Taos Going Down, Son!

Anybody want to road trip to celebrate the first day?

MRG, You’ve been served, Son!

Awesome Image from Yesterday.  Powder to the people!  

MRG Single Ceremony Poached!

Jake and the boys organized a mass poaching at the opening ceremonies for the Mad River Glen Single chair. According to an eyewitness:

The Single Chair dedication ceremony went off without a glitch this morning, unless you consider about 30 boarders poaching the chute and other trails. Actually, the boarders were very cordial and even posed for photos in the base area after the assault.

They left the base area only to return with creative, non-threatening posters to form a picket line. Dressed in white tyvek suits, the Burton crew behaved and I think the MRG crew enjoyed the show. After the picket, the riders even patronized the cafeteria and passed out “Poach it if you can” bumper stickers.  

All in all it was a good, amicable showing for both parties. The only part of the Burton poaching code they did not follow was purchasing lift tickets.   I just checked with the lift office, and sure enough, no tickets purchased.

The whole isssue was covered by local media and should be on Channel 3 tonight. Unfortunately, the tv cameras were not set up on Chute where, apparently, most of the riders side-slipped the bumps and ledges.

Taos Goes Down, Son!

Taos Ski Valley has announced that Snowboards will be allowed in the spring of this year.<

Rules for Poaching

Poaching 10 commandments 

• I Whatever you do, don’t break the law 
• II Always buy a lift ticket 
• III Hit ‘em where and when they least expect it; but make sure to keep it safe, keep it inbounds, and always wear safety equipment.  
• IV Bro down with the enemy 
• V Keep it peaceful, maaaaaan 
• VI Always respect ski patrol; even if they tackle you 
• VII Scout for forbidden fruits, study trail maps and satellite images online 
• VIII Remember: Ass out, knees bent in the moguls 
• IX Splitboarding is your friend 
• X Last but not least, keep it brofressional

Source: www.burton.com/poachers 

Burton Outlines the Stakes!

Mission statement There are four resorts in North America that still don’t allow snowboarding. In the face of this blatent disregard for the Constitution of the United States of America, poaching isn’t simply a peaceful form of protest; it’s truly your patriotic duty. It’s time we take a stand and let these elitists know that it’s not acceptable to discriminate.
Power to the poachers. 
To fuel the movement, we’re throwing down a $5,000 cash purse per resort video to the person or crew that submits the most creative documentation of their poach experience. Hit all four spots and you could claim $20,000. Deadline for entries is March 1, 2008. Videos should not exceed five minutes and must be in the .fly format. Source: www.burton.com/poachers 

Burton to Offer $20,000 for Poachers

Jake, in what has to be one of his greatest ideas yet, is offering $5,000 in prizes for videos depicting snowboard poaching at the 4 areas that don’t allow snowboarding!  Alta, Deer Valley, Mad River Glen and Taos will be the scene of many crimes this year as the homies jib-it-up for the bootie!The righteous campaign will be announced tomorrow at the following URL:www.burton.com/poachers Yaeh, Jake! 

Mad River Losses to Exceed $250K, Single Chair to Miss Green & Gold

According to discussions with resort personnel, the 2005-2006 losses are expected to exceed $250,000.  Mad Rivert’s year ends on August 30th, so it will be interesting to see how the mountain spins this loss.  Additionally, the Single Chair rebuild is well behind schedule.  The mountain will miss its planned Green and Gold Weekend grand opening for the rebuilt chair.  Missing that milestone will enable the CTEC team to work towards a  planned December 1st test.

This isn’t funny.

Really, it isn’t.

Mad River Projects $200,000 Loss for 2006-07 Season

According to published reports, Mad River Glen projects an annual loss of $200,000 for the 2006-07 season. Critical to the projection is the expectation that February and March would be on budget. While the second half of February was stellar, the month started with decreased operations, furloughed employees and frequent closures. March expectations are for increased day ticket sales over March 2006.As was previously mentioned, the resort’s affinity card and season pass sales revenue were significantly below expectations, even with the largest season pass price increase in the industry. Unit sales were down 30% over 2005-06 levels.