Belleayre Gondola Discussion Thread

First of all I would never spend $1400 on anything for skiing unless it was a heli trip, bucket list kind of thing.

Secondly I'm not so sure Platekill, or any other ski area, really cares what you think.

campgottagopee wrote

Secondly I'm not so sure Platekill, or any other ski area, really cares what you think.

A common phrase from you.

I never said they had to care what I think.  They will care if I Ski NY kicks them out for not accepting the gold pass when they are required to do so.  BTW, when GR called I Ski NY to submit his complaint, they said that what Plattekill did was a flagrant violation of their policy and immediately offered to refund the additional expense incurred during the incident.  GR didn't press them for it at all.

Sounds like GR and Laz both came out OK.  Laz has a real complaint if Bohemia is selling $99 passes over the innernets to people who only want the bennies that come at others expense.  I ski NY should crack down on that.  If Bohemia needs to sell cheap passes, it can limit that to in person sales.

mm

I believe that I Ski NY asked Laz to pay them back after refunding GR, but I'm not 100% sure.  Mt Bohemia is a Freedom Pass mountain, not I Ski NY.  Since the Freedom Pass is pretty new, I don't think they've worked out all the kinks yet.  They might need to establish price floors for online sales so that this can't happen, or sell a standalone pass like the Max Pass does.  This allowed whoever sold the cheapest pass to reap all the benefits from people who really just wanted a standalone pass with 3 free days at all 13 mountains.

The incident I described happened on a Powder Daize.  Laszlo believes that it is a special opening and not a normal operating day and therefore he doesn't have to accept any coupons or promotions on those days.  I Ski NY considers it a normal operating day because they sell tickets and let their passholders ski, and therefore requires them to accept I Ski NY's promotions.  I personally believe I Ski NY is in the right because if he gave Laszlo an exception for a Powder Daize, he and all other ski areas on the pass would try to find other ways to get exceptions, and the gold pass would be much less valuable than it currently is.  That would seriously impact their funding and thus their ability to continue to promote skiing in NY.

I can't wait for the college semester to start.

Marcski wrote

I can't wait for the college semester to start.

FTW

I totally laughed right out loud

Marcski, how would you feel if you spent 1400 dollars on a gold pass that was unrestricted with no blackout dates and then were forced to pay for a lift ticket at a mountain that was supposed to accept it.  Well you would probably never have that problem because you only ski at Plattekill and never anywhere else.

A side note, I am happy Belle has a 20-29yo pass for only $329. They know our age group doesn't have a grand laying around for a pass.  Looking forward to late fall!

Back on topic they have confirmed that the connector trail will have only 1 tunnel and it will be right below the Tomahawk parking lots.  The trail will simply loop around the access roads and then go through the tunnel and continue to the base.

snoloco wrote

Marcski, how would you feel if you spent 1400 dollars on a gold pass that was unrestricted with no blackout dates and then were forced to pay for a lift ticket at a mountain that was supposed to accept it.  Well you would probably never have that problem because you only ski at Plattekill and never anywhere else.

 
1st:  I would never spend $1400 to ski in NYS.

2nd. No one forced him to do anything..other than drive 15-20 mins. Apparently, he chose to buy a lift ticket that day.

3rd.  While, I didn't ski too many different resorts this past season, I did get multiple days in at Killington (8), Hunter (2), Magic (2) a number of days of XC in different woods areas and a day at Stratton in addition to many days at Plattekill. (I'm probably missing one but, I would need to check my log, but frankly, I have better ways to spend my time).  Finally, I choose to spend my money at Plattekill because IMHO, I get the best skiing experience I am looking for balanced with the needs and wants of my family for my hard-earned dollar.  You can't fault me for that.  

The incident I mentioned happened on the Powder Daize on the day after Stella.  He wasn't going to walk out because by the time he got to Belleayre (likely 30 minutes later due to poor road conditions) it would've already been tracked out.  He told me he was originally going to have breakfast, lunch, and a round of beers at Plattekill, so he was intending to spend money there.  Since his gold pass was denied, he decided to ski non stop all day with no breaks and not spend any money on the mountain.

This is an example where a business trying to play hardball with a customer didn't work out in their favor.  Instead of letting the customer use the gold pass, they denied it, angering the customer.  While they thought they just gained 50 dollars by making him pay, they ended up losing out on the extra money he was going to spend on food/drinks, only to have to pay the 50 dollars back to I Ski NY after the customer reported the incident and was issued a refund.  If they were unsure whether they had to accept it on a Powder Daize, they should've called I Ski NY and asked if it was expected on a day like that.  Also, the original incident was posted and shared on the internet, so other people have come to know Plattekill as a mountain that tries to deny using coupons and discounts.

I read a review on the Plattekill facebook page of another similar incident with I Ski NY's 3rd and 4th grade ski free passport.  This promotion allows 3rd and 4th grade students to ski free with a paying adult 3 times at all I Ski NY mountains.  The purpose is to make it more affordable to get kids into skiing.  Well on this day, Plattekill was having an "everyone pays half day rate" promotion.  Their half day rate is 50 dollars, so everyone was paying that rate no matter when they arrived.  Plattekill said that they could only use the passport on a full price 63 dollar lift ticket.  Plattekill didn't break any rules here, as I Ski NY leaves it up to the ski areas to determine what a "paying adult" actually is.  There is a similar bad review about Windham out there where they didn't allow a parent to use a Liftopia ticket and the I Ski NY passport.  I think this is something that I Ski NY needs to set guidelines for to prevent any further incidents.

Personally, I consider the price charged at the window on a given day to be full price because it is the highest price anyone is paying for a lift ticket on that day, and promotions that require the purchase of a full price ticket should be accepted.  For example, if a ski area charges weekday rates at the window on a weekend as a promotion, it is still full price.  Discounted online purchases either through the ski area or 3rd party sites like Liftopia are not full price and promotions that require the purchase of a full price ticket should not be accepted.

The day after Stella was a great day of skiing at Platty.  They had a nice crowd.  

Platty didn't lose out on anything, Sno.    While I don't know GR personally, at least his online persona would lead one to believe that he did more than his share  to even make this an "incident" in the first place.  I bet ya Lazlo hasn't thought about this once after GR bought his ticket.  It's $50 Sno!  You seem to be the only one consumed with this "incident".

And, from what I have read online and heard first hand, the overwhelming majority of reviews about Plattekill are extremely positive.

and since GR is such an outstanding person with a pleasant personality I'm sure he went about the whole thing in a manner which made Laz want to accommodate him... NOT

Laz graciously helped me out with a PSIA L3 comp when I skied there.  Not many areas still do that and I made a point of going back at the end of the day and telling him how much I appreciated his gesture.

Z wrote

and since GR is such an outstanding person with a pleasant personality I'm sure he went about the whole thing in a manner which made Laz want to accommodate him... NOT

This wasn't about Laz wanting to accommodate him or not.  Laz was supposed to accept the gold pass under a contract, and failed to do so.  Rather than pitching a fit at the ticket window and letting the situation escalate, GR paid up and reported it to I Ski NY later that night.

GR is clearly a dick weed but if Laz did not honor a promotion than whether or not there we're stellar conditions, he's also a scum bag. I don't know the whole story here so I'll leave it at that.

So... I don't have the facts, but I have a strong opinion?

It's going to be interesting when the snow flies in Roxbury.

Harvey wrote

So... I don't have the facts, but I have a strong opinion?

It's going to be interesting when the snow flies in Roxbury.

Yea, Laz has offered me a freebee in the past - never took him up on it. I'll have to make a concerted effort to get down there, but I'll pay my own freight - thank you very much.

You should be cautious of this creep lil buddy.

An "adult" guy driving all over hell's half acre to ski with teenage boys sure seems creepy to me.

He "drives all over hell's half acre" to ski whether I'm there or not.  Always looking for who's got the most powder.

Haha! I was wondering since he doesn't have his own poles does he ask if he can hold sno's?