Moderators: SkiDork, spanky, Bubba
Factoring in the advertising value of the world wide publicity, news and print coverage, I think it was more than a wash.Highway Star wrote:Bump, so I heard that Killington lost $1.5M hosting this recent World Cup event.
I found the early part of the day to be quite windy as the wind-chill was a definite factor on many of my chairlift rides. Noticed a big difference from sun to shade... Wind also played havoc with the gondola cabins on Skyeship. The steady breeze caused cabin doors to bow open when loaded with half a dozen skis and snowboards. The gap between the cabin doors and the cabin exceeded an inch and a half on one ride, and over an inch on another. A small child could have fell through that opening! Not being the same cabin, it suggests the gondolas (or at least the moving parts) are in need of an overhaul. If there is that much play in the hardware, it should be reconditioned, rebuilt, or replaced. Biggest issue for me this weekend was the horrible corral organization. Stood in singles lines at multiple chairs watching 2somes and 3somes go up on quads. Long lines and poor efficiency. Lifty's need to be able to control the corrals and fill seats. Cost me at least 2 runs on Saturday. BOO!da Pimp wrote:One person's observation from Saturday Feb. 3. A day without big gusty winds and no icing conditions.
K1 was stop & go many times at the start, lifties were constantly resetting the door closure mechanisms with a long pole. No ice or winds involved, just stuff not working. Did not ride it again all day. Been noticing this all year. Obviously nothing getting fixed all year.
Skye Peak Express - stopped three times within 3 minutes. Did not ride it again. OL chair ran well.
15 minutes later - Needles Quad - stop & go multiple times around 10am. Used the Skyeship Stage 2 twice after that, somehow it kept running on our two laps.
Superstar ran well when I was there before lunch and after lunch.
Canyon Quad had no issues except for the 20 minute stoppage around 12:30. Did not ride it again, we were cold to the bone and had to get inside to thaw. Some electrical safety thing would not reset. No ice, no gusty winds.
Snowdon Triple - a bunch of foulups due to people not getting across the long loading ramp in time. Used to be a person at the loading ramp would clue the next group of people when to go. Really helped prevent foulups. Never see that anymore. But the triple does seem to run better this year in general
Snowdon Quad still reliably sucks. Did not ride it at all.
Last weekend at Snowdon Quad: Constant stoppages when the returning chairs were bouncing a bit right when they were to enter the wooden platform of the loading ramp area. The little bounce resulted in the chair touching the bamboo rod sticking out to stop the chair if someone was sitting on it returning down. That rod was a crooked piece of bamboo. Either it was placed too high, or the bamboo rod itself adds some unreliability since it is not level. I bet that nothing was fixed or improved regarding a crooked piece of bamboo stopping the chair. Been that way for years, just one of the many things that creates stops.
My only observations when visiting other mountains is that at the end of the day, we suddenly realize that we could not remember any stoppages or slowdowns. I'm sure the competition has their share if ice & wind stoppages. I can accept those. But every day at Killington brings stoppages and I'm sure the customers visiting for the occasional day wonder why lifts stop so much when the weather is nice.
Maybe I was unlucky on Saturday and those lifts ran fine the rest of the day. Can't be unlucky every weekend, every day I'm there.
Now rumors are floating around that the South Ridge chair is to be delayed. First new thing in years, but it won't happen.
all over the hill, they stand there one hand drinking coffee/tea/cocoa one on the gun completely inept, chasing people who ski by into the loading chute, empty chairs going up while they harass the person for a pass that they should have scanned way back in the line...frustrating when they can't do their job properly, more so when their input results in less control over lines, queues, empty chairs etc...the focus can;t be one dimensional e.g. scan every ticket no matter the impact, run lines and queues, stare into space, drink cocoa etc...da Pimp wrote:Did not realize until you mentioned it, but I cannot remember any lifties doing any corral work all weekend. Just the K1 loading point, where it seems to be regularly staffed all year with someone giving clear direction on how many singles might be needed per box. Skyeship Stage 2 has an attendant, keeps the cabins full there and maintains order between singles and groups.
Skyeburt quad had a ticket checker hitting tickets non-stop, don't think he could have given direction for quad formations as well. Superstar ticket checkers were getting 95% checked, but no line control. People were shuffling along and guessing right up to getting on the ramp.
Interesting observation at Snowshed recently: Adult line organizer and two ticket checkers were all at the apex where the quad lines and ski school line merge into one main line. Organizer told the two checkers (spanish heritage) that they should move farther up the lines, because they were causing a holdup and delay at the spot they were in. The result was that they looked at each other, and continued scanning ticket exactly where they were standing. Might not have understood enough english, or afraid to move from the spot where someone told them to stand at.
I have seen a good effort this year for merging lines and forming groups at the Snowdon quad. Of course, that comes a lot easier when the line moves so slow from all the stops & slowdowns.
I hate to sound Presidential, but the workers they hire need to fully understand the job they are intended to perform. Many foreign employees in lift lines and lift shacks do not...and I fear communication and language barrier are a huge portion of that problem. It's a broken system that K needs to fix or abandon. If the employee doesn't have the knowledge or ability to manage customers in lift lines, they don't belong in that position. They are the employees Killington customers see the most; experiencing lift line employees by the dozens over the course of their ski days. Unfortunately many are the most inept workers Killington employs and the customer has to deal with them over and over and over again.madhatter wrote:all over the hill, they stand there one hand drinking coffee/tea/cocoa one on the gun completely inept, chasing people who ski by into the loading chute, empty chairs going up while they harass the person for a pass that they should have scanned way back in the line...frustrating when they can't do their job properly, more so when their input results in less control over lines, queues, empty chairs etc...the focus can;t be one dimensional e.g. scan every ticket no matter the impact, run lines and queues, stare into space, drink cocoa etc...da Pimp wrote:Did not realize until you mentioned it, but I cannot remember any lifties doing any corral work all weekend. Just the K1 loading point, where it seems to be regularly staffed all year with someone giving clear direction on how many singles might be needed per box. Skyeship Stage 2 has an attendant, keeps the cabins full there and maintains order between singles and groups.
Skyeburt quad had a ticket checker hitting tickets non-stop, don't think he could have given direction for quad formations as well. Superstar ticket checkers were getting 95% checked, but no line control. People were shuffling along and guessing right up to getting on the ramp.
Interesting observation at Snowshed recently: Adult line organizer and two ticket checkers were all at the apex where the quad lines and ski school line merge into one main line. Organizer told the two checkers (spanish heritage) that they should move farther up the lines, because they were causing a holdup and delay at the spot they were in. The result was that they looked at each other, and continued scanning ticket exactly where they were standing. Might not have understood enough english, or afraid to move from the spot where someone told them to stand at.
I have seen a good effort this year for merging lines and forming groups at the Snowdon quad. Of course, that comes a lot easier when the line moves so slow from all the stops & slowdowns.
bingo...Stormchaser wrote:I hate to sound Presidential, but the workers they hire need to fully understand the job they are intended to perform. Many foreign employees in lift lines and lift shacks do not...and I fear communication and language barrier are a huge portion of that problem. It's a broken system that K needs to fix or abandon. If the employee doesn't have the knowledge or ability to manage customers in lift lines, they don't belong in that position. They are the employees Killington customers see the most; experiencing lift line employees by the dozens over the course of their ski days. Unfortunately many are the most inept workers Killington employs and the customer has to deal with them over and over and over again.madhatter wrote:all over the hill, they stand there one hand drinking coffee/tea/cocoa one on the gun completely inept, chasing people who ski by into the loading chute, empty chairs going up while they harass the person for a pass that they should have scanned way back in the line...frustrating when they can't do their job properly, more so when their input results in less control over lines, queues, empty chairs etc...the focus can;t be one dimensional e.g. scan every ticket no matter the impact, run lines and queues, stare into space, drink cocoa etc...da Pimp wrote:Did not realize until you mentioned it, but I cannot remember any lifties doing any corral work all weekend. Just the K1 loading point, where it seems to be regularly staffed all year with someone giving clear direction on how many singles might be needed per box. Skyeship Stage 2 has an attendant, keeps the cabins full there and maintains order between singles and groups.
Skyeburt quad had a ticket checker hitting tickets non-stop, don't think he could have given direction for quad formations as well. Superstar ticket checkers were getting 95% checked, but no line control. People were shuffling along and guessing right up to getting on the ramp.
Interesting observation at Snowshed recently: Adult line organizer and two ticket checkers were all at the apex where the quad lines and ski school line merge into one main line. Organizer told the two checkers (spanish heritage) that they should move farther up the lines, because they were causing a holdup and delay at the spot they were in. The result was that they looked at each other, and continued scanning ticket exactly where they were standing. Might not have understood enough english, or afraid to move from the spot where someone told them to stand at.
I have seen a good effort this year for merging lines and forming groups at the Snowdon quad. Of course, that comes a lot easier when the line moves so slow from all the stops & slowdowns.
This is my pet peave - I can deal with the crappy lifts - but there's no excuse for bad coral management. They need to put someone in charge of K1, Rams, Supe, and Skye - that's 4 people at 200 bucks a day for 15 Saturdays maybe. DO YOUR JOB ! FIX IT. It's a $ 12,000 problem - they blow that making crappy snow on a 30 degree day.Stormchaser wrote:I hate to sound Presidential, but the workers they hire need to fully understand the job they are intended to perform. Many foreign employees in lift lines and lift shacks do not...and I fear communication and language barrier are a huge portion of that problem. It's a broken system that K needs to fix or abandon. If the employee doesn't have the knowledge or ability to manage customers in lift lines, they don't belong in that position. They are the employees Killington customers see the most; experiencing lift line employees by the dozens over the course of their ski days. Unfortunately many are the most inept workers Killington employs and the customer has to deal with them over and over and over again.madhatter wrote:all over the hill, they stand there one hand drinking coffee/tea/cocoa one on the gun completely inept, chasing people who ski by into the loading chute, empty chairs going up while they harass the person for a pass that they should have scanned way back in the line...frustrating when they can't do their job properly, more so when their input results in less control over lines, queues, empty chairs etc...the focus can;t be one dimensional e.g. scan every ticket no matter the impact, run lines and queues, stare into space, drink cocoa etc...da Pimp wrote:Did not realize until you mentioned it, but I cannot remember any lifties doing any corral work all weekend. Just the K1 loading point, where it seems to be regularly staffed all year with someone giving clear direction on how many singles might be needed per box. Skyeship Stage 2 has an attendant, keeps the cabins full there and maintains order between singles and groups.
Skyeburt quad had a ticket checker hitting tickets non-stop, don't think he could have given direction for quad formations as well. Superstar ticket checkers were getting 95% checked, but no line control. People were shuffling along and guessing right up to getting on the ramp.
Interesting observation at Snowshed recently: Adult line organizer and two ticket checkers were all at the apex where the quad lines and ski school line merge into one main line. Organizer told the two checkers (spanish heritage) that they should move farther up the lines, because they were causing a holdup and delay at the spot they were in. The result was that they looked at each other, and continued scanning ticket exactly where they were standing. Might not have understood enough english, or afraid to move from the spot where someone told them to stand at.
I have seen a good effort this year for merging lines and forming groups at the Snowdon quad. Of course, that comes a lot easier when the line moves so slow from all the stops & slowdowns.
hillbangin wrote:This is my pet peave - I can deal with the crappy lifts - but there's no excuse for bad coral management. They need to put someone in charge of K1, Rams, Supe, and Skye - that's 4 people at 200 bucks a day for 15 Saturdays maybe. DO YOUR JOB ! FIX IT. It's a $ 12,000 problem - they blow that making crappy snow on a 30 degree day.Stormchaser wrote:I hate to sound Presidential, but the workers they hire need to fully understand the job they are intended to perform. Many foreign employees in lift lines and lift shacks do not...and I fear communication and language barrier are a huge portion of that problem. It's a broken system that K needs to fix or abandon. If the employee doesn't have the knowledge or ability to manage customers in lift lines, they don't belong in that position. They are the employees Killington customers see the most; experiencing lift line employees by the dozens over the course of their ski days. Unfortunately many are the most inept workers Killington employs and the customer has to deal with them over and over and over again.madhatter wrote:all over the hill, they stand there one hand drinking coffee/tea/cocoa one on the gun completely inept, chasing people who ski by into the loading chute, empty chairs going up while they harass the person for a pass that they should have scanned way back in the line...frustrating when they can't do their job properly, more so when their input results in less control over lines, queues, empty chairs etc...the focus can;t be one dimensional e.g. scan every ticket no matter the impact, run lines and queues, stare into space, drink cocoa etc...da Pimp wrote:Did not realize until you mentioned it, but I cannot remember any lifties doing any corral work all weekend. Just the K1 loading point, where it seems to be regularly staffed all year with someone giving clear direction on how many singles might be needed per box. Skyeship Stage 2 has an attendant, keeps the cabins full there and maintains order between singles and groups.
Skyeburt quad had a ticket checker hitting tickets non-stop, don't think he could have given direction for quad formations as well. Superstar ticket checkers were getting 95% checked, but no line control. People were shuffling along and guessing right up to getting on the ramp.
Interesting observation at Snowshed recently: Adult line organizer and two ticket checkers were all at the apex where the quad lines and ski school line merge into one main line. Organizer told the two checkers (spanish heritage) that they should move farther up the lines, because they were causing a holdup and delay at the spot they were in. The result was that they looked at each other, and continued scanning ticket exactly where they were standing. Might not have understood enough english, or afraid to move from the spot where someone told them to stand at.
I have seen a good effort this year for merging lines and forming groups at the Snowdon quad. Of course, that comes a lot easier when the line moves so slow from all the stops & slowdowns.
On Saturday I wasn't paying attention and dropped my pole right as I was loading Superstar. We get 10 feet away from from the loading area and the lifty stops the frigging lift. We started laughing becuase right under the crossover trail there were 3 ski poles that nobody from the lift shack bothered picking up and handing them to the next chair.
Nobody's paying attention - it's annoying as hell.
And some of these people are paying $100 bucks a day for the privilege.
