Mountain Coasters

[Tricia]

Squaw Valley is putting things in motion to build the Timberline Twister, a mountain coaster, (not a rollercoaster).
This would add to other summer activities that have already become popular like climbing courses, zip lines, and the like.

Some of the locals are questioning the need for more manmade attractions, asking - “Aren’t the mountains and the lakes attractive enough already?”

The brutal reality is, these resorts have a tremendous amount of overhead and they need to be creative about how they operate 12 months out of the year. With snow pack being a crap shoot, they have to make plans for the months they aren't skiing.

Hiking trails are phenomenal, and a great activity, but they can't charge you to hike. Can you imagine the outrage if they attempted to charge you to hike!!!?

Squaw is not alone. Aspen is building a mountain coaster at Snowmass, Steamboat Springs opened the Outlaw Mountain Coaster this summer, Copper Mountain is opening the Rocky Mountain Coaster in the near future, Purgatory is making plans to add a mountain coaster to their summer activities along with other improvements to the ski area, and Heavenly opened their Heavenly Ridge Mountain Coaster in 2016.

I know that there are different views on summer expansion activities such as this, but if they don't do this, then what? Food & Wine walks, Brewfests and concerts are sporadic and aren't paying the bills.

 

[graham418]

Whatever you have to do to pay the bills. If they think that will do it, thats their call. Mountain biking is a use they do at some resorts in Ontario, and it utilizes the lifts all year. They swap in some bike carriers for chairs . It has become quite popular with the downhillers. My son, who is one of them , said there was a 40 minute wait for the lifts last weekend, worse than skiing!!

 

[Dave Petersen]

I've done the coaster at Breck and it is fun! Plus I've been riding the Breck alpine slide since the 80s.

My wife:






Some of the family

 

[KingGrump]

Some of the locals are questioning the need for more manmade attractions, asking - “Aren’t the mountains and the lakes attractive enough already?”

I like to think of these "man made" attractions during the summer as groomers at the ski resorts in the winter.
How many ski resorts can survive without groomers?

 

[Tricia]

Whatever you have to do to pay the bills. If they think that will do it, thats their call. Mountain biking is a use they do at some resorts in Ontario, and it utilizes the lifts all year. They swap in some bike carriers for chairs . It has become quite popular with the downhillers. My son, who is one of them , said there was a 40 minute wait for the lifts last weekend, worse than skiing!!

Some resorts around here do the same. Northstar is hugely popular for DH mountain biking.
Speaking from experience, the DH mt bikers spend money on a lift service ticket but they rarely spend anything else.
Skiers will shop in the village, but bikers come prepared, other than the occasional gu pack or shot block. Once in a while you may get the person who forgot a hydration pack or bike gloves, but mostly, they come prepared and the shop doesn't get much traffic.

Are other areas seeing the kind of opposition that Squaw is seeing?

 

[KingGrump]

"Critics have seized on the ride application, submitted Aug. 16 by KSL Capital Partners, as an example of what they call crass Las Vegas-style commercialism that threatens the laid-back ambiance of Tahoe."

That is the third paragraph from the SF Chronicle article linked by @Tricia in above post.

My only question is we are talking Squaw, aren't we?

 

[dbostedo]

Looks like fun... These seem like a pretty good idea for resorts to me, as they don't really affect the mountain too much more than the lifts. They're really not new if you consider the alpine slide style tracks, as someone posted above. I've never been on the coaster type, but I did the alpine slide at Seven Springs maybe 30 years ago and remember really liking it - and that it was pricey... here's a more recent video of that one :

 

[Tricia]

I used to go to the Alpine Slide at Crystal Mountain Michigan with a friend and her kids when I lived there.
Looking for more pics but I see this one of the top of the hill.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Mountain Coasters are a scourge. Die mountain coasters! Die!!!!!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Some resorts around here do the same. Northstar is hugely popular for DH mountain biking.
Speaking from experience, the DH mt bikers spend money on a lift service ticket but they rarely spend anything else.
Skiers will shop in the village, but bikers come prepared, other than the occasional gu pack or shot block. Once in a while you may get the person who forgot a hydration pack or bike gloves, but mostly, they come prepared and the shop doesn't get much traffic.

Are other areas seeing the kind of opposition that Squaw is seeing?

Maybe that's true if the mountain only sells Gu and shot blocks. If they are serious about retail, they can do well. We have purchased helmets, shorts, all kinds of stuff. Also, don't bend people over on prices. I bring a spare tire with me because I know that if I tear one and need to buy one at the mountain they will be charging $100 minimum.

 

[Tricia]

Maybe that's true if the mountain only sells Gu and shot blocks. If they are serious about retail, they can do well. We have purchased helmets, shorts, all kinds of stuff. Also, don't bend people over on prices. I bring a spare tire with me because I know that if I tear one and need to buy one at the mountain they will be charging $100 minimum.

The actual bike shop has the usual variety of bike shorts, tops, shoes, helmets, etc.
The shop next to the bike shop, which is the ski shop doesn't do much of a "bike shop" summer transfer. Its mostly summer clothing, hydration packs, a few hestra bike gloves, and winter sale items.

 

[epicentre]

As a kid I would absolutely love these, as an adult not so much. Maybe if there was a summit to base coaster that was actually designed for thrills, I'd ride it IDK maybe once? And then consider it an eyesore. These things must bring in the families.

 

[Dave Petersen]

My family and I did the alpine slide at Whistler and I almost hit a bear on the track!

Actually we have done the alpine slide at Snow King in Jackson Hole on our honeymoon, at Chestnut Mountain in Illinois, and in Grindelwald, Switzerland. They've been around a long time.

As I mentioned earlier the first one I ever rode (long before I was married and a father) was in Breck in the 1980s. The cars are a little different and the track is of a different material, but they still work pretty much the same.


Whistler



Grindelwald, Switzerland




Chestnut Mountain, Illinois

 

[Philpug]

My family and I did the alpine slide at Whistler and I almost hit a bear on the track!

Could have been this guy, I saw him by the Alpine Slide in Whistler in 08

 

[Dave Petersen]

The last time I rode the alpine slide in Breck I flipped my sled (I don't brake at all ) and melted my shirt! Really burned my skin too from the friction. Dang -- that was one of my favorite shirts as well.

 

[DanoT]

Sun Peaks has a Mountain Cross Cart track:
https://www.sunpeaksresort.com/events-things-to-do/summer-activities/mountain-cross-carts

It is a pretty short course on a platter serviced teaching slope so there is minimal vertical involved. I have yet to try it and I am currently up at my place near Sun Peaks and next weekend (Sept.22-24) is the last weekend for MCC. So, if my boss is around and if I can get him to comp me a MCC ticket, then I might try it out.

 

[dbostedo]

Sun Peaks has a Mountain Cross Cart track:
https://www.sunpeaksresort.com/events-things-to-do/summer-activities/mountain-cross-carts

It is a pretty short course on a platter serviced teaching slope so there is minimal vertical involved. I have yet to try it and I am currently up at my place near Sun Peaks and next weekend (Sept.22-24) is the last weekend for MCC. So, if my boss is around and if I can get him to comp me a MCC ticket, then I might try it out.

Looks like fun to me.

 

[graham418]

Blue Mountain in Ontario has one .


they also have zip lining


and and rope climb jungle jim



When you have the infrastructure, it only makes sense to use it as much of the year as possible. Anything you have to do to stay in business. And keep lift prices lower in winter!!

 

[mikel]

And Copper has jumped on the Alpine Slide bandwagon. "The Rocky Mountain Coaster at Copper Mountain will be the longest alpine coaster in North America"

Still a work in progress especially in the trees. These pics are current as of right now.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Gross.