The good, the bad and the ugly…

The Good:
* More than three feet of snow fell on the resort over seven days last week. More than that accumulated at Irwin. My snow blower turned on and worked. That’s all really good. Real winter arrived this weekend after the Arctic oscillation flipped, and it was welcomed with long lift lines and a packed Attitude Adjustment Party. Lord knows attitudes were adjusted with this storm. Most of us had accepted the fate of a lean winter. But at least it was warm and there was a certain comfortable acceptance in that. But riding the Paradise lift with chilly fingers on a blustery Saturday afternoon felt great. It looks like a ski town once again. The designer snow banks on Elk Avenue look nice and everyone has a smile back on their face.

The Bad:
* Several conversations this week centered on why the numbers are down in the valley. This winter’s snow is obvious but in the bigger picture, the year-to-year trend is more than that. One consistently valid theory is that 10 or 20 years ago people had a variety of places to go for a good time after 4 o’clock when the lifts stopped running. From rowdy to romantic, there were opportunities. We’re not talking restaurants, which are as good now as then, but places for people to party après ski. This is a vacation spot, after all. The base area was full of après fun. And that fun would spill into the buses and onto Elk Avenue.
Think about it. In the day, people could choose to go to Rafters for loud live music and shots delivered to your table by young women wearing bandoliers of shot glasses and tequila holsters. There was the Black Bear for family pizza and ski movies. The Alpenhof/Swiss Chalet provided a Euro feel and glass of Paulaner. Casey’s had a thriving bar scene that more than occasionally ended with people dancing on the bar. The Saloon had a similar vibe, with TVs all tuned to the Weather Channel. Jeremiah’s was where you could find an acoustic guitar player for a mellow après-ski scene. There was a sports bar in what is now the Elevation Hotel and a piano player in the lobby. The Avalanche looked out on the hill and people got comfy on couches with martinis. Food and drink flowed in the base area. Heck, it often started with a daily afternoon party by the grill at the Paradise Warming House that rocked pretty much every day, snow or shine.
Now the Avalanche carries the load up on the hill and emanates a more local vibe. Once spring weather returns for good, the Black Lab deck will be full and Butte 66 will draw sun worshipers. But overall, there are more condos and rooms to hold people these days but fewer places for those people to go and just let loose (or mellow out) in a ski resort.
It’s not that there aren’t still things to do after 4 p.m., but there are fewer of them and it seems a tad tamer these days. In a rare late-evening outing this past weekend, I was out into the wee hours this Saturday night. And by just after midnight, Elk Avenue had three cars, no more buses and a lot of dark store and restaurants/bar fronts. I know the Center for the Arts, Eldo, Lobar, Princess, and other downtown watering holes host music and I’d guess The Reverend Horton Heat rocked Elk Avenue Sunday, but we might need more.
The return guest is key. Getting people to come back might be a way to address some of the current economic woes. Give guests some more opportunities for fun memories and those planes everyone keeps talking about might just fill up again… which, if my basic understanding of economics is right, could lead to more planes and thus more people and better flight times and, and, and.
People like to go where there are people and a fun time is being experienced. Just another thing to think about.

The Ugly:
“You’re so ugly, when you were born they put tinted windows on your incubator.” I’m talking about AT&T. Cell service is better than that week between Christmas and New Year’s but it’s still not worthy of a contract. Word is that some supervisor in Ohio or Missouri or Pennsylvania says they haven’t had very many complaints in the last six weeks. That’s crap. And the only logical reason might be that when someone calls to complain, the call gets dropped. If your calls are still being dropped, your messages still not getting delivered, your texts still wandering around cyberspace, try calling AT&T at 611 on your mobile device again to make the complaint and get some refund money on your bill and mention that perhaps another cell tower is needed to handle the Smartphone explosion.
“You’re so ugly, the tide wouldn’t bring you in.” That line at East River between 10:15 and 1 o’clock Sunday was uglier than that joke. The singles line was unbelievable as it literally snaked up the run. Haven’t seen anything like that in a while. That was ugly.
“You’re so ugly, you stuck your head out of the car window and got arrested for mooning.” This last one was just a good excuse to throw in another ugly joke.

Thanks to the Arctic oscillation for turning it around. Have a great winter (finally!) everyone.