HouseMuzik
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Posts posted by HouseMuzik
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As far as Pinnacle, what BC did there was a completely dick move.. he was told months before the end of his lease that they would not renew, unless I have my facts wrong. And I think this was done after they knew he had sold off to Buckman's. Burton, you can stick up for BC all you want, but there is a legitimate belief among local winter sports enthusiasts that bear is fucking up, and worse every year. Like i said, Blue is hot on its tail, and if the rumors of a hotel/resort ever materialize, its gonna be lights out.
PS - I am not going to disclose the identity of one of our customers to you on a message board. He told me what he did in confidence, not for me to out him. But he's not the only person that walk through my door from that place. There's a lot of crap going on there behind the scenes, and we hear it. Its the same thing.. $$'s over actual product.
and may i say i'm shocked that the guns are on? lol
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Well said Musik. Not sure what angle you have/had with the industry, but you seem to see it from the side I've been on. When you see things from the front of the ticket window, you can speculate all you want but working behind the scenes gave me a whole 'nother view of problems and mis-managment. Not sure whats going on at BC now-a-days, but it's not just the outside affairs that are going south, it's inside too.
All in retail. Five years, Compared to Paul and Rich, no 20-25 years here.. but I've heard their stories. Last season was a historically bad season.. perhaps the worst in nearly 20 years (some of our reps said nationwide it was the worst ever -- some of these have been in the biz three decades or more).. so this season was going to be tough.. even if it was better, which so far it has. BC seems to think they can survive without the ski side.. but wait until Blue puts a resort on its hill. BC's business will take a nosedive. And that seems to be the going rumor now.. with the new mgmt at Blue, they're going to reach for the stars.. and if I owned that place, hell, i'd be taking BC head on too
If that's all they can blow when it gets down to 24 in Allentown they are doomed. Winters keep getting warmer.
This. Global warming or not, winters are warmer. BC needs to be ready for this, and prepared to blow in marginal conditions. It's only going to get worse.
I spent a bit of time with the SMI folks when they came in to re-do Sno mt. years ago. What i found interesting was the amount of time spent analyzing climate, wind, slope width, slope pitch, tree cover, historical weather etc. before recommending a package of guns. They dropped 1.2mil on this and best i can tell it was pretty well spent, save for they should have added more of them and worked a better deal with the city to use more water. As far as BC goes, id have thought the same consideration would have gone into their purchases since 2000. Don't know for sure. What i do know and what ive said before, is management has pissed off the snowmakers and groomers enough that they leave for better places and more $$$ when they get some experience. That in itself will cause a negative effect on conditions.
Talking with an employee of BC two days ago i can attest to this. He said that there is practically no one left on the snowmaking team now that has an appreciable amount of experience.. and in his own words "they're not that bright." When your own employees are candidly saying to people that there's problems.. better fix it. Just looked at the forecast.. Bear's gonna be lucky to open up Christmas week at the earliest. Meanwhile.. all the local slopes will be open. And Spring Mountain's pushing to open this weekend? If Spring is open before Bear, that just shows you how f**ked up things are at BC.
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You guys are all crazy. I want them to open as much as the next guy but I'm not surprised at another slow start. I don't even think the ski season is their big money maker anymore so i'm not surprised that they won't bend over backwards to open early as possible. Besides, the real story to get the winter stoke going is the new feature BC ironworks just wrapped up. BC's fault local ski shops aren't doing well?? I'm sorry I just find that laughable. Blue was open a few days last weekend, did you see the shops going nuts becuase of their early hard work??
See here's the problem. Bear Creek needs the ski side of its business to make things work. While its got a great hotel and other amenities, bookings were way down early last year because the slopes themselves weren't open. BC didn't lose $2 million over Christmas week just in ski revenues alone my friend. And you've apparently never worked in the ski retail industry. There is a DIRECT correlation between sales peaking and the opening of local resorts. I've found this magic date is December 15. The further past that date that the slopes open, the more of a struggle the season is.
You need to remember that ski shop's agreements with their vendors typically call for prices to be held until January 15. The less of this month "peak period" they have, the smaller profits will be.
I've heard some birdies chirping that sales are down 50% YOY in some of these stores -- that's bad considering the shit season we had last year. There's no momentum for sales this year, and with our most local resort dilly-dallying around, its giving a lot of us shop kids and managers ulcers, that's for sure.
Uhhh, well your a bit wrong here. Ski shop business is largely dependant on opening times of the nearest ski area. The later the season starts, the less likely someone is going to invest in big purchases like skis and boots, if they can make due with what they currently have. Snow on the ground and lights on the hill gets everyone stoked and ready to spend a few $$$. Lights out and warm, not nearly as much. This is fact, go ask Rich Reber or Paul Prutzman.
Thanks Winter, you obviously know what you're talking about. My concern is Bear doesn't even appear to be trying. I cannot figure out for the life of me how in the hell we were in the upper 20s at a lower elevation and the wet bulb temps all around Bear are at least at marginal for snowmaking. Tonight.. its even colder, and the lights are out.
The sad thing is, and i hear it daily, is there's a growing impression out there that Bear Creek does NOT know what it's doing when it comes to snowmaking. that's not a good thing to have out there if you're a ski area...
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The longer bear waits... the more it screws the ski shops and other related businesses. Berks County ski and boarders are lazy. Just look at the parking lots at Buckman's, Pro Snow Sports, and other local shops close to Bear. People aren't buying anything. Bears stupidity when it comes to snowmaking hurts more than just them.
The temps have to be at least marginal now up there. What are they waiting for. 27 degrees so it's perfect? thats not gonna happen.
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how can bear claim a base of 18-30".. its not even close.. it's more like 6-18" in reality.
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looks like quite a few more runs will be open wednesday from the looks of the camera. 13 degrees right now? thats pristine artificial snow theyre blowing
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Once tonight comes around.. those guns should not be off until Thursday morning. Looks like at least 72 or so hrs of snowmaking temps. Now we'll see how good BC's snowmaking system really is.
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One night of optimal snowmaking temps this week is about all they're gonna get. Bear is going to have a hard time opening up anytime soon.
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They gambled way too much and now are paying for it. I can't say i feel bad.
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FWIW.. we just got a message from Bear Creek here at the shop that they will not be open through at least Monday. Might be worth it to call method whose CAD is on the 23rd and see if they got a cancellation as well. Looks like whomever said of the post-Xmas opening may have been right... forecast is pretty bad.
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Poor snowmaking at 25% at 27 degrees? Absolute bullshit.
Allow me to educate, as an accomplished snow maker myself... Humidity at or below 27 degrees is much less an issue than closer to 32 degrees. Even at 70% RH and 27 degrees, snow can easily be put down, and remember, early season blowing is not being made entirely for perfect ski conditions, but rather for getting down a firm base that will freeze hard and provide a longer lasting surface during mid-winter warm-ups. Yes, water temps are important here and if the temps were a bit warm, they hopefully were aerating the pinds to drop the temps. Bear creeks guns are very intelligent and can fine tune pressures and air speed (among other factors) while the addition of Snomax extends the range at which good snow can be produced. The bottom line is Bear opened up last year, 100%, though VERY thin cover, within 60 hours . If they are trying to accomplish that this year, they goofed again. Like someone said, better to open half way and with good base than to open 100% and ride on near-dirt.
Yes, and year after year bear creek proves they don't get this. Over the past three seasons I'd argue theyve gotten worse at it, while resorts that used to suck (ahem blue) have improved dramatically. With talk of a full on resort at blue mountain, bear creek needs to stay on its A-game...
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Exactly brother. I'm at a loss
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It's ridiculous they're blowing over the entire mountain. This BS excuse about "high humidity" is ridiculous. At 27 degrees humidity is irrelevant (and for three days at BC the temp fell below that). Whats happening is a simple law of physics. You have all the guns on, the pressure through those guns is going to be less than just a few blowing. Pressure is finite. Now the forecast is not looking good for the weekend with marginal temps. Good luck BC, you need it..
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Kudos to the BC snowmaking staff.. to have that mountain to be almost completely open opening day is ridic!
I'll be there after work at the shop.. only a 20 min drive up Fleetwood-blandon rd for me. See you fools there
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No matter what the terrain is -- and yes even Bear regulars agree its not great -- Bear Creek is probably the best run ski slope in the region. It is not Doe Mountain. I've heard at least one or two folks say to me they believe the lodge and amenities themselves rank up there with the top resorts on the east coast.
This is the reason why Bear Creek is growing so fast. People respond to quality. I'd rather spend $45 for a lift ticket in a classy place than $45 at some other hill where the place looks like it hasn't been touched since 1975 (:::cough::: camelback :::cough::
. So would a lot of other people. It is also very family friendly, a key point that probably makes the growth that much more pronounced.You can thank Bear Creek for making other area mountains step up their game... too many of them were just taking your money and not reinvesting it back into the experience itself.
As for calling yourself the "unofficial blue mt rep," idk some people in blue may have a problem with that if they knew about it.
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when did i mention anything about blue? i think i rode bear at least once a week last year, and i plan on doing the same this year, so i'm just as stoked as you guys for them to open. that said, opening before friday is realistically not going to make them money because the majority of their traffic will be pass holders until this weekend.
Not true at all. They open before anybody else and people will come -- bear is easily one of the fastest growing resorts here in the eastern part of the state. Plus concessions and people on the property period generates money. Big Boulder definitely made money opening early. All those toys and cans of food is a tax writeoff for them.. so its a net plus.
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do you realize how quickly a 6" base would get killed in a park? on any given midwinter night, there are bomb holes after rails at bear that are over two feet deep.
It isn't all about the park kids frankly. And I NEVER said open with a 6" base. At minimum they need at least a foot, thats just a given.
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I'm surprised the guns are still on.. conditions seem pretty damn marginal.. i guess humidity's low.
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Still blowing at 9:30.. I don't see a single bare spot. Ski Roundtop opens Friday, and Whitetail Thursday.
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theres no reason why they aint open for the weekend. look at the cams. theres at least a 6-8" base already in most spots. I just read the managers blog and it said "late this week" dunno where the next week thing came from. Either way they open before blue does i say.. bahahah
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Heard the same from an employee that was through the shop. Either way.. the 10th is a definite from what he was told, but they're gonna try for Wednesday.
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And the guns are alive! Sweet
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lights are on on the hill.. looks like they're getting ready to blow.
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Heard the passes for industry (shop employees) went up to $10 this year -- i was pretty sure they were $5 last year but our shop wasn't a dealer for their passes so we didnt qualify. If so, I am just gonna go get a pass from the link here which is seemingly still working. let me know if anybody knows or has heard..
Open Date
in Bear Creek
Posted
Meanwhile.. Spring Mountain, some 40 miles to its south and at a lower elevation will have a 12" base.. will be open tmrw. almost comical.