NightRider

Funny, that's what I used to believe of the surf cams back out in Cali when I lived out there. Then again no one was collecting for season wave passes.

I don't think anyone over there knows how to debug the thing. It'd be nice to have a more stable connection to it, but they run a wireless link to the cam. Traffic to it seems to have climbed so it very well could just be locking up from the load. I am not sure on the link to BC, but since they have WiFi in the hotel and restaurant area, I'd think they are running at least a good pipe to the facility. Would be nice if there were a hard line run to the cam to make it stream better.

Yeah, I was planning on getting over there but got tied up at work. Was hoping to hear more about the new plans. Hopefully the thin turnout doesn't stop the attempts to have these meetings!

Second vote is 'snow surfaces' though BC did a damn good job trying to save the whole hill after the warm we had that froze into a brick. But a holiday weekend is a showcase period so having the trails in top shape puts BC's best foot forward. Third vote is 'tickets' in that it'd be nice if off-peak passholders were extended a slight discount on peak day tickets ($5 or $10 off perhaps). I brought three full-fare visitors (+ rentals!) to BC because it is where I go and support. Others may do the same, so the break for offpeak passholders would probably pay off in spades.

Ha, I saw you out there too Mark! Though the 3 seconds it takes from standing to carried-away-by-lift-chair didn't lend itself to much 'hello' time given how crazy it was on Saturday. As for the faster lift plea... I think Mark addressed the inability to really put a high-speed quad in given the spacing requirements between chairs and the short line length to the top (since BC is a smaller mountain). Do they make upgrades for the drive system in these things? Always posed the question to friends 'if you had $1M and wanted a lift, who the heck to do call?' -- maybe you know as GM of a resort, perhaps these people have answers as to how to juice up the speed on that quad. Seems pokey, especially when it gets busy, and that isn't to note the frequent stops/slowdowns for kiddies, newbies, etc (which is to be expected). Another idea to further the point made by skierboy08 is to make the A chair for the parks only. Perhaps a way to help implement potential park-pass initiatives -- you can check for passes right there at the lift. No pass, no lift, no lift, no park...

I wonder if there has been any behind the scenes progress on the turn-tubing proposal and the park pass debate. Clearly a stab has been made at the minipark suggestion. I know I've seen some features built based of drawings handed in last time (I know I saw 1-2 of mine). I have a short list of questions, hopefully their answers will be forthcoming.....

The minijumps were pretty iced. They blew snow over everything all over the hill and groomed, but the minipark was still suffering from the melt/freeze issue. Negative tone aside, the size of things was good. The flat boxes, I thought, were the right size and such for the target audience. And yeah, they make it a much smaller price to practice nuttier moves on and off the boxes without the need to tumble 3-5 ft. off. For a first setup, not bad at all...

I will start with an appology for this b!+ch and whine post... Sorry, but after as much snow as we got, there really shouldn't be any excuse that the pipe is not in top condition. BC invested $1m or some large sum in a park bully and a pipe dragon yet it appears to be underused... The pipe was in dismal shape today. There were a few people I spoke with that were equally bummed that the park was not in better condition. It did look like the park crew came out late today (5ish?) as the top jump with flat-down rail got opened up after a little manual tweaking. Honestly though, with good temps and a lot of snow, everything should really get re-cut with the cat. Not to mention the small park was absent of any mini-tables, gaps, etc... I hate to complain when I know there are people who work hard over there to make things happen, but frankly now is the time to be showing off the BC's commitment to the park...

All I know is if they keep going "'til the well runs dry" AND we get the dump they are starting to predict (crossing fingers) we could actually, just possibly, put the idea of seeing BC stay open through March. That'd be very nice...

The ideas about the beginner park sound great. I hope that those of us theorizing this will draw people to their correct skill level will see that happen. When are you trying to have the next park meeting? Personally any day really works, maybe not as late as last time if at all possible -- seemed a lot of the younger guys couldn't stay the whole time as it got later on a school night.

Great info Mark. I too have noted that March seems to have a drop based on my own observation. If the push was put behind the park (which it clearly seems to be), and maintenance was kept up with given the typical warmer conditions, I think the park crowd would certainly still make it a point to 'ride out the season'. I like your angle on the cost cutting, makes sense to me. Interesting point as well about the power, I know lights must be a big part of it...

Just yesterday I was up on the lift above the dropin point for the top booter. One of the local ripper crew (identified only by the ability to pull flips) ran into this issue. He properly called his dropin and as he made his approach, a mother (?) and young child made the decision to cut across the leadin to the hit. Well our flipper was flippin' out floating F-bombs ("what the F are you doing?" etc etc) for getting cut off. I don't think this is what we were trying to say about an amicable method for expressing to lurkers that they should not be cruising the park with small children. Especially when they themselves are barely remaining upright (as i have seen experienced parents guide their kids through the park and that, I think, is acceptable).

I agree with the intermediate terrain point wholeheartedly. ...not to mention 'super park' means even more risk due to conditions -- you need snow, and this year's schenanigans with 60's in mid-January make it tough. Out west, they wake up to a foot of snow and expect it. You get help like that, it is just a matter of massaging it into place. Here we beg and plead only to get a major -rain- event that turns the place to a block of ice. A thought I've had for some time is (a question to Mark/grooming crew) what equipment is available to churn up the base to get it loamy again? I know there is that chain bar that beats the snow into submission, but is there anything else? Seems what happens a lot when it gets very icey is you see the groomer tracks in the ice where they made the pass over it. Is there anything that uses more of a crosshatch type of pattern to better chew the ice up (better 'granular' quality) and help minimize the edge-catching properties of said groomer tracks? Lastly, and I know I'm getting pretty far out here, but since we're talking about it..... Out west I've seen them section off the park (for us it'd be closing one park or the other) and bring out the cat for a midday/evening groom. Between this and the great efforts of the park crew, the hits would stay in premium shape. Again, I admit this may be out there, but I'm trying to think out of the box here...

Spring conditions are super fun (yesterday was a blast, albeit a bit slow in sections). Being willing to close the mountain and pull remaining caches of snow from the surrounding areas to continue to pull of the maintenance of the park would be a bold and most likely rewarded move. On a side thought, Mark, does management have reasoning assigned to the drop-off of skier traffic come spring? Do kids get out of school and parents take them elsewhere? Do people just get tired of winter? The answer to this may influence my thought process on this. Especially seeing how season passholders already paid their money. I am sure the driving force here is how many day-raters can you lure in to continue to drive positive cashflow (afterall the rest of the facility and staffing has to be there I suppose).

I said $120 for the pass and $25 for the ticket. I assume the pass is with regard to 'regular rate'. I pay $160 now by buying as soon as they go on sale and do so with a few friends to get the best rate possible. I would put my riding time at well over 80% in the park, so not accessing the rest of the hill wouldn't be a big bother. The only time it might be a bummer is if I come up with someone from work or something and they don't do parks and are much less skilled putting them elsewhere at BC. Perhaps the reason I put the ticket vote higher is to balance the price-crowd ratio. If it were too cheap, there'll be a million people in the park. Good for business, bad for the local crew and general safety (it already gets a bit nutty when there's a good park crowd there).