Salmon Hills Call Before You Go

Drove 6 hours round trip to Salmon Hills today and it was huge
disapointment. The last 3 days put 20 inches on the ground. Their
website said first to open in the East and 30km open and groomed. I got
there at 11:00 am and the road going into the lodge hadn't been plowed.
After skiing into the lodge we found none of the trails had been
groomed. I told the manager I was royally f.... ****ed off after
driving so far. I understand the owner wonders why they get less skiers
each year....duh! Call before you go and cross examine the person who
answers.

In article . com,
ADK Skier wrote:
Call before you go and cross examine the person who
answers.

Did you try Osceola? According to their website they've got
20K open for skating, and so I ASSumed that meant that they
were grooming and was planning on going up.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

Yes, we back tracked and went to Hugh's place. It was rolled but real
lumpy and uneven. I asked him if he was going to use the 4' Tidd Tech
groomer tonight to smooth it out but he said he would try on Wed.

Melinda Shore wrote:
In article . com,
ADK Skier wrote:
Call before you go and cross examine the person who
answers.

Did you try Osceola? According to their website they've got
20K open for skating, and so I ASSumed that meant that they
were grooming and was planning on going up.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

I took a look at Salmon Hills when it was in bankruptcy a few years
ago. I sensed the previous owner really worked at it, but just
couldn't make a financial go of it. The grooming was considered
excellent. I guess it's not easy when there is free skiing at a state
forest nearby that is groomed on occasion.

When the owner of the High Point SP, NJ XC ski area bought the place I
assumed he would move up there and run things. Instead he has stayed
in NJ and is an absentee owner (last I have heard). Very surprising
since the NJ operation is small and hardly ever open in poor snow
years, like last year.

Some interim managers of the place really took the cake. They decided
to charge more for weekday trail pases then weekend. Why? There were
fewer customers during the week so they needed to charge more to make
it worthwhile! The cross-country ski industry is one of most poorly
run industries I have ever seen.


ADK Skier wrote:
Drove 6 hours round trip to Salmon Hills today and it was huge
disapointment. The last 3 days put 20 inches on the ground. Their
website said first to open in the East and 30km open and groomed. I got
there at 11:00 am and the road going into the lodge hadn't been plowed.
After skiing into the lodge we found none of the trails had been
groomed. I told the manager I was royally f.... ****ed off after
driving so far. I understand the owner wonders why they get less skiers
each year....duh! Call before you go and cross examine the person who
answers.

I had a somewhat similar experience years ago at another resort (also in Canada, hmmmm?) early in the season. I got there to find only a small portion of their system groomed because they claimed "not enough snow yet" even though there was well over a foot of snow on the ground. I came away with the impression that the resorts plan their grooming more around their booking seasons (lodging) than the actual snow conditions and since people usually don't preplan (and book)ski vacations when snow conditions may be questionable, the resorts don't ramp up their operations until the main booking season. Anyway, that's how I figured it.

Obviously that doesn't explain why their website said (and still says)the trails were groomed. However, looking at their site right now, maybe the fact that the main photo on the conditions page shows a skier on an ungroomed trail should have clued you in. http://www.salmonhills.com/conditions.htm

Originally Posted by ADK Skier

Drove 6 hours round trip to Salmon Hills today and it was huge
disapointment. The last 3 days put 20 inches on the ground. Their
website said first to open in the East and 30km open and groomed. I got
there at 11:00 am and the road going into the lodge hadn't been plowed.
After skiing into the lodge we found none of the trails had been
groomed. I told the manager I was royally f.... ****ed off after
driving so far. I understand the owner wonders why they get less skiers
each year....duh! Call before you go and cross examine the person who
answers.

When the owner of the High Point SP, NJ XC ski area bought the place I
assumed he would move up there and run things. Instead he has stayed
in NJ and is an absentee owner (last I have heard).

Some interim managers of the place really took the cake. They decided
to charge more for weekday trail pases then weekend. Why? There were
fewer customers during the week so they needed to charge more to make
it worthwhile! The cross-country ski industry is one of most poorly
run industries I have ever seen.

this is very unfortunate. Hans (the new owner) wanted to make a dream
XC ski/fishing resort out of Salmon Hills. Apparently he hired wrong
people to run the place.

'also in Canada' hmmmm? Salmon Hills was in New York State last I
checked. Dem darned Canucks been invading again? ;-)

Parham (from Ottawa, Canada where I've been skiing on 'skier groomed'
trails for almost a week now :-)

trailville wrote:
I had a somewhat similar experience years ago at another resort (also in
Canada, hmmmm?) early in the season. I got there to find only a small
portion of their system groomed because they claimed "not enough snow
yet" even though there was well over a foot of snow on the ground. I
came away with the impression that the resorts plan their grooming more
around their booking seasons (lodging) than the actual snow conditions
and since people usually don't preplan (and book)ski vacations when
snow conditions may be questionable, the resorts don't ramp up their
operations until the main booking season. Anyway, that's how I figured
it.

Obviously that doesn't explain why their website said (and still
says)the trails were groomed. However, looking at their site right now,
maybe the fact that the main photo on the conditions page shows a skier
on an ungroomed trail should have clued you in.
http://www.salmonhills.com/conditions.htm


ADK Skier Wrote:
Drove 6 hours round trip to Salmon Hills today and it was huge
disapointment. The last 3 days put 20 inches on the ground. Their
website said first to open in the East and 30km open and groomed. I
got
there at 11:00 am and the road going into the lodge hadn't been
plowed.
After skiing into the lodge we found none of the trails had been
groomed. I told the manager I was royally f.... ****ed off after
driving so far. I understand the owner wonders why they get less
skiers
each year....duh! Call before you go and cross examine the person who
answers.




--
trailville

Originally Posted by trailville

(also in Canada, hmmmm?)

Oops. I guess I saw Ontario mentioned on their home page. How was I to know that those folks out east named a little old lake after a canadian province. But the place I went was definitely in Canada, errr I think...um.... Oh yeah, funny lookin money, strange speed limits, mayo on the burgers, gravy on the fries, ketchup flavored potato chips, and they all thought I talked funny, yeah that was Canada.

I was at Camp Mericer, North of Quebec one New Year's. It was a
terrible early snow year, Craftsbury was without snow. The locals were
complaining of no snow and it was up to the top of the picnic tables!
I give Prospect Mtn. credit. They consistently run the longest season
in New England, longer than Craftsbury. Of course they don't need the
amount of business Craftsbury does to justify staying open.



trailville wrote:
I had a somewhat similar experience years ago at another resort (also in
Canada, hmmmm?) early in the season. I got there to find only a small
portion of their system groomed because they claimed "not enough snow
yet" even though there was well over a foot of snow on the ground. I
came away with the impression that the resorts plan their grooming more
around their booking seasons (lodging) than the actual snow conditions
and since people usually don't preplan (and book)ski vacations when
snow conditions may be questionable, the resorts don't ramp up their
operations until the main booking season. Anyway, that's how I figured
it.

Obviously that doesn't explain why their website said (and still
says)the trails were groomed. However, looking at their site right now,
maybe the fact that the main photo on the conditions page shows a skier
on an ungroomed trail should have clued you in.
http://www.salmonhills.com/conditions.htm


ADK Skier Wrote:
Drove 6 hours round trip to Salmon Hills today and it was huge
disapointment. The last 3 days put 20 inches on the ground. Their
website said first to open in the East and 30km open and groomed. I
got
there at 11:00 am and the road going into the lodge hadn't been
plowed.
After skiing into the lodge we found none of the trails had been
groomed. I told the manager I was royally f.... ****ed off after
driving so far. I understand the owner wonders why they get less
skiers
each year....duh! Call before you go and cross examine the person who
answers.




--
trailville

I was once visiting family in Southern California and I went to rent a
car in LA, I gave them my driver's license and the guy asked me 'Is
this a real license? How come it says Ontario on it?' (there's also
an Ontario in Southern Cal :-)

Parham.


trailville wrote:
trailville Wrote:
(also in Canada, hmmmm?)

Oops. I guess I saw Ontario mentioned on their home page. How was I to
know that those folks out east named a little old lake after a canadian
province. But the place I went was definitely in Canada, errr I
think...um.... Oh yeah, funny lookin money, strange speed limits, mayo
on the burgers, gravy on the fries, ketchup flavored potato chips, and
they all thought I talked funny, yeah that was Canada.




--
trailville