Official KSL Bitch AND Bitch about people bitching about KSL thread

[Jack Burton]

seemed like a new leaf was turned last week, not holding my breath for the future but was happily skiing the MO-SHIP all Day Saturday and Yesterday, even got a few h-wall laps on Saturday

hope it lasts

[stanmarsh]

Fuck yeah. Bet that was rad. I love holiday weekends. Is that Squaw was like before the cheap passes?

Yeah man, this weekend almost defied logic... I drove down to a nearly full lot at 10am on saturday morning, but walked right onto KT, later got first tracks through the slot, right onto the chair for first tracks through garbage chutes, then lapped granite and silvy the rest of the day with nary more than a 2 minute wait.

Was real confused until I returned to gold coast 'round 2:30 to find a total gaperfest between the lift and arc crowd. certainly lends credence to the argument that the new ownership's branding and marketing is fucking everything up. like the Squaw|Alpine billboards coming up 80 showing a pair of skis carving 14 degree corduroy as if that's somehow a good representation of the squaw skiing experience.

<rant>

Also on that note, bitching about KSL's role in the parking shitshow, soulcrushing traffic, andy wirth's dooshyness, getting overrun with gapers, waterpark, and the general raping of both squaw and alpine's culture is imho completely valid. you will not hear me disagree with anyone on that. but a lot of what's being said about their ability to get stuff open (excluding silverado, I agree that was fishy) is really going after the day-to-day folks that have been out on the mountain digging out pretty much every damn day for the past 6 weeks so that we can ski. I highly doubt that the KSL executives are on the phone with jimmy king in the mornings like "let's shut down the upper mountain. fuck em, just tell them it's too windy".

so perhaps roseville is not the best place to be critiquing on-hill operations decisions. especially when those decisions were obviously understandable to anyone close to the valley (or with access to the internet). there's been plenty of comments from others in this thread that are similarly uninformed... not trying to call out anyone in particular.

</rant>

red dog was pretty rad this morning until a lightning storm started heading our direction. just can't catch a break this winter. oh well, thanks for getting it open... more than any of the other comparable resorts on this side of the lake can say.

[old goat]

Alpine's Power problems this winter are unusual. So are the multiple power outages at our house at Donner Lake--more this winter than in the previous 26 winters combined. In the big rain turning to 15 feet of snow event in January--all these storms are starting to run into each other in my mind--all 3 transmission lines from NV to the Truckee-Tahoe area went out--2 mudslides and a tree down. I speculate that less than all 3 are back up and that there is a lot less redundancy in local grid. I know they've had to move power around--shorting some people at some times. But then I know absolutely nothing about the grid. (In the past most of the power outages we've had have been when squirrels have decided to BBQ themselves in transformers, in the summer.)

The closures the last 2 days are comparable to pre KSL.
Interesting that the roads were a total shitshow yesterday (5 hours from TC to Truckee reported by one friend and 1 hours from Tahoe Donner to Donner Lake by another) despite the slopes being uncrowded. One factor was Chinese New Year--the casinos were hopping in Reno.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

It seems that KSL/Andy Wirth are focused more on what's being said about them on social media vs focusing on doing things right. If they put that type of energy into doing things right in the first place, then their social media rep would never have become an issue. Doesn't take a marketing genius to figure that out.

[heckacali]

Ksl needs to hire the truckee chp to manage their social media feeds.
Chp is always up to the minute, accurate, friendly and fun with their twitter and Facebook feeds.
Totally killing it and helping the area so much with great information.

[hercule33]

KSL does not decide which lifts to open. Lift ops, ski patrol, and mountain management does.

Just because KSL doesn't call the shots day to day doesn't mean that they are not responsible. Guess who put Andy Wirth in charge? Guess who is responsible for Andy's performance reviews?

Sorry, I am holding KSL partially responsible. I don't think it's OK to put a CEO in charge who runs their "crown jewel" resort in a way that so many people complain on social media that an open letter gets written and then passes get pulled to try silence the dissent.

Lastly KSL has control over Squaw's budget and management. So indirectly they do control how many people Squaw can hire to let's say dig out chairs or remove ice from lifts.

[Jack Burton]

. 9:12 & struggling to get patrol up the mtn

[mmmm...pow!]

Well, today was basically a big kick in the nuts.

[mandudebro]

Well, today was basically a big kick in the nuts.

I'm assuming not in a good way?

[TahoeJ]

Those sun holds are brutal.

[meter-man]

Those sun holds are brutal.

As of 2:00 pm, neither Squaw nor Alpine can open a single chair on the upper mountain (does Scott count?). Wow.

Meanwhile, Kirkwood has 6 and 10 open (no backside). SB has Dis open, but no Lincoln yet (per webpage).

[mcski]

Has anyone confirmed whether squalid has full use of its avy bomb arsenal? Might explain their inabilities to get shit going. Or just simply not enough staff currently employed?

[WTF is dat]

Wow just read through the past few pages and they are pulling the passes of people who dissent ?

Fuck the people running squaw! I'm creating a fake FB profile to troll the shit out of them right now

[wakefield]

Wow just read through the past few pages and they are pulling the passes of people who dissent ?

Fuck the people running squaw! I'm creating a fake FB profile to troll the shit out of them right now

I like the way you think, guy.

[sierraskier]

Well, today was basically a big kick in the nuts.

...said on 9 out of 10 days you go to Squaw to ski.

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Has anyone confirmed whether squalid has full use of its avy bomb arsenal? Might explain their inabilities to get shit going. Or just simply not enough staff currently employed?

If you follow their facebook and twitter, it looks like they were using all available snow cats to dig out lift towers and stations, and Gold Coast and Sibo were the primary targets. Which might explain why KT couldn't spin up chairs, given the deep snow at the towers on the upper third of the mountain.

Separately, I heard that a significant percentage of the patrol staff (somewhere around 10%) quit in response to the tragedy. Make sure to thank Patrol for working their asses off to get the mountain open as fast as the operational budget allows.

[meter-man]

Separately, I heard that a significant percentage of the patrol staff (somewhere around 10%) quit in response to the tragedy. Make sure to thank Patrol for working their asses off to get the mountain open as fast as the operational budget allows.

Damn. I have also been told that a lot of the more experienced Ops staff (patrollers, groomers, etc.) were phased out or pushed out over the last couple years to make way for cheaper, less experienced help.

On that note, I saw the legendary Brit Kate (Katie?) that used to run the liftlines at Summit (Alpine) like nobody's business....at Sugar Bowl, on Sunday. She said she left Alpine after 27 years. I didn't have the heart to ask why, but I'm guessing it was what I noted above.

[LightRanger]

As of 2:00 pm, neither Squaw nor Alpine can open a single chair on the upper mountain (does Scott count?). Wow.

Meanwhile, Kirkwood has 6 and 10 open (no backside). SB has Dis open, but no Lincoln yet (per webpage).

Website shows Lincoln running now. So sometime between 2pm and 3:55. Better late than never.

Edit: I see the page says it was last updated at 2:31 pm, so looks like that's when they got it running.

[TahoeJ]

On that note, I saw the legendary Brit Kate (Katie?) that used to run the liftlines at Summit (Alpine) like nobody's business....at Sugar Bowl, on Sunday. She said she left Alpine after 27 years. I didn't have the heart to ask why, but I'm guessing it was what I noted above.

She was / is bad-ass. Took no shit and was super efficient - every chair at full capacity. Hey, orange pants, you, you and guy with the GoPro - go!!!

I've barely been at Alpine this season (because the backcountry is less hassle most weekends now) but hadn't seen her yet... that's sad.

[sierraskier]

Separately, I heard that a significant percentage of the patrol staff (somewhere around 10%) quit in response to the tragedy. Make sure to thank Patrol for working their asses off to get the mountain open as fast as the operational budget allows.

The recent explosives accident? Why would a percentage of the patrol staff quit b/c of that?

[TahoeJ]

The recent explosives accident? Why would a percentage of the patrol staff quit b/c of that?

I hadn't heard that either, but I do know a lot of long time patrol are fed up with KSL running things. Stanmarsh-no-shit-disclamer: Yes, KSL isn't involved in day to day decisions but there's still a lot of BS coming from the top down in terms of budget and other things. When you're busting your ass for like $12 per hour and something like that happens, I would understand it putting things in a new perspective.

Also: thank you to any patrollers who may be reading - this thread is not about you.

I think more of the delays this season are related to under-staffing mountain ops, not patrol. You don't need patrollers to dig out lifts and what have you.

[LowPressure]

Alpine confused me today. Summit and Alpine Bowl Chair did not open, but people were allowed to hike to the top. There were lots of tracks on Keyhole, and couple nice ones off Our Father Cliffs and lines all the way out to Art's Knob.

Sooo, I'm concluding that the chairs weren't closed due to snow safety, nor was it windy. Anyone know what gives?

The singles line at Roundhouse made it all the way up to the second tower.

Also, man was it fun today! Could have been even better with more lifts.

[mandudebro]

I'm not sure it's fair to expect upper mtn opening today after the last couple days- 5'+ new snow combined w/ 100mph+ sustained/190mph+ gusts? That's a big fucking snow event. Totals were way higher along the crest (SV/AM) than south of the lake (KW).

I'm not looking to defend KSL/Squalpine Mngmnt/Ops, but I think the well deserved critiques lose impact when we start piling on with criticism that doesn't reflect the reality of the situation. The tighter we keep the criticism, the harder for mngmnt to defend agains it.

As for Squaw's ability to use explosives, it didn't sound like they we restricted recently- plenty of routes being run. Seems like that would be all or nothing restriction (but I admittedly know little about it).

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

The recent explosives accident? Why would a percentage of the patrol staff quit b/c of that?

I'm not going to speculate on the reason why that was the turning point, although I'm sure everyone has (likely good) guesses. But the info on patrollers quitting comes from someone I know and trust, who worked for Squaw for decades, and knows the patrollers personally.

And yeah, I'm not at all bagging on the guys that made that decision, or the job they do. How Patrol kept KT open on Monday (when Poulson's was sliding) is beyond me. Those guys are working very hard and taking some big risks so that we can have fun.

[old goat]

Patrollers were among those hand shoveling under KT so they could start loading full chairs.
They were also reportedly digging at the top of Emigrant, looking for the lift.
There is a 20 foot base on the upper mountain.
There seemed to be more patrollers working KT before it opened then there have been on previous similar days.