Results 51 to 75 of 112
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02-05-2013, 11:27 PM #51
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.
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02-05-2013, 11:31 PM #52glocal
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- 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.
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02-05-2013, 11:39 PM #53Hugh 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
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02-05-2013, 11:47 PM #54Registered User
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- Apr 2008
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- Livermore, CA
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- 191
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.
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02-05-2013, 11:50 PM #55
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 treespowdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.
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02-05-2013, 11:52 PM #56Hugh Conway Guest
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02-06-2013, 12:00 AM #57
jeffrey pine vs lycra/spandex. it's a win/win.
powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.
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02-06-2013, 12:23 AM #58
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02-06-2013, 12:45 AM #59click here
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- Oct 2008
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02-06-2013, 10:39 AM #60
[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 11:37 AM.
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02-06-2013, 11:15 AM #61
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.
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02-06-2013, 11:32 AM #62
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.
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02-06-2013, 11:33 AM #63Hugh Conway Guest
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02-06-2013, 11:52 AM #64
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....
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02-06-2013, 12:01 PM #65
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02-06-2013, 12:36 PM #66
Here's another one - rough, rugged, and raw...
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02-06-2013, 12:58 PM #67
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02-06-2013, 01:03 PM #68
Future Post-Silver Lake Expansion Caption: Here lie all of Modesto's snowboarders
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02-06-2013, 01:49 PM #69Registered User
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- Jan 2006
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- 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.
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02-06-2013, 02:24 PM #70
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?
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02-06-2013, 02:29 PM #71
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02-06-2013, 03:55 PM #72
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.
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02-06-2013, 08:30 PM #73
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02-06-2013, 08:45 PM #74crudstud
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- Jul 2010
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- auburn
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All concerns will be solved with the "May I download?" question. I wish I knew where my "I SKIED THE WALL" pin is hiding.
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03-13-2013, 09:21 AM #75Registered User
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- Mar 2013
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- 10
Where empires go to die.
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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