OT: The Thread About Nothing CCVIII: Limes On A Plane

[BenedictGomez]

48, 54, 60. I do like to play the game like Phil. Always go for the miracle shot!

I pretty much quit golf about 5 years ago (too much time, can only play on weekends and it was 5 hour rounds on public NJ courses = brutal), but I used PW, SW, LW.

I was very good with a LW if I was a man, but the easiest way to make a horrendous shot with a LW is to not fully commit to the shot and instead be mousey with the swing because you're swinging hard at a short distance, which seems wrong.

 

[Jack Be Quick]

Yeah, you got poor info, Breck is pretty wealthy & surely touristy (art galleries, organic this and that, etc...). The closest thing to "quaint" in that area is Loveland, but there's no town there, just an old school skiing mountain. Love that place.

A-basin for me personally. One of my favorite locals mountains out west.

I also second having never heard Breck described as quaint. I hope these same people didn't advise you that Vail is budget friendly.

 

[None Shall Pass]

I pretty much quit golf about 5 years ago (too much time, can only play on weekends and it was 5 hour rounds on public NJ courses = brutal), but I used PW, SW, LW.

I was very good with a LW if I was a man, but the easiest way to make a horrendous shot with a LW is to not fully commit to the shot and instead be mousey with the swing because you're swinging hard at a short distance, which seems wrong.

I learned with a LW instead of a SW. A mistake that I grew from.

But man was I happy to switch to a SW eventually.

 

[BenedictGomez]

This is currently sold out, but male or female, my child's first picture must be taken in this.

I will be checking their inventory every day for the next few months in hopes this comes back in stock.

 

[Nubmer6]

This is currently sold out, but male or female, my child's first picture must be taken in this.

I will be checking their inventory every day for the next few months in hopes this comes back in stock.

Is that Hughe's jersey??? Isn't it too big for him???

 

[Patrik26]

Anyone watching The Masters? Pressure on Sunday is evident.

 

[Ripshot 43]

This is currently sold out, but male or female, my child's first picture must be taken in this.

I will be checking their inventory every day for the next few months in hopes this comes back in stock.

Congrats!

My sons 1st “photoshoot” that my wife just had to have, came with a surprise for me. Some of the pictures he was in a onesie like this with a hockey stick and ice skates and a helmet that a friend of the family knitted. Will forever be cherished and held on to, to make fun of him when he’s older as he is making some strange faces in some of them.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Tiger!

 

[NjDevsRR]

That was one of the greatest sports moments in history. Tiger couldn’t even swing a club after that surgery and that is after stinking for so long. Just incredible.

 

[njdevils1982]

tin foil hat take:

nike had a paw in on the tiger victory…..koepka misses an easy put on the 18th to leave the door open for tiger's win and as the announcer said, "that was his worst shot of the day"

both are sponsored by nike……...cant have tiger lose when he was that close to victory, make sure you miss that putt

 

[JimEIV]

Fishing was good in the Gorge today. 8 Rainbows in 3 hours of fishing. All nymphs, no surface activity but the Hendrickson's we're out. Watched them drop their eggs from about 3pm to 4:30. Really cool watching mayflies drop their eggs.

Yesterday the water was really high and off colored. Didn't even fish just went for a little walk but today made up for it.

 

[njdevils1982]

Fishing was good in the Gorge today. 8 Rainbows in 3 hours of fishing. All nymphs, no surface activity but the Hendrickson's we're out. Watched them drop their eggs from about 3pm to 4:30. Really cool watching mayflies drop their eggs.

Yesterday the water was really high and off colored. Didn't even fish just went for a little walk but today made up for it.

 

[devilsblood]

A-basin for me personally. One of my favorite locals mountains out west.

I also second having never heard Breck described as quaint. I hope these same people didn't advise you that Vail is budget friendly.

I had just read it on the internet. It wasn't why we went there(I was actually just tagging along) but having read that I was excited to go.

As per Budget friendly, lift tickets at Breck were $150 and that was piggy backing off my friends Epic pass. $150 for a lift ticket is effing crazy.

Though the Epic passes, which cost about a grand(cheaper if you get just the midweek pass) are pretty sweet. Stowe is on there, Okemo, Vail, Breck a bunch of others. The Icon is similar with a bunch of different mountains.

 

[Jack Be Quick]

I had just read it on the internet. It wasn't why we went there(I was actually just tagging along) but having read that I was excited to go.

As per Budget friendly, lift tickets at Breck were $150 and that was piggy backing off my friends Epic pass. $150 for a lift ticket is effing crazy.

Though the Epic passes, which cost about a grand(cheaper if you get just the midweek pass) are pretty sweet. Stowe is on there, Okemo, Vail, Breck a bunch of others. The Icon is similar with a bunch of different mountains.

Yeah, I got a crash course in Vail's (Epic) business model when I was looking at property in the smuggs/Stowe area a month ago.

It's pretty brilliant and not what I expected tbh.

I know Stowe is a steep price for the east, but they're getting $150 at Breck with a buddy who already has an Epic pass? I haven't been in 5 or so years but that sounds criminal. I'm heading out there in a few weeks so my experience will be quite different given how late in the season it is, but I'll ask around as that doesn't seem right to me. Liftopia and Costco used to have solid deals for many of the hills. Perhaps Vail has squashed that market?

 

[devilsblood]

Yeah, I got a crash course in Vail's (Epic) business model when I was looking at property in the smuggs/Stowe area a month ago.

It's pretty brilliant and not what I expected tbh.

I know Stowe is a steep price for the east, but they're getting $150 at Breck with a buddy who already has an Epic pass? I haven't been in 5 or so years but that sounds criminal. I'm heading out there in a few weeks so my experience will be quite different given how late in the season it is, but I'll ask around as that doesn't seem right to me. Liftopia and Costco used to have solid deals for many of the hills. Perhaps Vail has squashed that market?

I checked liftopia and there was nothing.

I think a regular single day lift ticket is $175.

And the crazier part is the place was mobbed. They have multiple base lodges. And on a Monday, 3 of those lodges were jammed, long lift lines, people all over the trails. Upper mountains was significantly better, Breck is humoungus so you could find some sanctuary(once we figured some things out), but man there was a lot of peope there.

 

[njdevils1982]

stripped down an old grass ripper over the last week to its bones……gave it the proper attention and fix an old cast iron wheeled beauty deserves…….f*** ya….

(sorry for weak photos)

 

[BenedictGomez]

My sons 1st “photoshoot” that my wife just had to have, came with a surprise for me. Some of the pictures he was in a onesie like this with a hockey stick and ice skates and a helmet that a friend of the family knitted.

That's awesome!

That was one of the greatest sports moments in history.

Not for me, I always root against Tiger due to his pretty much being a terrible human being. Regardless, Faldo and Nance were horrendous today, I've never heard announcers so actively rooting for a person to win before! It was honestly getting ridiculous.

 

[BenedictGomez]

$150 for a lift ticket is effing crazy.

And Vail knows it, but that's literally the point.

They have intentionally driven up the price of single-day lift tickets to irrational levels in a bid to "force" you to buy a season pass, thereby they get more revenue "all in" as well as getting that revenue earlier (most people buy before the season starts), which acts as a hedge against a poor snow season (i.e. even if the season is terrible, they already have your money). The other aspect of driving everyone to a pass is they know when you vacation, you're far more likely to do so at a Vail property for the "free" (not really) skiing, but they'll get more of your money on lodging, restaurants, lessons, etc....

IKON is newer, but it's making inroads on Vail's EPIC market. Best figures currently are Vail has about 925,000 EPIC sales, and Alterra has 250,000 IKON sales. Both are ramping, but IKON is definitely taking a bite into EPIC. Considering there are a bit over 9M skiers/riders in America, this is pretty impressive if combined they already have about 13% of the market.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Liftopia and Costco used to have solid deals for many of the hills. Perhaps Vail has squashed that market?

Correct; and intentionally. Alterra too.

In addition to jacking single-day tickets to illogical prices in order to "force" you onto a pass, another part of the strategy is to remove lift ticket "deals" from the market. Even BOGOs are getting harder to find. With each passing year, there are fewer & fewer ski deals on lift tickets, even some of the ones that had been around forever are going away.

I believe this is all bad for the future of skiing, as the average first-time skier/snowboarder shows up to buy a lift ticket. That aint happening at $169 for a day. It may take almost a decade to be able to see the effect in the numbers, but I believe this is negative to forward demographics, and I know I'm not alone in that belief as I've seen it expressed by some fairly big industry insiders.

 

[Davegarri]

Correct; and intentionally. Alterra too.

In addition to jacking single-day tickets to illogical prices in order to "force" you onto a pass, another part of the strategy is to remove lift ticket "deals" from the market. Even BOGOs are getting harder to find. With each passing year, there are fewer & fewer ski deals on lift tickets, even some of the ones that had been around forever are going away.

I believe this is all bad for the future of skiing, as the average first-time skier/snowboarder shows up to buy a lift ticket. That aint happening at $169 for a day. It may take almost a decade to be able to see the effect in the numbers, but I believe this is negative to forward demographics, and I know I'm not alone in that belief as I've seen it expressed by some fairly big industry insiders.

Brighton in Utah had a great deal a few years ago. 4 night passes and a large pizza for $100

 

[Jack Be Quick]

And Vail knows it, but that's literally the point.

They have intentionally driven up the price of single-day lift tickets to irrational levels in a bid to "force" you to buy a season pass, thereby they get more revenue "all in" as well as getting that revenue earlier (most people buy before the season starts), which acts as a hedge against a poor snow season (i.e. even if the season is terrible, they already have your money). The other aspect of driving everyone to a pass is they know when you vacation, you're far more likely to do so at a Vail property for the "free" (not really) skiing, but they'll get more of your money on lodging, restaurants, lessons, etc....

IKON is newer, but it's making inroads on Vail's EPIC market. Best figures currently are Vail has about 925,000 EPIC sales, and Alterra has 250,000 IKON sales. Both are ramping, but IKON is definitely taking a bite into EPIC. Considering there are a bit over 9M skiers/riders in America, this is pretty impressive if combined they already have about 13% of the market.

It's always interesting to see how ones economic and political philosophies can become convoluted when it's an activity or issue that directly effects them. I'm sure I'm guilty of the same, but it's also easier to see other people's perceived flaws than to be introspective of ones own.

What I was alluding to in my previous post is that there is a common misconception that these are all Vail properties now. They are in fact not. At least not all of them. Vail is not in the concession or real estate business, they're in the ski lift business.

I was as surprised as anyone upon receiving the information but it makes sense. You would have to have several billionaire partners lined up to outright purchase all of the properties which fall under their umbrella now.

 

[Jack Be Quick]

Correct; and intentionally. Alterra too.

In addition to jacking single-day tickets to illogical prices in order to "force" you onto a pass, another part of the strategy is to remove lift ticket "deals" from the market. Even BOGOs are getting harder to find. With each passing year, there are fewer & fewer ski deals on lift tickets, even some of the ones that had been around forever are going away.

I believe this is all bad for the future of skiing, as the average first-time skier/snowboarder shows up to buy a lift ticket. That aint happening at $169 for a day. It may take almost a decade to be able to see the effect in the numbers, but I believe this is negative to forward demographics, and I know I'm not alone in that belief as I've seen it expressed by some fairly big industry insiders.

Weather dependent regions in this country have been wailing on about doom and gloom scenarios for as long as I can recall.

The only issue long term I can see is climate change, not Vail or Ikon. Snow sports have always been almost exclusively accessible to the middle class and generally higher. Same as hockey. It sucks for most, but seems to be generally keeping up with inflation. This thread alone is a prime example. We're whining about Vail yet I doubt any of us have been to Shawnee in 15 years. I also believe locals hills will always exist. There's no logical motive to purchase a solitude, a-basin, or mad river glen.

 

[Jack Be Quick]

That's awesome!



Not for me, I always root against Tiger due to his pretty much being a terrible human being. Regardless, Faldo and Nance were horrendous today, I've never heard announcers so actively rooting for a person to win before! It was honestly getting ridiculous.

Serious question, why is Tiger a pos?

The cheating thing, or the possible addiction/dui?

I mean none of those behaviors are anything one should aspire to, but we're not talking about Mayweather or Voynov territory here. He seems to have made amends and worked to better himself. At the very least I'm sure his surrogate nanny, uh I mean ex-"wife" isn't exactly suffering from PTSD.

 

[MartyOwns]

that rain last night was insane

 

[JimEIV]

Snow is for heading South of the 40th paralell. 39th even better.