Seven Springs - new features and new trail.

PB Forum :: USA - East
Seven Springs - new features and new trail.
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flag BeerGuzlinFool
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Posted: Apr 25, 2017 at 17:29 Quote
Billjohn6 wrote:
Baffling how slow Springs is to progress.

Not baffled by it at all anymore. The only reason I still by a bike pass is because it's less than an hour from home. Honestly I am surprised every year they open the park. I expected Springs to shut it down a couple of years ago.
flag sdr-clothing-company
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Posted: Jun 6, 2017 at 12:30 Quote
BeerGuzlinFool wrote:
Billjohn6 wrote:
Baffling how slow Springs is to progress.

Not baffled by it at all anymore. The only reason I still by a bike pass is because it's less than an hour from home. Honestly I am surprised every year they open the park. I expected Springs to shut it down a couple of years ago.

you mean you're not on the free lifetime poachpass system like everyone else? maybe if they actually checked for tickets on the lift the park would make enough money to not switch 2/3 of the staff over to the terrain parks welding shop 2 months into every season.
flag BeerGuzlinFool
O+
Posted: Jun 6, 2017 at 21:30 Quote
cburch wrote:
BeerGuzlinFool wrote:
Billjohn6 wrote:
Baffling how slow Springs is to progress.

Not baffled by it at all anymore. The only reason I still by a bike pass is because it's less than an hour from home. Honestly I am surprised every year they open the park. I expected Springs to shut it down a couple of years ago.

you mean you're not on the free lifetime poachpass system like everyone else? maybe if they actually checked for tickets on the lift the park would make enough money to not switch 2/3 of the staff over to the terrain parks welding shop 2 months into every season.

No.. not on the poach pass and it pisses me off every time I see poachers getting on the lift and no one checking for tickets.
flag sdr-clothing-company
O+
Posted: Jun 12, 2017 at 19:35 Quote
BeerGuzlinFool wrote:
cburch wrote:
BeerGuzlinFool wrote:


Not baffled by it at all anymore. The only reason I still by a bike pass is because it's less than an hour from home. Honestly I am surprised every year they open the park. I expected Springs to shut it down a couple of years ago.

you mean you're not on the free lifetime poachpass system like everyone else? maybe if they actually checked for tickets on the lift the park would make enough money to not switch 2/3 of the staff over to the terrain parks welding shop 2 months into every season.

No.. not on the poach pass and it pisses me off every time I see poachers getting on the lift and no one checking for tickets.
just another example of them losing $20 to save $1. I'm honestly shocked when they check tickets from sightseers on that lift. too cheap to have two lifties at the bottom so one can check tickets while the other runs the lift so they loose out on easily tens of thousands (if not more) in revenue from the park and then complain that it doesn't make enough money to invest in it. AND REPEAT...
flag BeerGuzlinFool
O+
Posted: Jul 4, 2017 at 17:51 Quote
Just an FYI. This Saturday is the 10th anniversary for the bike park. There are supposed th o be races bands and raffles.
flag martis
O+
Posted: Apr 6, 2021 at 9:10 Quote
2007-2019 R.I.P.

Lots of good memories with some of you guys up there. Summer of 2010 especially was a legendary time for me that I'll never forget.

I was sort of looking forward to catching some laps on Stache and 007 when I came back to PA for a visit this summer, but it looks like that's not happening.

For all you PA guys, I guess it's back to doing what we all did before 2008 and humping it down to Snowshoe for the weekend if you want your DH fix.

As for me... I'm going out to ride the old Rampage site this afternoon, so I'm good.

Here's to the good times!

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/165841/
flag y9pema
Posted: Apr 6, 2021 at 9:15 Quote
martis wrote:
2007-2019 R.I.P.

Lots of good memories with some of you guys up there. Summer of 2010 especially was a legendary time for me that I'll never forget.

I was sort of looking forward to catching some laps on Stache and 007 when I came back to PA for a visit this summer, but it looks like that's not happening.

For all you PA guys, I guess it's back to doing what we all did before 2008 and humping it down to Snowshoe for the weekend if you want your DH fix.

As for me... I'm going out to ride the old Rampage site this afternoon, so I'm good.

Here's to the good times!

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/165841/

great times! and rad people. Fuk yeah I know Bill Dougan!
flag martis
O+
Posted: Apr 6, 2021 at 12:42 Quote
I skied up there this past February. $75 lift ticket. No twilight or night session (cheaper lift tickets). Nope. $75 or GTFO. Only four chairlifts running, blown out terrain parks, and man... from the slopes to the lodge to the Foggy, the place was EMPTY.

Snowshoe the next weekend was cheaper, in WAY better shape, and had a packed house with a party atmosphere going despite the "virus". Pretty telling when SS is an hour from PGH and Snowshoe is four hours from pretty much every population center.

I've dumped on this place for years, for good reason. I saw how it was run from the inside, and some of the idiots they promoted up the management chain. It's almost like they're trying to find the most efficient ways possible to torpedo every aspect of their business and alienate literally everyone who has grown up going to that place, winter and summer. I have a lot of good memories there, but it's tainted by what a clown show it's become over the past 10-12 years. Seven Springs as a whole really is circling the drain at this point.
flag BeerGuzlinFool
O+
Posted: Apr 6, 2021 at 18:46 Quote
martis wrote:
I skied up there this past February. $75 lift ticket. No twilight or night session (cheaper lift tickets). Nope. $75 or GTFO. Only four chairlifts running, blown out terrain parks, and man... from the slopes to the lodge to the Foggy, the place was EMPTY.

Snowshoe the next weekend was cheaper, in WAY better shape, and had a packed house with a party atmosphere going despite the "virus". Pretty telling when SS is an hour from PGH and Snowshoe is four hours from pretty much every population center.
I've dumped on this place for years, for good reason. I saw how it was run from the inside, and some of the idiots they promoted up the


management chain. It's almost like they're trying to find the most efficient ways possible to torpedo every aspect of their business and alienate literally everyone who has grown up going to that place, winter and summer. I have a lot of good memories there, but it's tainted by what a clown show it's become over the past 10-12 years. Seven Springs as a whole really is circling the drain at this point.

From what I hear the so called management thinks that running the lift in the summer is causing it to malfunction. Just an excuse. Everyone who has been there the last few years knows that management didn't give a shit about the bike park. Ownership runs that place just like they run the Pirates.

Martis.. glad to hear you are doing well. The wife and I both miss hanging at the park with you and alot of the other regulars. We had some good times there.
flag manhattanprjkt83
O+
Posted: Apr 7, 2021 at 5:08 Quote
Give them 5 years and they will be trying to re-do the whole thing again. Weird move in a time when most east coast resorts are experiencing record low levels of snowfall and bolstering their bike park operations. The old days at 7 Springs were a blast but they pushed us into becoming Snowshoe locals over the recent years, far more superior experience. I hope that place is sold to someone who knows what they are doing in the coming years...
flag martis
O+
Posted: Apr 7, 2021 at 19:32 Quote
BeerGuzlinFool wrote:
martis wrote:
I skied up there this past February. $75 lift ticket. No twilight or night session (cheaper lift tickets). Nope. $75 or GTFO. Only four chairlifts running, blown out terrain parks, and man... from the slopes to the lodge to the Foggy, the place was EMPTY.

Snowshoe the next weekend was cheaper, in WAY better shape, and had a packed house with a party atmosphere going despite the "virus". Pretty telling when SS is an hour from PGH and Snowshoe is four hours from pretty much every population center.
I've dumped on this place for years, for good reason. I saw how it was run from the inside, and some of the idiots they promoted up the


management chain. It's almost like they're trying to find the most efficient ways possible to torpedo every aspect of their business and alienate literally everyone who has grown up going to that place, winter and summer. I have a lot of good memories there, but it's tainted by what a clown show it's become over the past 10-12 years. Seven Springs as a whole really is circling the drain at this point.

From what I hear the so called management thinks that running the lift in the summer is causing it to malfunction. Just an excuse. Everyone who has been there the last few years knows that management didn't give a shit about the bike park. Ownership runs that place just like they run the Pirates.

Martis.. glad to hear you are doing well. The wife and I both miss hanging at the park with you and alot of the other regulars. We had some good times there.

Oh definitely, man! Bike park season back in 2008-2011 (2012 wasn't a real enjoyable one) was such a blast. Before the responsibilities of having kids in my case! You and Rhonda doing well? I'll send you my contact info.
flag martis
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Posted: Apr 7, 2021 at 20:37 Quote
I'm not trying to rehash the past, but it's such a ridiculous story and crazy circumstances that I think it's fun to talk about sometimes. I know there are people who don't care for me airing out extremely old dirty laundry, but whatever. That's their problem, I guess. I left Springs in 2012, and I live 2000 miles away from the place now. I still love riding now and then, but I'm married, have two kids, an intense job and a lot of other interests nowadays, none of which involve bikes.

I really don't have any hard feelings for most of the people involved anymore, but it was a really interesting learning experience for me, and some of those lessons have helped me avoid bad situations, scummy people and poisonous environments moving forward.

I was the "Crew Lead" from 2009-2012. I just wanted to build good trails, and I wanted to attract riders to come and ride those trails, and have fun while they were doing so. That was my personal objective, not necessarily the mission statement of the bike park as a whole. Occasionally I'd succeed, but usually I'd fail. Sometimes it was my fault and other times external factors came into play.

When it was time for me to go at the tail end of the 2012 season, I was miserable. Completely fed up with almost everyone involved with the Bike Park, and they were definitely sick of me, too. Some people up there went pretty well out of their way to make that fact very well known. The line between personal and professional had been crossed by everyone involved (myself included) so many times that year that everything was beyond repair. So I more or less just stopped showing up to work and it was understood that I wasn't welcome there any longer.

BY FAR the worst management I've ever worked with. Some of the worst staffing choices I've ever seen. No one beyond my direct supervisor had any idea what a bike park even was, and they weren't the slightest bit interested in learning more about it. All efforts to do so on my part were stonewalled by my supervisor. He'd hate to have one of his underlings getting noticed by his superiors.

Now, from what I could tell, there was plenty of controversy, drama, and bad decisions happening in 2008, before I ever started working up there. But that formula remained in place when I was there, and from everything I'd heard, continued long after I had left.

By 2017 I was a passholder at and semi-regular at Snowshoe and was traveling a lot more to resorts with amazing, thriving programs like Thunder Mountain MA, Bryce, Windrock, and Deer Valley, UT. I think I visited Springs twice that year, things seemed to be on the come-up again. I headed up once in 2018 and once in 2019, on opening weekend. Post 2017, everyone on the staff seemed miserable, and would tell me how so-and-so was running things into the ground. Again.

Then there's the trails. The changes to the park entrance and 007 were so unbelievably bad on that 2019 trip that I took a total of two runs before I put my bike away and went home, completely done with DH for what amounted to two entire years. The only time I returned after that was to give Mike a hand with the Camp Three Cup (which was an AWESOME event).

That place was run with a very special combination of ineptitude, disinterest, ignorance and stubbornness. Good people with good ideas left because nothing ever changed. This is why it never grew beyond what it did.

The riding, plus meeting and hanging out with some really cool people made the bullshit involved with working there worth it for a time.
flag joshmcintyre
Posted: May 5, 2021 at 11:53 Quote
Hey @martis, thanks for all the work you put in to that place when you did. I learned to ride there when I was 14 or so. Some 10+ years later I am still riding and having fun (mostly at North Park these days Smile )

Some amazing fond memories of the park over the years. The people on the ground did the best they could, despite the terrible management. It was a good spot close to home to push your riding and have some fun. Gonna miss the park, and I hope they'll keep some of the trails as part of the XC system at least. There's some great techy riding to be had, with minimal maintenance needed.

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flag martis
O+
Posted: May 9, 2021 at 18:52 Quote
joshmcintyre wrote:
Hey @martis, thanks for all the work you put in to that place when you did. I learned to ride there when I was 14 or so. Some 10+ years later I am still riding and having fun (mostly at North Park these days Smile )

Some amazing fond memories of the park over the years. The people on the ground did the best they could, despite the terrible management. It was a good spot close to home to push your riding and have some fun. Gonna miss the park, and I hope they'll keep some of the trails as part of the XC system at least. There's some great techy riding to be had, with minimal maintenance needed.

photo
photo

Yeah buddy. We did have some good times out there. One of the more fun aspects of that job was seeing a lot of riders progress like crazy, start hitting features, and get fast real quick. It was a good park for that.

It's fun to see the stoke at Brian Head, my new local park. They're growing like crazy, the trails are maintained by a dedicated crew (presumably at the direction of a management team that isn't completely worthless), and riders are buying season passes like crazy for the upcoming season. We already have a big group in my neighborhood that's going to be carpooling up there every weekend this summer. Downhill ain't dead and buried like it is in PA.

As to whether or not they keep any of the old trails open as part of the XC loops, I have no idea, but I'd imagine that they'll just do what they do and pick whatever option makes the least amount of sense. Make Lo Pan a one-way uphill trail? Sure!

What a bummer.

Come out to Utah sometime and we'll do some serious park riding. You'd like it.
flag martis
O+
Posted: Dec 8, 2021 at 20:43 Quote
Seven Springs announced today that Nutting sold the place to Vail Resorts, along with Hidden Valley. The comments on instagram are interesting, lots of dumping on Vail, who apparently "ruins" resorts. Given the track record of the current star-studded management team at Springs, they're not going to be easy to top in that department.

God willing Vail takes out the trash, and the new management decide to revive the bike park, but I wouldn't count on it.

 


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