Oh Goodie! More news from Crystal!

Hey, there's nothing wrong with having a ski area have great food...

In 1999 while attending La Skieda, the telemark ski festival in Italy, we used to have lunch at the cafeteria on the hill: homemade pesto gnochi, a salad bar that feature whole balls of fresh buffalo mozzarella, crusty bread, amazing cheese, wine, beer, etc. This place was as good as or better than any italian rest. in seattle. And the lunch cost around $5-$7.

I appreciate your optimistic take, Richard, but there is no way in hell that Crystal is going to offer anywhere near the menu you've described for $5-7.

And oftpiste, they don't show the menu for the same reason they don't show prices at fancy restaurants: if you can afford it you don't have to ask.

I'm one of those people who have to ask, and while I very rarely eat on the hill, sometimes some chili fries or chicken strips keep you going.

The reality of the situation for me is that I don't have kids, and I usually ski with my wife or bros who don't choose to afford paying for expensive on hill cuisine anyway. We pack beers next to our shovels and hibachis in the Rocketbox. BBQ chicken tastes better when you make it yourself!

Maybe lots of tourons paying for expensive food will help them offset the costs of their season passes, those of you who are passholders at Crystal should be stoked if management can make their money elsewhere.

I'm not sure what they need to offset when it costs over $500 to buy a 7 yr old a pass! Think pass prices are going to drop because they get big dollars for a burger at the top?

I'm fortunate to have kids that are pretty resilient and love to ski, but they still need a break and warm-up from time to time, and while I have no problem with nice food on the hill (that newer place halfway up Collins at Alta is really nice) it won't be euro cheap (unfortunately). And the whole boyne approach these days seems to be about catering to the adult tourons, and abandoning or even trying to discourage (by pricing them out of the loop) normal, moderate-income-level families.

I wonder if the profit margins are so much better that they can afford to send people like me to the parking lot for lunch instead of leaving my money there on the hill? While I might be willing to spend $30 to buy all 4 of us lunch I'm not going to go much past that. Nor am I interested in or want to take the time to be waited on and worry about whether my kid knocks over a wineglass when he takes of his goggles or have to flag down a server for the bill when it's time to head out. Boyne's apparent approach to their customers makes me feel resentful about leaving my $$ with them (and they know it won't stop me from skiing there), and that can't be good for biz in the long haul.

Change is inevitable and I need to sack up over it all, but it just irks me to be a paying customer held hostage, and seeing that the needs and desires of families like mine (I don't think I'm the only one?) who spend a ton of money there already without the fancy meals and stuff are obviously held in such disregard. Crystal, despite Boyne's aspirations and apparently high self-regard, is never going to be Aspen or Deer Valley or one of those places. If you want to be Deer Valley, then provide the services that go along with the prices. If you want to be a great - even world class - regional, wide spectrum ski area, then take ALL of your customer's needs into account, and serve them fully.

I've been to DV, and while it ain't at the top of my list for skiing, even they had lots of alternatives for food in a variety of price ranges (and as I recall it was all very good) and everyone treats you like a king from the ski valet in the parking lot to the lifty to the girl at the cafeteria cash register. No attitudes, no 'you gotta stand in THIS line if you want a burger' growls. Of course, I've seen that at much smaller areas too.

I just think the carpet needs to match the drapes, so to speak.

I agree, I doubt their pass prices will drop because of new expensive food. And $500 is more than I paid for my unlimited adult pass, so I feel for those of you who ski at Crystal. The disparity between pass prices amidst NW ski areas is huge, which leads me to believe that the powers that be all look at their revenue stream and budgets differently.

Meadows finds a way to offer very reasonable pass prices. Timberline/Ski Bowl are pretty good, Stevens (my area) is good if you get 'em by May 31, Snoqualmie is obviously the cheapest around, so what's up with Crystal? Their staff isn't any bigger than similarly sized resorts. They aren't using way more explosives or OT for avy work than a Baker or a Meadows, they are clearly getting decent concession sales at the Snorting Elk and the base lodge bar (whatever it's called). Maybe what we need is a good strong letter writing campaign. That always works with the corporate types.

Well, at least they made one good move (for crystal passholders anyway)! No reverse benefit apparently.


Copied from the xtal website:

~ NEW "Friends with Benefits" plan for Unlimited & Midweek season pass holders. Crystal Mountain Unlimited passholders will get up to 10 days of free skiing at The Summit and Alpental and midweek passholders will get up to 5 free midweek days. Simply present your seaosn pass to Guest Services at The Summit or Alpental and receive your free lift ticket.
**Blackout dates are 12/26/07-12/31/07 and 1/19/08-1/21/08; and tickets are valid only when both The Summit and Crystal Mountain are in operation.

Just go to the Snorting Elk for lunch. There is a deli there with great lunch stuff, and you can ski right to it.