# Greek Peak Opening Day 2016-2017



## Cornhead (Nov 25, 2016)

*Date(s) Skied: *11/25/16 
*Resort or Ski Area: *Greek Peak
*Conditions: * Melting man-made and natural
*Trip Report: *
Greek Peak received a healthy dose of LES snow on Sunday and Monday, not sure how much, but nearby Song opened Tuesday with 30+". Warm weather and rain had taken their toll since. They were able to groom Wednesday, but not since.

We arrived early, booted up and I picked up my season's pass. Got in line, and got first chair of the season along with a couple GP regulars. The snow wasn't terrible, pretty firm and fast with corduroy of Wednesday's grooming erased by the warmth and rain. There were a few easily avoidable bare spots on Stoic. Fog made visibility pretty poor for the first few runs, but improved as the day progressed.

Along with Fields/Stoic, and Karyatis, Greek opened Alcemene, and Iliad despite having no man-made snow blown on them. I decided to pass as I'd chosen to ski my good skis. A snowboarding friend of mine looked like he was having fun lapping the 6", or so, of heavy "fresh" snow remaining on skier's left of Alcemene.

We decided not to head back out after our usual 11 O'clock bar break. Got about 10 runs in by then. The Sun even poked through a bit as we were finishing up. I doubt Greek will remain open for the season, but it was nice to be on the hill pre December for the first time in quite awhile.






















Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## Rambo (Nov 26, 2016)

Skied Greek on Fri. 11/25/16 from 8:15 to 11am. Got in about 11 runs. Looks like 16 oz. Labatts pounders are still 4 bucks in Trax bar/restaurant... not bad. (hey - at least in did not rain).


----------



## benski (Nov 26, 2016)

It must have been really thin since today they went from 14 trails to 3 trails.


----------



## skibum636 (Nov 26, 2016)

It's always thin and bare at gp.  It sounds like they didn't open all the trails they had listed on the web page yesterday.  But at least people got to ski.

Glad I got my pass at song.  They had 2-3 feet of untouched on almost every trail Wednesday. No deceptive marketing, and no stupid "resort" fee.


----------



## Dick Gazinya (Nov 26, 2016)

Greek is losing more customers than they realize because of the marketing practices.  They like to think dropping day pass prices makes up for it but, it doesn't.  If they sell too many day passes and it gets crowded, they will just irritate and lose more season pass holders.  Song always gets more snow.  They may be a little less of a hill but, they make up for it without insulting their customers.  Greeks target customers are foreigners from Jersey who can't ski.  So they like to waste extra money on grooming.  Not song, they save the pow and groom later.  Saves them money along the way.


----------



## doublediamond (Nov 26, 2016)

The problem is Wes is still the fricken GM or whatever they call him now. Get the rot out from the top!

"High speed quad!!" "High speed quad!!" "Next year!!" "Next year!!" "Oh it's fixed grip, but 600 fpm!!" "Oh no sorry, 450."  "We're working on a variance to get 600!!. "We got it!! (only 465 sorry not sorry)"

"We're working with Ratnik to design us a new snowmaking system. Coming soon!!" "Look we got guns. See these new Ratnik mid-Es!!" (OK that was a good move). 

"Oh look at all these new Low-E guns we got!!" No, they are 20 year old HKD standards your new 'hill manager' found in your boneyard. 

"We're adding pipe to Odessey!!" "Oh, only the top." 

Meanwhile they still haven't added hydrants anywhere. and dumped their SnoLogics. "Let's buy Togg!!!"

Greek could be 9000 times better. But Wes and company needed to get the axe four years ago.  This bullshit has been going on through multiple marketing directors, so I know it's from over their head. It has to be Wes.

The biggest problem still is tickets. That has been the #1 complaint from the public for years.  Hot damn, 45% off weekdays!! Meanwhile their competitors all offer 4 hour and 8 hour rates midweek and weekends in addition to midweek discounts.  The $40 night ticket is an utter joke.
*
FIRE WES NOW! *I don't care whatever nude pics he has of the owners or whatever the blackmail he's got. He's a fraud of management. A 2 year old could run the place better.


----------



## Dick Gazinya (Nov 26, 2016)

We should start a petition to fire Wes.  Fuck that guy.  He's been taking the new owners for a ride.


----------



## Dick Gazinya (Nov 27, 2016)

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fire-wes-kruger-from-greek-peak


----------



## doublediamond (Nov 28, 2016)

Oh and 952' drop is one of the biggest jokes around.  Top of Chair 1/Visions to the base is 737. Top of Chair 2* to base is 750 per SAM lift surveys.  Bottom of Chair 5 is 77' lower than the lodge per USGS DEM.  

To get 952' you have to go from the tip top above Chair 4 down to Parker St in East Virgil, 1.35 miles from the closest trail (Arcadian Gate).

750 + 77 = 827  

952 - 827 = 125

125 / 827 = 15.1% exaggeration.

*Chair 2 used to go down to the river but was truncated in the 90s with the removal of the poma and the addition of the carpets.


----------



## Dick Gazinya (Nov 28, 2016)

Put your money where your mouth is and sign the petition.


----------



## skibum636 (Nov 29, 2016)

Calling the quad an express is also a joke.  Does anyone know of another resort that has a fixed grip listed as express?  If I go someplace for the first time and see an express lift on the map I expect a high speed detachable.

They say it is express because of the loading belt, but in reality the older chair 1 is usually a quicker trip up. 

Does anyone know more about the two new trails have been added to the count with no other info?  When are they going to learn how to use social media effectively?   Why do they use pictures of other resorts in most of their advertising?


----------



## Jully (Nov 29, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> Calling the quad an express is also a joke.  Does anyone know of another resort that has a fixed grip listed as express?  If I go someplace for the first time and see an express lift on the map I expect a high speed detachable.



While it certainly is annoying when resorts do that, especially if it is a new lift and it was originally planned as a detachable, I do know of quite a few resorts that do name fixed grip lifts as express. Bretton Woods has Fabyan's Express which is a fixed grip triple, and Shawnee Peak in Maine has their summit triple listed as the Summit Express. Shawnee actually changed the name to express after installing a refurbished triple with a loading carpet,a very similar situation to what you're describing here. Shawnee's owners were very up front about it and the new lift actually does cut a few minutes off the ride time. Berkshire East had the Diamond Express a few years ago too which was a fixed grip (given a very very fast fixed grip, but still). Cannon has their summit quad as the Cannonball Express the last time I checked too (haven't actually been there in a few years).

It does happen! It can definitely be confusing when it does though.


----------



## skibum636 (Dec 7, 2016)

Reopening Sunday with 1 run and bunny slope. 5$ tickets from ski company. Should be quite the shit show by 10am.


----------



## Tin (Dec 7, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> Calling the quad an express is also a joke.  Does anyone know of another resort that has a fixed grip listed as express?  If I go someplace for the first time and see an express lift on the map I expect a high speed detachable.




Cannonball Express at Cannon


Berkshire East had the "Diamond Express" which was a deadly fixed-grip double. Probably one of my favorite lifts.


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 7, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> Reopening Sunday with 1 run and bunny slope. 5$ tickets from ski company. Should be quite the shit show by 10am.


Glad I'll be a skiing Santa at Whiteface Sunday. I got knocked off my skis at Hunter, probably would happen at Greek too. Who knows maybe It'll happen at WF, coal for the person who does!

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## skibum636 (Dec 13, 2016)

I think Greek goes out of their way to be deceptive in their marketing.  Why do they use so many pictures from other mountains?






Or did they install a HS8 last summer?


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 13, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> Why do they use so many pictures from other mountains?



Because pics of their mountain would turn customers away. Didn't get hit at WF, but it was pretty zooy, only rode the gondola once, once was enough. They finally opened the double to the top of Little Whiteface. I can only imagine what Greek was like Sunday.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Dec 14, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> Does anyone know more about the two new trails have been added to the count with no other info?


I heard this also, does any know the inside scoop? I hope they don't mean Hercules and Labyrinth since those aren't technically new.

I do enjoy skiing Labyrinth in it's official form, it was a little tough to ski when it was just a stash. I can't count the times I was chased out of there by patrol when I was younger 

Cool to see a thread on the 'ole place, would rather see more positive comments though. I've had so many fun times on Lab, Alsos Glade and of course Ronnie's Run err, I mean Aesop's Glade! Best memory of the place for me was this random spring day skiing years ago and Olympian had perfect seeded bumps, sooo siiick! Ahh, those were the days! :beer:


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 14, 2016)

kbird said:


> I do enjoy skiing Labyrinth in it's official form, it was a little tough to ski when it was just a stash. I can't count the times I was chased out of there by patrol when I was younger


It was more fun before it was official. Well, the bottom is better now, you can actually ski the trees. The road was fun too though. Do you remember the tee-pee?
If you look closely, you can see me.




It was deep in there that year.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Dec 14, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> Do you remember the tee-pee?


OMG the teepee, that is too funny! The problem was with that stash, kids thought it was just a place to weed


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 15, 2016)

kbird said:


> OMG the teepee, that is too funny! The problem was with that stash, kids thought it was just a place to weed


I was talking to the liftie on 4 telling him how good the trees were, he asked me if I knew about the tee-pee, I said no, he told me where it was. When I got back to the chair he had a big smile on his face, "Well, did you find it?" I hadn't, I told him I'd find it on this run, he just laughed and said, "You'll never find it". I dropped off the service road just before Trojan where he told me to look, stopping every 20 yds or so, looking around. I got past the steep part, nope, missed it again. While I was stopped I heard some kids uphill of me. I watched them cut across the hill and come to a stop, aha, found it. When you came upon it from behind it looked just like a tree.

They probably should've made Hercules a Glade. In most years the headwall is a sheet of ice. It did ski well two years ago, as once it got cold, it stayed cold. Greek skied great that year despite modest snowfall. There was zero ice anywhere.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 15, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> I was talking to the liftie on 4 telling him how good the trees were, he asked me if I knew about the tee-pee, I said no, he told me where it was. When I got back to the chair he had a big smile on his face, "Well, did you find it?" I hadn't, I told him I'd find it on this run, he just laughed and said, "You'll never find it". I dropped off the service road just before Trojan where he told me to look, stopping every 20 yds or so, looking around. I got past the steep part, nope, missed it again. While I was stopped I heard some kids uphill of me. I watched them cut across the hill and come to a stop, aha, found it. When you came upon it from behind it looked just like a tree.
> 
> They probably should've made Hercules a Glade. In most years the headwall is a sheet of ice. It did ski well two years ago, as once it got cold, it stayed cold. Greek skied great that year despite modest snowfall. There was zero ice anywhere.
> 
> ...





Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Dec 15, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> They probably should've made Hercules a Glade. In most years the headwall is a sheet of ice. It did ski well two years ago, as once it got cold, it stayed cold. Greek skied great that year despite modest snowfall. There was zero ice anywhere.


Agreed! I've only skied Hercules maybe once or twice. I want to SKI it, not ice skate it!:roll:

I wish they would cut more glades, there's quite a few stashes that would be soo killer, starting with Fields since everyone skis in there anyway why not make it part of the trail?


----------



## skibum636 (Dec 16, 2016)

kbird said:


> Agreed! I've only skied Hercules maybe once or twice. I want to SKI it, not ice skate it!:roll:
> 
> I wish they would cut more glades, there's quite a few stashes that would be soo killer, starting with Fields since everyone skis in there anyway why not make it part of the trail?



The old rumor that I heard was that more glades and unmonitored out of bounds skiing makes their insurance go up.  Thats why they put up all of those awful signs on the sides of fields and kariatias a few years ago.  I agree, an open woods policy and more glades would make greek a lot better.  But since they only care about profit we get what we get.


----------



## kbird (Dec 16, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> The old rumor that I heard was that more glades and unmonitored out of bounds skiing makes their insurance go up.  Thats why they put up all of those awful signs on the sides of fields and kariatias a few years ago.  I agree, an open woods policy and more glades would make greek a lot better.  But since they only care about profit we get what we get.


You are most certainly correct! I'm sure the sparse winters over the years didn't help the cause either, can't blame them really. Why up the policy when we can't even keep the glades covered for an entire season?

Quite a while back when Ronnie's was permanently closed I had words with a patroller who told me that 'liability insurance was the sole reason for Ronnie's being permanently closed and will never be reopened again'. It was roughly 10 years later that they reversed that decision and decided to modify the trail and reopen it as Aesop's with the mandatory thin and bare spot signs littering the trail heads. Of course myself and countless others were ecstatic to see those beautiful new signs!



If all they have to do is clear 'em and put up the signs, more Glades Please!


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 16, 2016)

Last year was so bad they opened glades with conditions they normally wouldn't. I took a pee and melted the "base" down to grass and twigs.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Dec 16, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> Last year was so bad they opened glades with conditions they normally wouldn't. I took a pee and melted the "base" down to grass and twigs.
> Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app



Wow, they actually opened them? I didn't hit Greek at all last year mainly because of the lack of natural which essentially means to me no tree skiing @ Greek.

To be honest I prefer not to talk about last year, trying to erase it from memory altogether 

Are you in Bingo Corn, you must be somewhat near here?


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 16, 2016)

Conklin, it's exactly the same distance to Greek and Elk from my house. It'd be nice to alternate season passes between the two, but Elk is too pricey, nearly double. That said, if I had to choose between the two, it'd be Greek hands down. There's just much more variety at Greek...when they get snow.

Yes, I've never seen the glades open with so little snow. Rock skis were a must. I think they just wanted to put them on their conditions report. No way they'dve opened them in that state normally. Only tree skiing I got in last year was early at Snow Ridge, and April at Jay. Jay was really good, got a foot just before we got there. There was no one there, they must've given up by then.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Dec 16, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> Conklin



Cool, you're 2 towns east of me :beer:

Siick, Jay must've been a blast! Never been, but will someday same goes for MRG.


----------



## Rambo (Dec 17, 2016)

Update:
Cornhead and I skied Greek on Sat. 12/17/16. Great Day! Lots of powder. People were poaching Olympian.

A couple of pics:


Corheads Powder Skis:
(they Dwarf my Dynastar Sultan 94's on the right - which are 94 underfoot)


----------



## kbird (Dec 17, 2016)

Awesome, great to hear! I couldn't make it, had to work. Corn how the hell do you turn those suckers? They're like water skis


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 17, 2016)

kbird said:


> Awesome, great to hear! I couldn't make it, had to work. Corn how the hell do you turn those suckers? They're like water skis


They're actually bigger than water skis.





They turn just fine, surprisingly even on groomed. Today was the best day I've had at Greek in years. Good foot plus on Olympian. I think they got a foot last night, that's on top of whatever they picked up in LES during the week. Kudos to Greek for leaving great alone and not grooming anything.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	














Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## dlague (Dec 17, 2016)

Those are some fat skis!

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 17, 2016)

dlague said:


> Those are some fat skis!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app


Their owner's kinda chubby too!

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Dec 17, 2016)

OMG is that Olympian? Sooo jealous!


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 17, 2016)

kbird said:


> OMG is that Olympian? Sooo jealous!


Yes, it did not suck! Hit it 4 straight, everything skied great. Started the day with 2 laps skier's right on Fields, virgin, like skiing on a cloud.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## skibum636 (Dec 18, 2016)

Rambo said:


> Update:
> Cornhead and I skied Greek on Sat. 12/17/16. Great Day! Lots of powder. People were poaching Olympian.
> 
> A couple of pics:
> ...



Nothing like being in a line watching chairs go up half full...  When are the going to learn how to get 4 people in a chair?
When


----------



## doublediamond (Dec 18, 2016)

When the do put people in 4s, often 2 drop back while the lifties aren't watching.


----------



## 180 (Dec 18, 2016)

Regarding the highspeed lift, i hear they don't have room at the top for all the offloading. Is this true.


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 18, 2016)

doublediamond said:


> When the do put people in 4s, often 2 drop back while the lifties aren't watching.



Not an issue today, had to go out of my way to find a partner to share a lift ride with. What a difference a day makes. Alcmene was closed today with only about 50℅ coverage when it was powder filled yesterday. They did groom Karyatis, Fields was left untouched. I loaded my first chair at 8:45 and struggled to make 11:00. It rained the entire time I was on the hill. The bumps were soft, but uber grippy and did not take kindly to any tail sliding. The more you could keep your tips facing down the fall line, the easier it was to ski. Karyatis made for a welcome high speed break towards the end of my day,  I hit it twice in my last three runs. 

I planned on hitting the bar after dropping off my skis and boots at my car, but opted to head for Binghamton instead. My new Mountain Hardware Snowpocalypse pants performed well in the deluge, the same could not be said for my two year old Sunice shell. It leaked through the pit zips. I guess they didn't think waterproof zippers were needed there, nice waterproof front zip, even one on the chest pocket. My POW leather Gortex mittens worked well. I treated them with Nikwax fabric and leather after warming them up it the clothes dryer pryor to heading out. Did two coats.

Great weekend at Greek, shame the powder couldn't stick around for another day, but today was a good day for leg conditioning. Now fingers crossed for a timely LES dump late next week at Snow Ridge, Christmas Eve is free, well virtually free, 5 cans of food. Guess I better wrap up my Chistmas shopping early just incase.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## doublediamond (Dec 19, 2016)

180 said:


> Regarding the highspeed lift, i hear they don't have room at the top for all the offloading. Is this true.



Where? Top of 1/1A or 4? They've said both were getting a HSQ at one time or another.

1/1A has plenty of unloading room and downhill capacity.  Heck, 1/1A could have been replaced with a HS6.

4 was "planned" to be replaced with a base-to-top HSQ that went further up to the summit of Virgil Mtn.  The proposed lift and trails was even on maps.  It would feed the current trails off 4 and 2 additional trails towards the bottom of 5.  This was one gigantic joke.  They would have put in a summit lodge.  The 3 routes to the top of current trails would be only about 5% downhill (read: massive skating/poling/hoofing for boarders). They would have to run 5 daily (won't, too pennywise). And it was to be base-to-top and with the powerlines, it'd need to start in the middle of the bunny slope about where 3 loads today. AND to top it off, they'd need to either close Lower Zeus, sending all HSQ traffic funneling down Poseidon through the bunny slope unless they built a new trail from the base of current 4 through their boneyard to the base of the proposed HSQ.

I think the idea was to increase skier traffic using 4.  Trojan is my favorite. But no one will ski Trojan with the runout. And you can't attract experts with the fact that Zeus hasn't seen snowmaking in 5 or so years, and Hercules gets it in all but the worst winters (but is the last to get hit and not until late Jan).  And even when Zeus did get snowmaking, they wouldn't do it on lower Zeus.  Marathon is a skate/pole fest and upper Mars Hill is flatter than a pancake. So no beginners.

So basically, excluding sufficient natural to open things, they run 4 for the purpose of serving Trojan for 2 months (if that) and Trojan and Hercules (Hercules only open days only) for 2 more months (if that), and access to 5 when it runs.

4 is also a dump and falling apart.  One of the towers shakes at the breakover above the headwall every time a chair passes it, and the footrests break off if you look at them funny. And on startup the jerk is so bad it practically throws you off.  Probably the worst Hall ever built.

They should bring back Electra under the power lines to provide an additional intermediate route down.  And they should cut a better beginner route down. Leave Mars Hill where it flattens and where the trees change from deciduous to pine (about 1/3 of the way from the power line to the bend) and cut a new route towards upper Poseidon.  Hercules, Electra, and the new green should all get lights and their own pipes too.


----------



## kbird (Dec 19, 2016)

180 said:


> Regarding the highspeed lift, i hear they don't have room at the top for all the offloading. Is this true.


I think there's plenty room on top of Alcamene/Fields. If there was some sort of issue, the cause of it would be the oblivious people who don't use common sense and stop to congregate around the offloading area LOL  Ask Corn, I bet he'll tell you the same.

Sorry had to correct myself, I said Illiad when it's Alcamene/Fields.


----------



## kbird (Dec 19, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> Nothing like being in a line watching chairs go up half full...  When are the going to learn how to get 4 people in a chair?
> When


They've always been laxed about chair occupancy unless the lift lines are long and people are complaining. I can't even calculate how many times I've been sent up single when they could've ganged a person or two with me. 

I think Saturday just wasn't too busy to care about it. Reports were threatening freezing rain, I could see a lot of folks being iffy about the travel and didn't make the trip.


----------



## kbird (Dec 19, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> ...It rained the entire time I was on the hill…


Wow, you're hardcore man! Despite the rain, it sounds like you had fun. 

Are hitting Greek or Snow Ridge on Christmas Eve Day? Even though it's always super packed @ Greek, I usually go to contribute to the Chow Drive. Weather says 50% chance of rain in the afternoon so I think I'll probably make the trip. I don't normally ski in the rain, I just end up getting sick lol.


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 19, 2016)

Greek's ski free day is Friday, the 23rd. It is usually Xmas eve. I will only go to Snow Ridge if it snows.

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Dec 19, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> Greek's ski free day is Friday, the 23rd. It is usually Xmas eve. I will only go to Snow Ridge if it snows.


That's odd, they changed it? News to me, thanks for the heads up! As it stands Friday is supposed to beautiful, can't wait! If you see these skis, that will be me!


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 19, 2016)

Nope, I'll be working, have fun!

Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## doublediamond (Dec 19, 2016)

kbird said:


> I think there's plenty room on top of Illiad. If there was some sort of issue, the cause of it would be the oblivious people who don't use common sense and stop to congregate around the offloading area LOL  Ask Corn, I bet he'll tell you the same.



A HSQ has the same theoretical capacity as a FGQ.  

There's also no need for the chair to end where it currently does.  The unload could be 50 or so feet downhill giving more room for offloading.  But I've been to a lot of areas with smaller unloads for higher capacity lifts (Visions is only about 1900 pph).


----------



## kbird (Dec 19, 2016)

Cornhead said:


> Nope, I'll be working, have fun!


Aww well… you have a bunch of trips under your belt already, I need to catch up haha.


----------



## kbird (Dec 19, 2016)

doublediamond said:


> A HSQ has the same theoretical capacity as a FGQ.
> There's also no need for the chair to end where it currently does.  The unload could be 50 or so feet downhill giving more room for offloading.  But I've been to a lot of areas with smaller unloads for higher capacity lifts (Visions is only about 1900 pph).


I can't imagine they wanted to redo the offload pad. Did they? I don't recall to be honest, I want to say they left that part alone. You're right though if they wanted to move it down the hill more they could've unless there's some sort of distance restriction. You have to pole quite a ways to get to the fall line of Alcamene/Fields.

Sorry had to correct myself, I said Illiad when it's Alcamene/Fields.


----------



## skibum636 (Dec 21, 2016)

doublediamond said:


> 4 is also a dump and falling apart.  One of the towers shakes at the breakover above the headwall every time a chair passes it, and the footrests break off if you look at them funny. And on startup the jerk is so bad it practically throws you off.  Probably the worst Hall ever built.



With the exception of the quad all of their chairs need a lot of attention.

Why do they run chair 2 so little?

Also why not re-open atlas as a natural bump run?


----------



## kbird (Dec 21, 2016)

skibum636 said:


> With the exception of the quad all of their chairs need a lot of attention.
> Why do they run chair 2 so little?
> Also why not re-open atlas as a natural bump run?


Yeah they're a bit old, wish they would at least clean them up a bit  - add some fresh paint or something.

Regarding chair 2 my guess is with Epicurus Way spilling out into Castor/Pollux, it's not entirely necessary.

I doubt the lower part of Atlas will ever reopen, chair 2 is way too low at the fall line and there's several areas of water run-off creating creek beds at the bottom. The Atlas story I was told was that someone BITD caught some air on the fall line, hit the lift and sustained a major injury - it's been closed ever since.


----------



## doublediamond (Dec 22, 2016)

Re 2/Atlas:

Aren't all those issues (the water and the height of the chairs) lower than where Middle Atlas turned off the lift line towards Lower Atlas?  How can the chair be too low these days when half or so of the towers have been raised by 5 feet or so?  I agree with the statement that Middle Atlas should be brought back.  With the cliff on skier's right and the double fall line, it'd make a great natural snow trail.

As stated above, it is my understanding as well that 2 is only used weekends and school group nights because about 95% of the terrain served by it can be accessed by traverses from 1/Visions or 4.

Although originally built in 1963, 2 was heavily reworked in '96 or so.  It was shortened and got a brand new drive.  At some point it got Borvig chairs.  Just a couple of years ago, it got brand new grips as well.

It may not look it, but I would bet 2 is in the 2nd best condition of all the fixed lips.  5 is in pretty decent shape as well.



Re other trails:

They also need to look at their trail ratings.  Upper Atlas needs to be reranked to a blue.  If you did that as your first black, you'd be in for a rude awakening when trying the others.  If Fields is a blue, upper Illiad should be as well. Fields is steeper than Illiad.  In fact Illiad used to be a blue and Fields used to be a black.



Re Visions unload:

They ripped out the old unload ramp as they had to put a new footer in. They then rebuilt the unload ramp.

My thoughts about a lower unload point is that IF necessary (which I doubt), the unload for a HSQ or HSS could have been even with the top of the tree line skiers' left of Fields as this would provide about 75-100 feet more space for a higher capacity lift.  Any new lift installed (as in even if 1 was ripped out and no matter what side of the base of Illiad it started on) would have ended around where Visions currently ends for beginners' access Karyatis.


----------



## kbird (Dec 24, 2016)

Went up yesterday 12/23 for trip 1 of the season. Generally speaking it was ok in the morning and conditions got better as it warmed up in the afternoon, pretty typical conditions for the place. The Quad and Chair 3 were busy all day, the quad stopped more times than any other Chair, seemed to defeat the true purpose of it being there in my opinion. I just avoided it altogether since the lines weren't long on others. Chair 2 was not running. The place seemed to be short on staff, but not on visitors. I'm glad I made the trip, I got about a dozen runs in being as busy as it was, I recall in the past skiing far less.

I was happy to see the backside open as I drove by so I headed there first. Alsos was broken in a bit which made it skiable, took a fun 4 laps until the inevitable bare spots materialized then bailed. All pow crusted over since last weeks dump, which made tree skiing limited to Alsos and 1/2 of Asops. I only lapped Asops a couple of times since Chair 2 wasn't running, I thought it skied pretty well.

After that I caught Chair 4 crossing my fingers for Labyrinth. Unfortunately, it hasn't been opened yet and that left it almost completely untouched. I decided to poach it anyway hoping that the crust had softened up, nope. I ended up bailing onto Trojian via the access road and headed back over to Chair 1. I spent the rest of the day on Fields trying to help build up a zipper. It wasn't warm enough for anything substantial to build up, but I still had fun trying. I didn't bother with much else while I was there since Olympian, Odyssey, Hercules and Zeus all were closed. Looking forward to our next big dump for sure!


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 24, 2016)

Skied from opening till 11 today. No rain, soft snow, uber flat light. Good morning of high speed groomers, even hit skier's right of Fields, ungroomed, soft bumps.










Sent from my XT1064 using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## skibum636 (Jan 1, 2017)

The quad stops all the time because of the loading belt and gates.  From day one they have had problems with it. It also causes a lot of loading issues catching people off balance.  The sad part is they don't need it to run the chair at its current speed.  They should get rid of it unless they speed up the lift.


----------



## kbird (Jan 1, 2017)

Glad to hear you had a good time Corn!



skibum636 said:


> The quad stops all the time because of the loading belt and gates.  From day one they have had problems with it. It also causes a lot of loading issues catching people off balance.  The sad part is they don't need it to run the chair at its current speed.  They should get rid of it unless they speed up the lift.


You're probably correct, doubt they'll get rid of it or speed it up though. I'm glad it's there, it creates a draw and shortens the line on Chair 1


----------



## doublediamond (Jan 7, 2017)

IDK why everyone has such difficulty with the carpet, it's pretty simple:  lean against the gate, gate opens, you slide onto the carpet and chair slowly arrives saving your legs.


----------



## Cornhead (Jan 7, 2017)

doublediamond said:


> IDK why everyone has such difficulty with the carpet, it's pretty simple:  lean against the gate, gate opens, you slide onto the carpet and chair slowly arrives saving your legs.


Yeah, you don't have to be a rocket scientist, or a ski forum owner, to safely load a conveyor lift. Right Nick? You remember Nick, he used to post here occasionally, and keep the site running smoothly, you know,  back when you could actually access this site.[emoji12] 

Sent from my R1 HD using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## IamBlackDiamond (Jan 12, 2017)

kbird said:


> Quite a while back when Ronnie's was permanently closed I had words with a patroller who told me that 'liability insurance was the sole reason for Ronnie's being permanently closed and will never be reopened again'. It was roughly 10 years later that they reversed that decision and decided to modify the trail and reopen it as Aesop's with the mandatory thin and bare spot signs littering the trail heads. Of course myself and countless others were ecstatic to see those beautiful new signs!



Completely false. Ronnies Run has never "permanently closed"


----------



## IamBlackDiamond (Jan 12, 2017)

kbird said:


> Best memory of the place for me was this random spring day skiing years ago and Olympian had perfect seeded bumps, sooo siiick! Ahh, those were the days! :beer:



Olympian has NEVER had seeded bumps. The bumps on Olympian are skied in.


----------



## doublediamond (Jan 13, 2017)

Yeah they couldn't even get a groomer up/down it until their 2013 purchase of a winch cat.


----------



## Cornhead (Jan 13, 2017)

Speaking of seeded bumps, did anyone ski, or see, the bumps on the skier's left top of Illiad? They weren't formed by skiers. Do they have an attachment for the groomer? A couple years ago there were bumps that looked like they were made with garbage cans in the same spot.

Sent from my R1 HD using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Jan 15, 2017)

IamBlackDiamond said:


> Completely false. Ronnies Run has never "permanently closed"


That's what the patroller said to me, seriously.


IamBlackDiamond said:


> Olympian has NEVER had seeded bumps. The bumps on Olympian are skied in.


Not machine made, no. There used to be quite a few hardcore bump guys around in the 90's and they manually made bump lines marked by sticks! Sometimes it was on other trails like Odyssey or Illiad. A few of us helped out on occasion, it was a lot of fun.


----------



## kbird (Jan 15, 2017)

Cornhead said:


> Speaking of seeded bumps, did anyone ski, or see, the bumps on the skier's left top of Illiad? They weren't formed by skiers. Do they have an attachment for the groomer? A couple years ago there were bumps that looked like they were made with garbage cans in the same spot.


Yes quite a few times, not recently though. They must've been made manually, I don't believe they have a machine for that.


----------



## IamBlackDiamond (Jan 16, 2017)

Those bumps were made by the freestyle coach

At one time he was on the Bud Light Pro Mogul tour and ranked 16th in the world for extreme skiing. The guy knows bumps.


----------



## dlague (Jan 16, 2017)

Cornhead said:


> Speaking of seeded bumps, did anyone ski, or see, the bumps on the skier's left top of Illiad? They weren't formed by skiers. Do they have an attachment for the groomer? A couple years ago there were bumps that looked like they were made with garbage cans in the same spot.
> 
> Sent from my R1 HD using AlpineZone mobile app



Bumps can be seeded by raising and lowering the blade on a snow cat.


----------



## dlague (Jan 16, 2017)

kbird said:


> Yes quite a few times, not recently though. They must've been made manually, I don't believe they have a machine for that.



not a specialized machine but snowcats can seed them!


----------



## kbird (Jan 18, 2017)

dlague said:


> not a specialized machine but snowcats can seed them!


I stand corrected, thank you Sir! Not sure why I thought it was a special machine, maybe because there's a tow behind attachment to groom bumps?

I find it quite interesting how comp courses are made. If it takes 30 hours minimum just for a course, I can understand why the typical resort does not seed bumps especially around here.


----------



## dlague (Jan 18, 2017)

kbird said:


> I stand corrected, thank you Sir! Not sure why I thought it was a special machine, maybe because there's a tow behind attachment to groom bumps?
> 
> I find it quite interesting how comp courses are made. If it takes 30 hours minimum just for a course, I can understand why the typical resort does not seed bumps especially around here.



With groomers they use the front blade.


----------



## Cornhead (Jan 19, 2017)

Here's the funky "garbage can" bumps on top of Illiad. It was more of an obstacle course than a bump run.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




February, 2015

Sent from my R1 HD using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## kbird (Jan 19, 2017)

LOL looks like a bunch of ski club kids were bored  their heart is in the right place though


----------



## kbird (Jan 19, 2017)

The sets I was talking about were always measured(?) and marked off with gate poles until the line formed, those lines were soo cherry! A lot less snowboarders trying to run lines back then, they stayed pretty tight much longer.


----------



## Not Sure (Jan 19, 2017)

Cornhead said:


> Here's the funky "garbage can" bumps on top of Illiad. It was more of an obstacle course than a bump run.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Rambo (Jan 21, 2017)

Couple of Pics of a guy making some bumps on Illiad trail at Greek Peak on Sat. 1/21/17


----------



## Kleetus (Jan 22, 2017)

Rambo said:


> Couple of Pics of a guy making some bumps on Illiad trail at Greek Peak on Sat. 1/21/17
> 
> View attachment 21595
> 
> View attachment 21596



I rode up the lift with one of the freestyle coaches at Bristol last year and he was talking about being contacted by Greek to help them set a course up consistently. 

I watched him build a great course with a shovel last year at Bristol. He used the length of the shovel for measurement and ended up with great spaced bumps. This doesn't look anything like that though...


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


----------



## skibum636 (Jan 27, 2017)

Almost fell for their midweek promotion, but Friday isn't midweek at Greek.  Would have cost 165 for me and the wife. Went to song. It was awesome, great snow, no ice, no nasty parking people, no resort fee, no lines, chair didn't stop, no rocks, no dirt, no no picnic lunches singes, tons of snow making better grooming...  Took three long time pass holders from Greek who aren't buying passes next year.


----------



## Dick Gazinya (Jan 30, 2017)

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fire-wes-kruger-from-greek-peak


----------



## skibum636 (Mar 8, 2017)

Can you add a picture to the petition?  Sounds like they are loosing pass holders left and right after last weekends event...


----------

