So 1st day in the Pocono's this season and plenty of interesting things occuring. Arrived early and to their credit the Camelback guest services office was open. Was able to switch my pass for this year (I had bought in March and been issued a standard pass at that time for this season) for a new RIFD card. However, I could not get my access fob to the locker room because there is only one person who can do that and she wasn't coming in till later. Luckly they did let me in the locker room and I was able to get on the snow by 8 and get some first tracks. I later had to stand in line to get that fob activated when she came in.
On the hill things were limited but ok. Stuff that has been open for a while was actually in decent shape first thing and they opened some new terrain today (as typical openings are usually a little rough with death cookies and today was no exception).
But what wasn't usual was the operations side of things. Stevenson was not open yet but they were blowing snow on Nile Mile so it should not be long. But about 9:30 standing in line gazing at a closed Bailey lift I asked a liftie what was going on with Bailey and Meadows, and she told me they simply did not have the staff. Guess its not only a Vail problem. That said they did open somehow Bailey around noon.
Knocked off around 11 and went to check out the après ski scene. The bar is open again (yeah). However the stage had christmas decorations on it so I inquired about the music scene. Seems no bands are scheduled to play as of right now. Honestly why? For years this has been one the best ski bars I have been to. Saturday afternoons/evenings rocked with fun bands and dancing. Non skiing people would come up and attend and it was definitely a money maker. Why would they kill it?
I work for a large corporation, I understand the numbers game but honestly why would they do away things that seemed to have worked in the past. Was glad to see that most of covid precautions of last season were relaxed but still finding things I missed from the pre-covid days. Perhaps I protest too much but its just my opinion. As always a day skiing beats a day at work.