Wednesday - 1/24/24 More Lift Issues

[Big Bob]

Please someone correct my math, but the way I calculate it, with 22 lifts, if one is replaced every 3rd year, they will maintain a 66 year old lift age average. It would take a lift replacement every other year to eventually get to a 44 year average lift lifespan. Overhauling lifts complicates the math some, but it is clear to see they are still falling behind. Either 44 or 66 year average lift age is really way too old for a lift fleet at a premier resort. They need to replace an old lift every year for the next few years to catch up, anything less is clearly neglect.

No, 66 or 44 years would be the average age *at replacement*. So the average age of the fleet would be ~half that value. IE, you have one 66 year old lift and one 0 year old lift, making the average 33 years old, assuming the rest are evenly dispersed in terms of age.

No! Sum up all the lift ages and divide by the number of lifts, that would give you the average age.

[spanky]

Please someone correct my math, but the way I calculate it, with 22 lifts, if one is replaced every 3rd year, they will maintain a 66 year old lift age average. It would take a lift replacement every other year to eventually get to a 44 year average lift lifespan. Overhauling lifts complicates the math some, but it is clear to see they are still falling behind. Either 44 or 66 year average lift age is really way too old for a lift fleet at a premier resort. They need to replace an old lift every year for the next few years to catch up, anything less is clearly neglect.

No, 66 or 44 years would be the average age *at replacement*. So the average age of the fleet would be ~half that value. IE, you have one 66 year old lift and one 0 year old lift, making the average 33 years old, assuming the rest are evenly dispersed in terms of age.

No! Sum up all the lift ages and divide by the number of lifts, that would give you the average age.

Average lifespan is different than average age.

Eagle does have the correct “average” calculation though.

[KingsFourMan]

New carpet and paint in the basement and first floor at Bear Lodge thanks to the summer flooding, why tear it down? Next,replace a few cracked windows. It's a ski lodge, not a five star hotel. I would rather see money spent on fixing or replacing the lifts and replacing and modernizing the snowmaking system.

Nobody said that the Bear Lodge needs to be torn down, it definitely doesn't, but it does need renovating. And I would put the way down the priority list as well in favor of new lifts and snowmaking improvements.

Regardless, their overall priority is now locked into the new combined Snowshed/Rams Head base lodge which is the anchor for the new village. That lodge is probably in the $60-$80M range at least. With that expense on the horizon, will there also be money to spend on new lifts? Based on Powdr's history at Killington, it doesn't look likely but they may not have a choice with how bad the skyship and needles eye lifts are now.

Weren't we told the Bear lodge was to be torn down and replaced with money obtained by selling the land for the new condos at Bear Mnt? Will the developer pay to combine the two lodges at Rams/ Snowshed or Powdr? Replace the drive on the Needles chair this summer and rebuild/ refurbush the Skyship. Replace the Superstar Chair on a new alinement and replace the Rams chair with a six pack Bubble. You guys need to buy more $16 beers...

I thought they said that the Bear Lodge would just be renovated. It definitely doesn't need to be torn down unless it has some serious issues that I haven't heard about but I don't think that's the case. With respect to the new combined base lodge in the village, I don't see why the developer would be paying for that unless they intend to own it and lease it to Killington which could be the case but I doubt it. I think the land that the new lodge will be built on is still owned by Killington or leased by Killington from the State. It looks to be pretty much where the current Snowshed lodge is now.

[Big Bob]

New carpet and paint in the basement and first floor at Bear Lodge thanks to the summer flooding, why tear it down? Next,replace a few cracked windows. It's a ski lodge, not a five star hotel. I would rather see money spent on fixing or replacing the lifts and replacing and modernizing the snowmaking system.

Nobody said that the Bear Lodge needs to be torn down, it definitely doesn't, but it does need renovating. And I would put the way down the priority list as well in favor of new lifts and snowmaking improvements.

Regardless, their overall priority is now locked into the new combined Snowshed/Rams Head base lodge which is the anchor for the new village. That lodge is probably in the $60-$80M range at least. With that expense on the horizon, will there also be money to spend on new lifts? Based on Powdr's history at Killington, it doesn't look likely but they may not have a choice with how bad the skyship and needles eye lifts are now.

Weren't we told the Bear lodge was to be torn down and replaced with money obtained by selling the land for the new condos at Bear Mnt? Will the developer pay to combine the two lodges at Rams/ Snowshed or Powdr? Replace the drive on the Needles chair this summer and rebuild/ refurbush the Skyship. Replace the Superstar Chair on a new alinement and replace the Rams chair with a six pack Bubble. You guys need to buy more $16 beers...

I thought they said that the Bear Lodge would just be renovated. It definitely doesn't need to be torn down unless it has some serious issues that I haven't heard about but I don't think that's the case. With respect to the new combined base lodge in the village, I don't see why the developer would be paying for that unless they intend to own it and lease it to Killington which could be the case but I doubt it. I think the land that the new lodge will be built on is still owned by Killington or leased by Killington from the State. It looks to be pretty much where the current Snowshed lodge is now.

I thought the initial plan for the Bear Lodge was to renovate the existing building, but that got changed to a replacement/ teardown. Wasn't the combined lodge at Snowshed and Rams Head going to be spaning the road? This may all change with the new developer redoing the plans and a new Act 250 permit.

[my poor knees]

My memory sucks but didn't the state of vermont pay for a portion of the new K1 lodge? My biggest gripe of the new K1 lodge is everything, but mainly they didn't really gain much seating. Personally I could care less if they build a new lodge at snowshed or bear, lifts are the obvious priority. But renovating the bear lodge might be a good idea. And the food choices there are very limited. Lifts are infrastructure and should be the priority.

[eagle628]

No! Sum up all the lift ages and divide by the number of lifts, that would give you the average age.

"assuming the rest are evenly dispersed in terms of age" is doing the work in that sentence. While obviously not true in real life, the hypothetical was a consistent replacement schedule. Anyway, years aren't even the value that matters, it's operating hours.

[fdskier56]

An example of communication-

https://blog.sugarbush.com/mountain/a-s ... -snowfall/

[skiadikt]

An example of communication-

https://blog.sugarbush.com/mountain/a-s ... -snowfall/

nicely done. actually the previous owner/president win smith used to write something like that a couple times a season. perhaps mike solimano should consider doing something that on killington.com.

[newpylong1]

Don't count on it at the most un-transparently (is that a word?) run resort in the East. Don't even have the Podcast anymore for a more inside view into decision making.

[snoloco]

More delays this morning. I guess this is what happens when you cut staff down to the bare minimum. You can't respond to issues without it in massive delays. Bear Mountain Quad was supposed to open at 7:30, and is now delayed until at least 8:15. They didn't even start the lift until 7:45. They haven't even started to de-ice the Skye Peak Express yet. I got screwed because Stage 1 looks like it will open on-time. Stage 2, Superstar, and the bubble are also delayed. The level of incompetence is stunning.

[Big Bob]

Even the Superstar cam is looking at a tree, fix it please!

[ANGUS]

Go spoon with Angus

Leave me out of this.

[Pedro]

Go spoon with Angus

Leave me out of this.

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