Greek Peak Conditions (2016 - 2017)

COOL

I love chair 1 over 1A any day --- but I'm old skewl like that

campgottagopee wrote

I love chair 1 over 1A any day

I'm with ya!  No need to climb uphill when chair 1 is operating.

Rj... I guess if the rumors are true you can sweep in buy it on the cheap and fix everything in one swoop. I guess I don't like hearing about financial troubles because I know how much the owners have put into it...

I really wish them the best, with plenty of season left to come.  Last season was worse than anyone could've imagined, and this season started off looking promising, but has yet to really deliver anything to put the hill side into a situation to generate positive revenue.

jjbrady wrote

Rj... I guess if the rumors are true you can sweep in buy it on the cheap and fix everything in one swoop.

Far too much needs to be invested in the infrastructure to make it worthwhile for me. That was the case the first go around, and still holds true today.

I hope the rumors are not true, as well.  

Interesting

I recall how you were saying the new owners "stole" GP and that you would've bought it for what they paid for it.


There's also a rumor going around that I'm a porn star so take rumors for what they are worth.

campgottagopee wrote

Interesting

I recall how you were saying the new owners "stole" GP and that you would've bought it for what they paid for it.


There's also a rumor going around that I'm a porn star so take rumors for what they are worth.

I actually lived with a gal in Steamboat one summer that had done quite a few adult movies. She was nuttier than squirrel turds. She would hang around the house topless though and I always thought that that was very nice. :)

Dude with some of the housemates I've had over the years I'd happily take some chick running around topless

campgottagopee wrote

Interesting

I recall how you were saying the new owners "stole" GP and that you would've bought it for what they paid for it.

HLL was the bargain IMO; however, I wouldn't have split the assets (and still wouldn't). You need a strong ski area operator who is willing to take the risk and invest in the place. I'm not so certain that HLL would be viable without either the ski area or a golf course. There is a reason that Vail, Boyne, Powdr, etc. didn't snatch it up as a feeder for their larger resorts. The demographics aren't what they were back in the 70's and 80's. While I really enjoy skiing at GP, I wasn't about to make an emotional purchase.

"Skimore, It's funny you mentioned that.  We assumed it was going to sell in the $20-25M range per estimates given to us.  With an additional $20M-$30M needed for on-mountain improvements, the numbers just didn't make sense regardless of the time required to sensibly implement the improvements.  That also doesn't include a golf course at about $50K per hole.  Positioning the hotel is also troublesome, as about 50% of the fractional ownership units are already sold.  After all is said and done, would the folks from New York and Philadelphia return, or would it still take Groupon to bring them back?  We never imagined it would sell for $6.8M. We also assumed that the FDIC would not accept a low-ball deal, and in turn, work a plan out with Peak Resorts and HLL.  Obviously we were wrong."

http://nyskiblog.com/forums/

Weren't we all...

Obviously it would suck if GP was having financial issues already.

But I honestly can't tell what their strategy is...what is their place in the market ? What customers are their priority?

Are there more visits now than 5 years ago? More spend per visit?

I really can't figure them out.

Camp, yes, I was quite surprised that it sold for as little as it did. However, no, I do not want to acquire it. That ship has sailed.


 

billyymc wrote

Obviously it would suck if GP was having financial issues already.

 

Honestly I don't think they are anymore than the next privately owned ski area. I'm simply going by what I see, they're having bands (good ones too) every weekend, the food has improved immensely, NYE celebration was bangin, making snow, etc etc. It doesn't add up to them having any abnormal $$$$$ issues. Like anything else I certainly could be wrong. I'm wrong alot and I'm getting used to it.

billyymc wrote

 

But I honestly can't tell what their strategy is...what is their place in the market ? What customers are their priority?

Are there more visits now than 5 years ago? More spend per visit?

I really can't figure them out.

I concur with this.
 They seem to want us to think they're a family ski area but yet we all know there's no incentive for families to buy season passes there.

Who knows --- like I've said all along. It took 50 years to run the ship aground so lets see what happens in the next 20 before anyone pushes the panic button.

Unfortunately, lift ticket sales and seasons pass sales seem to be continually dwindling.

a pic of a new fan gun:

Some of it doesn't add up, Big D. They cut labor starting with Travis, which trickled down to hourly employees. Had it only been letting Travis go, I would have surmised that maybe they weren't pleased with his performance, but they are now pushing their salaried employees like never before. They only have one snow making crew. They sold gift cards with 10% bonuses and are permitting customers to load cash onto their season passes. They sold passes for $250 at the fall show. Yet, they installed a new bridge and purchased several new fan guns over the summer. However, snow making has been minimal up until this past week despite conducive weather. I also heard yesterday that there is a concern that they may not be able to pay their utility bill. Some of these events seem to contradict one another.

There may be some other "things" going on outside of Greek Peak involving the owners.

Common RJ. You seem like a classy guy so lets keep it that way, ok? Keep the other things away from greek peak and the internet. That's a low blow even coming from you.

I'm not doubting you BigD but more curious as to how you know sales a down and dwindling.

Just to interject, conditions were good last night.  Fast groomed/hardpack.  No lines, few people.  They were running 1A instead of the quad so they could blow snow on Alcemene, which they did all afternoon/evening.  Interesting to see the quad chairs that were stopped right in front of the guns, completely loaded up with snow/ice.  Chair 4 was open but only to Trojan, they were blowing a lot on Marathon.  They had blown quite a few enormous piles on Odyssey all evening and by 730 or 8 they had the groomers pushing it all out.   They also had made a huge pile, maybe 10-15ft tall sitting near the bottom of castor, by the top of chair 3.  I don't know how far up they were working, but from chair 4, it looked like they were also making snow on Poseidon.  Castor was closed, so I'd hope they were making snow there, as well.  There was definitely a lot of work being put in by the guys on the hill, they were all over the place.

So, for what it's worth, they were running the guns hard yesterday afternoon/evening.

"Unfortunately, lift ticket sales and seasons pass sales seem to be continually dwindling."

Camp, I stated SEEM to be dwindling. This is based on my observations of skiing Greek about 35 times a year and observing traffic at the ticket windows, how many vehicles are in the parking lot, how long lift lines are and hearing quite a few people in recent years say they aren't buying seasons passes anymore.

I think it was 3 or 4 years ago, I was over at the annual Broome County, Spedie/Hot Air Balloon Festival and Greek had a booth set up with 2 girls manning it. They had handouts and coupons promoting the Adventure Center, Hope Lake Lodge, the Water Park, Facials and Manicures... and virtually nothing on Skiing/Boarding... In fact 2 young boys asked if they still have Boarding/Skiing and the attendants did not have any kind of handouts and did not know how to respond.