WOOT WOOT! Nukin' in Missoula

[Rasputin]

Attachment 444931

What a joke. Yesterday was understandable, if you don't have power, you can't spin the lifts. We all get that and certainly other ski hills could be plagued by the same problem (although arguably there are ways to mitigate that issue--but lets be real, that ain't happening at SB).

However, what Snowbowl has never done well = communication. It's what makes or breaks the world and relationships << Which are both intertwined.

Some real simple fixes out there, namely just post your updates and post them to one spot. I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir.

Now enter the Snowbowl defenders or people that get offended by Snowbowl criticism. To which I have some theories, these types have one or more the following in common:

1. Work at Snowbowl
2. Used to work at Snowbowl
3. Have never held a season pass at another hill (the real world/not the Twilight Zone)
4. Lack of sense of humor
5. Think they're a Legend

It is bizarre (and entirely consistent with their management style) that they didn't announce to the folks in the Griz line, that they were not loading it due to high wind (hey Freak, remember when that tree fell across the lift cables a hundred feet in front of us?) and potential frostbite (and they were unsure whether they would run Griz at all), while beginning to load the Transporter (cringe, what a weak name).

Once the new lift started loading, the guy in front of me in line got a text from his dad, who'd gone to SB lodge, and learned at the office about the delay in opening, that certainly LaVelle, and likely Griz would not open today. At that point I, and the guy I'd been waiting with, went over to the new lift, and after about ten minutes was on the chair. We shuffled by the folks waiting for Griz, and I told some folks what we'd heard.

Then I skied a few laps on Snowpark, until the lines there got long, then vanished, then I knew that Griz must be loading. So I skied deep un-tracked wind buff down the East side of TV, and saw that there was no line on the Transporter, and a line on Griz, so I did a few more laps off the East side of TV, before finishing with a couple runs off of Griz. Great day at the bowl.

While I have often refuted the utter bullshit some people have posted about Snowbowl's operation, I have never shied away from calling them on their absurdity, and actual failings. It is a source of entertainment that they do so many things so very wrong. I am glad to hear when customers are so offended by the operation that they want to go elsewhere, there are too damn many skiers coming up the road, and I'm fine with the place without all the "improvements" that transplants seem to crave.

I have never been an employee of Snowbowl; I used to work in trade for season passes; I have held season passes at a very busy mainstream ski resort with a paved road; I have a sense of humor, and that's why I can see this as both funny and apt:



As for thinking one is a legend, well everyone loves their own opinions, so much so, that they post them on the internet, and roundly chide those who disagree.

If you want to run a ski area, first have a successful lucrative career, gaining the funds to buy a rinky-dink operation, spend millions improving the place over decades, take on roles in various departments, everywhere from mowing the lawn in the summer, to getting certified as a ski instructor and teaching lessons, stay in the black financially while more than doubling the skiable acreage, and then you have place to tell the guy, who's done all of that, how to run his business. Until then you are just a customer with an opinion at a business that has more customers than they have room to fit in their parking lot. They are not desperate for your business, people are literally lining up to give them money.

[S_jenks]

Website working for me all day (and just now).

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

aha. problem was old broken bookmark links. works now.

[406]

Anyone know if lifts are loading public today?

[yeahman]

Anyone know if lifts are loading public today?

Just look at their webcams. Oh wait their webcams don't work. So just look at their social media updates. Oh shoot they haven't updated their inconclusive morning posts and have disabled comments on Instagram. Well, just call them on the phone. Oh damn their voice message is from pre-season December 9th. So just drive up there and see for yourself, duh.

[406]

^Ha, yep. Turns out they are open, top too. Cold, but not bad in sun.

[toast2266]

They are not desperate for your business, people are literally lining up to give them money.

What I don't really get about snowbowl is that, with every other small ski hill I've been to, there's just general stoke about skiing. At any hill, large or small, there's gonna be hiccups in the operations. Some more avoidable than others. But small ski hills thrive on positive energy, and at pretty much every small ski hill I've been to, management's #1 public facing task was spreading that positive energy. There's different ways of going about that, but at a bare minimum, there's some level of communication, both to spread the stoke and to head off any discontent with the inevitable hiccups in operations.

Snowbowl, in my experience, does approximately zero of that. There's no stoke flowing from management. The general vibe is "fuck you. Come skiing, I guess." Which is a bummer.

[stuckathuntermtn]

…uh did snowbowl not renew their website domain on time? The entire site has been down for me all day.

Driving back into town was an absolute sheet of ice from Saint Regis. Saw a multiple vehicle crash near the O street exit as we made it back in.

Now the real question is how fucked tomorrow is for crowds


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Something is up with the DNS. I thought it was my phone. If I try to go directly to their website on my phone, wifi for mobile data, it doesn't find it. If I Google it, and follow the link, it works fine for some reason. So does my desktop maybe. It's weird.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Oh, I figured it out: make sure you are doing https not http. The redirect isn't working on my phone. Whatever.

Toast, that quote sums everything up perfectly.
I see why Brad got out of medicine. He wants to keep doing things like it's still the 80s. If you tried to practice medicine like it was the 80s, you could lose your license. Continuing Ed must be terrifying to him.

[senior researcher]

Lolo Peak, Great the way it is.

[RootSkier]

I got nothing to add about Saturday except that I was able to ski both some of the deepest snow I've ever skied at the Bowl, and also the most unbelievably windsuperduperfucked snow I've ever experienced anywhere. It was truly impressive how impossible it was in spots.

Quite a day. Glad I made the call for the Transporter immediately upon arrival.

[406]

Yeah Transporter line moved fast, I was impressed. Found some nice turns on Sunday, but cold. I think coldest I have skinned in, glue had issues sticking to skis!

[Terrapin Ben]

The parking lot was empty yesterday, and runs under LaVelle looked like a blank canvas. Good times in the cold!

[Rasputin]

What I don't really get about snowbowl is that, with every other small ski hill I've been to, there's just general stoke about skiing. At any hill, large or small, there's gonna be hiccups in the operations. Some more avoidable than others. But small ski hills thrive on positive energy, and at pretty much every small ski hill I've been to, management's #1 public facing task was spreading that positive energy. There's different ways of going about that, but at a bare minimum, there's some level of communication, both to spread the stoke and to head off any discontent with the inevitable hiccups in operations.

Snowbowl, in my experience, does approximately zero of that. There's no stoke flowing from management. The general vibe is "fuck you. Come skiing, I guess." Which is a bummer.

I think Snowbowl is Brad Morris's hobby-experiment and he likes to tinker with things, and likes to play with it like a toy set without costing himself money. He is a generally amiable, highly intelligent, and wholly inscrutable character. He goes about things the way he prefers, and is not primarily concerned with the advice of the public. Some customers can't accept this about him, and how it effects the operation. Not everyone is a people person, and not every business owner wants their business run by the customers. Brad gets personal satisfaction out of running the business the way he chooses. People get frustrated when they don't accept that immutable fact.

I guess I've been around long enough to find all the misadventures of the operation as being like elements of a sit-com. I don't get bummed out by it, because I don't expect to be in control of it. Brad may not meet your expectations of bringing the stoke, but he does get up early, every morning to make a daily snow report message in which he is sure to say "Hope to see you up at The Bowl!" He's does it every day, has for many years, never hands off the duty to anyone else, and if you go skiing there, you very well may see him, because he's not just the owner, but a skier who puts in a lot of days.

[S_jenks]

Wow. Gone for nearly a week and the mountain feels way different.



Feels way better.

[Rasputin]

Wow. Gone for nearly a week and the mountain feels way different.



Feels way better.

W00t, w00t! Welcome back.

[toast2266]

I don't get bummed out by it, because I don't expect to be in control of it. Brad may not meet your expectations of bringing the stoke, but he does get up early, every morning to make a daily snow report message in which he is sure to say "Hope to see you up at The Bowl!" He's does it every day, has for many years, never hands off the duty to anyone else, and if you go skiing there, you very well may see him, because he's not just the owner, but a skier who puts in a lot of days.

I don't personally get bummed about it because I don't personally have to deal with it anymore. But I have a lot of friends in missoula that have to deal with it, and they're certainly bummed. Like a friend talking about her women's ski clinic, with 300 women that rolled up to the hill this weekend only to find the mountain was closed because the power was out. Because Brad didn't see fit to tell anyone. Or another friend that parked the better part of a mile up the road on the powder day, only to find that no lifts were spinning because of wind.

And then when people bitch about it on snowbowl's Facebook page, Brad deletes their comments and bans them. You can defend them till you're blue in the face, but there's no getting around the fact that snowbowl is a terribly, terribly run business.

Brad doesn't need to be good at communication. He just needs to realize that he's utterly useless in that department and hire somebody to do it for him.

[406]

I would hate to see how busy it would be if it was a well run business :-)

I am surprised they care enough to turn off comments on Facebook.

[toast2266]

I would hate to see how busy it would be if it was a well run business :-)

That's a fair point. Crowd control via ineptitude.

[2Harsh]

The comments function on their IG account have also been shut off after all the negative feedback last weekend.

[Iowagriz]

Lots of cars today, no real wait for chairs before noon. However, as I drove down there had to be 30 cars or more driving up. Parking was close to full as I left.

Heads up for Fri-Sun. Mogul competition, Friday is practice, comps are the weekend. I'd expect parking and the base area to be problematic (I was told this schedule by a coach).

I skied like shit today. First 3 runs and each had a crash in which I either released a heel or went head over heels. I couldn't find my balance and headed home early before I hurt myself.

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[Rasputin]

I don't personally get bummed about it because I don't personally have to deal with it anymore. But I have a lot of friends in missoula that have to deal with it, and they're certainly bummed. Like a friend talking about her women's ski clinic, with 300 women that rolled up to the hill this weekend only to find the mountain was closed because the power was out. Because Brad didn't see fit to tell anyone. Or another friend that parked the better part of a mile up the road on the powder day, only to find that no lifts were spinning because of wind.

And then when people bitch about it on snowbowl's Facebook page, Brad deletes their comments and bans them. You can defend them till you're blue in the face, but there's no getting around the fact that snowbowl is a terribly, terribly run business.

Brad doesn't need to be good at communication. He just needs to realize that he's utterly useless in that department and hire somebody to do it for him.

But he doesn't need to realize anything, he keeps doing what he thinks needful, or interesting, and he keeps getting bigger crowds, regardless of how many folks are offended by, or frustrated at his way of management.

That's a fair point. Crowd control via ineptitude.

This has been an inside joke among SB employees for decades.

[Rasputin]

It got up to 42 at the bottom of Griz yesterday, much of the snow was effected, we'll see how badly today.

[stuckathuntermtn]

If their business model is so good, why do they still close during the week after Presidents' Day Weekend?

Ps, popped my covid cherry. I'm doing ok, just chills and aches. If you were in the bar Wednesday around lunchtime, you might wanna test yourself.

[Rasputin]

If their business model is so good, why do they still close during the week after Presidents' Day Weekend?

Ps, popped my covid cherry. I'm doing ok, just chills and aches. If you were in the bar Wednesday around lunchtime, you might wanna test yourself.

Nobody thinks their business model is good, but it's good enough for them, and hence is unlikely to change significantly.

[oldnew_guy]

Snowbowl is at least partially on the Lolo NF operating under a special use permit right?

So, it’s a little more complicated than “dude runs it how he wants to”.

If people don’t like it there is a Supervisors Office managing the permit that has a mailbox.