Hey all, Some of you have reached out asking for ski map visualizations for each of these upgrades. We've compiled these visualizations in the written version of this story here! www.peakrankings.com/content/2022-resort-upgrade-rankings Thanks, PeakRankings Team
Thank you for highlighting our new Juniper Express Quad! We would like to share some additional reasons for the new chairlift. First, the chair provides access to 4 new beginner/intermediate runs, which allows beginners a more gentle progression from the Learning Area (with magic carpets) to a chairlift, without needing to go higher up the mountain. Secondly, if you are into Freestyle laps, the chair provides access to Boulevard Terrain Park in 6 minutes, making it another valuable option for park skiers and riders. As you mentioned, the grand plan for the Juniper Area is a 2 part chairlift series, which will provide a third option from the base to the backside and will alleviate line ups in the mornings. We hope everyone comes out for another awesome ski season! Thank you!
What most ski resorts need is better employee housing so they can recruit better employees. Aside from the terrain and natural snow, good employees are the most important part of a good resort.
I find the extra seats on a lift does nothing without a lift traffic control employee helping the vast amount of inexperienced riders fill a chair. Move in the RF pass turnstile and it creates this jumbled up unorganized mess at several lifts as people have scan problems etc. Often resulting in 50-75% max capacity on chairs as hundreds gather in lines.
@@Dflyguy420 I ran a builders contract in tofino b.c. for surf instructors and resort staff for a Best Western, had 60 rooms per floor. In a square style with all the bathrooms, laundry and central kitchen in the middle of the square with all the open rooms to the outside. They stacked 2 per room. I was shocked. It is like a college dormitory.
I'm really glad I found your channel. I am currently in a post secondary Ski Resort Operations and Management program in college and it's awesome to see your area planning analysis of resorts and it's effects. Your channel is taking what I learn in class and helps put somethings into perspective, I really do find this stuff plenty more interesting from school.
Love the video at 4:00 showing two people loading onto a quad when there's a huge line, and 3 people in the queue for the next chair. Yeah... High-capacity lifts won't help if people don't load them fully.
01:08 Keystone, CO 02:46 Okemo, VT 04:32 Lake Louise, Banff 06:02 Breckenridge, CO 07:47 Big Sky, MT 09:45 Snow Basin, UT 11:45 Snow King, WY 14:17 Beaver Creek, CO
Maybe it's just me, but i would really like a trail map included in the video for each resort&new lift. Helps with context for the both the rankings and just overall information. I know that this involves some animation for it to look good tho..Thinking of like how RealLifeLore, Wendover, VOX, etc are using maps to provide context for what they are talking about. Other than that, great video. Europe video next ? (:
I wish you had mentioned Loon's new Kancamangus 8 person lift. Which, while nice when it was running, regularly broke down on key weekends, not really relieving crowds--in fact it forced crowds to other main lifts.
The success of a ski resort depends on how long it can keep the chairs running and people buying tickets. Without other chair assisted summer time gravity related recreation they eventually fall into disrepair. Mountain bikes are a gold mine for some resorts, Whistler for example does well in the summer months but there are plenty of others that are waking up. I don't do advocacy anymore, i just do trail planning and development now.
I went to Beaver Creek for the first time and spent almost the entire time at McCoy park. It’s the perfect place for anyone learning to ride to start and even advanced riders to spend some time enjoying riding through trees
I'd love to see you review some smaller resorts in Utah, Colorado, etc. Would love to see what you think of areas like Cooper, Sunlight, and Powderhorn in CO!
We'll aim to get to some of these soon! In the mean time, we've already reviewed a couple of local CO mountains: Monarch: www.peakrankings.com/content/monarch Wolf Creek: www.peakrankings.com/content/wolf-creek
Loon MT. in NH missed opportunities with its new 8-pack. It doubles the uphill capacity of its former high-speed quad with no more room for exiting skiiers st the top. The loading station at the bottom is unnerving requiring skiiers to face a drop off into a pit while the chair starts a right angle turn to start up the mpontain. Had Loon added two towers at the top, they would have given skiiers access to a transfer lift to South Mt. and access to some intermediate runs on the main mountain. Modest improvement to blue and green trails under the lift would have been attractive to skiers who want to continue skiing this portion of Loon, and also saving lengthy trips to the ancient 4-person gondola for some popular blue runs.
Didn’t mention palisades base to base gondola opening up in December. Probably a bigger deal than any of these. Connects Olympic valley to alpine which will get rid of that shuffle service they had running
The Base-to-Base Gondola wasn't open last season, so we didn't have the chance to add it to this list. We'll be there this season to check it out, but here are our initial thoughts: www.peakrankings.com/content/alterra-capital-plan-confirms-squaw/alpine-gondola-and-major-steamboat-projects-for-2021-22-7ka7e
The Wayback Lift at Keystone. Arggggg. That's a relic that needs to be replaced with a high speed lift. One day the line was so long that we decided to ski the catwalk back to the Santiago lift. It's probably a mile and a half long and mostly flat with some uphill. You'll get some cardio instead of standing in line and sitting on a slow lift. The Wayback lift is so slow that when the catwalk is open it's a viable alternative.
Watching from Austria looks like the new lifts are from 2010. Most of them have no bubble, no heating, no comfortable and no 8er seating 😂😂 Just look at the new Fleidingbahn in Westendorf that's what you call a proper upgrade and was build in 2019 so 3 years ago 😂😂. And I pay even about 60$ a day.
I skied Parkcity resorts four times in the late 90’s. I am surprised to see the same lift types over two decades later. As I am from the UK I mainly ski in Europe now, but there we have heated car type seats on the detachable chair lifts with pull down canopies if it’s snowing. Most lifts are fast bubble lifts where you can relax, talk with friends and sort you kit out between runs. I loved skiing in America and Canada, but your lift companies are lagging behind the rest of the world.
LOL... You can stay at your businessmen only resort. I would rather be able to afford going every weekend than all that nonsense. The best mountains are always the shabby rundown ones, nobody cares if you break the rules, and serious terrain isn't roped off 90% of the year anyway. The people are there to shred and don't complain. *sorry I realise I'm an idiot.
@@jwj8201 Huh, here in Austria every Farmer with a tiny little ski area has a heated 8 man high speed detachable chair and 20 man heated Gondola. And lift passes are cheaper than the US if you compare similarly sized areas. Ski patrol doesn't exist here and I've never seen a run roped off for any reason other than they're currently prepping it/its 100% grass.
@@jwj8201 Have you actually skied Europe or at least looked into it? The average prices are lower than in the U.S. most times and places. Not including the costs of travel of course but for locals. I honestly am not sure why-, my current theorry is a combination of the following factors; the cost of liability in the U.S. means huge ski patrol staff, the effots to make a "Wow" guest experience in places that are fairly isolated which means recruiting employees and most other costs are elevated and thus the reason nearly half of employees as most major U.S. resorts are foreigners who arrive just for the season and the food tends to be of lower quality because everything is trucked in just for the resort. Most mountain villages in Europe did not have to be artificially created- less debt for the resorts and more authentic feel with resorts putting in enhancements at a slower pace than the U.S. resorts but with more choice in the strong ski regions there is actually more competition compared to the U.S which has seen massive consolidation of ski resorts owned by just a handful of hospitality corporations. Lastly- the U.S. ski industry is almost wholly reliant on partnership with the National Forest Service which sets the pace of upgrades and increases the cost of mitigation on public lands.
@@AlanLamb11 the lifts and resorts in Austria have an excess of funding, they are not allowed to build any new chairlifts due to environmental concerns. So they can only extend/upgrade existing lifts, which leads to every 2 man chair eventually becoming a Gondola or 8-10 man heated chair. One local hill with maybe 10 runs just upgraded two t-bar lifts into a 8 man heated chairs.
@@cube63 Do they take out normal corporate loans or have some way of getting locals skiers to chip in for a small return + cheaper pass or some other method? I knew the resorts were limited by environmental concerns in some places but I didn't think it was that way everywhere. Slovakia, Hungary, Spain- I've read have some new runs added in the last few years.
An honorable mention is the new tram upgrade at Snowbird with floor to ceiling windows, see through bottom glass, and the first to have a rooftop deck on top of the tram (only in summer time) in North America.
McCoy park is really fun and unique. I'm glad it made #1. The lift line was the longest of the day by far, so it was hard to lap, though. The Epic App always showed the wait to be 10 min or less, so I feel like they were not actually tracking or representing the line accurately last year.
As someone who goes to bever creek each year I gotta say I love McCoy park. Now the novice beginner skiers are spread between McCoy and Red Buffalo meaning it’s so easy to lap Stone Creek Chutes. And the lines are way shorter at Cinch/Red Buffalo
I never felt like I waited more than 10 minutes as McCoy, but given I rarely wait more than 2 at other BC lifts, that is long. That said, I wonder if once the newness fades if it'll ease up a bit.
“The terrain under the middle bowl lift tends to get tracked out more quickly than when it was served by a triple”. Yeah, no kidding. When your goal is how many laps can I make in a day that’s what happens. I’ll stick to the unnamed, less successful resorts with slow lift, slow people and deep powder all day.
Thanks for the video. You didn't feel to add the upgrades to Whistler Blackcomb - >Creekside Gondola (6 person to 10 person gondola) or Big Red Express (4person to 6 person chair)...is it because your video is for last years upgrades?
Timberline mt. Is awesome after huge investments but wva people are all so cool and hip there!! I heart wva and Appalachian peoples!!! Thee best long black diamonds. I ski alot and it felt like taking a break half way down to enjoy the high elevated view!!! Will be back again if i can but i wont miss the pond skim!! Great hipster/family atmosphere.
We'll be there this season to check it out, but here are our initial thoughts: www.peakrankings.com/content/alterra-capital-plan-confirms-squaw/alpine-gondola-and-major-steamboat-projects-for-2021-22-7ka7e
Lake Louise is one of my local hills. I agree the Juniper does very little for now. I look forward to enjoy the changes at Big Sky and Snow Basin. Good summary, Thanks.⛷
In your resort reviews could you please just briefly mention the Nordic skiing opportunity in the resorts area? I travel with a mixed group of skiers with some only willing to go cross country so sometimes it is hard to pick resorts that do well with both…
argentine used to be the chillest shit man, if it was open i always took it over peru. legend has it that the lift crew on that side of the front used to survive the day on a diet of nothing but coors banquets and magic mushrooms
How ski resorts spend their money has a major effect on the ski day ski lift investments are great but they are not as important as spending on staff to run the lifts. The multi million dollar investment in lifts is useless if half the lifts are closed during prime season.
You missed a bunch of the "epic" lift upgrades. Jack Frost & Big Boulder both got new lifts to replace aging fixed grip doubles, putting fixed grip quads in their place. Millions of dollars for the same uphill capacity, and now everyone stops at the same time!
you have a good thing going here, good content but whats up with the audio? sounds like you are across the room from the microphone and i find it hard to make out everything you say...just saying
The popping between each segment hurts, please consider people who aren't listening through phone speakers 😭🙏 Upper Juniper is going to be amazing, currently having to take three chairs to do West Bowl laps is not ideal
Keystone is the definition of everything wrong with Colorado ski areas and Vail Resorts. Corruption scandals - power tripping ski patrol - best terrain park brought down to the worst - illegal deforestation for a new, but late lift - long lines due to way too much crowd management and not opening runs - Blaming minimal terrain opening because of lack of employees- under paying employees so they can’t manage the resort to spec of the astronomical prices people pay to go there - using lower paid wages from S. American labor and saying they can pay them lower because they give them employee housing - corporate paying too much attention their insurers and local political agenda to boost their bottom line for fat cat c-suite.
Lists like this are always a joke because you have to ask (and these lists never do) "best for who?". Think about this: many many people think Alta is the best ski area in North America. Not a majority, but a lot. Why? Are they nuts? It's because it *is* the best for expert powder-loving skiers who enjoy a down-home vibe (or at least it would be high on that list). Kirkwood ranks high for these people. They *hate* Park City, Heavenly, etc. Powder Mountain isn't on their list because Powmow doesn't have a single steep run. I'm not even saying I'm one of those people, I'm just highlighting how absurd it is to have a list without qualifying who the list is for like "for families with young kids", "for experts who love a thrill", "for people who love to be pampered and party at night", etc, etc.
Also please don't say "Whistler checks every box" unless you also include "Loves skiing in the rain and/or super heavy cement and/or in white-out fog 95% of the time" in your criteria. Whistler has ruined too many trips for me. I'm emotionally damaged by Whistler.
uptalk [ uhp-tawk ]SHOW IPA 📓 High School Level noun a rise in pitch at the end usually of a declarative sentence, especially if habitual: often represented in writing by a question mark as in Hi, I'm here to read the meter?
My god if I was thinking of taking up skiing/riding for the first time I’d say no thanks after watching this vid. I’ve never seen so many horrible skiers and boring terrain in my life.
Hey all,
Some of you have reached out asking for ski map visualizations for each of these upgrades. We've compiled these visualizations in the written version of this story here! www.peakrankings.com/content/2022-resort-upgrade-rankings
Thanks,
PeakRankings Team
Oma’s lift at Sugar Mtn NC for next year list. 9 minute 2 chair into a 3 minute HSD 4 chair.
Thank you for highlighting our new Juniper Express Quad! We would like to share some additional reasons for the new chairlift. First, the chair provides access to 4 new beginner/intermediate runs, which allows beginners a more gentle progression from the Learning Area (with magic carpets) to a chairlift, without needing to go higher up the mountain. Secondly, if you are into Freestyle laps, the chair provides access to Boulevard Terrain Park in 6 minutes, making it another valuable option for park skiers and riders. As you mentioned, the grand plan for the Juniper Area is a 2 part chairlift series, which will provide a third option from the base to the backside and will alleviate line ups in the mornings. We hope everyone comes out for another awesome ski season! Thank you!
Thank you for watching, we're looking forward to returning soon!
you guys are awesome!
We dig your team's passion.
What most ski resorts need is better employee housing so they can recruit better employees.
Aside from the terrain and natural snow, good employees are the most important part of a good resort.
and paying employees more than minimum wage. although most of us are only working for the free season pass
Yep. It’s beyond ridiculous. They invest in everything but one of their most important assets - their employees.
I find the extra seats on a lift does nothing without a lift traffic control employee helping the vast amount of inexperienced riders fill a chair. Move in the RF pass turnstile and it creates this jumbled up unorganized mess at several lifts as people have scan problems etc. Often resulting in 50-75% max capacity on chairs as hundreds gather in lines.
A room at keystones employee housing is smaller than a prison cell and you still have a roomate
@@Dflyguy420 I ran a builders contract in tofino b.c. for surf instructors and resort staff for a Best Western, had 60 rooms per floor. In a square style with all the bathrooms, laundry and central kitchen in the middle of the square with all the open rooms to the outside. They stacked 2 per room. I was shocked. It is like a college dormitory.
Best channel on YT for anything ski related
By far
I'm really glad I found your channel. I am currently in a post secondary Ski Resort Operations and Management program in college and it's awesome to see your area planning analysis of resorts and it's effects. Your channel is taking what I learn in class and helps put somethings into perspective, I really do find this stuff plenty more interesting from school.
Super interesting- didn't even know there were classes on this type of stuff!
@@PeakRankings yeah I didn't know either but it's made me the happiest I've ever been. Get to live in Nelson BC and go snowboarding for class
Love the video at 4:00 showing two people loading onto a quad when there's a huge line, and 3 people in the queue for the next chair. Yeah... High-capacity lifts won't help if people don't load them fully.
01:08 Keystone, CO
02:46 Okemo, VT
04:32 Lake Louise, Banff
06:02 Breckenridge, CO
07:47 Big Sky, MT
09:45 Snow Basin, UT
11:45 Snow King, WY
14:17 Beaver Creek, CO
Lake Louise, AB
Maybe it's just me, but i would really like a trail map included in the video for each resort&new lift. Helps with context for the both the rankings and just overall information. I know that this involves some animation for it to look good tho..Thinking of like how RealLifeLore, Wendover, VOX, etc are using maps to provide context for what they are talking about. Other than that, great video. Europe video next ? (:
Noted, thank you!
Just look it up
We've compiled trail map project visualizations here! www.peakrankings.com/content/2022-resort-upgrade-rankings
I wish you had mentioned Loon's new Kancamangus 8 person lift. Which, while nice when it was running, regularly broke down on key weekends, not really relieving crowds--in fact it forced crowds to other main lifts.
The success of a ski resort depends on how long it can keep the chairs running and people buying tickets. Without other chair assisted summer time gravity related recreation they eventually fall into disrepair. Mountain bikes are a gold mine for some resorts, Whistler for example does well in the summer months but there are plenty of others that are waking up. I don't do advocacy anymore, i just do trail planning and development now.
Been skiing most of my adult life and have watched the sport become a rich man’s sport in many areas.
in Europe its still relatively affordable
@@digitalrandomart3049 good to know
I’m surprised that loon Mountain on the Kangamangus in New Hampshire, was not on this with their new 8 person lift.
Same. I was expecting to see that on the list.
not really a "resort"
I went to Beaver Creek for the first time and spent almost the entire time at McCoy park. It’s the perfect place for anyone learning to ride to start and even advanced riders to spend some time enjoying riding through trees
This is all we need!! Now I am watch this more than actual time I spend skiing. I love it!!!
I'd love to see you review some smaller resorts in Utah, Colorado, etc. Would love to see what you think of areas like Cooper, Sunlight, and Powderhorn in CO!
We'll aim to get to some of these soon! In the mean time, we've already reviewed a couple of local CO mountains:
Monarch: www.peakrankings.com/content/monarch
Wolf Creek: www.peakrankings.com/content/wolf-creek
McCoy Park is fantastic, it is the best beginner terrain I've ever experienced. It feels so playful really is a joy to ski
That new Bergman lift at keystone is really quite something
Loon MT. in NH missed opportunities with its new 8-pack. It doubles the uphill capacity of its former high-speed quad with no more room for exiting skiiers st the top. The loading station at the bottom is unnerving requiring skiiers to face a drop off into a pit while the chair starts a right angle turn to start up the mpontain. Had Loon added two towers at the top, they would have given skiiers access to a transfer lift to South Mt. and access to some intermediate runs on the main mountain. Modest improvement to blue and green trails under the lift would have been attractive to skiers who want to continue skiing this portion of Loon, and also saving lengthy trips to the ancient 4-person gondola for some popular blue runs.
Didn’t mention palisades base to base gondola opening up in December. Probably a bigger deal than any of these. Connects Olympic valley to alpine which will get rid of that shuffle service they had running
The Base-to-Base Gondola wasn't open last season, so we didn't have the chance to add it to this list.
We'll be there this season to check it out, but here are our initial thoughts: www.peakrankings.com/content/alterra-capital-plan-confirms-squaw/alpine-gondola-and-major-steamboat-projects-for-2021-22-7ka7e
The Wayback Lift at Keystone. Arggggg. That's a relic that needs to be replaced with a high speed lift.
One day the line was so long that we decided to ski the catwalk back to the Santiago lift. It's probably a mile and a half long and mostly flat with some uphill. You'll get some cardio instead of standing in line and sitting on a slow lift.
The Wayback lift is so slow that when the catwalk is open it's a viable alternative.
do this next year as well
We plan to! The list will be *much* longer 😅
Watching from Austria looks like the new lifts are from 2010. Most of them have no bubble, no heating, no comfortable and no 8er seating 😂😂 Just look at the new Fleidingbahn in Westendorf that's what you call a proper upgrade and was build in 2019 so 3 years ago 😂😂. And I pay even about 60$ a day.
Going to snowmass this January, hope it's great
It is
I skied Parkcity resorts four times in the late 90’s. I am surprised to see the same lift types over two decades later. As I am from the UK I mainly ski in Europe now, but there we have heated car type seats on the detachable chair lifts with pull down canopies if it’s snowing. Most lifts are fast bubble lifts where you can relax, talk with friends and sort you kit out between runs. I loved skiing in America and Canada, but your lift companies are lagging behind the rest of the world.
LOL... You can stay at your businessmen only resort. I would rather be able to afford going every weekend than all that nonsense. The best mountains are always the shabby rundown ones, nobody cares if you break the rules, and serious terrain isn't roped off 90% of the year anyway. The people are there to shred and don't complain.
*sorry I realise I'm an idiot.
@@jwj8201 Huh, here in Austria every Farmer with a tiny little ski area has a heated 8 man high speed detachable chair and 20 man heated Gondola. And lift passes are cheaper than the US if you compare similarly sized areas. Ski patrol doesn't exist here and I've never seen a run roped off for any reason other than they're currently prepping it/its 100% grass.
@@jwj8201 Have you actually skied Europe or at least looked into it? The average prices are lower than in the U.S. most times and places. Not including the costs of travel of course but for locals.
I honestly am not sure why-, my current theorry is a combination of the following factors; the cost of liability in the U.S. means huge ski patrol staff, the effots to make a "Wow" guest experience in places that are fairly isolated which means recruiting employees and most other costs are elevated and thus the reason nearly half of employees as most major U.S. resorts are foreigners who arrive just for the season and the food tends to be of lower quality because everything is trucked in just for the resort.
Most mountain villages in Europe did not have to be artificially created- less debt for the resorts and more authentic feel with resorts putting in enhancements at a slower pace than the U.S. resorts but with more choice in the strong ski regions there is actually more competition compared to the U.S which has seen massive consolidation of ski resorts owned by just a handful of hospitality corporations.
Lastly- the U.S. ski industry is almost wholly reliant on partnership with the National Forest Service which sets the pace of upgrades and increases the cost of mitigation on public lands.
@@AlanLamb11 the lifts and resorts in Austria have an excess of funding, they are not allowed to build any new chairlifts due to environmental concerns. So they can only extend/upgrade existing lifts, which leads to every 2 man chair eventually becoming a Gondola or 8-10 man heated chair. One local hill with maybe 10 runs just upgraded two t-bar lifts into a 8 man heated chairs.
@@cube63 Do they take out normal corporate loans or have some way of getting locals skiers to chip in for a small return + cheaper pass or some other method?
I knew the resorts were limited by environmental concerns in some places but I didn't think it was that way everywhere. Slovakia, Hungary, Spain- I've read have some new runs added in the last few years.
Hey! The Jordan 8 is better than all of these! Sunday River is underrated.
Why…
An honorable mention is the new tram upgrade at Snowbird with floor to ceiling windows, see through bottom glass, and the first to have a rooftop deck on top of the tram (only in summer time) in North America.
I'll be having my 6th year working at my local mountain. We're lucky because we really have no competition, so upgrades are just for our benefit!
the kick drum effect scared the shit out of me every time lol 😂 😂
Hope we didn't knock you out of your seat when you reached #1 😅
I live in darwin Australia and have no reason to watch this but yet here I am 🤷
Lookout Pass, ID/MT, major terrain expansion is rad!!
McCoy park is really fun and unique. I'm glad it made #1. The lift line was the longest of the day by far, so it was hard to lap, though. The Epic App always showed the wait to be 10 min or less, so I feel like they were not actually tracking or representing the line accurately last year.
As someone who goes to bever creek each year I gotta say I love McCoy park. Now the novice beginner skiers are spread between McCoy and Red Buffalo meaning it’s so easy to lap Stone Creek Chutes. And the lines are way shorter at Cinch/Red Buffalo
I never felt like I waited more than 10 minutes as McCoy, but given I rarely wait more than 2 at other BC lifts, that is long. That said, I wonder if once the newness fades if it'll ease up a bit.
“The terrain under the middle bowl lift tends to get tracked out more quickly than when it was served by a triple”. Yeah, no kidding. When your goal is how many laps can I make in a day that’s what happens. I’ll stick to the unnamed, less successful resorts with slow lift, slow people and deep powder all day.
Thanks for the video. You didn't feel to add the upgrades to Whistler Blackcomb - >Creekside Gondola (6 person to 10 person gondola) or Big Red Express (4person to 6 person chair)...is it because your video is for last years upgrades?
Yep! Those are still under construction, and we will analyze them this season.
Whistler blackcomb couldn't get their creekside gondola upgrade done before season open. Gonna be crazy because of it.
Timberline mt. Is awesome after huge investments but wva people are all so cool and hip there!! I heart wva and Appalachian peoples!!! Thee best long black diamonds. I ski alot and it felt like taking a break half way down to enjoy the high elevated view!!! Will be back again if i can but i wont miss the pond skim!! Great hipster/family atmosphere.
What are your thoughts on Palisades Tahoe base to base gondola?
We'll be there this season to check it out, but here are our initial thoughts: www.peakrankings.com/content/alterra-capital-plan-confirms-squaw/alpine-gondola-and-major-steamboat-projects-for-2021-22-7ka7e
Lake Louise is one of my local hills. I agree the Juniper does very little for now.
I look forward to enjoy the changes at Big Sky and Snow Basin.
Good summary, Thanks.⛷
Would have loved to see heavenly’s new north bowl express lift
How do you only have 6k followers your videos are top notch
In your resort reviews could you please just briefly mention the Nordic skiing opportunity in the resorts area? I travel with a mixed group of skiers with some only willing to go cross country so sometimes it is hard to pick resorts that do well with both…
Now discuss the top summer upgrades. That's where we can be a major factor.
argentine used to be the chillest shit man, if it was open i always took it over peru. legend has it that the lift crew on that side of the front used to survive the day on a diet of nothing but coors banquets and magic mushrooms
Every time I ride swift current 6 without the bar I feel like I'm going to fall off lol
Interesting to see how skiing is different between America and the Alps.
I better see mount shasta on here next year
2023 #1 resort improvement is the plunge express
4:00 lines that long and no effort being made to actually fill the chairs. These new wunderlifts are no substitute for quality lift operators
Why isn’t the base to base at palisades here
Opens next season
@@elliotearles8302 no it's not It's scheduled to open this December
@@tategarrett4897 right, but that's next season, this video is about this past season
more vidss these are so entertaining
I love Big Sky so much. It is just getting very costly though.
big sky can suck it until they stop that tram surcharge
@@freeskierdude_ I bet it goes away once the new faster tram to the top gets installed.
Didn’t Arapahoe basin just replace the liner we left with a high speed detachable chair lift?
The new Lenawee lift will be ready for the upcoming season - we'll be sure to check it out when it opens!
How ski resorts spend their money has a major effect on the ski day ski lift investments are great but they are not as important as spending on staff to run the lifts. The multi million dollar investment in lifts is useless if half the lifts are closed during prime season.
Would really help if visualized with the help of all the skimaps...
We've compiled visualizations here if this helps! www.peakrankings.com/content/2022-resort-upgrade-rankings
You missed a bunch of the "epic" lift upgrades.
Jack Frost & Big Boulder both got new lifts to replace aging fixed grip doubles, putting fixed grip quads in their place. Millions of dollars for the same uphill capacity, and now everyone stops at the same time!
He's talking about real resorts
New loon loft in nh is nice expansion of south peak planned next
you have a good thing going here, good content but whats up with the audio? sounds like you are across the room from the microphone and i find it hard to make out everything you say...just saying
Any recommendations on what days of the week are best at Okemo for not being busy?
just don't go on weekend ,
Like most New England resorts Monday to Thursday
^Aligned with the above.
beaver creek is not front range. its on the western slope
Saddleback, Maine ?
W account
Great video! I saw that you had a jay peak review on your website. Are you planning to make a RUclips video on jay peak?
Yes, will come soon!
New name for this channel: 1st world problems exposed!
"Freedom Super Chair" has to be the most american lift name i have ever heard.
Love your videos❤❤❤
Given the lead time on a new lift, these were all planned prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fun game: try drinking hot coffee while watching this.
I feel like you should have included "in North America" ti the title
*best Family Resort upgrades. McCoy expansion at Beaver Creek as your #1 with ZERO advanced terrain.
To be fair, there were no advanced and expert terrain expansions at major North American ski resorts this past year.
Watching this from Europe is really weird. Compared to our resorts, these upgrades all seem so bad…
Most US resorts just haven't been very well conceived to begin with.
Sole of the lifts are just hysterically bad.
YOU SAID NORTH AMERICA... WHERE ARE THE CANADIAN SKI HILLS?!?!.!
Lake Louise is in Canada.
70$ add on charge for one lift ? 😱 That's what you pay for a day in Europe's best ski resorts
Yep, it's pretty hefty! The charge varies between $30-$100 depending on the day.
The popping between each segment hurts, please consider people who aren't listening through phone speakers 😭🙏 Upper Juniper is going to be amazing, currently having to take three chairs to do West Bowl laps is not ideal
Losing the poma was a big change to the way the hill skis.
Keystone is the definition of everything wrong with Colorado ski areas and Vail Resorts. Corruption scandals - power tripping ski patrol - best terrain park brought down to the worst - illegal deforestation for a new, but late lift - long lines due to way too much crowd management and not opening runs - Blaming minimal terrain opening because of lack of employees- under paying employees so they can’t manage the resort to spec of the astronomical prices people pay to go there - using lower paid wages from S. American labor and saying they can pay them lower because they give them employee housing - corporate paying too much attention their insurers and local political agenda to boost their bottom line for fat cat c-suite.
15:41 :)
Lists like this are always a joke because you have to ask (and these lists never do) "best for who?". Think about this: many many people think Alta is the best ski area in North America. Not a majority, but a lot. Why? Are they nuts? It's because it *is* the best for expert powder-loving skiers who enjoy a down-home vibe (or at least it would be high on that list). Kirkwood ranks high for these people. They *hate* Park City, Heavenly, etc. Powder Mountain isn't on their list because Powmow doesn't have a single steep run. I'm not even saying I'm one of those people, I'm just highlighting how absurd it is to have a list without qualifying who the list is for like "for families with young kids", "for experts who love a thrill", "for people who love to be pampered and party at night", etc, etc.
Also please don't say "Whistler checks every box" unless you also include "Loves skiing in the rain and/or super heavy cement and/or in white-out fog 95% of the time" in your criteria. Whistler has ruined too many trips for me. I'm emotionally damaged by Whistler.
Bad economy = No profits for ski resorts
Ello
your videos are so well made, but 60fps is just unecessary and makes it so much harder to load. Great video tho man thanks for the info
Thanks! Our camera films at 60fps, but there are extensions available that can disable 60fps playback for our videos, and revert to 30fps.
@Campbell JM You gonna cry?
God breck footage is horrid. Jerry dodging for days and long lines except for imperial and e chair. Also, hot take: bubble lifts suck.
Good video. Try to work on your up talking because it’s mildly annoying
uptalk
[ uhp-tawk ]SHOW IPA
📓 High School Level
noun
a rise in pitch at the end usually of a declarative sentence, especially if habitual: often represented in writing by a question mark as in
Hi, I'm here to read the meter?
Only if the resort can catch it and put it to good use.
Park City lift upgrade failure
Look at Taos. Barely any snow, super expensive, icy runs and crappy skiers. Go lake Tahoe.
My god if I was thinking of taking up skiing/riding for the first time I’d say no thanks after watching this vid. I’ve never seen so many horrible skiers and boring terrain in my life.