Sugarloaf, ME - 2/13/05

Chromer

Chromer

New member
The locals were powder starved. This is eminently apparent, as TeleLobsterGrrl reported to me that everything on-trail was tracked-out by Friday at noon. By today everything that was not groomed was bumped. Very bumped. Everything on-map is tracked out and bumped. Most things off-map are tracked out and bumped.

That said, where there were no tracks the snow was deep and slow enough that I was able to ski some unbelievably tight lines that wouldn't be possible with more normal snow conditions. Well, maybe with snowblades you could...

At any rate, the skiing on-trail is good and if you like moguls you're going to be happy, but don't expect to find any powder.

Also, I think they sold a ton of the cheap passes this year. When I left early this afternoon not only were all the parking lots full, but there were cars parked along the access road to within about 1/4 of a mile of Route 27. Apparently yesterday the cars went right down to the highway. Lift lines were today were just stupid, so I can't imagine what it was like yesterday. I've NEVER seen the place crowded like this except during their spring "Reggae Weekend." The crazy thing is that it's been almost this busy for the past three weeks...

...And now we wait to see if the next storm brings snow or proto-snow. Too close to call at this point.
 
interesting to see the hordes were not an isolated phenomenon back occured at other areas. i just reported cannon was about as crowded as i've ever seen it on saturday whereas friday was like a weekend day! powder starved indeed!
 
I've been hearing that at ASC-east resorts, skier visits are up on non-blackout weekends but day ticket sales are way off since the day ticket people won't shell out the money to put up with all the crowds. The bronze pass people aren't spending much money in the base lodges, either. When all is said and done, I think ASC is likely to fiddle with the price point next year.
 
For myself, I'm spending the same in the lodge as ever. Nothing. The other businesses in the base village are doing OK out of me though, and the bars have been very busy apres ski. So much so that a couple times I've opted to just drive home and have a beer there instead.

I expect they will monkey with the pricing somewhat to manage demand. Hopefully they don't load up the pass with a bunch of useless "free benefits" and jack the price. I personally don't care about gettting 10% off at the ski shop or free alpine/snowboard group lessons, especially if I had to pay extra for it up front...

Sugarloaf in particular has a problem with parking this year. Their overflow lot had condos built in it over the summer, and a chunk of another lot was lost to an access road from some on-mountain condos last year. Parking capacity is down by about 20%, I'd guess, forcing people to park on the road. I expect that the personal injury lawyers will (quite rightly) be all over them if someone who had to park on the road gets hurt.
 
Chromer":2qoxj3lm said:
Sugarloaf in particular has a problem with parking this year. Their overflow lot had condos built in it over the summer, and a chunk of another lot was lost to an access road from some on-mountain condos last year. Parking capacity is down by about 20%, I'd guess, forcing people to park on the road. I expect that the personal injury lawyers will (quite rightly) be all over them if someone who had to park on the road gets hurt.
Click to expand...

So I guess it's only a matter of time before Sugarloaf falls in line with the rest of the ASC resorts and makes the closest lot pay parking? Killington makes $50,000-$100,000 off their pay lot. They sell several hundred season parking passes at $240 and collect $10 from anybody else who wants to park in that lot. Mt Snow & Sunday River do the same thing.
 
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