Belleayre Conditions

Not today, and I got the feeling the Ski3 pass buyers were not Max Pass holders.  Most of the Maxers I encountered on the lifts and gondola seemed unaware the Max Pass was no more.  To be honest, I don’t think they believed me.

Lateski wrote

Not today, and I got the feeling the Ski3 pass buyers were not Max Pass holders.  Most of the Maxers I encountered on the lifts and gondola seemed unaware the Max Pass was no more.  To be honest, I don’t think they believed me.

Makes sense to me.  Unlike the MCP, I have a feeling that many people who bought the MAX Pass didn't buy until late summer or early Fall.  The marketing buzz for Ikon is just getting started.  Wonder if an eBlast to the MAX Pass folks is even possible.  Was never clear exactly who was managing it.

I've received multiple emails asking Max Pass customers to purchase the Ikon Pass and saying that Max Pass is toast next year.

I'm concerned about the effect of this on ORDA.  Many people simply didn't buy a pass this year.  Some will return but many won't.  I think they were intending to sell lots of extra passes and add ons but that's so much skiing that your typical weekend warrior will never break even.

The Max Pass experiment for orda was great for the customer, but I think it might get deemed a disaster from a business perspective.  Curious to see what the numbers actually are.

Hey there any vouchers out there to ski belleayre I'm willing to trade a voucher to ski Whiteface it expires next December.

TJ ... do you have full Whiteface?

If you mean can you use it anytime yes... but they're  aren't any holiday between now and next December it expires right before Christmas.

No I meant if can you use your WF pass at Belle?

I may have a 2-for-1. I'd have to check

Yeah I can use my pass but I need a ticket for another person.

Skied down to Pine Hill today. Flatter than I thought it would be, but the snow was surfy and fun.

Conditions were nice at Bell yesterday. The trees seem spaced out more than up north. No one was skiing between the trails so I spent most of my time there. It was fun, low angle powder is fun in my old age.  

Welcome to my neck of the woods!  Today was good, but more firm than yesterday on groomers.  Ungroomed stuff was still good.  

Looked like the Superchief went down again.  Not good.

Correct.  I think it went down Saturday afternoon and it was down Sunday until I left around noon.

My impression is that Superchief has been down 6 of 10 weekends or so. . . .

Not a good track record.

I have no idea why that lift is such a lemon.  Dozens of other ski areas operate those Doppelmayr UNI-GS model lifts without issues.

At least with the gondola you can get from lower to upper without hoofing it around the lodge, but you'll have to wait in a 6 flags style line as seen on the webcam.

Hey guys will be at Bell Sunday as in the Cats for other reasons this weekend.  Pass is paid for on Ski3 as Gore/WF regular.  Park at the mid or base?  Been 7 years since been there and remember the mid was a zoo.

Park at the Tomahawk lift is my advice. If you need to buy somebody a pass, park in the drop off area at the mid lodge, grab your ticket and then go back to the Tomahawk

I usually park at mid, but it can full up quick on weekends.  Demand is so far down at this point in the season that it shouldn't matter anyways.  If you park at the base it's easier now with the new gondola that takes about 7.5 minutes to get to the top of Tomahawk where you can access any trail on the mountain.

If you park at the tomahawk lift and boot up at the car you can ski the bridge trail to the base and get tickets there.

A good argument for just going to the base as there should be very few people and the Gondi is quick as sno notes.

We are Belle die hards but son's seasonal program is over, so numbers will be way down.  I may not get to belle again this season.

Belle was sweet today. Parked in Tomahawk just before 10. Skied over to Superchief. Can't even remember what I skied to start since I haven't skiied Belle enough. It was still groomed and still firm though. That was the story until about 11, when the corn harvest began.

Pretty much all the groomers went to corn in the sun at 11,  then quickly to slush not long after that. Moguls took until around noon to soften, but once they did boy were they sweet! Winisook and Bellayre runs were the pics. Great corn bumps that only turned to slush near the bottom. Bottom of Bellayre run had great zipper bumps. Onteora didn't soften until 1ish, but that had great corn bumps too. Unfortunately lift 7 went down in the morning, and then stayed down all day so wasn't a candidate for lapping from the Superchief.

Crowds were non-existent, as were lift lines. They set up a mini pond skim at the bottom of Superchief for people to humiliate themselves in...I mean...try. I saw 3 out of 20+ attempts make it, and got drenched waiting in line thanks to someone who thought it would be good to try and turn while skimming...

Skiied until 3:15, and would have skiied to close, but got a really bad headache and started feeling sick around 2. Thought it was dehydration and stopped at the car for some water, but that didn't help.

 Despite feeling ill at the end, great spring day!