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  1. #51
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    Apr 2007
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    exactly who am i hyping for?

    1. in the winter it is often much more than 20 minutes closer.
    2. parking would be closer to lifts, saving yet more time.
    3. it wouldn't be the same crap. much of the terrain back there is very gentle glades and bowls. vail terrain. plus thunder bowl.
    4. regardless of how much closer it is or isn't, or how much crappier it would be, more people would be willing to pay for it.
    powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.

  2. #52
    Join Date
    May 2002
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    33,440
    Oh, c'mon, Hugh. Imagine it for a moment......You wake up in your fortified Silver Lake porcelain tudor, step out your door onto the magic carpet and are whisked into a myriad choice of modes of uphill transportation. You grab the tram to the top of thimble peak, then schuss your way down to the patio at the lodge for midday cocktails and appetizers, signing your name like you do at those just-off-piste onhill lodges at Vail, then jump on the new funitel to the top of 99 steps and a glorious adventure down to Caples Lake, where you take the tunnel of love from Caples to Silver Lake and back home to wake up and do it all again tomorrow.

  3. #53
    Hugh Conway Guest
    Oh! They could get those Chinese contractors to build them a fake Austrian village next to Silver Lake and sell fake chalets. That'd be something. Then demolish the current valley and rebuild it into a fake Savoy village. Then a fake Italian village out by 4th of July lake, then run little cars through the tunnels where everyone gets serenaded by the multiple ethnicity imported slave labor of Kirkwood singing "It's a small world after all"

    Don't drink the water

  4. #54
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    Apr 2008
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    Livermore, CA
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    191
    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Conway View Post
    3x more crap is still crap
    Alright, Kwood is no Whistler or Snowbird or etc.... There isn't enough continuously skiable vertical feet.

    Maybe Vail will turn the Kwood into an "expedition" destination resort. Come to do guided hut tours, learn avy safety and snow science. For the less adventurous, they'll offer cat skiing day trips (like they already do) and regular resort skiing.

    Whatever happens, it seems likely that Vail needs to increase skiable acreage at the wood. If you build it, they will come. Or something along those lines.

  5. #55
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    Apr 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Conway View Post
    Oh! They could get those Chinese contractors to build them a fake Austrian village next to Silver Lake and sell fake chalets. That'd be something. Then demolish the current valley and rebuild it into a fake Savoy village. Then a fake Italian village out by 4th of July lake, then run little cars through the tunnels where everyone gets serenaded by the multiple ethnicity imported slave labor of Kirkwood singing "It's a small world after all"
    Glad to know you're finally onboard with this.

    I don't think anyone is saying it's in the near future. Just saying it would make sense for Vail to move away from the old master plan and try to move more towards something that would accomplish more of their goal, which is killing trees. There are way more trees to kill on the Silver Lake side of the ridge.
    Vail hates trees
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  6. #56
    Hugh Conway Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by tsproul View Post
    Maybe Vail will turn the Kwood into an "expedition" destination resort. Come to do guided hut tours, learn avy safety and snow science.
    tsproul is the lizard queen!


    Definitely more trees to kill on that side. Maybe start wiping them out in the XC center?

  7. #57
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    Apr 2007
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    Tahoe
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    jeffrey pine vs lycra/spandex. it's a win/win.
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  8. #58
    Join Date
    May 2006
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    Back in SEA
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    9,657
    Quote Originally Posted by powdork View Post
    but 50 isn't an interstate. it's no better a road than 88.
    true, I was thinking of the Spur closures being a bit more frequent than 50 closures - but WDIK, I'm a Northlaker...
    ... jfost is really ignorant, he often just needs simple facts laid out for him...

  9. #59
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    Oct 2008
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    valley of the heart's delight
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Conway View Post
    I'd settle for some Lockeford sausage at the overpriced concessionaires. Mmmmm brats.
    Wow, a positive contribution from Hugh. Mmmmmmm brats.
    10/01/2012 Site was upgraded to 300 baud.

  10. #60
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    Nov 2008
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    Greater Drictor Wydaho
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    [QUOTE=tsproul;3901409]

    Maybe Vail will turn the Kwood into an "expedition" destination resort. Come to do guided hut tours, learn avy safety and snow science. .[/QUOTE

    I think you can find your future Kwood expansion modeled just down the street from Vail. Its official slogan is "Beaver Creek: Not exactly roughing it". Vail Corp is not out to reinvent the wheel, folks, its going to stick with the playbook that has been turning a profit for 40 years. They are going to expand infrastructure (externalizing as much of that cost as is absolutely possible) to enable them to do what they do: build and market alpine houses, hotels and commercial real estate as investments. I would expect that Vail Corp already had acquired options to buy sections of flat, buildable land around future base areas well before the purchase of KW was announced to the public because the sellers kept substantial property interests in the existing base. The Vail Corp master plan: the more buildings they can cram into a place, the greater the return on the land and the more future management fees they can collect...simple as that. That's why Vail is the most butt ugly ski town in the Rockies. The decision makers at Vail Corp only consider the $$$$$$ end of things. Aesthetics and the environment, not quite so much. Currently, Vail Corp is turning a $40-50M profit and forecasts a potential $60M profit for 2013, share price is near all time high, market cap $1.92B...so they are just going to keep on being Vail Corp and doing what they do.
    Last edited by neckdeep; 02-06-2013 at 10:37 AM.

  11. #61
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    Jun 2007
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    KW as a beaver Creek just does not compute. I get your point, but I thinks they will play this one slightly differently.

    And Hughy, while I commend your stacking idea, a base at 4th of July just won't work. Not enough space to build and very hard to access. The east shore of Caples, yes, but much further back than that and cost will be a deterrent.

    I still assume that Thunder Bowl proper will remain OB, so as to not create a closure issue. The bowl behind Glove Rock will remain in play though. Anyone know what down hill access to Silver Lake is like from that side? It seems to me there would be a lot of flat space, but maybe it is just perfect low angle cruising all the way to the water front property.

  12. #62
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    Apr 2007
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    You have to get past the ridge that goes past vtree coming off thunder bowl to get to silver lake (fairly steep trees) and it drops you more towards the oyster creek campground, or go from the area between 6 and 10 (that is gentle cruisers). Thunder bowl, Glove rock's bowl, and the bowl off the back side of dangberg all drain to the flats at 7600' on the way to the spur .
    powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.

  13. #63
    Hugh Conway Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Ottime View Post
    And Hughy, while I commend your stacking idea, a base at 4th of July just won't work. Not enough space to build and very hard to access.
    everything will be easy to access with the underground monorail

    still comes down to who owns the land. any swap or new development would have large hurdles to clear

  14. #64
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    Nov 2008
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    Greater Drictor Wydaho
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Conway View Post
    any swap or new development would have large hurdles to clear
    Did anybody notice that our new Secretary of the Interior nominee is the CEO for REI? First time it hasn't been a career politician or some hack from the extraction industries so yeah, below market value land swaps benefiting big corporations may well be harder to come by for the next 4 years....

  15. #65
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    Mar 2006
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    Norcal
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ottime View Post
    Anyone know what down hill access to Silver Lake is like from that side? It seems to me there would be a lot of flat space, but maybe it is just perfect low angle cruising all the way to the water front property.
    There is a big Huck Opportunity

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  16. #66
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    Nov 2003
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    P-tex, CA
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    8,660
    Here's another one - rough, rugged, and raw...


  17. #67
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    Mar 2006
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    19,810
    Quote Originally Posted by TahoeBC View Post
    There is a big Huck Opportunity
    Serious land to flat.

  18. #68
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    26



    Future Post-Silver Lake Expansion Caption: Here lie all of Modesto's snowboarders
    LOUD NOISES.

  19. #69
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    407
    oh, 666, you had to post that pic
    not that everyone doesn't stare at it driving up but......
    there are too many rocks in there for it to be skiable

    lots of possibilities for vail, but to me, they will probably all stink and result in more traffic, less BC terrain, but probably better access points. hmmmm.

  20. #70
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    The flats of Thunder Bowl is what I aw referring to. So another lift to access that ridge would be needed, as hiking the ridge past V tree would be difficult and dangerous. I've tried. But do the lower slopes hold snow enough to create a reasonable egress to Silver Lake Base?

    In better years the terrain 666 posted does fill in for short periods of time. I assume that would remain OB, but one could access it.

    Seems to me that Vail will only keep terrain skiers left of the buttress open and maintained. Perfect cruisers to the front door of multi million dollar lake view homes.

    So, where can the golf course and convention center go in?

  21. #71
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    Nov 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by tsproul View Post
    Maybe Vail will turn the Kwood into an "expedition" destination resort.
    I can see it now, they can call it "Expedition Kirkwood"....seems familiar though, let me go check and see what it says on my pass from 2003???
    A woman reported to police at 6:30 p.m. that she was being "smart-mouthed."

  22. #72
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    I think it is the Expedition Lodge that is currently a rebar hole in the ground at Timber Creek that recently got roped off so you can no longer ski switch to the road. Rumor has it the private property owners don't want you on their land.

  23. #73
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    Oct 2003
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    Jack Tone Road
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Conway View Post
    everything will be easy to access with the underground monorail
    Isn't that just a subway?

  24. #74
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    auburn
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    188
    All concerns will be solved with the "May I download?" question. I wish I knew where my "I SKIED THE WALL" pin is hiding.

  25. #75
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    10

    Where empires go to die.

    Quote Originally Posted by skier666 View Post
    I should have clarified...

    The Tram would go from Silver Lake...thus opening up all the steep rocky terrain down to the Lake.
    That's a south west facing slope with terrible snow and there's nothing steep about it. There are no private land holdings in the area, no parking and Kirkwood is still loosing money. Season pass sales are down for a second year. Lodging has suffered low occupancy. Vail stepped into a tar pit. Kirkwood is the Afghanistan of ski resorts, where empires go to die.

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