Gold Parking

[adkskier]

So does anyone have any new info on the future of Gold parking? This past weekend would have been a great time to test out the operation, but no gold to be seen!

[Spongeworthy]

So does anyone have any new info on the future of Gold parking? This past weekend would have been a great time to test out the operation, but no gold to be seen!

According to Mike Pratt, there will be 200 spaces this ski season, but I didn't ask exactly where they will be.

[I:)skiing]

200 spaces I think anyone can live with. As long as they dont plan on keeping those spaces free on really slow days. Would be quite a bummer to have to walk by 8 rows of empty lot. (guess on 8 rows).

[fujative.]

I was up at the mountain today, they had everything set up for gold parking. Basically it's a bunch of parking barriers with a whole bunch of chain strung between them over the first half of the lot. you have to drive in on the right, around the lot, past the drop off zone, around do the little hut where you pay, and in.

[adkskier]

The photo above is pretty accurate. They've taken fully half of the available parking in the upper lots. I may shoot a video and post it in a day or two. It looks more like about 400 spaces that 200. This is big time overkill. Probably three to four times as much space as they have reserved at Whiteface. Imagine how far away the "valued pass holders" may need to park on days when the racers move in!
If Gore wants to pull this crap on top of the very high pass prices (compared with major areas in VT), they'd better serve up a lot of amenities soon. This may chase some loyal skiers away.
Worse yet It appears to be set up in such a manner as to make it very difficult to get in and out so that even on slow days or weekdays there will be a real bottleneck to access this reserved area. It doesn't look as simple as just dropping some chains.

[x10003q]

The photo above is pretty accurate. They've taken fully half of the available parking in the upper lots. I may shoot a video and post it in a day or two. It looks more like about 400 spaces that 200. This is big time overkill. Probably three to four times as much space as they have reserved at Whiteface. Imagine how far away the "valued pass holders" may need to park on days when the racers move in!
If Gore wants to pull this crap on top of the very high pass prices (compared with major areas in VT), they'd better serve up a lot of amenities soon. This may chase some loyal skiers away.
Worse yet It appears to be set up in such a manner as to make it very difficult to get in and out so that even on slow days or weekdays there will be a real bottleneck to access this reserved area. It doesn't look as simple as just dropping some chains.

100% correct assessment.

Great to see Gore slowly piss off their public. They have delusions of Vermontitis. Charging for parking and high lift ticket prices does not make you Vermont. Having 95% snowmaking and using 70% of it sucks. Closing up to 50% of the mountain midweek sucks. Not having a webcan sucks. How about borrowing the web cam that ORDA proudly points at its newest winter sports venue - the Conf Center construction site. Gore does not have a web cam but WF has one pointed at a construction site. (If you are curious where the profit from Gore goes, look at that stupid webcam.) I hope there are no lines to get to the free parking on the upper lots. What are the odds that they have this figured out? I am sure they consulted with a traffic engineer. I cannot wait for weekends of walking by empty parking spaces with my 3.5 year old.

All the reasons I started skiing at Gore are fading away.

[Snowballs]

isn't that a whole lot more spaces than they told us it was going to be? i really wonder if a good many of them won't be empty. that plus a bottle neck causing traffic jams is gonna make people mad.

[mattchuck2]

Parking is an important part of a ski area . . .

[nyspnypd]

The photo above is pretty accurate. They've taken fully half of the available parking in the upper lots. I may shoot a video and post it in a day or two. It looks more like about 400 spaces that 200. This is big time overkill. Probably three to four times as much space as they have reserved at Whiteface. Imagine how far away the "valued pass holders" may need to park on days when the racers move in!
If Gore wants to pull this crap on top of the very high pass prices (compared with major areas in VT), they'd better serve up a lot of amenities soon. This may chase some loyal skiers away.
Worse yet It appears to be set up in such a manner as to make it very difficult to get in and out so that even on slow days or weekdays there will be a real bottleneck to access this reserved area. It doesn't look as simple as just dropping some chains.

lol whiteface has a separate lot not taking up any regular parking lot space I think it only holds like 40 or 50 cars maybe 60 if you really squeeze cars in their. This is why I have not skied gore too much over the years and just stayed at whiteface.

[Snowballs]

Gore, being a state area, already has a huge financial advantage over private ski areas. No income tax, no mortgage, no loans for improvements to repay, no real estate/local taxes (?), discounted purchases via the state contracts, no sales tax to pay. these are very, very large savings. there's probably more.

the otherside of the coin.... i don't know if the State contributes to the yearly operating budget, or why given the above they would have to, but next year's NY State budget is 6-8 maybe 10 billion short SO FAR. if Gore does receive yearly dollars from the State, those funds may not be there next year. Hope they save their extra dollars.

California serves well as an example of what's coming. besides them trying to sell some state parks, etc. they raised state colleges tuition 32 percent, SO FAR.

Hope the Ski Bowl has all the funds needed to complete it. i think it does.

Hope Pratt & Co. will be financially prudent.