217 replies to this topic

[agillskis]

Is "complementary hot cocoa" seriously a benefit for Canyons' passholders?

[floridaskier]

Picture of Orange Bubble chairs going up. They say the OB lift is finished, no word on the gondola or the forgotten Iron Mountain lift

[floridaskier]

Article about certifying the new lifts from the Park Record
http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_16744391

With a picture of the gondola angle station. I wonder if they're going to bother to paint it to match the rest of the lift

[Kelly]

Tyler thanks for the link-

For those of you that have read the Park Record article provided in the link –
A clarification…
Utah does have an active tramway inspection and certification board.
The Utah Passenger Ropeway Safety Committee has existed for a number of years…
Engineers, owners and maintenance technicians oversee the committee with meetings held about every 4 months. From reading the article it seems the reporter (or the copy editor) missed that a oversight agency inspects Utah ropeways, the article gives the impression that perhaps a state snowplow driver comes by to check on the wires…

Tram board link: http://www.udot.utah...pg:0::::T,V:246,

Partial text from article -
“As soon as those projects are ready to be certified, we'll go out there, we'll inspect them and if they are ready to go we'll open them up," UDOT spokesman Adan Carrillo said

[alvin]

Tin Woodsman, on 30 November 2010 - 04:22 PM, said:

This is so off base it's not even funny. The Canyons set the price - no one put a gun to their heads. The buyers put down their money under the explicit expectation that the season would begin on November 26. Now, if there's no snow on the ground then tough $hit. But that wasn't the case here, so your reference about skiing rocks on Thanksgiving is completely disingenuous - it's the best early season in many years in Utah. Record setting, in fact, as the pictures on this page of the thread well attest to. It's not often that you have that sort of coverage at 6500' on a due E aspect in late November.

Even assuming The Canyons is able to meet its new deadline of December 10, that is actually 15 days out of a 135 day season - greater than 10%. You think that's nothing? How would you like your income to be reduced by 10%? I'm sure you wouldn't be saying BFD then. It's a big damn number. What's worse is that The Canyons waited until the last possible moment to announce this to their customers, even when it's been clear to anyone checking in here for the last two months that they wouldn't make opening day. Flights were reserved, rooms were booked and plans were made on the basis of that opening date, but it was radio silence from our good friends at Talisker. To add insult to injury, they completely botch the announcement ("proud to announce!") w/o offering any sort of apology to their passholders or other customers. It's only AFTER a mess of blowback that their GM gets a clue and issues a half-assed apology ("reasons beyond our control" - yeah right) with some modest compensation to passholders. I hate people who think they are entitled to this, that or the other, but that's just not the case here and any reasonable person can see that. Where I come from, your word is your bond, and Canyons doesn't have much credibility right about now.

I completely agree the Canyons botched the announcement, but I think a lot of people are indeed acting a little entitled in this situation - just read some of the comments on Facebook or the Park Record.

First of all, despite the great early season, PCMR only had 16 runs open on the Canyons' original target opening day (and they're still only 60% open as of today) - and Deer Valley doesn't even open until tomorrow. No Park City area resort will be 100% open by next week - so it's arguable whether passholders are really losing 10% of their season - it's a marginal 10% at best (anyone who truly values early season skiing is obviously better off in the Cottonwoods anyway). And although passholders do have to wait an extra 14 days than originally planned, they will have 122 left this season to enjoy a much improved mountain - not to mention a better experience and hopefully better and earlier seasons for years to come thanks to the work being completed now (poor snowmaking had always made the Canyons a relative crappy early season spot).

And even if you still feel passholders are losing a full 10% of their value - the "modest" compensation the Canyons has offered is arguably worth more than 10% of the price of the pass - assuming holders would be able to monetize those tickets for $60 each during the season. None of this necessarily excuses Talisker for poor planning and the botched announcement, but I personally think most will find the wait worth it in the end. I guess we'll find out next week...

[egieszl]

On another site a user is claiming the Orange Bubble chair was delayed because the bubble chairs have to be stored indoors at night or else they invalidate the Dopplemayr warranty. This sounds bogus to me. Any truth to it?

[floridaskier]

Who knows. Here's a picture of the snowmaking pond from what appears to be the completed Orange Bubble Express

[sunridge]

floridaskier, on 04 December 2010 - 03:36 PM, said:

Who knows. Here's a picture of the snowmaking pond from what appears to be the completed Orange Bubble Express

Lift evac would be interesting over the pond.

[boardski]

sunridge, on 04 December 2010 - 03:46 PM, said:

Lift evac would be interesting over the pond.

Maybe the seat cushion can be used as a flotation device.

[floridaskier]

How will they do that? Just hope the ice is thick enough, or have a boat tied up somewhere just for the purpose? I can't think of any other open-air chairlifts that go over that much water, or anything more than a stream.

[CH3skier]

I think they should use the pond for skimming contests in the spring. Anybody that can make it over the entire lenght gets a free season pass for the next year.

[floridaskier]

Looks like they made a good call opening on the 10th. The mismatched angle station seems to be up and running and Orange Bubble is all done.

[Tin Woodsman]

floridaskier, on 04 December 2010 - 03:36 PM, said:

Who knows. Here's a picture of the snowmaking pond from what appears to be the completed Orange Bubble Express

My eyes!!! My eyes!!!

[DonaldMReif]

Anything new about the forgotten Iron Mountain?

Tin Woodsman, on 06 December 2010 - 11:27 AM, said:

My eyes!!! My eyes!!!

It's like wearing goggles inside!

[skierdude9450]

They really couldn't come up with a better name that Orange Bubble Express...

[CH3skier]

skierdude9450, on 07 December 2010 - 11:00 AM, said:

They really couldn't come up with a better name that Orange Bubble Express...

When they get rid of the bubbles in a couple of years, it will be Orange Express.

[floridaskier]

Iron Mountain exists! Won't be opening anytime in the near future, but they really are building it



Another shot of the base area. Never was the most scenic spot to begin with

[skidv]

floridaskier, on 07 December 2010 - 06:59 PM, said:

Iron Mountain exists! Won't be opening anytime in the near future, but they really are building it

It seems obvious (though not surprising) that they put this lift on the back burner while the finished the base area lifts. I'm guessing a January opening for Iron Mountain. What do others think?

[floridaskier]

If they feel like it, they can snap Iron Mountain together in a week like they did with the gondola. It's too bad, because if there's ever a time when they have enough snow over there in December, this would be it. I hope they can get it open sometime before the Christmas rush

[floridaskier]

Article about opening day this Friday
http://www.parkrecor...rce=most_viewed

Lifts opening: Gondola, Orange Bubble ('top only', which I guess means it's only open for access and not skiing), Tombstone, Saddleback, Peak 5, and 9990. A good opening day lineup in a bad snow year, but Deer Valley opened with 20 of 21 lifts and more than 75% of their terrain a week ago, and Park City's also running everything but the low-elevation King Con area. No great loss that Dreamscape isn't opening, but it would be nice to be able to ski the Golden Eagle runs and the rest of the old mountain off the new chair. I'd sure rather see Snow Canyon open than the useless Peak 5 chair.