The Lookout Mountain Expansion opened in 2008 with three trails and this Doppelmayr CTEC fixed grip triple.Lift overview.The loading zone and operator house.Steep lift line.Top bullwheel and tower 16.The return is a CTEC Orion model.Breakover towers near the summit.Looking down at T13.Tower 14 anchored to bedrock.View from the top shack.Idler sheaves.Unloading ramp.Riding up the line.Middle lift line – very steep.Tower 12.Breakover towers.
As of January 22nd, 2019, this lift still has not opened for the season and they haven’t even started to make snow on the main trail off of it. I think it’s the only completed and currently inspected lift in the country that still hasn’t opened. Pretty pathetic for ORDA to let the newest lift on the mountain and the entire expansion it serves sit and rot. New York State taxpayers paid many millions of dollars to build the lift and cut the trail and they need to be utilized appropriately.
I’m going to Whiteface in a week and hope to ride it, but it probably won’t run. It is kind of like Slide Brook in the way that it never runs because they refuse to run it.
It takes about a week of snowmaking to open the main trail off of it. If they don’t start by this weekend, they won’t have it open for the next weekend.
This lift has a similar backstory to the Palisades Quad at Red Lodge Mountain. The installation and expansion were controversial from the very start and faced major backlash from environmental lobbying groups. It is in an area declared sensitive bird habitat and required large amounts of blasting. New York State jumped the gun on building it and didn’t do any snowmaking upgrades to accompany the expanded terrain. As of January 28th, 2019 they are now making snow on the main trail off of the lift but have still not opened it yet. There has been at least one year when it didn’t open at all.
They need to cut more trails over here to justify operating this lift more frequently. Yes, they also need to make snow here earlier, but I understand the hesitancy to focus efforts on a lift that can only serve two trails.
Tried to ski lookout in 2021, lifty told me someone died on the trail. He did not let me on the lift. How have they given such little thought to lookout mountain, a clearly profitable venture as long as they support it with snowmaking. ADK region + NY State really holds WF back sometimes…
ORDA needs to sell Belleayre, Whiteface, and Gore (individually or together, does not matter to me). They are run extremely poorly due to the Albany making occasional splashy investments for ribbon-cutting purposes without actually improving the overall skier experience. Profitable ski operations need happy customers who want to spend their money at the resort, and when there is no need to make a profit, there is no need to have the best customer experience.
I disagree with your last statement. Our local hill (Ski Cooper) is a non-profit, yet it has always prided itself on having a good customer experience. I work at a neighbouring major resort and ski everywhere I can (including places like Beaver Creek), and I think Cooper does pretty well in that regard. ORDA may just not get it.
I should have changed profit to money in my original comment. Skiing costs money to operate and someone has to pay, giving them leverage to influence decisions. When the primary money stream is customers, they must be kept happy. When the primary money source is the NY State government, they must be kept happy.
Non-profit ski hills still have to focus on making money to break even unless they have a large financial backer to foot losses, in which case that mountain is then at the whim of that backer over the actual customers (which is essentially the case with ORDA and Albany).
Lift Blog 
As of January 22nd, 2019, this lift still has not opened for the season and they haven’t even started to make snow on the main trail off of it. I think it’s the only completed and currently inspected lift in the country that still hasn’t opened. Pretty pathetic for ORDA to let the newest lift on the mountain and the entire expansion it serves sit and rot. New York State taxpayers paid many millions of dollars to build the lift and cut the trail and they need to be utilized appropriately.
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Disappointing, especially for such a new beautiful Doppelmayr. Is there still not enough natural to open any of the terrain over there?
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I’m not sure about that but they need to make snow to open it consistently, which they flat out refuse to do.
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I’m going to Whiteface in a week and hope to ride it, but it probably won’t run. It is kind of like Slide Brook in the way that it never runs because they refuse to run it.
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It takes about a week of snowmaking to open the main trail off of it. If they don’t start by this weekend, they won’t have it open for the next weekend.
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This lift has a similar backstory to the Palisades Quad at Red Lodge Mountain. The installation and expansion were controversial from the very start and faced major backlash from environmental lobbying groups. It is in an area declared sensitive bird habitat and required large amounts of blasting. New York State jumped the gun on building it and didn’t do any snowmaking upgrades to accompany the expanded terrain. As of January 28th, 2019 they are now making snow on the main trail off of the lift but have still not opened it yet. There has been at least one year when it didn’t open at all.
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This lift thankfully did open for the 18/19 season, I rode it in mid February, and trail conditions were good, except for some ice on Hoyt’s High.
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They need to cut more trails over here to justify operating this lift more frequently. Yes, they also need to make snow here earlier, but I understand the hesitancy to focus efforts on a lift that can only serve two trails.
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Tried to ski lookout in 2021, lifty told me someone died on the trail. He did not let me on the lift. How have they given such little thought to lookout mountain, a clearly profitable venture as long as they support it with snowmaking. ADK region + NY State really holds WF back sometimes…
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ORDA needs to sell Belleayre, Whiteface, and Gore (individually or together, does not matter to me). They are run extremely poorly due to the Albany making occasional splashy investments for ribbon-cutting purposes without actually improving the overall skier experience. Profitable ski operations need happy customers who want to spend their money at the resort, and when there is no need to make a profit, there is no need to have the best customer experience.
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I disagree with your last statement. Our local hill (Ski Cooper) is a non-profit, yet it has always prided itself on having a good customer experience. I work at a neighbouring major resort and ski everywhere I can (including places like Beaver Creek), and I think Cooper does pretty well in that regard. ORDA may just not get it.
LikeLike
I should have changed profit to money in my original comment. Skiing costs money to operate and someone has to pay, giving them leverage to influence decisions. When the primary money stream is customers, they must be kept happy. When the primary money source is the NY State government, they must be kept happy.
Non-profit ski hills still have to focus on making money to break even unless they have a large financial backer to foot losses, in which case that mountain is then at the whim of that backer over the actual customers (which is essentially the case with ORDA and Albany).
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Was at Whiteface today, and the lift was still not open
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