24-25 Ski and Snowboard Thread
- Thread starter icebiker
- Start date
THATmanMANNY
Well-Known Member
I took off half a day to go to the mtn to board and try ski. Perfect timing for child to be sick and I stayed at home. They always know how to F up your day but I did work on a bike build that's been hanging for 5 years. Just need 12 rotor bolts and a tune!
kidzach
Well-Known Member
What days does Stowe charge for parking?Oh - they had Stowe PD in the parking lot one day writing tickets. And that was on a Friday around 11 with only a 1/3 of the lot full
There was never a fee for parking until a couple of years ago when the lots were overflowing. But new WFH locals, people with Epic passes that are trying out Mt Mansfield, and the massive development on the Spruce side over the last 15 years (which took out a ton of parking) and there just isn't the space.
There are options for free parking: park down the road at the Toll Road and take the slow as molasses double or park at the XC center and take the shuttle. Or have a car with 4 people in it.
For busy Saturday/Sundays/holidays - sure $30 or the free options are reasonable. But Friday fees are pure money grab as the people it hurts most are locals that are trying to get some morning or mid day runs. But it was a good snow, nice weather Friday before MLK weekend and the lot had a ton of spaces so maybe things are going back to "normal"
All days but there are free options, just involve a shuttle or lots of walking
Zaskar
Well-Known Member
Yikes 😳
Information pulled from FB Ski the Northeast group.
WARNING TO ALL SKIERS AND RIDERS regarding vail resorts maintenance practices. This should absolutely scare you:
As an engineer - and an Attitash customer- today’s incident is HORRIFYING. There’s nothing more important than public trust in lift infrastructure.
————
At Attitash on the Flying Bear lift- the jaw which an opens and closes suffered a metallurgic failure. This did NOT just get there and is indicative of lack of inspection. From the looks of the metalurgy the crack has been forming for some time.
More concerningly there is eyewitness testimony that the grip sensor tripped more than once. The lift operator either on their own- or more concerningly possibly under direction from someone upstairs- reset the lift safety sensor and sent it anyways. A man fell 30’ down as a result. That could have been you.
—————
Independent investigation:
The mobile jaw (part that opens and closes) broke on the dopplemayr grip at the bear peak incident today.
There’s eye witness reports there was a loud bang and it threw a grip force sensor at the terminal. In my opinion: Judging by the look of the metal there was a detectable stress crack forming in that grip for some time.
Whoever was operating the lift is at fault for overriding the safety stops on the machine turning it back on again. What a shame:
“A grip force fault on that type of lift can be reset from the operator control panel. A grip position paddle switch has to be physically reset in the terminal. On a Doppelmayr lift of that vintage. If a grip force fault occurs the lift must be reversed and the carrier brought back into the terminal. The carrier that caused the fault must be unloaded and the grip inspected before the carrier is relaunched.”
Eyewitness report posted to Facebook noting the override of the safety features
“I was in line when this chair #57 went through the terminal. There was a loud bang that caused some snow and ice to dislodge from the terminal and triggered a safety stop. The attendants reset and it was business as usual. I was on chair 60. The lift stopped after chair 58 smashed tower 6 and again the lift was reset and started running again at full speed. An individual on chair 59 was on the phone demanding the lift be stopped and it was.” (Eyewitness Copied from a seperate skiers group)
Information pulled from FB Ski the Northeast group.
WARNING TO ALL SKIERS AND RIDERS regarding vail resorts maintenance practices. This should absolutely scare you:
As an engineer - and an Attitash customer- today’s incident is HORRIFYING. There’s nothing more important than public trust in lift infrastructure.
————
At Attitash on the Flying Bear lift- the jaw which an opens and closes suffered a metallurgic failure. This did NOT just get there and is indicative of lack of inspection. From the looks of the metalurgy the crack has been forming for some time.
More concerningly there is eyewitness testimony that the grip sensor tripped more than once. The lift operator either on their own- or more concerningly possibly under direction from someone upstairs- reset the lift safety sensor and sent it anyways. A man fell 30’ down as a result. That could have been you.
—————
Independent investigation:
The mobile jaw (part that opens and closes) broke on the dopplemayr grip at the bear peak incident today.
There’s eye witness reports there was a loud bang and it threw a grip force sensor at the terminal. In my opinion: Judging by the look of the metal there was a detectable stress crack forming in that grip for some time.
Whoever was operating the lift is at fault for overriding the safety stops on the machine turning it back on again. What a shame:
“A grip force fault on that type of lift can be reset from the operator control panel. A grip position paddle switch has to be physically reset in the terminal. On a Doppelmayr lift of that vintage. If a grip force fault occurs the lift must be reversed and the carrier brought back into the terminal. The carrier that caused the fault must be unloaded and the grip inspected before the carrier is relaunched.”
Eyewitness report posted to Facebook noting the override of the safety features
“I was in line when this chair #57 went through the terminal. There was a loud bang that caused some snow and ice to dislodge from the terminal and triggered a safety stop. The attendants reset and it was business as usual. I was on chair 60. The lift stopped after chair 58 smashed tower 6 and again the lift was reset and started running again at full speed. An individual on chair 59 was on the phone demanding the lift be stopped and it was.” (Eyewitness Copied from a seperate skiers group)
Well after my normal 3 hour drive turned to 4.25 to get to Lake George friday night, Snow tires continue to be one of the best investments to make after seeing so many cars in the ditch and struggling to get up hills. @UtahJoe will agree in that!
Gore skied amazing, love knowing that place like the back of my hand and knowing where to find stashes at 2pm. Sunday morning I took 1 lap and left, -5 just isn't fun anymore.
Gore skied amazing, love knowing that place like the back of my hand and knowing where to find stashes at 2pm. Sunday morning I took 1 lap and left, -5 just isn't fun anymore.
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as someone who already has a weird fear of lifts this is my nightmare. I stare at those clamps all the time and wonder how we just trust that they work.
Oh hell yes....my outback is GREAT in the snow.....now add a proper set of winter tires and its like a snowmobile.
The drive up to Sugarbush friday night was interesting.....I never bothered to check the weather because, whatever, im going anyway. Somewhere near albany my copilot told me that Rt 7 had a backup and it was rerouting us, like an hour shorter....ok, whatever.....in my mind im like..."this is probably going to take me over some crazy mountain pass" And of course, google never lets me down LOL....Had fresh tracks a few times
I dont mind the driving in the snow.....however it was intense and really hard to see for a while....that just gets tiring for ~200miles....but after 6.5hrs we arrived.
Sugarbush was great on saturday....we went to Lincoln and started out on the Lynx chair....Sunrise was soooo fun in the morning
The last time I did the lincoln side it was in a brutal snowstorm and most of the lifts were closed....Finally got a nice day and was able to check out everything. Really, I havent explored lincoln since I was a kid....in recent trips, we have been hitting the Mt Ellen side. So I wanted to hit as much as i could on saturday. Castlerock chair took a while, but I it was worth it. Rocks and ice to navigate around, but I love that stuff...so we had a blast.
Then we started exploring all of the different sections of woods which my son cant get enough of. We did one trip up the new heavensgate lift and I wanted to explore around up there more....but the second my son got off that lift and saw the view/exposure....he was like NO! lol. He shares my fear of heights, but he's just not as good as I am yet at managing it.....working on it. So pretty up there tho. This is as close to the "edge" as he would get lol
We kept finding spots in the trees until like 345 when I was finally like...ok....its 3 degrees out, (I didnt go in the lodge for 1 second all day) my boot heater batteries are dead....time to call it a day. And he was pissed, which made me happy. Somedays he can be meh on skiing, but it makes me happy when hes bitching at me for leaving when we could have gotten another run in.
We stayed at the Lareau Farm Inn, which is a b&b on Rt100, like 10min from the hill...this place was great. Its connected to the american flatbread resturant. After that day of skiing, sitting next to this massive oven stuff my face with pizza was perfect.
Sunday we got up and it was -18 lol. Packed up, got on the mountain around 9, by then it had warmed up to -13. Bob and I went back to castlerock for a couple of runs...took my wife up the heavengate chair to get that group picture.....did a few runs with my wife....Hit some woods....headed out around 2.
Great weekend!
This is so TOTALLY unacceptable....should never ever happen.
I mean with the recent airplane news...This is why we have an FAA...trained professionals....trained operators....proper inspections.....failsafe designs.....Sorry if I don't trust the "good CEOs" of Vail resorts to make sure people are trained properly or that parts are being maintained.
as a mechanical engineer...I feel the same way....I know how they work...but I also know that everything has a fatigue life......I don't worry about this when im on an airplane and every little thing has a maintenance schedule with procedures that are laid out....I don't know enough about the exact process of how this is done with the ski industry. That clamp for example....how often are they inspected? Is the highschool kid running the lift supposed to know when one of them is failing?
C'mon people. You want to ski 40+ resorts for $500/year, you have to be willing to accept some risk of death.
don
Well-Known Member
$30 and it's Fri, Sat, Sun and Holidays. You can park for free at the Toll House but that fills up pretty quickly. Also a shuttle runs from the XC center. I have seen some folks park on the side street by the Matterhorn and take the shuttle too (it picks up right by the General Store).
don
Well-Known Member
The FailResorts IG page had some interesting postings from ex Attitash employees:
You are correct - in this day and age this should never happen.
This reminds me of the zip line at Stowe that an employee died on a few years ago. There is not much info on it out there but I remember hearing/reading that it was a $5 safety piece that was supposed to be changed once a season that failed.
Buddy’s Run is one of my favorites there. 👍
don
Well-Known Member
Ugh - can't get up again but if this materializes north VT skiing will be amazing!
For a breakdown of the forecast: https://madriverglenweather.blogspot.com/2025/02/updates-on-our-two-storms-over-next-5.html