Bachelor-Still The Best Lift System in N. America?

[matty_g]

After being frustrated with the continual decline of Mt. Bachelor, especially this year, some friends and I have started to make some noise directly back to Powdr Corp. as suggested by lifties, and employees frustrated with budget cuts and management changes. The following letter has gone to Powdr Corp, and has generated a meeting next week (1/19?) with an exec. from Powdr. Please post CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, your experiences and comments so that this thread can be shown to the Powdr Corp folks.

 

Director of decisions regarding Mt. Bachelor

Powdr Corp.

1790 Bonanza, Ste W201,

Park City UT 84060-7291

 

Dear Sirs:

 

Please read through the following criticisms of your management of Mt. Bachelor. After several conversations with the local management, patrollers and employees, it appears that you should know the following:

 

Your mismanagement of a great local resource is ruining the mountain. The most common response received when getting on a lift is now “What has happened to this mountain?” the person, whether a local or returning visitor will then launch into remembering the days when Mt. Bachelor was known (and awarded by major ski magazines) for some of the best grooming, great snow, efficient lift system, and friendly, hard-working employees. This memory is then contrasted against the continual problems one faces when trying to enjoy the current mountain operations. These problems include, (in no particular order):

 

Complete lack of coordination of web / phone / media snow reports: The website will change snow amounts, be hours or days out of date, or change weather and lift opening reports before your very eyes. This makes it difficult, to say the least, to judge whether to spend one’s time and money going to the hill. Over the holidays, even the opening time was stated incorrectly on the web site and phone!

 

Lack of grooming / lift operations: The 40% cut in operations is showing through like worn out long underwear. Where once there was wide grooming on intermediate runs, now the few patrol that are left spend their time helping beginners out of icy, ungroomed runs. The lift operations budget has obviously been cut, since lift openings are ever later each year, and lift operation have now been cutback during prime season. (As of Jan. 3rd, the report mentions that Northwest OR Outback lift will run) Cutting back on lift operations negates your advertising claim on the website:

“Unlimited access to 3,683 acres of legendary terrain, awesome tree and glade skiing, and the lightest, driest snow on the West Coast. All day, every day, all season. What are you waiting for?”

 

In addition to cutting back the lift schedule, nobody can remember so many lift stops, stalls, and delayed openings as in the past couple years. Lack of lift maintenance, and the associated delays and stalled chairs severely impacts customer’s perspective of the mountain. Now that we are back to a normal (epic, even!) winter, the problems of deferred maintenance are showing through even more clearly.

 

The limited operation of the Northwest lift impacts pass holders and ladvanced skiers especially hard, since the Northwest lift accesses upper intermediate and advanced terrain while the Summit is often closed due to weather, and helps to avoid the more crowded frontside. Merely opening Outback lift does not allow access to the same terrain, and eliminates terrain that has historically been open WHENEVER snow conditions permit.

 

The new lift access system is unacceptably slow. This is another case of lack of manpower / foresight in working the bugs out of a new system before it impacts customers. While one can appreciate the need to replace old equipment, it is hard to understand why the transition seems to have been done after the slopes were open, and the impact was made to be felt by everyone trying to just get on the lift. I might remind you that you are losing revenue when you have employees just open the gates out of frustration when crowds of people can’t even get on the lift. Several people have mentioned the joy of free skiing on “per ride passes” due to the lift access system not working.

 

The sale of the bus barn area was a nice profit-infusion for your CORP, but what are your plans to replace your parking / bus accessibility to the mountain? Even though you raised the bus prices 200-300% since taking over, don’t you still have some responsibility to provide some type of transportation to the mountain?? Lack of a bus system might take you off the green-friendly resort lists. Again, communication about your decision, and the changes it will bring would help customers better appreciate and understand why the park and ride sale makes sense for Mt. Bachelor and it’s customers.

 

In summary, if your management plan is to simply keep cutting back on the mountain services, you cannot expect to continue to draw visitors and locals to the mountain. Be aware that at some point soon, the negative customer experiences will drive away enough people that you will have to cut services completely. At that point, I doubt many people will purchase passes, even if you hold the line on price increases.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Mt. Bachelor pass holders and daily ticket customers

Edited January 14, 2006 by matty_g

[colonelfridae]

The year of "we're working on it". Sometimes I feel like we're the victims of some cruel corporate experiment at Bachelor. Matt's letter hit the nail on the head on most issues facing us this year on the hill. For me its simple. Run the chairs and offer an accurate ski phone and website. Why wait till the end of the fiscal year to come to terms that 6 mechanics, 4 gerbals, 2 donkeys, 30 drunks, and 20 peruvians are failing to meet the bottom line( to provide the public with the kind of experience you promise). Pony up or I will be sledding fulltime next winter.