Is it just me or does this look like more boring/wide/flat trails????? I guess I don't get it - they already seem to have plenty of that.....as does NH. I guess if they are going for the 2-5X/yr skier, the market seems to be saturated in NH - ?
It's not just you. That's why it's called Green Valley...oops er-r...I mean Peak.
ISNE-I Skied New England | NESAP-the New England Ski Area Project | SOSA-Saving Our Ski Areas - Location SW of Boston MA
Becca, when I skied at Waterville with my kids years ago, I though something like Green Peak was what they needed most. They need transitional easy-intermediate terrain. My kids found Valley Run boring after 5 trips; from the top there was Oblivion which was OK, but as the easiest run from the top it was so heavily skied that the sharp turn halfway is always scraped off. Then you're down and have to ski Valley Run again. The blues on the north side like Tippecanoe were a little too tough for my youngest. We could have skied something like Green Peak all day.
However we rode the World Cup chair once on that trip to avoid the line on White Peak quad, and it was soooo slow, we preferred to wait in line for the quad. Hope they can speed it up when rebuilt.
OK, so nobody at the Union Leader is going to win the Pulitzer with that piece. But still - it at least exposed the BS line about the "local control" of WV. Not to mention showcasing the blatant state tax dodge.
Like I've said before, I've been up there a few times this summer and the location is so beautiful that it's a crying shame that they can't make a go of it. But the infrastructure is positively awful and adding new terrain isn't going to change that. Decades of deferred maintenance have come home to roost - if it weren't for the captive audience of condo owners up there, WV would have been on the NELSAP list a long time ago. Save a spot for it - it's just a matter of time...
Well in the interest of discussion it's an article worth reading, thanks for the link.
Hope you're wrong about the demise, I have never skied there but surely don't want to see any ski area close, really. Daughter skied there for college team once or twice, did a training thing, she thought it was OK
As for the state tax dodge, the quasi-shady donations, etc. It always amazes me how people in New Hampshire get so bent out of shape over a comparatively pitiful amount of money! $500?!? $1500? campaign contributions? oh the horrors! And the whole Cannon thing Rocket was going on and on about. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
Let me tell you about the 4 (four) BILLION dollar ski area I've helped underwrite, still not open
As for the editorial, I apologize for the sarcasm. I remember when journalism mattered, and newspapers like the Union Leader really had news rooms and crusty editors who put out incredibly good newspapers every day, and it was impossible to get journalism jobs at those papers. To have the state's leading daily print poorly written opinionated stuff like this under the news heading is mind-boggling.
Waterville Valley Resort: Construction of the Green Peak Expansion
WATERVILLE VALLEY, NH – Waterville Valley Resort announces the start of the Green Peak
Expansion project, scheduled to open for the 2016/17 Winter Season. This first phase of the project will include the cutting of 10 new trails to provide 45 new acres of skiing and riding and will be serviced by a fixed grip chairlift.
This will be Waterville Valley Resort’s biggest expansion project in more than 30 years. Jack Sanders, a longtime skier at Waterville Valley and attorney for the Resort said “I congratulate Chris Sununu, his leadership team and the management of Waterville Valley Holdings on launching the first expansion of the ski area. Chris Sununu is President of the ownership group which is the fourth company to own Waterville Valley, but the first to expand the ski area.” Sanders continued, “I have been skiing in Waterville Valley since Tom Corcoran developed it as a first class ski area and now with new leadership, the updated master plan is on the road to being fulfilled. What is amazing is to see a ski area in New England invest on the heels of the winter we experienced with so little snow.” “The expansion process has been very exciting for us internally,” said CEO Chris Sununu. “There’s been a lot of hard work done by members of our team and the U.S. Forest Service to make sure this project is a success. We are especially excited to be partnering with local New Hampshire contractors for this project.” M.E. Johnston Construction of Thornton, NH and Wade Reed Logging of Rumney will provide the site work while SkyTrans Manufacturing of Contoocook, NH will be installing the lift.
“We are honored to be working with Waterville Valley Resort on the Green Peak expansion project,” said SkyTrans GM Rich Combs. “This project builds on our history together starting when O.D. Hopkins Associates, the predecessor to SkyTrans, who installed the very first lifts at Waterville Valley Resort, and the nearly 50 years of experience our company has gained since then in ski lift and amusement ride design and manufacture. We look forward to contributing to the success of this project, the future of Waterville Valley Resort, and New England Skiing.”
Much as many on this board might bemoan, the money is in the family/lower intermediate market (see Okemo model). This can only reduce the overcrowding of much of the rest of the mountain, as it will give those skiers more options. Overall a good move, though it sounds like there are plenty of other projects that should have happened first...chicken and egg, I guess.
Back in the early 2000's my family had a condo at WV and I learned to ski there, go back once a year if I can. This expansion will be a big change for mountain giving beginners something other than Lower Meadows and Valley Run. Had they put in a high speed quad this would have been a major expansion for a mountain virtually unchanged from the days of the World Cup in the 70's. Done right, this will be just the start of the expanding with that village gondi being a game changer. Something should be said for the fact that this is the only major project going on in the New England market as well.
I'm happy with any work done there. They never ran that lift anymore that I saw. Sounds like an aggressive timeline considering the towers and terminals are still up. Sunapee is still in the planning stages isn't it?
ISNE-I Skied New England | NESAP-the New England Ski Area Project | SOSA-Saving Our Ski Areas - Location SW of Boston MA
I used to ski there quite a bit as a kid. If someone I was with wanted to take the WC triple I'd take the quad (all the way to the actual summit) and get to the top terminal of the triple as fast as I could so I could wait for them to unload.
That looks like solid rock at the bottom. Spruce didn't fall because the cement was too small. It fell because the grout between the cement and rock failed.
Comments
Becca, when I skied at Waterville with my kids years ago, I though something like Green Peak was what they needed most. They need transitional easy-intermediate terrain. My kids found Valley Run boring after 5 trips; from the top there was Oblivion which was OK, but as the easiest run from the top it was so heavily skied that the sharp turn halfway is always scraped off. Then you're down and have to ski Valley Run again. The blues on the north side like Tippecanoe were a little too tough for my youngest. We could have skied something like Green Peak all day.
However we rode the World Cup chair once on that trip to avoid the line on White Peak quad, and it was soooo slow, we preferred to wait in line for the quad. Hope they can speed it up when rebuilt.
ropeways.net | Home | 2016-09-08
Waterville Valley Resort: Construction of the Green Peak Expansion
Sunapee is still in the planning stages isn't it?
Boy after Sunday River's terminal failure IDK if that hole shown on NESH is deep enough
http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=487
http://www.waterville.com/green-peak