You've seen the
new Stratton.com - here's
a sneak peak at what else is coming up for the 2012-13 winter:
- Sunbeam, a new intermediate trail in the Sun Bowl
- Expanded snowmaking coverage on Duck Soup and Spillway, plus improvements in snowmaking technology and efficiency
- Redefined layouts in our terrain parks: Big Ben will expand across the whole trail, Sunriser Supertrail will have large, flowing slopestyle features and the boardercross course returns on East Byrneside.
- New events: College Week (Jan. 9-13), with tons of skiing, riding, concerts, parties, games, special deals and more; the Extreme Wolverine Challenge (Jan. 19), a 5 mile endurance obstacle course on snow; a bigger Marchdi Gras (March 9), for a taste of New Orleans at Stratton; the 24 Hours of Stratton (March 23-24), where we'll ski and ride around the clock.
- A new day spa in the Stratton Village.
- An expanded Activity HUB, with unique programming like guided full moon snowshoe hikes, Ski with A Local, private snowshoe tours and extra ideas for other adventures: dog-sledding, sleigh rides, snowmobile tours and more.
And that's just the beginning. Look for more news coming soon!
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| And lots of this. |
So two questions.
ReplyDeleteDid Middlebrook get removed as a terrain park trail? Thats pretty lame as that trail ruled.
Is big ben going to get its own dedicated lift as access to it sucks right now on that slow chair. Its not making much sense right now having it there. Oh the days of suntanner being the best park in the north east..
We're definitely changing up the parks this year, and putting some fresh ideas and features on the snow. Big Ben will continue to be served by Solstice and Sunrise Express lifts. Lower Middlebrook will not be a terrain park and I hope you'll find a new favorite in one of our other parks!
DeleteI really think you owe the boarsing community an explanation for why you are ending what has probably been the most beloved park at Statton the past few years. I cant help but notice that on the Terrain Park section of your newly re-designed website that most of the Stratton Parks crew listed Lower Middlebrook as their favorite terrain park. Thus, it was obviously not their idea to terminate it. So, whose idea was it and what were the reasons?
ReplyDeleteI think your response to the last comment was thin at best and that you owe us all a more candid and responsive explanation for this fairly big and perhaps telling decision.
Hi Eric,
DeleteThanks for your comment - there are a few reasons to change the parks this year. We have a great opportunity to double the size of Big Ben and create a top to bottom park in the Supertrail, to give our skiers & riders more room, better flow and a safer time than we were able to do in Lower Middlebrook.
You’re right that Lower Middlebrook is well-loved by riders and our crew, but it was the park builders who decided to move out of Middlebrook and incorporate the features and feel into Big Ben. Now, with 15 acres on Big Ben and 18 acres on Supertrail, the crew has a lot more room and freedom for creativity.
We’re planning to talk more about this in the next few weeks – I hope you’ll stay tuned and in a month or so, come check out what Parks Crew comes up with!
Still doesnt address the God awfully slow 4chair lift to service big ben thats never open.... If your plan is to keep all us park kids in one spot, having terrible lift access isnt it.. Middlebrook access from the six pack was perfect. You could get to supertrail or middlebrook without having to take different lifts.. I also loved that you could ski the upper mountain and end your run at middlebrook. youve completely ruined runs for us. Id love to see the complaints from the green circle crowd who convinced you to give them middlebrook back.
DeleteHow is the 24 hour stratton event going to work?
ReplyDeleteHi Zack,
DeleteAt the 24 Hours of Stratton, participants will join teams to ski and ride from noon on Saturday, March 23, to noon on Sunday. We're going to light up a trail in the Sun Bowl just for the evening and host all-night festivities in the Sun Bowl Lodge. We'll have more details on Stratton.com soon, including how to sign up, prize information and the charities the event will benefit. Hope to see you there!
I agree with the comments from others above. Truth is that Stratton has been lagging behind other resorts in the trend towards more Terrain Parks. My kids have started asking if we can switch our season passes from Stratton to Mt Snow or Killington because they see more emphasis at those resorts on Parks. We've always loved Stratton and have been season ticket holders for 15 years. I have delayed purchasing our tickets this year to see what Stratton would do for 2012/13.
ReplyDeleteBig Ben was a great addition last year, but it was a pain to access. Even with its expansion, the loss of Middlebrook seems to be a step backwards. That leaves Sunriser to make up the slack. PLEASE DO IT RIGHT.
Exactly! and lets hope they actually check the passes to keep the wrong people out of the trail so they dont get hurt. I couldn't keep track of the number of people that should not have been in middlebrook. For sunrise "supertrail" lets just hope its set up before march and open more than one week this time around.
DeleteFirst off I’d like to thank the Statton blog staff for responding to the comments here.
ReplyDeleteSecond, would like to ditto many of the sentiments expressed in this thread, elaborate on the details of the dissatisfaction, and, make some rather obvious suggestions about what can be done to improve Stratton’s parks.
Right now Stratton’s park offerings are simply not on par with Mount Snow, Okemo, or Killington and ACCESS is indeed a really big part of the problem. Getting rid of Lower Middlebrook is only going to make this worse. What park riders want are top-to-bottom runs, not short stretches that one has to go half way down a trail to get to. The amount of time-on-park a rider can get in at Stratton is far from optimal because of WHERE the parks are being set up. At Mount Snow, Okemo, Bromley, even the T-bar at Brattleboro Memorial Park, a rider can get on a lift, go to the top, ride park the WHOLE way down and then get back on the lift and do it over and over again. At Stratton the only park that will be set up like this in 2012-2013 will be the Sunriser Superpark and that is way over the heads of most riders, particularly kids. The developing riders who would benefit most from a good time-on-park ratio have it the worst of all. The placement of the Tyrolienne park seems almost like a bad joke. It takes literally ten times longer to reach the park from the top of the South American or American Express lifts than it does to actually do a run through the park. This laughable inefficiency is hindering the development of young riders at Stratton. There’s no two ways about it.
Here are my proposals for improving the situation.
You need to build more parks with direct lift access and scrap ill-conceived set-ups like the Tyrolienne Park all together. Parks should run the FULL length of the trail they are on. Every park should BE a trail, not just a part of of a trail.
You need a true grommet park and in general need to do a lot more to help developing riders. Okemo and Mount Snow are doing a much better job catering to the needs of young riders. Their parks systems offer a full progression from very easy to hard features. The same can not be said for Stratton. Most of the box set-ups on Tyrolienne are too difficult for a true park beginner and Parkway is way too small in scope to help young riders develop their chops very fast. All you need to do to alleviate this is to simply take a single trail in the Tamarack Pod and lay a long chain of really easy boxes, rails, small cannons, and small jumps from the top all the way to the bottom.
You need a natural features terrain park. Mount Snow, Okemo, Killington have them. Smuggs just built one this summer. Its time for Stratton to build one as well.
Your parks need more whimsey and creativity. Why not put a whole family of large chainsaw bear sculptures in the middle of a park for riders to use as jibs. How about some small quarter-pipe-like banked turns here and there. Perhaps a set of stair railings, a sugar shack with a jump-able roof, a giant mountain of snow with a tunnel through it. Something, anything that is unique and will capture peoples imagination.
You need to lead on something. Obviously there is a lot of catching up to do (grommet park, natural features park, mini-pipe, unique jibs) but in addition to that I really think its time for Stratton to actually lead on something in the terrain park area and create a park that is truly unique and that other areas will have to play catch up on. My vote would be for a long smorgasborg park/trail that will allow a rider to ride an all-encompassing mixture of terrain and park in a single run. A trail that will intermix park features, jumps, steeps, glades, narrow twisting cruiser sections, banked-turned boarder cross sections all into a single, fluid, amazing run.
I hate to say it, because I love Stratton, but unless the terrain park situation improves in the next year or two, my family will also be switching to and buying our season passes at Mount Snow or Okemo.
COmpletely agree with you. Its amazing how quickly they change where the parks are. One month its on old smoothie and then too many wedge skiers complain and its back to a groomer (and yes.. stratton grooms EVERYTHING). I guarantee thats exactly what happened with Middlebrook, a bunch of beginners that spend money on hotels every weekend complained and intrawest catered to them. All us park kids want is a top to bottom run with prime lift access and someone to keep people who shouldnt be in there out. moving it to big ben entirely is pretty much telling jib kids "hey, we dont care about park so we just put it way over there" Its almost like they do not even want a park anymore. They overcharged and underdelivered for Burton and they lost the contract for the US Open. The Vermont Open stopped being held there as well. Stratton officially has no events worth going to anymore. Dont even say Freestyle Championships as we all know what a joke that is.
Deletestratton, do yourself a favor and actually survey your rider/skiers what they want instead of guessing.. take a visit to Newschoolers.com for the ski side and im pretty sure transworld has a forum for snowboarders. Learn how to do social media correctly instead of the cheesy "what trail is this" and stupid late updates. Get better statistics for what park features are set up, what trails have bumps. NO one cares about the 3 inches of snow that fell in the village..
Might have to go with Eric over to a real mountain next year.
Thank you both for your frank and honest feedback. I have passed along your ideas and comments to our VP of Operations and the Parks Crew, who will give them a thoughtful and thorough review.
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