The old new Greek Peak?

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OMG! There is a huge asteroid heading for earth and we are all going to die!

I have an idea ... why don't we give the new owners a little more time, it hasn't even been a year since they've taken over. Doesn't that make sense?? I mean seriously, how many improvements did you really expect in such a short period of time??? If we didn't have the flood this fall, which really set them on their heels, things would've gone a little different/smoother, but hey, MaNatch is gonna do whatever the hell she wants.

There is a new hill manager and the old one has been moved to a diff position ---- there are more changes heading in our direction but nothing that has been made public, so I aint gonna be that guy.

I skied tuesday and the enitre hill skied excellent, not sure what you mean about Odyssey being awful, I thought it was great! If you think Zues should be open go ahead and ski it --- tell em Camp said it's okay  

I applaud the new owners and their staff

Greek Peak = best skiing and riding in CNY

Big D wrote

OMG! There is a huge asteroid heading for earth and we are all going to die!

Big D wrote

OMG! There is a huge asteroid heading for earth and we are all going to die!

Statistically this almost has to be a true statement.

The asteroid may never make it, but we will die.

Admittedly, I've been critical of some of the decision making made by the new owners, but you certainly do have to give them credit for the improvements they made during their first year--especially since they are by no means experts in the resort industry.  Yeah, they paid next to nothing for the place, but there weren't exactly lines of deep pocket investors prepared to pay any more.

In terms of the flood, although a nightmare at the time, certain improvements that we are experiencing would not have been possible without the insurance money.

There is a five year plan in place, and more investments are forthcoming.

It was stated that there seems to be some lights out for night skiing... perhaps besides a few big light bulbs out perhaps some ballasts are out also and need replacing... Hopefully lighting will be fixed soon

The one light on lower Zeus has been dangling from the dead tree for a few years. Then there's the light pole at the split of the Trojan and Marathon that leans more and more each year. I'm hoping for some general maintenance this summer to spruce the place up.

Some people seem to think that the early deadline seasons pass price for next year will be $399.

This year the early deadline price was reduced and was $299. The year before it was $325 - there was no increase from 2 years ago which also was $325.

So here is my theory... Pass should go up $25 to $30 per season.
So a $25 price increase per year would have put next years early deadline pass at $400 - seems to work out overall.

Hey Harvey,
I see the OP has removed his post.   Any way to get the ridiculous thread  title removed?   PIsses me off every time I see it.

I think a $399 early deadline pass is a big mistake.

First, it will be a huge shock - especially to families buying four or five passes - after the favorable pricing structure we saw for this season.

Second, I believe GP management must be underestimating the number of "marginal" pass holders they currently have. At $399 I think a huge percentage of those will drop. And GP clearly has no idea how many visits the average pass holder makes since they have no tracking methodology.

Third - even as a long time pass holder and avid skier I will start to question whether I want to use $1,600 (four passes) for season passes or toward skiing at other locations. We just got back from a week at Winter Park and Steamboat with the kids, and in many ways that was money better spent than $1,600 for GP passes. The skiing time obviously can't even compare - snow amount and quality, terrain, variety, not getting tracked out in an hour -- and the family together time was also better in some ways. As my kids get in to their mid-teen years they frequently have weekends full of activities besides skiing. A ski trip - whether it's a week or a long weekend - is dedicated to family skiing time.

Fourth - there are so many ways to find ticket deals for mountains within easy driving distance that it makes committing to one small ski area seem almost stupid. So even if we don't apply the $1,600 we would have used for GP passes to week long trips, we could certainly apply it to skiing several of the hills that are comparable to GP, with some day or overnight trips to the  Adirondacks or VT.

The new changes at GP are nice to see. But they aren't worth a 33% increase in pass prices. Especially given the ridiculous state of the "high speed" quad - which is slower than Lift 1.

At $399 a pass, we will have a family discussion and decision on how we want to ski next year. Utah is already on the agenda. The kids are getting bored with GP anyway - if I told them we would plan to ski a bunch of other NY and VT mountains next year instead of GP each weekend - I think they'd be all for it.

I've talked about this with other a couple other families I know - and the sentiment was shared.

Hope they have a backup plan.

billyymc wrote

I think a $399 early deadline pass is a big mistake.

First, it will be a huge shock - especially to families buying four or five passes - after the favorable pricing structure we saw for this season.

Second, I believe GP management must be underestimating the number of "marginal" pass holders they currently have. At $399 I think a huge percentage of those will drop. And GP clearly has no idea how many visits the average pass holder makes since they have no tracking methodology.

Third - even as a long time pass holder and avid skier I will start to question whether I want to use $1,600 (four passes) for season passes or toward skiing at other locations. We just got back from a week at Winter Park and Steamboat with the kids, and in many ways that was money better spent than $1,600 for GP passes. The skiing time obviously can't even compare - snow amount and quality, terrain, variety, not getting tracked out in an hour -- and the family together time was also better in some ways. As my kids get in to their mid-teen years they frequently have weekends full of activities besides skiing. A ski trip - whether it's a week or a long weekend - is dedicated to family skiing time.

Fourth - there are so many ways to find ticket deals for mountains within easy driving distance that it makes committing to one small ski area seem almost stupid. So even if we don't apply the $1,600 we would have used for GP passes to week long trips, we could certainly apply it to skiing several of the hills that are comparable to GP, with some day or overnight trips to the  Adirondacks or VT.

The new changes at GP are nice to see. But they aren't worth a 33% increase in pass prices. Especially given the ridiculous state of the "high speed" quad - which is slower than Lift 1.

At $399 a pass, we will have a family discussion and decision on how we want to ski next year. Utah is already on the agenda. The kids are getting bored with GP anyway - if I told them we would plan to ski a bunch of other NY and VT mountains next year instead of GP each weekend - I think they'd be all for it.

I've talked about this with other a couple other families I know - and the sentiment was shared.

Hope they have a backup plan.

Well said, we were spoiled for years with the $199 season's pass price. If they keep bumping the price I will consider alternating years with Elk, but it'd still have to rise considerably, Elk gets $760 early buy, just goes to show what a deal a GP season's pass is. I ski enough to make spending $400 for a default "home hill" a viable option in addition to traveling to ski. So glad the Whiteface discount was continued through the ownership change, 3,000 ft of vert for $38 is tough to beat. I've taken advantage of the reciprocal deal with Snow Ridge this year too, 5 powder days for $75 is pretty sweet too, though it's only saved me $35, hey it's gas money, or 2 lift tickets and a casadia.

  There has been some shady advertising going on, high speed quad? Brick oven pizza? Surrounding your oven with fake rock, does not constitute a brick oven pizza. We decided to try one, underwhelming, $14 for a small, frozen pizza quality, pizza, doesn't do it for me. On the flip side, the slice of pizza with fries in the Taverna for $5 is a solid ski area lunch deal, thanks Dan.

Corn, I completely agree that we could have done without the misleading advertising. If they wanted a true high speed quad, they should have purchased one. If they wanted a brick oven, they should have purchased one, as well.

Now they are giving the remaining timeshares away. How would you like to be an individual that purchased their largest unit for $164K, only to now see them being sold for $20K?  If the owners intend to continue developing the ski area, the timeshares will sell in time.

With respect to season passes, $399 is a bit too much too fast. I wouldn't care if the passes were a few hundred more than that, but they then need infrastructure to go with it. Yes, people will grumble, but then ultimately pay it. Their plan is to increase prices $50 per month after the two week early season discount expires on the 16th.

As I've said before, Marc and John know nothing about the resort or hospitality industry.

Sorry for the long post, but this is my first one. I grew up skiing GP and recently (last weekend) purchased one of those condos with my family as an investment property/vacation place. As an active duty Army officer, I long for the days when I will be able to take my three boys and wife to Greek Peak.  I have been following their ups and downs over the past few years with great interest. Growing up in Elmira,my family knows the new owners well enough to know that you can only do so much so fast. I also know that they have made great changes both on and off the mountain.  They are truly invested and have a plan.  Why the negativity? Sure I purchased my property at a great discount...would the people that purchased at a much higher price rather the place go into foreclosure and potentially lose everything? Just as you said the quad was misleading so was your comment about purchase price for a unit. As far as running a resort, these businessmen understand that in order to run a successful place, you have to surround yourself with the right people. They are constantly up there listening to customers and as successful businessmen, they have a plan. I can't wait to get my kids up there to learn how to ski and experience the joy I had growing up on a mountain that was close to home and people knew who you are. My parents (non-skiers) were so impressed with everything they saw off the mountain. Reading this blog religiously for the past few months, it seems like the new changes are getting great reviews overall.  I know there is more to come and I am confident that the new owners will succeed. I just can't wait to knock over a decade of dust off after being stationed in various places in the south for the past 15 years to be able to handle Illiad, Zeus, and Odyssey like I used to and maybe even try out some of the new trails as well. GP is vital to the economic health of CNY and I am so excited about it's future, that I invested in it.  When I retire from the service in a few years, I can't wait to head up there as often as I can and see what John and Marc have done!

JJ -- I like your style and welcome to the board.

No clue where some of this negativity comes from. I think people forget that pass prices went DOWN last year to $299 as to grab whatever monies they could heading into the BK. Prior to that they were $349 ( i think), so raising the pass prices friggin 50 bucks isn't a big deal. Do people REALLY think GP didn't plan on people falling out due to the increase?? I don't think so, this was a calculated move.....one that I'm all for. I think they could increase the early buy window by a few weeks and not hurt anything, but that's not my call. People smarter than me are in charge.

With higher pass prices comes higher expectations ---- increased snow making, fixing the off ramp for the new quad ( i think that's where the issue is) more consistant grooming and the opening of lifts. That said, these guys are moving forward and I for one will support them all I can. #WEAREGP

agreed on all counts jjb - welcome aboard! gp/hope lake is an excellent place for a ski family and is just getting better. we bought pre-construction and will treasure the great times we had there as a family! kids are in college and high school now and have their own things going on , now wifey and I enjoy our time there together - yesterday we had a fun valentine's ski date! trax was hoppin', it was great to see. while by no means a bargain I don't think prices are horrible by resort standards, all the food iv'e had there so far (pizza wings burgers salads) has been very good. $3 domestic drafts and $6 micro choices is actually pretty damn good if you ask me! hopefully they can work the kinks out of the new quad to get running smoothly. oh yea, the snow was amazing yesterday too!

Camp - regardless of where the pass prices WERE before this season, a 33% increase is a dramatic change - one that will not be taken well by a lot of people. I can guarantee you GP has no idea of the number of marginal passholders - those who really don't go more than 10 or 12 times - who will decide that $400 isn't worth it. GP has no tracking methodology for passholders days / hours - so there is no way they can know that. I know a LOT of people in that category, have talked to some already, and without any prompting from me their initial reaction was they probably wouldn't buy passes at $400.

It's not a "calculated" move if there's no data to base it on. I can't think of another consumer business that would take the risk of a 33% increase in pricing.

As for the quad- it's not just the exit ramp. The chairs are spaced too closely so the lift can't be speeded up as is, even if people could negotiate the exit area. They have to remove chairs and re-space them if they want to run it faster. I assume the lift company understood the limitations, and GP management probably did as well - so the plan all along must have been to run it slow. If that wasn't the plan - if the chair spacing was a mistake - then...WTF?  As it is now, the quad has added zero to my skiing experiece at GP. So why should I pay more for it?

Like I said above - if we have to spend $1,600 for our family of four, we will have a family discussion about how we want to ski next season. I've been a passholder at GP for about 12 years I guess. For $1,600 we can go explore some other mountains instead of skiing the same old. I realize GP won't miss us, but think about this - in my circle of friends who are passholders, I'm definitely the most active skier and some of them will look to me for advice on whether to sign up again or not. That's 18 other passholders I can think of off the top of my head - in addition to our family of 4 - who might decide to spend their money skiing a variety of mountains instead of at GP. These are not low income families, just people who will have trouble with the value proposition of GP at $400 per person.

You can take that as negative. It's not meant to be. I'm happy GP managed to stay open. The new owners seem to have things moving in the right general direction.  Be a GP cheerleader if you want, but but there are a lot of other viewpoints out there.

billyymc wrote

  Be a GP cheerleader if you want, but but there are a lot of other viewpoints out there.

TOTALLY

Greek Peak Rocks!!!

I just don't understand why people are so up in arms over this. To me it DOES matter what prices were prior to the BK. That's a true test of where the marketplace is, maybe I'm wrong, but it makes sesnse to me. Time will tell.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, that's what makes the world go around. I'm of the opinion that the pass price increase is warranted and long over do. We've been skiing soooooo cheap the last few years, it truly has been silly cheap.

I guess what is confusing is if you take the $1600 elsewhere..what does that get you? I completely understand that Gore, Windham, etc...are much better mountains. No argument, but what about comparable resorts? I saw Elk was somewhere around $700. GP is still much cheaper and many would argue a better if not at least equal mountain. I am all about spending your money the way you choose but I can't see why raising prices to help reinvest in the mountain is a bad thing. I'm sure if Marc and John knew your concerns, they would definitely address them. I have never seen owners of a large place be at the business so frequently.

jj - $1,600 can buy a lot of skiing at a variety of mountains with just a little bit of legwork and a few connections. Our family just skied five days in Winter Park and Steamboat last week, at an average ticket price of $50 / day. Window prices at both are well over $100 per day. It's not hard to find similar sized discounts here in the east - just not at Greek Peak.

So maybe some variety is in order. Greek is convenient, and a decent hill, but after having a season pass for 12 or maybe 14 years (don't remember) some new scenery might be good - and the pass increase is just the catalyst to push me to check out options.

Besides that, here's a quote from a Syracuse Post Standard article last year when season pass pricing was announced: "We're a family resort," said Meier. "We want to support the family skiers."

So what part of a 33% increase is family friendly?  Where's the press release for that? What's the next year goign to bring - 15% bump to $460?

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/greek_peak_mountain_resort_ban.html