Okemo Announces New 6 Passenger Bubble Chair

mattchuck2 wrote

Anyway, I just came in here to say that I would absolutely welcome Condos and second home development in the Ski Bowl area. Pack em in, put a pedestrian underpass in under 28 (or a cabriolet into town like at The Canyons), more bars, more food options, actual slopeside night life scene, I'm going to agree with snoloco that lifts, snowmaking, amenities, and grooming drive skier visits. And if Gore wants to make money, they should absolutely encourage all of that. (That said, nobody's going to buy anything too expensive up there anyway. I'd like to see 1 and 2 BR condos with really nice shared pool, hot tub, walkable distance to bars and cheap burrito place, etc.).

I think that development on private land at the base of the Ski Bowl would be perfectly appropriate.  One of Gore's big advantages is that there's already a "real" village across the street.  That advantage should be exploited to benefit both Gore and the local economy.  Just let the development be done by the private sector on private land.

Agreed Jeff. However, that " may " run into what was said earlier, the trend to fancy smancy developed ski areas. NC area seems to have a hard time attracting buyers for real estate developers.

Is there a condo complex tucked in somewhere near north creek with a shuttle bus to the mountain? Something like that would be really easy to do and would be attractive because there'd be a real town nearby, not just a faux ski-village tourist trap under the same management.

Another that Okemo does excel at is the lodging. There are more beds on the mountain than just about any other place I can think of. Up to almost 3k on both side of the hill are long windy trails served with snowmaking with just condo after condo... It's pretty unreal. But skiing down to the lift rather than walking across huge lots is a pretty cool competitive advantage you get in VT with the private land.

Coach Z wrote

Okemo and Park City's marketing demographic are identical

Which really made me scratch my head when that couple who owns Okemo bought Crested Butte. Now there's a mountain that is an anti intermediate experience, starting with the difficult location.

Snowballs wrote

Agreed Jeff. However, that " may " run into what was said earlier, the trend to fancy smancy developed ski areas. NC area seems to have a hard time attracting buyers for real estate developers.

Correct, as evidenced by the poor sales track record at Ski Bowl Village.

ml242 wrote

Is there a condo complex tucked in somewhere near north creek with a shuttle bus to the mountain? Something like that would be really easy to do and would be attractive because there'd be a real town nearby, not just a faux ski-village tourist trap under the same management.

Yup, that would be The Summit.  The units were built about 25 years ago.  There are around 100 units.  You can buy re-sales for about $150K.  It's basically located at the bottom of the access road.  It's pretty much the one real estate development project in North Creek that is considered successful.

Adk Jeff wrote

You really can't call the Adirondacks "one of the best places on earth" out of one side of your mouth and New York a "vampire state" out the other.  That "vast preserve" stuff costs money ya know.

Jeff,
My gribe with NYS taxes is not with the Park, I don't mind paying a little more to maintain the rangers required to keep it going. My gripe is with the bulk of the state bureaucracy, the multi layers of government and the political payouts that go along with it.

BTW - Funding to support ALL parks & the environment is around 2% of the state budget. That's not the problem.

Similar to using magic carpets to speed up fixed-grip lifts, it's fascinating to see how long it takes on-mountain technology to cross the Atlantic. As mentioned in this article, I rode a heated six-pack ten years ago in Lech. It's completely unnecessary, of course, and as a battle-hardened ECer, you feel kinda guilty/silly enjoying the sensation, but it's a big favorite amongst that type of clientele and helps bring them back as return customers.

I guess it also depends what "heated" is measured at. A seat without ice doesn't sound so bad.

Seeing orange, image from Austria last season.  Nice to see how excited everyone is in the middle of summer!  I'd like to ride this on some days, uphill capacity is similar to current gondola at Gore, and would do away with taking off skis/etc.  I know, I know, its not that hard.  Watch out for some appreciation in North Creek real estate if the economy keeps improving, those New Jerseyites have figured out that Gore is closer than VT and land is cheap.  I can think of a few families from NJ/LI that have purchased cabins in the last few years.

Thanks for explaining what seeing orange means, I was clueless.

I am also one of those crazy people who thinks North Creek has a solid future.

Harvey wrote

Thanks for explaining what seeing orange means, I was clueless.

I am also one of those crazy people who thinks North Creek has a solid future.

Just drove up to the new price chopper in Warrensburg today after a hike... really nice.  Having a "real" grocery store in the area is a big step forward.  Saves about 15 miles.  Still don't think it will ever catch up to the VT mountains... but that is OK.  

They just announced the name.  The new 6-pack will be called the Sun Burst Six.

Another reason to hammer Okemo -- abandoning the really cool indian names.

Can someone explain the advantage of a six?  Why not just add more chairs or run it faster?

The loading and unloading seems like a pain.

Also why is that right angle turn thing used?

Harvey wrote

Can someone explain the advantage of a six?  

The USB docking stations are more efficient

Harvey wrote

Can someone explain the advantage of a six?  Why not just add more chairs or run it faster?

The loading and unloading seems like a pain.

Also why is that right angle turn thing used?

To say they have a six.

Stratton has 4 HS6s and the chairs always go up full unless the corral is empty. If Stratton can figure it out I am sure Okemo will.

I of course never skied there with Pomas but I'm sure the snow was soft and you got twice as much vertical skiing up the hill anyway.

There are probably a few on here that should take a lap on Peace Pipe.

Okemo shmokemo... here's a lift worth getting excited about, and a fixed grip at that!

http://www.skitaos.org/page/kachinapeak

Cool. That's like Alta putting a lift to the top of Baldy.

I love how Okemo's trails were all blues and greens and now these same trails that were probably narrower back then are suddenly blacks.