General volume at your East coast mountain this season?

[LJH]

Hello All,
I am curious to hear how crowded your mountain has been this year. I have been to Stratton every weekend since 12/2/17 this season with the exception of Jan 6th and 7th (Too cold and we had to buy a car). Here is the North East it has been cold or rainy before or during holidays. Over Christmas week it was really cold but the skiing was excellent and there were no crowds at all.....pretty much ski on all week. Last weekend we had some major rain right before the long MLK weekend. Saturday was crowded because the top of the mountain was on wind hold in the AM. To be honest the conditions were not great on Saturday and because of the crowds and conditions I only did like 7K vertical. Sunday and Monday on the other hand were pretty cold but the conditions were very nice considering. We skied on both Sunday and Monday and banged out 20K+ foot days by 2PM.

I have to imagine the accounting office at Stratton is freaking out right now as two of their three weekends must have been pretty soft ticket sales wise.

Have you seen the same thing at you Mountain?

Cheers,
Jim

 

[crgildart]

Skied MLK Day at one of the most notoriously packed Mid Atlantic resorts. Parking lot was slammed, had to catch someone leaving to avoid parking down the access road.. Slopes were empty, only very short lines if any at two of the three main lifts. Middle mountain lift was a little backed up but hardly a weekend or holiday line like I've seen there quite regularly.

Thought maybe folks were all leaving early to get home since it was last day of a 3 day weekend but the parking lots were still PACKED when I was leaving at 3pm. Couple more open spots, but still way more cars parked there than skiers on the mountain. I guess everyone was sitting inside bragging at the bar or something???

 

[LKLA]

While on-mountain and ticket window "check points" were a good barometer in years past, not so much now given the increasing popularity of season passes (Epic, Peak, MAX,...) - meaning you don't need to be on the mountain for them to have gotten your money

Also keep in mind that mountains are often getting more money/revenue per skier once they are on the mountain on the back of everything from more appealing food and beverage offerings to more relevant/enticing retail offerings, improved rental operations and even significantly higher use of skier data.

And, many mountains have outright increased their prices as well as increased the number of things they charge for (parking, lockers, lunch in all day child lesson,...).

Operating a mountain has also become much more efficient, at least at those where investments have been made in areas such as lifts and snow making, allowing them to spend less on wages while also handling more skiers / making more snow.

Having said all that, I myself have not noticed anything alarming this season vs prior seasons in terms of fewer skiers. If anything perhaps more. And, that seems to be the sentiment shared by people I speak to and from the comments I read on here (2017-218 Northeast Thread).

 

[KevinF]

Stowe is rarely busy in December... I had amazing conditions pre-XMAS without ever waiting in a weekend liftline of more then 30 seconds.

Early January was cold enough to send a polar bear retreating to warmer climates and again -- there was basically nobody there.

MLK weekend was insanely busy. We'll see what this weekend brings in terms of crowds -- i.e., have the masses started to come? There is snow on the ground in Boston, which usually means "more people then usual".

 

[NESkier_26]

Sunday River was soft during Christmas week due to the cold temps and wind. The Saturday of MLK week was very soft, as the day started with rain and freezing rain until about 10:30 am. The crowds on Sunday and Monday were better, although wind holds and mechanical issues with a couple of lifts had a number of pass holders leaving early. I'm guessing SR is running below expectations, as they issued a 48 hour pre-purchase sale email on Tuesday that included discounts during the February school vacation weeks.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Stowe really hasn't been that busy. Even during MLK I wouldn't say it got really, really crowded. The parking lot didn't look all that full. Lift lines were pretty bad at times but that was because of wind holds pushing everyone to a few lifts. Trails were crowded too, again because of closures. The lodges were full, but I didn't see people milling around looking for a place to sit, or giving up and eating on the floor.

 

[LJH]

Welll....guessing I guess I was a bit quick on pulling the trigger on this post. This past weekend was pretty darn crowded at Stratton, I guess when you have sunshine and 30* temps the people come out of the woodwork. I will take 0* and no crowds any day.


Cheers,
Jim

 

[Wilhelmson]

Skied 12 days so far and the only day with lines was Saturday 1/13, and they weren't that bad.

 

[Jilly]

This weekend was a zoo. But I'll blame that on the world cup event.

Christmas/New Years was great. Too cold for the vacationers to ski. Saturday was the first day I saw the 2 lift lines merge this year.

 

[KevinF]

Stowe really hasn't been that busy. Even during MLK I wouldn't say it got really, really crowded. The parking lot didn't look all that full. Lift lines were pretty bad at times but that was because of wind holds pushing everyone to a few lifts. Trails were crowded too, again because of closures. The lodges were full, but I didn't see people milling around looking for a place to sit, or giving up and eating on the floor.

Remind me not to be there when it's "really really crowded". I thought MLK weekend was insane, but conditions did suck and there was limited terrain for the masses to spread to.

My willingness to wait in lift lines (or ride the double) is dependent on whether or not the skiing will be worth the wait. If I've just skied bumps / trees all the way to the bottom, I don't mind a long ride up on the double or waiting in the quad line... If all I have to look forward is another crowded scraped-down groomer, my interest in waiting in line is rather diminished.

 

[QueueCT]

Local feeder hill has been empty until this past weekend when it was warm and no rain. First time I've had to wait more than 2 or 3 chairs.

 

[Guy in Shorts]

Killington had it's biggest day of the year on Saturday with about 10,000 skiers. Lift wind holds made the crowds seem larger.

 

[dbostedo]

Hmm... I skied Sugarbush on Saturday, but just the Mount Ellen side... there were windholds on a couple of lifts that went away probably like 10:30. There were some crowded slopes and lift lines, but maybe 5 minutes or a bit more, so not bad. Does the Mount Ellen side stay less crowded?

 

[RJS]

I am surprised that Stowe hasn't been more crowded this season with Vail in charge, but it sounds like that might be due mostly to weather. I was expecting that lots of people would jump on the opportunity for a cheaper season pass at Stowe that includes skiing at Whistler, Vail, and more. I was seriously considering it. Living around Boston, it's a trek up to Stowe, but doing 3-4 weekend trips plus a couple of trips out West makes it worth it.

 

[LKLA]

This is from last season but may be of interest to some -

• An estimated 54.7 million skier and snowboarder visits took place during the 2016-17 season across the US, an increase of 3.7%.
• During the 2016-17 season, Northeast region skier visits grew by 27% to 11.8 million visits.
• The traditional ski holiday periods of Christmas and Spring Break were busy - skier visits were up 30% in December and up 4% in March across the US.
• The number of operating U.S. ski areas rose to 479 in the 2016-17 season, up from 464.
• The Northeast region witnessed a rebirth of several formerly defunct ski areas in the past few seasons.
• The number of lessons taught at U.S. ski areas increased in the 2016-17 season.
• Average resort snowfall increased by 36% nationally.
• The increased length of the operating season was most pronounced in the Southeast (23 days longer) and Northeast (15 days longer) regions.

 

[crgildart]

This is from last season but may be of interest to some -

• The increased length of the operating season was most pronounced in the Southeast (23 days longer)

Calling BS on that. That may be true when counting first day open to last day open, maybe?? But the vast majority of resorts in the Southeast closed before St Pat's Day when they are usually good a week beyond that.

Many were able to open for a couple days Mid November but it all melted and they had to shut down until late December. Also, very few made it to 100% open last season. Most had at least one or more trails which never made it to open for more than a couple days or not at all. If they count actual days open with skiing, or better yet, actual days at 100% open the numbers would be WAY DOWN over the average of the previous decade or longer..

 

[PinnacleJim]

I'm guessing that skier visits are down so far this year. The lack of snow in the west early and the lousy weather in the east on Christmas/New Years andn MLK have to have hurt. But its a long season with the prime February and March months coming up.