Snowmaking

[jimmer]

its funny to go on there fb page,i bet they wish they never started it,mostly if not all comments are bashing the place,the moderator is havin a hard time with all the negativity,or so i wood think.oh there was 1 good post about the skiing,it was from killington.well after not skiing all week,ill b back at it tomorrow.now that every one has gone back home.

[rossi]

to be fair, the moutains in VT have seen much more snow than Gore this year. Most VT ski areas are reporting 12-24+ inches of snow this weknd. Gore is reporting no new snow.

even earlier, much before this storm, those mountains had about the same trail count. and withing the first 3 weeks of opening day for each mountain, gore had 12 or so, and i remember seeing both stratton and killington at 40+. yes they do get more snow, but not that much more.

[Snowballs]

Someone on FB pointed out that Gore used to rent air compressors.
remember these? they were the big rectangle yellow(?) Tractor trailer size tanks that used to sit in C lot each year until President's week. I'm not sure if they were air compressors or compressed air storage tanks.

Anyway, is Gore not using supplemental air this year? is that what's going on?

[rossi]

hahahaha i think gore just got rid of their discussion board. unless its my facebook but i can access everything else on the page and still comment but there is no discussion section anymore. anyone else notice that or is it just me, and it definatly happened in the last hr cuz i was looking at stuff earlier.

[adkskier]

I think that the real root of the problems at Gore continues to be attitude and this attitude is a top down issue. It's quite apparent that there is a problem in the snow making system, but for some reason management chooses to deny and stonewall. If they would just put out a statement announcing that there is a broken widget that will take weeks to repair and no budget to rent a replacement widget or a tight budget that doesn't allow hiring sufficient labor, we'd all either suck it up and support them. Some skiers might move on, but many would support. Every business has problems and people make errors in judgment and mistakes. Keeping open and honest communication with Gore's loyal skiers (us!) would have gone so far. Same comments apply to the other "black eye" issues they've encountered this season. The poor communication is nothing new. There is a long history of this at Gore that pre-dates Mike. He may just be a product of his environment, but they are all facing new pressures exerted by the enhanced on-line communication like this forum and Facebook as well as more selective and demanding customers who are feeling the pressure of the current economy and want more for their money. Lastly, the mountain attitude that they announce to the employees is "customer service", but the leadership isn't "leading by example".
Anyone else notice that these are not new business concepts? It may be that the ski business has grown too complex for the skills of the current management.

[Snowballs]

Very good post ADK. The paid parking was handled very, very poorly. Last year they assured us it would be much smaller than it turned out to be. They lied. Then they blocked the whole front off and now everybody has to go all the way around possibly waiting in traffic, instead of just driving up the middle. That messes up people with families who do the drop off thing. They told these people on FB that they were working on a solution for this then just shut down the discussion with these people who were amicably trying to work with Gore thru this. They also were snotty with other people merely voiceing their concerns. It would have gone much better with some tact.

Now the snowmaking problem is following the same course. Given Gore's track record, I and others, are inclined to believe the snowmaking problem is of Gore's own doing. The prolonged nature of this NOmaking problem only reinforces that belief. Somebody at Gore screwed up or don't give a Rat's booty or is plain stiffing us to send money to Placid.

I don't buy that tripe that Gore is short of cash. That's Boob bait for the bubbas. Gore pays no Fed income tax, no State income tax or sales tax, No local/school taxes, No mortgage loan, No loans for Mtn improvements. They get discounted utilities and fuel. This list goes on and on. THESE ARE HUGE, HUGE SAVINGS!!! The other ski areas can turn out a much better product than Gore WHILE having to pay all these huge costs that Gore does not have to pay......SOMETHING IS WRONG AT GORE!!!

Gore gets more customers than Whiteface and yet Whiteface does a better job than Gore!

This arguement that Gore supports the Olympic venues is weak and getting old. The very same arguement could be applied to Whiteface. I don't see Whiteface making half of the River lot Paid Parking. I don't see Whiteface making the road to Kid's Kampus paid Parking. I don't see Whiteface making the road down to the bridge paid parking. I don't see Whiteface having very crappy NOmaking. If the Olympic venues are bleeding Gore dry, then it's time to restructure their finances and audit ORDA with a calculator and some handcuffs.

Indications point to inept mangement at Gore and/or we are just plain getting screwed. Their bad attitude is like a hammer on a sore thumb.

Beyond Facebook: Is Gore Mountain on Twitter or MySpace? I guess MySpace isn't used much. Whiteface is way better at communicating than Gore both through Facebook and Twitter. Gore paid for a new Web site and didn't think to just add a Web cam to the old Web site instead. Kind of backwards since a Web cam today is almost standard for a mountain.

[Snowballs]

Whiteface is way better at communicating than Gore both through Facebook and Twitter. Gore paid for a new Web site and didn't think to just add a Web cam to the old Web site instead. Kind of backwards since a Web cam today is almost standard for a mountain.

That speaks volumes. The newbie is very insightful.

Eric, i'm don't know if you're in Toga high school, but there's a couple of other Toga students on here.

[Denison]

Welcome to the board saratogasnowboarder.

IMO Facebook is not really essential if your business already has a dedicated website.

Besides closed Discussion board on Gore FB page, there is nothing there they cannot display on gore.com:

"Snowmakers are getting Twister ready to go, as well as hitting several trails on the lower mountain and preparing for a move to Burnt Ridge."

...so far average snowmaking is on two trails at a time, what an effort

Actually I am 30, married to a ripping snowboarder and live in Toga. Moved up from Philly in 2002, took up snowboarding by getting a season pass at Gore since you have to embrace the winter up here. Extremely frustrated with Gore this year.

I respectfully disagree on Facebook not being necessary if you have a Web site. The idea is to bring content to the user instead of making them come to you especially now that mobile web is set to take off by 450% in 2010. Killington and Whiteface are doing an awesome job of this by providing video, images, and real time info faster than updating their Web site. I was ripping Killington on Sunday after seeing the weather forecast at 4am Sunday. At Killington, I checked my facebook on my iPhone at 10AM while my wife and I grabbed a coffee to warm up and noticed they posted that some sick pow stashes were on Snowshed with pics so I left Bear Mountain and hit some sick pow.

Sorry for the geek out regarding social media. Just disappointed with Gore this year. Shoot even Plattekill is 100% open.