New gondi proposed to span valley at Whistler
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ChrisC
Well-known member
This guy has a lot info on the Whistler lift -- financing, market research, etc. http://www.skibc.tk/ than click Whistler.
My favorite thing....
They are looking for someone else to pay for the lift (sucker) and then charge extra for this amenity. I would rarely do this if ever when skiing Whistler.
Finally, some suspect market research
The 75% positivity rating is suspect. There are limited resource choices to be made. A question about "Would you like 50m CA to be spent on new lifts and terrain OR a gondola linking the two mountains?" That would be interesting.
Also, you could read the Usage question as 63% of our guests will never/sometimes use the gondola.
Overall, if Whistler can find someone else to pay for this --- and allows them to build more condos at the Creekside base with quick transfer to Blackcomb. Good for their corporation.
But Whislter has not really improved the experience since 2000 -- and liftlines on Harmony, 7th Heaven, and other lifts are not pleasant.
My favorite thing....
They are looking for someone else to pay for the lift (sucker) and then charge extra for this amenity. I would rarely do this if ever when skiing Whistler.
Finally, some suspect market research
The 75% positivity rating is suspect. There are limited resource choices to be made. A question about "Would you like 50m CA to be spent on new lifts and terrain OR a gondola linking the two mountains?" That would be interesting.
Also, you could read the Usage question as 63% of our guests will never/sometimes use the gondola.
Overall, if Whistler can find someone else to pay for this --- and allows them to build more condos at the Creekside base with quick transfer to Blackcomb. Good for their corporation.
But Whislter has not really improved the experience since 2000 -- and liftlines on Harmony, 7th Heaven, and other lifts are not pleasant.
lookn4powder
New member
ChrisC":i8vgvbtc said:
The company's problem is dropping skier days. This suggests that they should address the reasons for the drop. Management believes that more access to higher tier lifts will improve attendance. I doubt this. Weather seems to be the overwhelming factor.
Even now, my wife and I judge the upper tier intermediate lift capacity as often overcrowded on moderately busy late-spring days. (We assume that the wait is much worse in mid-season.) The proposed gondola will not draw us at all. But opening more intermediate/expert terrain with new lifts might. The alternate of augmenting the capacity of the current lifts would not because it would likely just overload existing trails leading to increased accidents, lower skier experience, and poor snow quality on some blues.
Another way to interpret the drop in skier days is that the destination-resort customers have already found Whistler deficient and are finding other resorts that give a better experience. It may not be simply be due to poor advertising--although more advertising would likely help some. In short, Whistler may already be overfarming their on-snow resource.
Our travel to Whistler can involve two (more often three flights) and a bus ride. That is a BIG deterent. More direct air access might enhance the influx of east coast skiers.
Whistler's strategy of finding another schmuck to pay for the gondola is a classic risk management strategy and clearly says that the company has little confidence in the investment. The best outcome for the company is 1) a 2nd company builds and operates the gondola, 2) the investment fails during an economic downturn, 3) the company buys the gondola for pennies on the dollar, and 4) the plan had some merit so at a reduced cost basis the gondola operation is accretive to profits.
Cheers,
Jeff
Has anybody looked at the year-to-year trend of that 20% drop? Didn't last year's worst ever weather have something to do with it? It sure did in Seattle http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.c ... ski+season
The Cascade areas' 78% drop since 2001-02 was nearly all during last year.
Intrawest did a great job building Blackcomb, then merging with Whistler to create what many consider North America's best ski resort. But it's fully developed now and does not need to grow beyond its current 2 million skier visits. Unless they add more terrain, as some have suggested here. It looks to me like the real estate is built out too.
The Cascade areas' 78% drop since 2001-02 was nearly all during last year.
Intrawest did a great job building Blackcomb, then merging with Whistler to create what many consider North America's best ski resort. But it's fully developed now and does not need to grow beyond its current 2 million skier visits. Unless they add more terrain, as some have suggested here. It looks to me like the real estate is built out too.
intrawest doesn't think the mountain is built out yet. and as much as i'd like the mountain to myself, i'd have to agree. i've spent that past two years out here and i'd say there have been maybe 15 days that i would consider the mountain to be "busy". by busy i mean waiting in liftlines for longer than 10 minutes. surprisingly, last year was worse probably because we had so few good days and all the other local mountains were shut down.
i went to the town proposal for the new olympic village a few weeks ago. i don't remember the exact numbers, but they are building another massive village across from function junction on the site of the current landfill. i have no doubt that they will build a gondola to service the southside of whistler mountain and this village. whistler is so huge that the entire southside of the mountain is undeveloped even though there is road access almost all the way around. some of the most popular terrain is located on this side and is barely a local's secret. (PS: this is not an endorsment for tourists to try there luck out of bounds. people die off the backside every year.)
i agree that the gondola proposal seems like money poorly spent. i think there are a lot of areas with more potential and this thing is just a gimmick. my vote would be for a cheakamus gondola, or even a haulback bar to the top of flute.
with the landfill site and easy to develop terrain, i think whistler has decades of expansion still to come (so long as the snow keeps coming!!!)
i went to the town proposal for the new olympic village a few weeks ago. i don't remember the exact numbers, but they are building another massive village across from function junction on the site of the current landfill. i have no doubt that they will build a gondola to service the southside of whistler mountain and this village. whistler is so huge that the entire southside of the mountain is undeveloped even though there is road access almost all the way around. some of the most popular terrain is located on this side and is barely a local's secret. (PS: this is not an endorsment for tourists to try there luck out of bounds. people die off the backside every year.)
i agree that the gondola proposal seems like money poorly spent. i think there are a lot of areas with more potential and this thing is just a gimmick. my vote would be for a cheakamus gondola, or even a haulback bar to the top of flute.
with the landfill site and easy to develop terrain, i think whistler has decades of expansion still to come (so long as the snow keeps coming!!!)
Mike Bernstein
New member
I had read elsewhere that the main driver behind the tram was not winter business but summer tourism business. Apparently, they think it will be a huge draw for the off-season sight seers etc... Still, it seems like an awful large amount of money for a questionable need and return.