18 replies to this topic

[Peter]

Sun Valley has a completely new trail map with Bald Mountain and Dollar Mountain:
http://d1hx5pz5k5c94...ar_TrailMap.pdf

Burke, VT
http://www.skimap.or.../1318697810.pdf

Copper, CO
http://www.skimap.or.../1317659850.pdf

Crystal Mountain, WA
http://www.skimap.or.../1315883475.pdf

Dodge Ridge, CA
http://www.skimap.or.../1309142425.jpg

Marmot Basin, AB
http://www.skimap.or.../1310782152.jpg

Northstar, CA
http://www.skimap.or.../1318442946.jpg

[floridaskier]

Park City, UT, featuring the new "3" Kings (no longer "Three") triple
http://www.parkcitym...2-Trail-Map.jpg

[Nor'eastSkier]

The new Mt. Snow map with the Bluebird Express:
 Screen Shot 2011-10-25 at 7.28.07 PM.png (1.82MB)
Number of downloads: 109

[floridaskier]

New Canyons map base that shows the Iron Mountain expansion all in one view. They did a pretty good job getting it all into one image, seeing how Iron Mountain faces northwest while the rest of the mountain faces due east. The old map made it really hard to see where the Flat Iron transfer lift was. Glad they didn't take the opportunity to go to a computer generated map, since I thought they had one of the prettiest map bases of any resort. James Niehues outdid himself getting Iron Mountain into the main view. The new angle also makes the barren wasteland below Peak 5 look a little smaller

For year 2 of Canyons without the The, the web address is now canyonsresort.com instead of thecanyons.com

And it wouldn't be a year without a Canyons lift renaming. This year, the Frostwood pulse gondola has been re-dubbed the Waldorf Gondola

http://www.canyonsre...trail_maps.html

[trooper1556]

floridaskier, on 28 November 2011 - 01:19 PM, said:

New Canyons map base that shows the Iron Mountain expansion all in one view. They did a pretty good job getting it all into one image, seeing how Iron Mountain faces northwest while the rest of the mountain faces due east. The old map made it really hard to see where the Flat Iron transfer lift was. Glad they didn't take the opportunity to go to a computer generated map, since I thought they had one of the prettiest map bases of any resort. James Niehues outdid himself getting Iron Mountain into the main view. The new angle also makes the barren wasteland below Peak 5 look a little smaller

For year 2 of Canyons without the The, the web address is now canyonsresort.com instead of thecanyons.com

And it wouldn't be a year without a Canyons lift renaming. This year, the Frostwood pulse gondola has been re-dubbed the Waldorf Gondola

http://www.canyonsre...trail_maps.html

I like it! too bad the downloadable pdf is last years map though... [[11/30 - update the revised map is now linked for download]]

This post has been edited by trooper1556: 30 November 2011 - 07:09 PM

[Bogong]

I really enjoy looking at the evolution of lift systems on http://www.skimap.org Maps of resorts in my part of the world show a gradual increase in lifted areas from the 1940's to the 1970's, then in the 1980's and 1990's the big resorts replacing their surface lifts with chairlifts.

But this century resorts have started to remove lifts, decreasing the lift accessed terrain, with some small resorts closing down. New Zealand seems to be doing a little better than Australia, but ski resorts in both countries appear to be struggling for the first time in over 60 years. :(

[Peter]

Now this is strange. Squaw Valley had a beautiful new James Niehues map last year. And this year they have an ugly computer VistaMap. I guess they wanted it to match Alpine Meadows' map?

Pre-2010: http://skimap.org/da.../1223832206.jpg
2010-11: http://skimap.org/da.../1235187227.jpg
2011-12: http://www.squaw.com...ey-mountain-map

The Papoose Deluxe double was renamed SnoVentures and Exhibition-Searchlight is now just Exhibition.
They probably paid $15,000+ for a map they used for only 1 year.

[skier2]

Skier, on 09 December 2011 - 09:55 AM, said:

Now this is strange. Squaw Valley had a beautiful new James Niehues map last year. And this year they have an ugly computer VistaMap. I guess they wanted it to match Alpine Meadows' map?

Pre-2010: http://skimap.org/da.../1223832206.jpg
2010-11: http://skimap.org/da.../1235187227.jpg
2011-12: http://www.squaw.com...ey-mountain-map

The Papoose Deluxe double was renamed SnoVentures and Exhibition-Searchlight is now just Exhibition.
They probably paid $15,000+ for a map they used for only 1 year.

I freaking hate VistaMaps! James is and always has been the best.

[jaytrem]

skier2, on 09 December 2011 - 11:53 AM, said:

I freaking hate VistaMaps! James is and always has been the best.

That is quite a downgrade. Wonder why they did that.

[liftmech]

Speaking of the man, here's an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which I also caught in the Summit daily earlier this week. Quite interesting. http://www.ajc.com/t...se-1251725.html

[SkiBachelor]

Skier, on 09 December 2011 - 09:55 AM, said:

Now this is strange. Squaw Valley had a beautiful new James Niehues map last year. And this year they have an ugly computer VistaMap. I guess they wanted it to match Alpine Meadows' map?

Pre-2010: http://skimap.org/da.../1223832206.jpg
2010-11: http://skimap.org/da.../1235187227.jpg
2011-12: http://www.squaw.com...ey-mountain-map

The Papoose Deluxe double was renamed SnoVentures and Exhibition-Searchlight is now just Exhibition.
They probably paid $15,000+ for a map they used for only 1 year.

I think the main reason why Squaw Valley went with a new map design is because Niehues' map didn't offer the new owners of Squaw the ability to add trail names, which was one of its marketing objectives for the 2011/12 season.

[floridaskier]

The Vistamap is a mess and looks as hokey as all of them do, but I think it shows the best angle on the mountain of the three. I'm as big a fan of James Niehues as anyone, but both of his versions of Squaw are from awkward angles. Not his best effort in my opinion, especially seeing what he can do to make The Canyons look good. I've never been, but it looks like Squaw would be a hard mountain to draw

[skier2]

floridaskier, on 10 December 2011 - 07:15 PM, said:

The Vistamap is a mess and looks as hokey as all of them do, but I think it shows the best angle on the mountain of the three. I'm as big a fan of James Niehues as anyone, but both of his versions of Squaw are from awkward angles. Not his best effort in my opinion, especially seeing what he can do to make The Canyons look good. I've never been, but it looks like Squaw would be a hard mountain to draw

I agree. But the reason the angle is improved is because it is skewed. James tries for artistic reality. Vista Maps don't seem to take geographic reality into consideration.

[Bogong]

Sadly Niehues has just announced he is retiring. :( http://news.yahoo.co...-195235810.html

I love his work. As the article says, a hand painted map gives far more character and nuance to a ski field than a computer generated image.

The James Niehues website is here. http://www.jamesniehues.com/ The gallery tab is interesting in that it mostly shows the pure base maps before the resorts have stuck labels and advertising all over it.

[floridaskier]

Bogong, on 12 December 2011 - 07:53 AM, said:

Sadly Niehues has just announced he is retiring. :( http://news.yahoo.co...-195235810.html


I love his work. As the article says, a hand painted map gives far more character and nuance to a ski field than a computer generated image.

The James Niehues website is here. http://www.jamesniehues.com/ The gallery tab is interesting in that it mostly shows the pure base maps before the resorts have stuck labels and advertising all over it.

Where does it say he's retiring? Maybe I just missed it, but that's the same article that was posted before

[Bogong]

That's interesting, I've gone back to where I originally found the link to the article and it is identical. They must have changed it because there was a originally a paragraph that clearly said he was definitely retiring and not just reducing his workload.

Hopefully the change to the article means that the journalist got it wrong and he isn't retiring after all. :)

This post has been edited by Bogong: 19 December 2011 - 07:13 PM

[Marc Shepherd]

Here is what it says about Niehues’ retirement:

Quote

Niehues still has some mountains that he'd like to paint, and still very much enjoys what he does. At the same time, he's dreaming of retirement. He'd like to travel the Oregon coast and the desert surrounding Moab, Utah, and paint landscapes he's photographed over the years.

He'd be happy if one day, someone contacts him like he contacted Brown.

"I'd like to pass the torch," he said. "I think it would be neat if there were still some hand-painted illustrations. But I may very well be the last trail map artist to use a brush."

[skier2]

Marc Shepherd, on 19 December 2011 - 10:49 AM, said:

Here is what it says about Niehues’ retirement:

This is a warm-and-fuzzy quote but it doesn't imply that he's retiring.

[missouriskier]

I have a couple of notable new-for-2011 trail maps to add:

The Arizona Snowbowl, including the new terrain that will eventually be served by the Humphreys Lift, as well as a new, longer magic carpet.

http://www.arizonasn...f/trail_map.pdf


And, the ski area near my home, Hidden Valley. It includes the new snow tubing area, some corrections on the location of trees in between runs, and the West Mountain, which they say will be open next season.

http://www.hiddenval...p_NEW_Final.pdf

Also, on another note, the West Mountain lift is shown as a quad. If this is true, we may either be getting a new lift, perhaps from SkyTrac, or if indeed we do get part of the Summit Local Triple from Mt. Snow, it will have quad chairs. Could these perhaps be off of the Yan HSQ there, or did they sell or scrap those?

Also related to Peak Resorts is that on the trail map for Brandywine, Ohio, they now have two of their main lifts to the top as triples. These lifts used to be center-pole quads. I believe that this quad to triple conversion was done summer 2010, though, according to their facebook page.