Greek Peak Conditions (2016 - 2017)

Although the LE machine never really got cranked up this morning it was a classic gp day - a few inches of fresh with intermittent snow showers. Alternated between Iliad and the foods with a few Trojans thrown in. Everything ski'd great, just need to open more terrain. ROD was noodling through the chopped pow top half Iliad to some big arcs on the lower half. The express was running pretty smoothly with jus a few stops, 3 or 4 chairs deep max wait. I ski'd 9-12:30 with a clif bar break then had a maple bacon bourbon burger washed down with a cortland IPA, mighty tasty as it should be for that price. Might hit it again Sunday or Monday if they get more trails open

Yeah the band never really setup over us like they were thinking it would. Like always, tree to four is better than nothing. Calling for another couple to tree today so it should be good schussing on what terrain is open. We need more trails, at least they have Illiad open now. Doesn't take long to get bored skiing 3 trails but I guess it's better than not skiing 3 trails. Anyway, maybe I'll see you Monday

Just got back from Greek. Sat. 12/31/15 they opened Chair 5 - Great skiing down Arcadian Gate, with powder all along the edges. Mars Hill had decent coverage, with untracked powder on the far right side. Making snow on Odessey, $3.00 beer sprecials in Trax.

Happy New Year - To All!!

a couple pics from Sunday 1/1/17:

A stellar day with grippy and fast(er than Friday's) snow, plenty of sun and some fun soft bumps on alcmene and a seeded line on top Iliad. Great to run into some gp peeps I haven't seen for awhile! I thought I saw yours and Cornheads skis in the rack but we never crossed paths.new favorite trax chow is the pulled pork and slaw flat bread appy, a real treat for 8 beans! nice to see the express running and loading smoothly. Great way to start the year! 3 days at greek this season is 2 more than the last two years!

Greek Peak will be closed tomorrow, January 3rd.

Rj1972 wrote

Greek Peak will be closed tomorrow, January 3rd.

IMO that was poor form on their part, they never should've closed the hill. There were 20+/- cars at the hotel and I'm certain they were there to ski. God knows I've done my fair share of skiing in the rain while on a ski trip.

Over the weekend we also talked about them selling $250 season passes at the ski swap up in Cuse. Talk about a MASSIVE spat in the face to those of us who support them in April. Basically they gave us all an FU. Poor form there as well.

That's the bad news. The good news is the skiing over the weekend was wicked fun and we got 40ish miles in on the sled as well. Nothing like skiing in the AM the riding after lunch. Makes for a fun day. Why the hell GP doesn't market to snowmobile riders is beyond me. They could put a weekend package deal together for them with food and lodging included. Our trail system around here truly is good.

Anyway, they're calling for a little snow the rest of this week as well as GP is to fire the guns back up

Being closed yesterday was definitely not good. Song had planned to be open, but pulled the plug at the last minute. Personally if I were Song, I would have offered Greek Peak season pass and lift ticket holders free skiing for the day. All the ski areas south of Greek Peak were open. If Greek Peak is trying to position themselves above the smaller hills in the area, closing was not a step in the right direction. While I'm sure it would have been a money loss for them, sometimes you just have to take the hit to avoid the negative public perception.

I spoke to a few friends who skied Greek Peak over Christmas Week, and they all concurred that snow making has been minimal this year. No snow was made on chairs 2 or 5, and they have been relying on natural snow beyond a handful of trails they actually made snow on. When they made snow on Odyssey earlier in the week, it was the only trail they made snow on. They are operating on a shoestring of a staff, and are working their salaried employees ridiculous hours. They actually only have a handful of snow makers this year.

We shall see what they plan to do once temperatures drop later today.

I think I may head to Greek Peak this weekend and give Vermont a rest for a bit.

campgottagopee wrote

Over the weekend we also talked about them selling $250 season passes at the ski swap up in Cuse. Talk about a MASSIVE spat in the face to those of us who support them in April. Basically they gave us all an FU. Poor form there as well.

Camp - I don't think they have any incentive to do that. If they aren't going to do discounts for families buying multiple passes, they certainly aren't going to do what you propose.

As much as I miss GP, by getting four passes to Song/Lab I save almost $700 that we can use to ski and eat elsewhere. And this year Song has truly been blessed with more LE than any of the other central NY areas.

Does GP still have a special season pass for college students? My oldest is graduating HS this year - not sure where she is headed for college yet.

Rj1972 wrote

  They are operating on a shoestring of a staff, and are working their salaried employees ridiculous hours. They actually only have a handful of snow makers this year.
 

Sadly, this ^^^^^ is true.

Normally they would run with 6 to 7 guys per snowmaking crew, one AM crew and one PM crew. This year they still have 2 crews but only 3 guys per crew. They are making good snow, just not enough of it.

Lat year really put a hurting on them and it's showing this year. Man I hope Ma_Natch lends her hand this year.

billyymc wrote

campgottagopee wrote

Over the weekend we also talked about them selling $250 season passes at the ski swap up in Cuse. Talk about a MASSIVE spat in the face to those of us who support them in April. Basically they gave us all an FU. Poor form there as well.

Camp - I don't think they have any incentive to do that. If they aren't going to do discounts for families buying multiple passes, they certainly aren't going to do what you propose.
 

I'm sure you're right, billy, but I hope you're wrong. Word is getting out about this and there are a good many people pissed off about it. I live too close to even think of getting a pass to another local hill but I know there are some who live in Cortland that are thinking otherwise. I could see them dropping the price back down tho the $399 for the ski swap, but $250???!!! That's where the FU part comes in and it isn't being received all that well.

billyymc wrote

 

As much as I miss GP, by getting four passes to Song/Lab I save almost $700 that we can use to ski and eat elsewhere. And this year Song has truly been blessed with more LE than any of the other central NY areas.  

If I were buying multiple passes I would do the same thing. While I still say GP can charge more than the other areas around here being the terrain and everything they have to offer, they need to prove it. Closing on marginal days and limiting snowmaking by 50% is doing that imo.

billyymc wrote

Does GP still have a special season pass for college students? My oldest is graduating HS this year - not sure where she is headed for college yet.

As far as I know they still offer college passes.

Savannah Harmon is playing at Trax saturday. I saw her in concert over the summer, not only can she sing she's pretty easy on the eyes as well.

campgottagopee wrote

I'm sure you're right, billy, but I hope you're wrong. Word is getting out about this and there are a good many people pissed off about it. I live too close to even think of getting a pass to another local hill but I know there are some who live in Cortland that are thinking otherwise. I could see them dropping the price back down tho the $399 for the ski swap, but $250???!!! That's where the FU part comes in and it isn't being received all that well.

Camp - maybe I misunderstood...are you saying that GP sells passes at the ski swap for $250? Do they plan to do this in the future?

I didn't see anything on their website about college passes.

They sold passes for  $250 for "1 day only" at a ski show in Syracuse this past September. One of our crew bought 2 passes that day.

billyymc wrote

campgottagopee wrote

I'm sure you're right, billy, but I hope you're wrong. Word is getting out about this and there are a good many people pissed off about it. I live too close to even think of getting a pass to another local hill but I know there are some who live in Cortland that are thinking otherwise. I could see them dropping the price back down tho the $399 for the ski swap, but $250???!!! That's where the FU part comes in and it isn't being received all that well.

Camp - maybe I misunderstood...are you saying that GP sells passes at the ski swap for $250? Do they plan to do this in the future?
 

That's exactly what I'm saying. Part of our crew bought those passes while at the swap shop so I know it to be first hand knowledge and 100% true. No clue if they will be doing this in the future, and they kept it pretty quite to boot. Only those who attended the swap knew about it. My buddy was going to buy a book of X amount of passes for X amount of $$$$$. They said why do that when you can buy a pass today for $250!!!! Months and months after the early buy program. Thus the FU given to those of us who support them early, not to even mention year round.

billyymc wrote

 
I didn't see anything on their website about college passes.

I'd call them. I would be really surprised if they discontinued that program.

I think that, at a minimum, if they're not going to make enough snow to consistently keep more terrain open, they need to do something about replacing the inoperative lights on the few trails that are open at night.  There's no reason that some of the most often-open trails should have large pitch-black areas at night.  And they didn't just go out, some of the same lights were out last season, too.  I think the worst offender was a 50yd stretch at the very top of Karyatis, I bet if someone fell down in that area, you'd never see them until you were on top of them.

Dude, those same light have been out since 1981

I did notice the hand dryers in the mens bathroom I used to clean back inn 1982 are now replaced. I shed a tear that day once I realized it

pro2860 wrote

They sold passes for  $250 for "1 day only" at a ski show in Syracuse this past September. One of our crew bought 2 passes that day.

How that SOB falls into those deals I'l never figure out ---

campgottagopee wrote

...she's pretty easy on the eyes as well.

I never heard of her, but thought the same. I then did a Google search and learned that she is only 18.

billyymc wrote

Does GP still have a special season pass for college students? My oldest is graduating HS this year - not sure where she is headed for college yet.

$279 until March of 2016 and then $299.