Another resort opened for business and another drastically expanded their available terrain today. That means there’s actually some decent skiing and riding becoming available for those that just cannot wait for natural snow.
Boreal Opens Accelerator
The soul of skiing and riding actually may live at Boreal. You know they are pretty much the first mountain to open in Tahoe. You also know that there’s just about a guarantee that Boreal will open to the top by Thanksgiving by getting the Accelerator chair open. Congrats to the guys and gals at Boreal that made that happen. The expanded terrain will not cost any additional money. Adult tickets at Boreal remain at $52 and $59 for holidays. We loved the TV news interview the other evening where a Boreal manager recognized that the early season is one of their biggest seasons. Interesting concept…a ski and snowboard resort not run by a real estate company.
Kirkwood Begins Limited Operations
Kirkwood joined the rest of the Vail Resorts in opening some limited terrain today. Only the Solitude chair is open, offering 2 groomers on manmade snow. The good news is that the drive is shorter from the valley or the Bay Area. You can also park reasonably close to a lift and not be forced to walk through a village and ride a gondola to get to skiing & riding. Kirkwood’s ticket is also only $55 at this time, making it the bargain for Vail Resorts. One would assume that you could drive up Highway 88 and buy a Kirkwood ticket and ski a lap or two, then head to Heavenly and use the same ticket. Someone should test that theory.
SquAlpine…Where The Soul Of Skiing Lives?
SquAlpine has made no commitment to opening other than the bland statement: “Scheduled to open Nov 27 – weather and conditions permitting. Gobble up your first turns!” Odds are that the ship will have sailed for many of us. We made our first turns long ago. Soul of skiing? Someone in the marketing department is going to regret that choice of marketing lines for the season….we’re not the first to question it and I am sure we will not be the last.
Updated…cleverly hidden under the Early Season Operations page was this info:
• Beginner’s magic carpets at the base area will run
• Funitel will run only for access to Gold Coast
• Gold Coast Chair will run with access only to the Gold Coast trail from 10am til 3pm. This represents 1-2% of Squaw’s terrain.
• Adult tickets are $76
Kind of ironic, no web cams are working at all at either place…
I’d prefer KSL just waits for it to snow for real, save the snowmaking funds to keep the mountains open daily in the spring when there is actually snow on the ground.
There’ll be so much water from the Wells and rooves, and grey water it defied belief if the don’t pump it up the hill for snowmaking. Aren’t they getting truckee’s water via Martis Camp as well? Wouldn’t Sq Creek and Shirleys hold a base atm? Just asking.
At Tahoe you ain’t gonna ski or snow board in Tahoe maybe but yer gonna get awfully wet
….and managed by Podwr Corp iirc.
Your friends at Johnville hopefully have tax advice on not for profit co-op operations.
On the topic of grand juries and stuff, people need to be squeaky clean – insiders can get into all sorts of strife, like unlicensed political lobbyists. Take a recent case as an example. On November 4, 2013, SAC Capital Advisors LP (SAC Capital LP), SAC Capital Advisors LLC (SAC Capital LLC), CR Intrinsic Investors LLC (CR Intrinsic) and Sigma Capital Management LLC (Sigma Capital) (collectively the SAC companies) entered into a plea agreement, pleading guilty to all counts of a July 2013 indictment charging the SAC companies with securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with an insider trading scheme pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, 240.10b-5(2). The agreement also includes a historic penalty amount of $1.8 billion and five years of probation, and prohibits the companies from engaging in any operations as investment providers. Have you ever come across big ticket deals where someone wasn’t trying to get a bit on the side? Gee I love town planning. Don’t you?
Just a heads up – iirc there’s a meeting today for updates on the water. Anyone going. Anyone going?
That revelation today about Nstar’s expansion was mnd blowing given the talk about amalgamated water boards and pipes to Squaw.