Friday and Saturday were some of the deepest days out there yet! The snow was less wind-affected than previous storms.
Saturday afternoon, Sugar Bowl lost power and had trouble keeping the lifts running. I heard folks were stuck on Disney for 45 minutes and didn’t even get vouchers when they were finally offloaded.
What’s going on, Sugar management? You KNOW you’re likely to lose power during these big storms. You need to spend the money to maintain your lifts properly! Your backup diesel engines on the lifts need proper maintenance, and periodic testing, especially on stormy mornings. It should be a few minute switch over at most. It shouldn’t cause a multiple hour closure.
This isn’t to bag on the amazing and hard working patrolers and lift ops staff. We know you guys work your asses off! I’m criticizing the bean counters who decided to skimp on hiring enough experienced mechanics, who decided not to do proper maintenance and testing of backup power infrastructure.
The day tripper I met leaving early yesterday grumbling that “other resorts lose power and keep operating” wasn’t wrong. He’s going to tell a dozen friends. Over at Squawpine they’re getting lots of flak for never opening their upper mountain during storms. Let’s prevent Sugar Bowl from becoming known as the place where lifts don’t work in storms, eh?
– John S
John,
I am also a Truckee local that has a mid-week pass at Sugar Bowl. This season with record snow Sugar Bowl still keeps part of their mountain on limited operations. Most of the chair banter I come across about Sugar ( most favorable ) is the mid week decision to keep Judah at minimal. I did call administration and the answer was quite political sidestepping a financial reason. Last season this was not an issue. Not sure if I will continue with Sugar for 17’/18′ season.
Ron