Gemuetlichkeit!
Dear Bear Valley Snow Enthusiasts,
I hope you all had a good start of the New Year. As you know, it brought some great (and much needed) snow to the Sierras, allowing us to open the lower mountain with excellent coverage. I had the opportunity to get down there myself and I can tell you it was an epic experience.
In a previous blog I indicated that I want to talk about the word "gemuetlich" or "gemuetlichkeit." I am sure you have seen this word either on our website, on t-shirts or printed material. Let me tell you why in my mind this word most embodies our vision and spirit of Bear Valley.
"Gemutlich" (adjective) or "gemuetlichkeit" (noun) is German and means literally cozy or coziness. However, in my native tongue the word has a much broader meaning including "comfortable," "friendly," "cozy ambiance," "atmosphere of comfort," "sense of belonging and acceptance" and "sociable".
Whenever I tried to explain to friends and colleagues what Bear Valley is all about, I was using all the above mentioned English words but the German word "gemuetlich" was in my mind. So, when I joined Bear Valley in my current capacity, I decided to use this word as our "operative term" (Ron Agositini from the Modesto Bee pointedly called it so in his 12/3/07 article). So I hope you will join our friendly team for a "gemuetliche" time in Bear Valley.
Now to some current items. On peak days we are still very tight with seating capacity, especially in snowy weather conditions when all of our guests use the indoor facilities for lunch and breaks. I believe the Black Bear Bungalow with its storage capability for coolers and other personal belongings has helped ease the congestion and I’m glad that we are able to accommodate our guests that occasionally bring their own food and beverage in that facility. However, to improve the experience for all our guests on these buys days, we can only be successful with your support. Your cooperation with our ambassadors, who are assisting other guests find seating is most helpful and appreciated. For this I thank you, our guests, and our tireless ambassadors.
Over the last few weeks I have received a lot of direct (verbal) feedback when sitting on a chairlift with guests, or walking through the lodge. The feedback ranges from comments on scanner issues and grooming observations to rental and ticket line suggestions. This input is vital for us to continuously improve your guest experience. One item I’d like to share is that I heard many voices commenting on the friendliness of our staff. I am delighted to hear this and want to extend a big "thank you" to the Bear Valley team.
As always I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
posted by Martin Wegenstein @ 4:46 PM
17 Comments
17 Comments:
Martin,
I would agree that your employees are much more friendly then in years past. Additionally, the grooming team has really gotten it right this year. The grooming is better then I have ever seen it. Great job.
One comment regarding the Black Bear Bungalow. I am the father of a family of 4 that spends many days at BV. It would cost me a small fortune to purchase meals for my family 50+ days per year at BV; therefore, we generally bring a lunch. When you had asked us (brown baggers) to use the sprung structure we tried. Twice. I'll tell you honestly, that room is either too cold, too hot, very uncomfortable, and ALWAYS overcrowded. With the number of tables crammed into the room, you are always bumping into people or them bumping into you trying to move around. It's really a pretty unhospitable place.
I understand you are trying to incourage "brown baggers" to not take tables in the sunroom; however, I don't see it happening with the current arrangement in the sprung structure.
Additionally, I'm not sure that singling out many of the customers who are "regulars" at your resort just because they bring their lunch is a great PR move. Granted, I can only speak for my family but we spend plenty of money at Bear Valley through other departments (4 season passes,a locker, 1 team member and soon to be 2, multiple equipment purchases, softgood purchases and yes, even food & drink purchases). Just because we don't buy our lunch doesn't mean we should be banished to the Black Bear Bungalow.
Anyway, there have been many great changes this year so keep up the good work.
Martin, I noticed a new double black run near the Grizzly chair - "gunmount." Care to elaborate on this? Does it end up at the same place as the hike up the ridge skiers right descending from Grizzly chair?
In response to :
anonymous said...
Martin, I noticed a new double black run near the Grizzly chair - "gunmount." Care to elaborate on this? Does it end up at the same place as the hike up the ridge skiers right descending from Grizzly chair?
Dude... if you are an advanced skier, just hike up there and check it out. You might consider looking from the lower parking lot first though (maybe scope out your "line"). That's where the more favorable terrain is. If or when you get up there and aren't into it, there is always the option of skiing back the way you came. there is such a thing as being too careful, so "Schralp It Up Shredder".
The staff is the best ever. Very friendly and helpful from the parking lot guys to food service and lifts. Lift operations are doing very well. Even on crowded week end days there is rarely a line. Good job of opening Bear Chair and Puma when needed to relieve crowds. Maybe Cub should get an upgrade to a high speed quad. Works well on the beginner run at Sierra. Get lift to village soon! Thanks for the great times so far this year. The Phillips family
Following are some comments regarding questions which were raised.
First let me make a general comment regarding this blog and the posting of replies. It is our standard practice to post all replies and comments, be it positive or negative. However there are exceptions to standard practice. If replies use inappropriate language, negatively single out individuals (personal attacks) or make general, non constructive statements, we take the liberty of not posting them. Fortunately we had less than a handful of such replies so far. That being said, I will attempt to personnaly reply to such individuals if he/she is not posting “anonymous” and provides contact info.
As you can read in many blog answers the issue of “brown bagging” draws comments from all sides and perspectives. Unfortunately there is no simple solution which satisfies everybody. We are trying to find a balance by keeping the Sunroom and Food Court free of coolers and other “parked” gear, and providing dedicated storage space in the Black Bear Bungalow. It is our priority to provide seating space for guests to enjoy their meal. There are signs that state no “reserved” seating in the eating areas and to move coolers and other gear to the Black Bear Bungalow. Additionally our Ambassadors are working hard to inform guests of this policy.
In the words of Pro Patroller Mattly Trent; “After years of hiking around the Grizz-top shack and up to the gun-mount we decided to add a new gate. We gave (it) the name “Gunmount” for obvious reasons. The terrain is single and double black diamond riding and opens up some fun new terrain for people to explore. We ask that the public please stay off the gunmount itself (the concrete structure) as it has communication equipment for Mountain Operations. You can access both sides of the lower mountain via this gate, so check it out!” I second Mattly’s suggestion to check it out.
As mentioned previously we acquired new scanners for this season as the old ones did not perform as required. The new scanners do work much better but, as some of you noted, there are still unacceptable hold-ups or slow-downs at times. In the short run we are working to further reduce any potential slowdown by acquiring additional back-up scanners, reconfiguring the mazes and operator training. For the long run we will be looking into automated RF based technologies and their cost effectiveness.
Scanning on all portal chair lifts (mountain entry points) is not only done to catch “cheaters”. More importantly scanning data provides some of the most important day-to-day information to run the ski area, as most of the day-to-day analysis (and resulting adjustments) are based on a combination of scanning and other related information. In addition, scanning enables product activation for our DTL's. As we continue to expand the number of off-site locations to sell our tickets - currently there are 166 off site outlets that sell Direct To Lift (DTL) tickets that can be taken straight to the lift. This last Saturday we scanned over 800 DTL's. That is 800 less people waiting in the ticket office lines - without the scanning technology we could not offer DTL's and gather valuable infomation on volumes and usage.
Thanks for the comment and suggestion regarding the “engineering” information on chair speed. All I can say “makes sense” and we will make the appropriate changes on the boards.
Martin
So any way in response to the question : "I noticed a new double black run near the Grizzly chair - "gunmount." Care to elaborate on this?".
The history of the Gunmount is that it is where the old 75mm avalanche cannon was fired from until the late 80's early 90's. It was fired into the West Ridge, Haleakala Ridge, and Snoopy's Hanger before the Patrol would drop into Grizzly Bowl and Snow Valley providing a safer "pre shook" avalanche control mission. These days avalanche control is done with ahnd thrown charges and ski cutting which is more time consuming as well as more hazardous to the Patrol. So give the guys a nod rather than wondering why it took so long to open the Grizz after a storm - they hang it out so you can have fun more safely.
The new gate sounds like great idea guys!
Martin,
I skied all three days of the MLK holiday and want to compliment the BV staff. The grooming on the upper mountain was the best I've seen in years and made a great base for the powder on Monday. Thanks for opening all the lifts - the lines were non-existent. The staff are all friendly and fun to ski with. Great job!
"First Tracks" sounds like fun, but Lunch Run? That doesn't sound very enticing. Is it just one run?
Thanks for the detail on scanning. The laminate material on the season passes seems to be the biggest culprit however I've noticed that the scanning folks have relaxed their effort to try 10 times before giving up (previously at the expense of empty chairs) - much appreciated, and now I understand!
An on-going suggestion of mine to the lift operators, primarily loading the high speed, is that even though the lines aren't more than 25-30 people, most folks appreciate someone taking charge of the line so that there is no frustration about letting folks in, or wrestling with the little snowboarders to hold them back, etc. It's simple, more efficient with full chairs, etc. Perhaps even signs at the end of the isles to "wait here and follow the group to you right" I'm sure that there's an idea out there to make folks even happier!
Thanks for your efforts. Jim B.
Hi Martin,
Just a quick note to say a huge Thank You for the First Tracks on Saturday Feb 2. Having the opportunity to meet you and some of the friendly staff from BVMR was great. The opportunity to ski the mountain with the aforementioned and five likeminded ski enthusiasts before the mountain was open was FANTASTIC. I think this is a great idea and look forward to the next First Tracks.
Thanks Again!
Rob
Martin,
As a participant in the inagural 'first tracks' event, I found it to exceed my expectations in all ways. Skiing with the best--you, the ski instructors, patrollers and the enthusiasm of the group were fantastic. First tracks on Monte, Strawberry Fields, the trees and the backside were all awesome. Nothing like owning the mountain for an hour--sign me up for the next event!
BVSkier (Mike Oliver--OliverAssc@aol.com)
Martin,
I was at Bear Super Bowl Sunday - great day, great powder - but why wasn't the lower mountain open? I asked ski patrol and they told me it would not open all day due to avalanche risk. I am wondering why they cannot clear the lower mountain as they do the upper mountain and open it the day after it snows.
Hi Martin,
Wow, What a great winter so far! All of crew at BV is doing a great job. With all of this snow, Bear Valley really gets to show-off it's good side. Grizzly bowl is as good as I've seen it in years. I had some excellent runs off West Ridge and Haleakala last Saturday, after the "Early Tracks" session.
Thank you, Martin, for the "Early Tracks" session on Saturday. It was nice to ski with you and the Patrollers, Larry and Joe and it was nice to meet and ski with Bob S. and Merrill, as well as the patrons that made it to the hill early. That was a great time and I look forward to the next installment. I can see this Early Tracks becoming quite popular as the word gets out.
Martin, keep up the good work. I think the "Gemuetlichkeit" atmosphere is catching on.
"I am wondering why they cannot clear the lower mountain as they do the upper mountain and open it the day after it snows."
Sometimes after a period of heavy snowfall where the
lower mountain has not been accessed or controlled it is wiser to let the snowpack settle or slide naturally. A day or two not only makes the job of controlling the avalanche hazard safer, it also lessens the likelyhood of a public skier triggered slide.
The lower mountain is exponentially different than the upper in terms of avalanche hazard - always has been, always will be.
We call it "Grizz" for a reason.
Man I miss my Mountain!
Cheers!
About brown bagging it. I have been coming to Bear Valley for 30 years and now bring a 2nd generation, my children. We spend lots of $$. I do have a problems with the brown bag issue. My son has severe, life threatening food allergies (multiple) and we have been advised by our allergist to not take him to restaurants etc. due to his risk of anaphylaxis (breathing stops). We bring his own food wherever we go. We feel as a family that we don't want to single him out so we all bring our own food. We do buy drinks and "safe" treats in the lodge. To be forced to sit in a certain section is difficult and risky. He is contact sensitive to peanuts and brown baggers are more likely to bring peanut butter sandwiches etc. I'm guessing that buying food in the lodge may be difficult for diabetics as well.
Another comment, I have heard multiple times "It's getting more like Tahoe" stated in a complaining way. That is why my parents left Tahoe for Bear Valley 30 years ago... Careful...
Hi Martin,
I also wanted to comment on the brown bagging issue. As season pass members we are at the resort way too often to want to pay the high prices for the food you have. Its great as a treat but not 20x per season. Plus we have a 2 year old and much of the food is not that healthy or toddler friendly. There is not enough room in the bungalow for all those brownbagging it, and the tables are so crowded together we cannot get in with the stroller. And since one of us has to hang out with the 2 year old, being in a too hot or too cold room doesn't work. We don't hang out in the food court room since it does make sense to leave that to people buying food. I just worry that these kinds of policies make for a less-family friendly and less "Gemutlich" or cozy place.
Best regards,
Denise
Gemuetlichkeit! I know all about that, grew up in Switzerland. Everybody on the mountain, foreign or local, are just great. What is missing, in our opinion, is the food! Very poor quality, very high prices! We will be bringing our own lunches. A visit to any european ski resort will give you an idea what food service could be.
Mario
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