Tline improvements?
August 28, 2006
26 posts
12 users
6k+ views
We just received a flyer from timberline advertising their advanced purchase discounts on season passes ($360 for adult if purchased by 31 May). Anyway the flyer mentions that Tline intends to install additional "large new pumps" and stationary snow guns for this coming season. They also take credit for Twister as the beginning of their "western slope-face expansion". No new slope planned for 06-07 though. No other mention of improvements.
Delicious. More trails that will lose their base more quickly and take away from snowmaking abilities on the existing trails.
"Western slope-face expansion?" I didn't think they even had that much room left to expand into.
I think that they need to fix their water infrastructure before doing anythin else. In case you were wondering why snow making disappeared at the end of January, there was a problem with the old pipes handling the increased pressure from the new pumps installed last summer. I was told by one source that their snowmaking capacity increase more than expected with that change which probably created the broken piping. That old infrastructure has been there for over 20 years now and knowing the first owners, probably was initally installed with duct tape, and chewing gum, ie: cheap!
Hmmmm... I noticed from the photos everyone posted that Twister looked like a good potential for allowing a cutoff onto those northwest facing slopes. Maybe T-line agrees? If you look at the way the upper half of Twister faces, everything to it's right is likely the area they want to expand into. Probably good intermediate and low advanced skiing back there.
I hope they do it.
I haven't been up there in a couple of weeks. Has anyone seen if they're doing any work to repair them yet?
Clay
As of last weekend, nothing.
Then again, they always wait until summer-fall to begin anything.
I've got an improvement they can make next season that will save them fuel, man hours u know, $money$
...........quit grooming so much terrain
, quit grooming all the fresh snow
, some folks i know will make the long drive just for a day of that, only to be dissssappointed to find it ALL groomed. Come on tline, save some money
.
PS:Welcome Clay
Hey Jimmy,
Ya man! You got it there. Nothing like an epic dump and finding it groomed tree-line to tree-line
-Warren-
Ya, Jimmy. Their grooming everything makes a great mountain very ordinary, almost boring. I don't know what the mountain manager is thinking if he is at all.
For those of us who put things off...........
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We just received a flyer from timberline advertising their advanced purchase discounts on season passes ($360 for adult if purchased by 31 May). Anyway the flyer mentions that Tline intends to install additional "large new pumps" and stationary snow guns for this coming season. They also take credit for Twister as the beginning of their "western slope-face expansion". No new slope planned for 06-07 though. No other mention of improvements.
Wonder what their plans are for western slopes, they should have figured that out when they planned twister.
Roger did you mean right as in skiers left. Wonder what it would be like if they straightened Twister out a little, probably need a new lift or a backcountry gate 
or something at the bottom tho.
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Hmmmm... I noticed from the photos everyone posted that Twister looked like a good potential for allowing a cutoff onto those northwest facing slopes.
I agree. I only skied Twister a couple of times this season, but I think that two easy possibilities could be 1) add a trail at the end of the first backwards "L" (skier's right Jimmy 
) hooking up around the start of Winterset or 2) extending the first straight away on Twister down across the ridge and hanging a right to hook up with the bend in Winterset. I don't have a topo map handy, but I wouldn't imagine that either of these options would be more difficult than the top of Twister, so I would think they would be a blue at most.
Clay
Oh BTW, I classify these as "easy" because I don't have to cut or haul out the trees!
I was up there this weekend and it does appear that some work is being done near bunkhouses just behind Northwoods. Does anyone know what's going on?
Also, I decided to try the Sat. ribs special at the lodge. The ribs were excellent but the service was nothing to write home about. I was seated at 8 and did not get served until 9.
Another observation: lots and lots of big homes are on the market and some sellers have begun to lower prices. I think th real estate downturn has finally hit the valley.
PS I bought two season passes ay the $360 rate. I think that's an ok deal given the new trail. Also, I'm betting that the snowmaking problems will be fixed by next season as promised.
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I think th real estate downturn has finally hit the valley.
Don't say that John, I just bought at Timberline. The prices are supposed to go the OTHER direction now
Clay:
If you intend to hold, I think you will have no problems. With that being, there's a lot on the market right now. Two condos in my section of Northwoods have lock boxes on them and I know one of those units has been for sale since March.
One house I looked at in Yoakum Run has been on the market for over a year.
I short, there's no shortage of real estate at Timberline right now. Prices are sticky for sure, but the pressure seems to be downwards. Several houses I looked at have reduced their price.
To me it does seem strange that we have houses on the mountain priced at over a million and yet Timberline cannot afford a relatively modest lift upgrade (convert one of the lifts to a high-speed detachable), and is struggling to fix its snowmaking system. The taxes alone on some of the properties could fund a heck of a lot of trips to Utah.
Personally, I think Timberline ought to do what ASC did many years back--sell lifetime season passes (price would depend on the age of the buyer) to raise the capital for a lift-upgrade.
The road at the bunkhouses look to give access to the units behind the front one. And, if one looks at what is available to the south of herz mountain to build slopes on... well there isn't too much room left since most of that property was sold to fish and wildlife. When the current owner first bought the resort, his property went nearly to whitegrass. However, as the need to pay off debt, taxes, etc... resulted in the sale of a majority of the resort property.
Now with the winterset development heading up the mountain, there will be further restrictions on future expansion. It happens to most ski areas as the need/greed for $$$ superceeds the desire for expansion.
Look at some older areas such as Bryce, Massanutten, etc... to catch my point.
Kim:
I don't think it is greed but a lack of vision, bad credit and a lack of real estate (most of it was sold to Nature Conservancy and then turned over to the Refuge as you state) that is holding the mountain back. My point is that the CV has a sizzling hot real estate market (even with the recent slowdown). If the owners of T-line could only tap into the people buying these expensive properties and strike some sort of deal, it would improve the situation for everyone. Timberline should call a meeting of all the HOAs and discuss options, which could range from special assesments to lifetime season passes. HOAs might be happy to pay a special assesment for a new lift in exchange for lift tickets, shares of the mountain, season passes, or perhaps a reduction in the sewer and water rates. We're only talking about 8 million--the cost of just 4 houses on Winterhaven. The new lift would help everyone--real estate prices might begin to climb again, rental rates would go up, T-line would sell more lift tickets, etc, etc.
John,
Thye snowball would roll IF there was the vision to invest in the infrastructure at t-line. However, the poor business practices of the past would haunt the current owners since the same players are still running the show. There needs to be an improved element of trust before many homeowners would "front" the kind of dollars you're talking about. Remember the logging out of cherry bowl for a few dollars ten years ago purportedly to pay back taxes? Then there was the piecemeal sell off of the golf course property, again, to pay back taxes, not all being the real estate variety. It's hard to criticize too much because they do create a very good product, but just think of how much more could've been done had common sense business practices been the norm over the past dozen or so years?
As for the real estate market.... check out how hot it is outside of the valley as well. That is due to the lack of inventory of available properties. Not everyone can afford 500k for a second home. The hottest market is the under 250k w/o HOA covenants and it's good luck getting to it first when listed.
Has there been any official word from any T-Line person regarding future trail expansion within the next 1-2 years?
I've been in discussion with several of those in the know but there seems that trail expansion during the next several years is off the table in favor of lift upgrades. They know that's their biggest deficiency with the lack of adequate base facilities a close second. Last spring, there was talk of doing an addition to the lodge to increase capacity for the pub and lower cafeteria.
Quote:
I think that they need to fix their water infrastructure before doing anythin else. In case you were wondering why snow making disappeared at the end of January, there was a problem with the old pipes handling the increased pressure from the new pumps installed last summer. I was told by one source that their snowmaking capacity increase more than expected with that change which probably created the broken piping. That old infrastructure has been there for over 20 years now and knowing the first owners, probably was initally installed with duct tape, and chewing gum, ie: cheap!
So you figure that's why they started grooming OTW & Drop to conserve the base? OTW would've been sick last year if they hadn't quit making snow on it. They really improved their snowmaking capacity last year be nice to see what they will do once they get the mice out.
kwillg6 wrote:
Quote:
T-line has 64 new snow sticks ready to go up on the full length of thunder for the season. They're laying in the parking lot as I write.
Discuss?
The ONLY thing to discuss about Timberline is when will they get some lifts that work?
Fix that, and all else will follow.
What is weird is that while I know TLine's lifts are old, are creeky, and plain out dogdirt slow, of all the times in the past 2-3 years I've been there, I've never been seriously stuck on them. By that, I mean 5 minutes or longer. Anything less than that I attribute to skier falls when loading and unloading etc. Wisp seems to suffer more with that than TLine does. But I can't say I've seen one horribly breakdown.
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What is weird is that while I know TLine's lifts are old, are creeky, and plain out dogdirt slow, of all the times in the past 2-3 years I've been there, I've never been seriously stuck on them. By that, I mean 5 minutes or longer. Anything less than that I attribute to skier falls when loading and unloading etc. Wisp seems to suffer more with that than TLine does. But I can't say I've seen one horribly breakdown.
Bawalker--I agree with you. They may be slow but they get the job done. I'm not in a hurry for those high speed quads.
What I would like to see are some better (newer) base facilities. The existing ones are too small for the crowds. My biggest beefs are (I know nobody asked but what the heck):
*More ticket windows.
*Signs listing ticket prices need to be posted clearly so that the cashiers aren't having to explain ticket prices and deals again and again (which wastes alot of potential slope time)
Not a criticism, just an observation.
