Dedicated Express Access Lanes

[daytripper]

Why would non working scanner gates stop the lift?

[DES]

Every time I go to the K website to purchase something, I think of this ratty snobby addition, and then can't get myself to give K my money. I hope I get over it before summer.

[Stormchaser]

I posted this in the Sunday Report last weekend. Probably more appropriate here...

Sunday we found ourselves at Ramshead looking to check out some low angle trees - which were pretty fun. The line at Ramshead was abysmal. In the 32 minutes we waited in ONE singles line I noted the following:

1.) 19 ski school groups skipping the lines and moving to the front
2.) 42 Fast Tracks users skipping the lines and moving to the front
3.) 19 EMPTY chairs going up the line
4.) 22 doubles going up the line
5.) 13 triples going up the line

KILLINGTON - YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SKILLED STAFF ON HAND TO MANAGE ALL THIS sh*t. THERE ARE TOO MANY LINE SKIPPERS JAMMING UP THE WORKS, AND YOUR STAFF CAN'T HANDLE IT. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, END FAST TRACKS NOW. PLEASE.

[hillbangin]

I posted this in the Sunday Report last weekend. Probably more appropriate here...

Sunday we found ourselves at Ramshead looking to check out some low angle trees - which were pretty fun. The line at Ramshead was abysmal. In the 32 minutes we waited in ONE singles line I noted the following:

1.) 19 ski school groups skipping the lines and moving to the front
2.) 42 Fast Tracks users skipping the lines and moving to the front
3.) 19 EMPTY chairs going up the line
4.) 22 doubles going up the line
5.) 13 triples going up the line

KILLINGTON - YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SKILLED STAFF ON HAND TO MANAGE ALL THIS sh*t. THERE ARE TOO MANY LINE SKIPPERS JAMMING UP THE WORKS, AND YOUR STAFF CAN'T HANDLE IT. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, END FAST TRACKS NOW. PLEASE.

Ramshead is a sh&t show for 100 reasons.

Ski school
Woodward
Too many beginners.

To your point - they need way more staff managing the line there on Saturday and Sunday morning.

I love those low angle woods. But between the cold weather and that crappy chair I haven't been over there in a couple years.

An 8 pack won't help without the staff really paying attention.

And they need way more room between the gate and the chair boarding area.

The newbies need more time to get their act together between scanning and boarding.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[throbster]

I took the RAMS chair four times Sunday morning. The corral was full but the wait was surprisingly short.

Having said that, they need to figure out how to prevent groups from breaking up once they pass through the scanner gate. This happens a lot at the six pack. Six people go through the gate and then four people get on one chair and two on another.

[snoloco]

Ramshead is terrible pretty much any time of day on a weekend. If I want to ski it, I always go there first thing in the morning. As long as you're there before 9 when the ski school starts, you can take 3-4 laps with little to no wait. Even if you go there in the afternoon, it's no use. Since so many people park there who are largely late arrivers, they also stay late, and are taking their last runs there. I've seen it show 10-20 minutes on the app at 3:30 multiple times.

I find it's key which attendant is directing the line. Some are better than others. In this instance, you must've gotten stuck with one of the bad ones. I've seen one attendant not call singles to fill the chairs (resulting in many repeated groups of 2 and 3), call the groups too slowly so there were at least a dozen empty chairs for the time I was in line, and actually have the audacity to yell at me for trying to join a group of 3 from the singles line like is supposed to happen. Unacceptable. Do your job and fill the damn chairs.

Short of replacing the lift, there are a few things that could be done to improve the efficiency.

1.) Change to straight loading, which would allow the lift to run faster. I believe it used to have straight loading. I'm not sure when or why it was changed to side loading.
2.) Need at least 2 attendants directing the line. One alternating the group lines, and the other just calling singles.
3.) Relocate the RFID gates so you scan before entering the queue.

None of this is rocket science and could be implemented within days. I worry that Fast Tracks provides a disincentive to improve the efficiency of the lifts, since a longer line encourages more people to just pay to skip it.

I will give credit where it's due. The Skye Peak Express was changed to a front row style queue, and they normally have someone to direct it, and they typically do a good job filling the chairs.

[newpylong1]

The lift needs to (will be) replaced with a 6 or even an 8 bomb. Who knows when, I am hearing it's next on the list, possibly for 2023.

[boston_e]

I posted this in the Sunday Report last weekend. Probably more appropriate here...

Sunday we found ourselves at Ramshead looking to check out some low angle trees - which were pretty fun. The line at Ramshead was abysmal. In the 32 minutes we waited in ONE singles line I noted the following:

1.) 19 ski school groups skipping the lines and moving to the front
2.) 42 Fast Tracks users skipping the lines and moving to the front
3.) 19 EMPTY chairs going up the line
4.) 22 doubles going up the line
5.) 13 triples going up the line

KILLINGTON - YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SKILLED STAFF ON HAND TO MANAGE ALL THIS sh*t. THERE ARE TOO MANY LINE SKIPPERS JAMMING UP THE WORKS, AND YOUR STAFF CAN'T HANDLE IT. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, END FAST TRACKS NOW. PLEASE.

And how many times did the lift stop? That is always an issue at Rams Head too, although I'm not sure that is something the staff corralling the lines can prevent.

[easyrider16]

President's day weekend my wife and I parked at vail and skied down to Ramshead at around 9am, where we waited for about 25 minutes in line. The really frustratingly annoying thing was that a huge pack of ski school folks got into line and promptly skipped us all. I'm not talking a group of 6. I'm talking 6 groups of 6. Then there were fast tracks people, a couple of chairloads full, that were all allowed to go before any of us poor schmucks in the regular line. It was pretty frustrating, but I chocked it up to a learning moment - never go to Ramshead at 9am when the ski school people start loading.

Another life lesson I learned recently - if you park at Ramshead on a Saturday, don't try to leave at 4pm. The parking lot turns into a sh!t-show of frustrated parents and melting-down kids all trying to get into their cars and get out at the same time.

[fdskier56]

Workers running the mazes can match up singles and quads and everyone else as much as they want, but it all falls apart at the gates.


Main lifts usually have a worker who stands at the scanner gates…but here’s an example-

Ramshead last wknd around 9am.

One Worker running the maze
No worker at gates
One worker at the pedestal at chair loading
One worker inside the booth.

Ski school group goes through gates.
1 kids pass won’t scan.
No lift worker notices and comes to help.

8 empty chairs in a row.

Kid eventually gets through the gate as
Worker running maze yells at instructor to keep the line moving

8 empty chairs. No worker noticed the issue?

[Pedro]

Being able to navigate the Lift Gates is an important life skill.

[jimmywilson69]

Being able to navigate the Lift Gates is an important life skill.

I agree but the scanners are inconsistent. honestly the hand held scanners that Vail uses at all of their properties work much better

[Stormchaser]

They also used to waive people through when the lines got long in the days of the hand scanners to make sure chairs went up full. They just wand everyone through if the gate doesn't open anyway... OPEN THE GATES! FILL THE CHAIRS!

[snoloco]

The lift needs to (will be) replaced with a 6 or even an 8 bomb. Who knows when, I am hearing it's next on the list, possibly for 2023.

They had better get that order in ASAP. 2022 is already full on every manufacturer's schedule and 2023 will likely fill by the end of this season.

When the lift is built, I believe it should have golden bubbles and be called the Woodward Express. Powder already renamed a lift at Copper to that, though it's just a regular high speed quad.

[Pedro]

They also used to waive people through when the lines got long in the days of the hand scanners to make sure chairs went up full. They just wand everyone through if the gate doesn't open anyway... OPEN THE GATES! FILL THE CHAIRS!

STOP THE BRUTAL GROOMING!