Lift Line Crowding

Two incidents over the holidays left most of us rather surprised at the resort.

First, for the first time that most of us can remember, we reached capacity and spilled over on visitor count. Normally our lift lines are fairly short (max of a 3 or 4 minute wait), and the on-slope crowding is pretty minimal. This holiday season it was a lot different. The on-slope crowds were just amazing. Off-slope, the lodges reached capacity early on, with many of the guests now spilling out into the parking lot. Management being mindful of upset customers, decided to put up an outdoor grill and turn front patio and parking area into a BBQ field. Lift lines themselves were spilling beyond the normal boundaries, down the lift hills, and into the slopes. Several of our European compatriots noted how civil this crowd was compared to a European resort where people stand on each others skis.

The second incident, a fist fight in said lift line. I'm not sure exactly what started it, I was not there for the start. I did hear the call over the radio for assistance in breaking it up, and saw the mass of people swarming around the area. By the time I arrived it had been fairly well broken up and they were trying to move people on the lift while removing the ruffians. Word from those in the crowd was one guy on a snowboard arrived at the lift line very upset, throwing his snowboard at someone in the lift line, hitting the wrong person, and it expanded from there. The local sheriff got a chance to show the locals what he gets paid for.

All in all, it was certainly a different holiday.