Ok Stuart, I just returned from a two-week, early-season spring jam season at Smugglers Notch and had a lot of time to ponder what I would do regarding upgrading Smuggs' lift fleet. While having multiple zen like experiences on the 10+ minute lift rides at Smuggler's Notch it occurred to me that when discussing the resort, everyone approaches Smuggs' needs by focusing on the upper mountain. I think this is the wrong focus, believing that the question needs to focus less on the upper mountains (which I find to be really well laid out and to provide a memorable experience) and more on Morse Mountain. Currently, there are a lot of unnecessary pinch points facilitated by the largely irrelevant redundancy between the village lift and mogul mouse lift. If I had a magic wand I would:
1) remove the village lift and replace it with a high-speed bubble six (or gondola) that goes all the way to the top of Morse mountain [note the top of Morse Mountain actually goes further up to lookers left than the current village lift which does not go all the way to the top but instead goes "straight up" to a ridge],;
2) place the loading terminal of the new village lift 40-50 feet closer to the Village to provide easier access for young beginner skiers (and their parents who are lugging all the equipment) to load;
3) Cut new beginner trails from the top of the new Morse terminal down to Morse Highlands to allow beginner skiers access to the beginner pod at Morse highlands without having to navigate the current trail winding down Morse;
4) Cut new trails lookers right of the new unloading terminal on top of Morse Mountain to connect with Ruth's Run on Madonna Mountain, providing a better connection route between the Village and the upper mountain base area,;
5) replace mogul mouse with a modern fixed grip triple with loading carpet to help new skiers load and to provide more opportunities for instructors to sit and talk with their students,
6) reorient the new mogul mouse lift so that it loads closer to the village and to open up additional learning space in the magic carpet beginner area. (and to clean up the pinch point at the top of the magic carpet area)
7) move the bridge over the river next to Madonna 2 lift 100 feet down the mountain to allow better flow of traffic with people come into and leaving the upper mountain area and to eliminate the congestion around Madonna 2 loading area,;
7) regrade the area around Madonna 2 loading area to eliminate the current perpendicular cue, allowing a better flow of skiers skiing from Madonna to the cat track back to the Village.
8) remove the waffle cabin and replace it with a more inviting outdoor walk-up food option closer to the base lodge or the sterling lift with sitting area and fire pit etc., and
9) put in a new lift and create a pod of ski runs from the top of Madonna 2 to the top of white face mountain (the mountain that stands above (south) of Morse mountain), providing additional capacity to higher elevation runs for when Madonna mountain becomes over run on busy days and to provide an opportunity to lap higher elevations without having to ski the above-average-length run outs at the bottom of Madonna simply to get back to the top of Madonna.
What do you think? Do I get the contract? Cheers, Joe
Ok Stuart, I just returned from a two-week, early-season spring jam season at Smugglers Notch and had a lot of time to ponder what I would do regarding upgrading Smuggs' lift fleet. While having multiple zen like experiences on the 10+ minute lift rides at Smuggler's Notch it occurred to me that when discussing the resort, everyone approaches Smuggs' needs by focusing on the upper mountain. I think this is the wrong focus, believing that the question needs to focus less on the upper mountains (which I find to be really well laid out and to provide a memorable experience) and more on Morse Mountain. Currently, there are a lot of unnecessary pinch points facilitated by the largely irrelevant redundancy between the village lift and mogul mouse lift. If I had a magic wand I would:
1) remove the village lift and replace it with a high-speed bubble six (or gondola) that goes all the way to the top of Morse mountain [note the top of Morse Mountain actually goes further up to lookers left than the current village lift which does not go all the way to the top but instead goes "straight up" to a ridge],;
2) place the loading terminal of the new village lift 40-50 feet closer to the Village to provide easier access for young beginner skiers (and their parents who are lugging all the equipment) to load;
3) Cut new beginner trails from the top of the new Morse terminal down to Morse Highlands to allow beginner skiers access to the beginner pod at Morse highlands without having to navigate the current trail winding down Morse;
4) Cut new trails lookers right of the new unloading terminal on top of Morse Mountain to connect with Ruth's Run on Madonna Mountain, providing a better connection route between the Village and the upper mountain base area,;
5) replace mogul mouse with a modern fixed grip triple with loading carpet to help new skiers load and to provide more opportunities for instructors to sit and talk with their students,
6) reorient the new mogul mouse lift so that it loads closer to the village and to open up additional learning space in the magic carpet beginner area. (and to clean up the pinch point at the top of the magic carpet area)
7) move the bridge over the river next to Madonna 2 lift 100 feet down the mountain to allow better flow of traffic with people come into and leaving the upper mountain area and to eliminate the congestion around Madonna 2 loading area,;
7) regrade the area around Madonna 2 loading area to eliminate the current perpendicular cue, allowing a better flow of skiers skiing from Madonna to the cat track back to the Village.
8) remove the waffle cabin and replace it with a more inviting outdoor walk-up food option closer to the base lodge or the sterling lift with sitting area and fire pit etc., and
9) put in a new lift and create a pod of ski runs from the top of Madonna 2 to the top of white face mountain (the mountain that stands above (south) of Morse mountain), providing additional capacity to higher elevation runs for when Madonna mountain becomes over run on busy days and to provide an opportunity to lap higher elevations without having to ski the above-average-length run outs at the bottom of Madonna simply to get back to the top of Madonna.
What do you think? Do I get the contract? Cheers, Joe