as it's the best rated hotel there. Are you there only one week and leaving Sept. 21 when we go into Portillo?
  17. Tony Crocker

    Ski-Air Travel

    Liz still recoils in horror at my 14-hour day before we met IRL between Hakuba and Niseko on a bus and 4 trains with 73lb suitcase (I had been scuba diving in Palau first) plus double ski bag. The ski bag fit easily in the train overhead compartments but obviously the train changes were quite a...
  18. Tony Crocker

    South America 2026

    Enough that we have committed to Sept. 16-24. Sure, especially if you consider Valparaiso too. If limited to 5 days I'd go 3-2 the other way. Why? 1) Portillo has a deeper snowpack and is also less vulnerable to wind messing up the off piste. 2) Portillo overall has better terrain quality even...
  19. Tony Crocker

    Is now the best time to buy ski gear?

    I’m way out of the loop on this topic. In SoCal the shop sales would typically start in late February or March but in the bad years it could be late January. But after the Sport Chalet chain went belly-up in 2015 there are hardly any specialty ski shops left here. Since then my purchases have...
  20. Tony Crocker

    Jungfrau, Switzerland (Mürren–Schilthorn, Grindelwald–Wengen, Grindelwald–First): March 26-28, 2026

    Is that 24-30 hours of actual train travel time split up over multiple trips? Is there a time window like a week or two when it must be used? That’s an intriguing deal which Sbooker should definitely consider. Japan’s rail pass is unlimited within a time frame of 1, 2 or 3 weeks IIRC.
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