Had a great first visit ever to Hidden Valley on Saturday.  As I skied around the resort, one thing that stood out to me was the snowmaking system. Maybe I missed it, is the snowmaking system there solely water line only and fan guns technology dependant? Even the portable tower gun on Viper and Cougar has compressors on the sled mounts. Was this always the case or when the systems received the TechoAlpine upgrade? Just curious is it one system or two separate systems? You see the main snowmaking pond to the left of the Clocktower Lodge and then three smaller ponds on the North side so that is why I was asking about the system.

On terrain I noticed some had been removed from the maps. On the older maps it show Voyager turn into the woods before it goes into Comet, with a few side connectors back into Comet. The last time it appears on the trail map was 2013. The same holds true for Viper which currently ends at Cougar, as I rode the lift you can see the lower portion exiting the woods. and where Cougar starts it looks like the old lower portion continued straight with a brief knoll to climb in order to finish out the lower portion. One thing that would be nice to see is the old Thunder lift line widened so it can become a ski trail to compliment Thunderbird and Firebird.

The only negative I saw while skiing down Rambler and Riviera on Saturday. Was how congested it was from top until the split to Riviera and then back into it as it becomes Bobcat. Riviera (bowl) could use some love with updated snowmaking and earth moving to widened the bottom of Rambler into Bobcat, to keep beginners above the bowl and accidentally venturing to the bowl. By recontouring the bowl intermediate snow riders have a different route in the bowl to head back the lifts avoid the Rambler/Bobcat curve. Has anyone heard or know if the terrain to the skier's right in the Outback still in play for future expansion or did Nutting (hopefully not) claim it for real estate development.

I look forward to see what VR has in store for improvements on the hill and to the lodge. Happy snowriding and think snow!

You are correct. Under the leadership of Eric "anything to save a buck" or "charge more/spend less" Mauch, those trails were removed from the map and there was no effort to open those trails. Additionally, Cheapo Eric removed a lift on the front side. We were told the lift path would become a trail. Vail was required to replace the deck on the back side of the lodge since it was in a state of collapse and they could not open the snow tubing since the deck on that building is also in a state of collapse along with holes in the walls. It was left that way by Beancounter Mauch. Thus they could not open snow tubing this year. Now the Cheap Bastard runs the golf course, so don't expect much in the way of improvements there. He also is the CEO of The Highlands Group which owns the indoor pool/health club, conference center and the old "Inn".  Since it would cost money to put these facilities back in operation, don't expect Eric Mauch and his boss buddy, Bottom Line Bob to sink a nickle into these facilities either. Unless they decide to advertise the Inn as a "nostalgic trip back to the 1980's" I doubt the Inn will open under his leadership.

As far as Vail improving the facilities, I think they'll have to. We'll see what happens during the off season. 

Note that the snow making system is completely airless. 

 I think that the idea of 'excess uphill capacity' is a dead strategy in general, so I was not surprised by the overall reduction in lifts on the valley side. Thunderdraft had become an "if" and not a "when" lift. As for a trail on the old lift line, refresh my memory. Was it "leveled out" from side to side (like High Hopes at BK), or did it have a double fall line? 

Bad memory, but I remember that barn down on rt 31 being ramshackle all the way back when it was the XC base for the trails that ran into Kooser and up through HV. It is hard to imagine it in worse shape. 

Funny, but the Inn and conference center IS nostalgic for me, as we used to go there and stay when I was a kid, use the pool/racquetball courts, and attend events that used the ballroom. I was thinking about that just the other week, and was sad to see everything looking all shuttered up

snowsmith wrote:

You are correct. Under the leadership of Eric "anything to save a buck" or "charge more/spend less" Mauch, those trails were removed from the map and there was no effort to open those trails. Additionally, Cheapo Eric removed a lift on the front side. We were told the lift path would become a trail. Vail was required to replace the deck on the back side of the lodge since it was in a state of collapse and they could not open the snow tubing since the deck on that building is also in a state of collapse along with holes in the walls. It was left that way by Beancounter Mauch. Thus they could not open snow tubing this year. Now the Cheap Bastard runs the golf course, so don't expect much in the way of improvements there. He also is the CEO of The Highlands Group which owns the indoor pool/health club, conference center and the old "Inn".  Since it would cost money to put these facilities back in operation, don't expect Eric Mauch and his boss buddy, Bottom Line Bob to sink a nickle into these facilities either. Unless they decide to advertise the Inn as a "nostalgic trip back to the 1980's" I doubt the Inn will open under his leadership.

As far as Vail improving the facilities, I think they'll have to. We'll see what happens during the off season. 

Note that the snow making system is completely airless.