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Thank you for supporting independent ski journalism.About CamelbackOwned by: EPR Properties, managed by Peregrine Hospitality (formerly KSL Resorts)Located in: Tannersville, PennsylvaniaYear founded: 1963Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: 7 days, no blackouts* Ikon Base Pass: 5 days, holiday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Shawnee Mountain (:24), Jack Frost (:26), Big Boulder (:27), Skytop Lodge (:29), Saw Creek (:37), Blue Mountain (:41), Pocono Ranchlands (:43), Montage (:44), Hideout (:51), Elk Mountain (1:05), Bear Creek (1:09), Ski Big Bear (1:16)Base elevation: 1,252 feetSummit elevation: 2,079 feetVertical drop: 827 feetSkiable Acres: 166Average annual snowfall: 50 inchesTrail count: 45, with three new trails for 2026-27 (not on the map below, but discussed on the podcast)Lift count: 12 (1 high-speed six-pack, 1 high-speed quad, 1 fixed-grip quad, 2 triples, 2 doubles, 5 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Camelback's lift fleet)For reference:The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, then click on any text block to teleport to the associated point in the video; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:37.000Stuart Winchester: Welcome to The Storm! I'm your host, Stuart Winchester. Today is Wednesday, September 16th, 2026, and I've got a really good show for you today.00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:45.000Stuart Winchester: we're going to talk some Pennsylvania skiing. And Pennsylvania skiing is a really interesting thing. As I travel around the country.00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:56.000Stuart Winchester: and ski at all these different places in the Midwest, and out West, and in New England, and in the Mid-Atlantic. Uh, and as I talk to folks who… who don't ski that much, or only ski at the big mountains.00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:05.000Stuart Winchester: I'll often bring up some experience I had at a Pennsylvania ski area. Pennsylvania has quite a few ski areas as 21.00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:20.000Stuart Winchester: public chairlift-served ski areas, and it does 2.6 million skier visits on average per year. That is more than any state except for Colorado, California, Utah, Vermont, and New York.00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:26.000Stuart Winchester: It's more than Washington, it's more than Oregon, it's more than Montana, it's more than New.00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:39.000Stuart Winchester: So, Pennsylvania is a really important ski state, which is probably why Vail Resorts owns 8 ski areas there, because it is really close to a lot of population centers. In western PA, you have Pittsburgh.00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:54.000Stuart Winchester: and Seven Springs, and Laurel, and Hidden Valley, and then you have Philadelphia on the east side, and you can also draw up from Baltimore and D.C. for Round Top and Whitetail. And uh…00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:57.000Stuart Winchester: And Jack Frost's Big Boulder up in the Poconos. So…00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.000Stuart Winchester: Vail has a big presence there.00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:15.000Stuart Winchester: Icon has a presence there with Camelback and Blue Mountain. Uh, and then Indy Pass just signed their 8th ski area in Pennsylvania with Spring Mountain, uh, down near Philadelphia. So, so it's, it's a place where a lot of skiers start.00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.000Stuart Winchester: And it's a little bit of a funny place to ski, because…00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:29.000Stuart Winchester: it tends to have an outsized number of novice skiers, which is great. They're very good at doing that. Uh, but it can make it a little chaotic.00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:38.000Stuart Winchester: And the lift lines can get a little crazy, and people are all over the hill, and sometimes they're walking down the hill because they're frustrated and they're giving up.00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and…00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.000Stuart Winchester: You take that as your baseline in Pennsylvania.00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:49.000Stuart Winchester: And you had any sort of complications.00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.000Stuart Winchester: And things get out of hand really quickly. And in general.00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.000Stuart Winchester: For that reason, the ski areas that have survived in Pennsylvania.00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:07.000Stuart Winchester: are among the best operators in the world, and I would put that up against anyone.00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:14.000Stuart Winchester: It's a very, very challenging environment, not only because you have a high number of novice skiers.00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, but also because you have…00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:31.000Stuart Winchester: not a ton of snow, sometimes in the west part of the state, where there's higher elevation, they do get a lot of snow, but… but not as a rule, you couldn't count on it for natural snow. Uh, you get a lot of rain, you get a lot of warm-ups.00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:35.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and… and you, in general, have to rely on…00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:42.000Stuart Winchester: a very short season, generally mid-December-ish to mid-March-ish.00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.000Stuart Winchester: And the skiers there…00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:52.000Stuart Winchester: They're they're accustomed to a pretty high standard, so.00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.000Stuart Winchester: So when things do get out of control, uh…00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:04.000Stuart Winchester: They really rebelled, and they really noticed. So, a couple years ago, this is what happened at Camelback. So, Camelback…00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.000Stuart Winchester: You know, I don't generally do ops stories, uh…00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:10.000Stuart Winchester: You know.00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:19.000Stuart Winchester: ski area didn't groom this run, or they haven't opened this lift, or, uh, you know, they usually let this bump up, but they don't, or, or…00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:27.000Stuart Winchester: you know, they… they are trying to save money, or they're being cheap. I generally don't bother with those, even though I get a lot of messages.00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.000Stuart Winchester: Complaining about things like that, because there's almost always a pretty good reason.00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:38.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and it's almost always temporary, and it's really not worth the effort.00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:48.000Stuart Winchester: to write the story if I'm just writing about, you know, why Stratton or Mount Snow or Magic Mountain didn't open a certain lift on a certain day.00:07:48.000 --> 00:08:04.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, it's, it's a lot to track down and it's a lot of, uh, this person said this and the other person said that. It's just not the kind of thing that I'm want to cover with the storm, right? I want to do bigger stories. I want to do trend stories. I want to look at the culture and evolution of skiing.00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:11.000Stuart Winchester: And the passes, and all the infrastructure, and all the fun stuff. So I don't generally cover the day-to-day stuff, just because…00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:18.000Stuart Winchester: The ski areas that remain in 2026 are, for the most part, run by really good operators.00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:32.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, it… because… and they've survived. Most of the bad ski areas that were either mismanaged or were in the wrong places, they went out of business a long time ago, which is why the number of ski areas has been stable for around 25 years now in America.00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:35.000Stuart Winchester: So I but I started to notice.00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:45.000Stuart Winchester: several years ago that I was getting an outsized number of complaints around one ski area in particular in the Poconos.00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.000Stuart Winchester: And it was Camelback.00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:51.000Stuart Winchester: And Camelback had a long history of being an independent.00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:52.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:54.000Stuart Winchester: Really…00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.000Stuart Winchester: the way it's been described to me by… by season pass holders, and I've skied…00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:04.000Stuart Winchester: some at Camelback, but I don't have that depth of knowledge of having grown up there.00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:20.000Stuart Winchester: That Camelback for a long time, for decades, set the standard on snowmaking, on grooming, on just general maintenance of lifts in the ski area in the Poconos. And that was why they had chosen to ski there all those years.00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:30.000Stuart Winchester: But things had started to fall apart when a new owner showed up in 2019. It was at the time KSL Capital, who was.00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:43.000Stuart Winchester: was managing it for EPR Properties, which is the entity that bought it, and they own a bunch of ski areas, EPR Properties, including a bunch owned by Vail, including North Star, and a lot of the old Peak Resorts in Ohio and such.00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:50.000Stuart Winchester: And KSL Resorts was a division of KSL Capital.00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:53.000Stuart Winchester: which is a part owner of Altera.00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:58.000Stuart Winchester: But for some reason, Altera, which is very good at running ski resorts.00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.000Stuart Winchester: did not…00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:15.000Stuart Winchester: get assigned as the… as the owner of Camelback. And when KSL Resorts purchased Blue Mountain, not in Ontario, the Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania, that's about 45 minutes from Camelback, two years later, in 2021.00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:26.000Stuart Winchester: That ski area also did not fall under Altera's ownership. And it was an odd choice to make, because Altera's really good at running ski areas, and they run…00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:35.000Stuart Winchester: Mammoth, and Deer Valley, and Steamboat, and Solitude, and Palisades Tahoe, and Stratton, and Sugarbush, and they definitely have.00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:41.000Stuart Winchester: the institutional knowledge and internal firepower to be able to run these ski areas in the Poconos.00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, Blue Mountain…00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:47.000Stuart Winchester: Had the benefit of a long time tenured management team.00:10:47.000 --> 00:11:02.000Stuart Winchester: That kept the place, by all accounts, running pretty well. Camelback, on the other hand, seemed to be falling apart before our eyes, and before the eyes of the loyalist skiers who loved the place so much. And they were really, really concerned, and I started to…00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:08.000Stuart Winchester: Because they had put, uh, a management team in place, it seemed.00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.000Stuart Winchester: that…00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:22.000Stuart Winchester: was not familiar with the… with the inner workings of a ski area. Uh, I… I hosted Dave Makarski, the former general manager of Kalenbach, on this podcast.00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:33.000Stuart Winchester: and very nice guy. We had a great conversation. Uh, he's not a skier. And, and, you know, sometimes you can be not a skier and run a great ski resort. Uh, look at Bill Stritzler up at Smuggler's Notch.00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:43.000Stuart Winchester: Bill hasn't skied in years, and he snowboarded for a little bit, but he's not a daily skier. Look at Shawnee.00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:54.000Stuart Winchester: that where the owner… that's one of the most modern, nice ski areas in the Poconos, uh, and the owner has not skied in decades. So, so it's not always necessary, uh, but…00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:10.000Stuart Winchester: It does help and it's certainly a benefit. So everyone I talked to, I was, I was gathering all this stuff for a story and I was gonna write about Camelback and, and it, it really seemed like it was the worst run ski area anywhere that I could find based on the amount of feedback I was getting.00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:25.000Stuart Winchester: I was gathering all this feedback from all these long-time pass holders, and then they hired a new general manager, and so I scrapped the story, but I still wanted to get it, and by all accounts, Jason Bays, who I'll bring on the podcast in a moment.00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:34.000Stuart Winchester: has really done a nice job of turning CamelBak around. So, so let's go to Jason now.00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:16.000Stuart Winchester: My guest today is the Vice President and General Manager of Camelback Ski Area in Pennsylvania.00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:26.000Stuart Winchester: Camelback runs six chairlifts, or maybe seven. I might have had a typo there. Serving 45 trails on an 827-foot vertical drop.00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:41.000Stuart Winchester: Prior to taking the top job at Camelback, he was general manager for Great Wolf Resorts around the United States. He also spent time as chief operating officer and general manager of Mountain Creek Ski Area in New Jersey and director of operations.00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:54.000Stuart Winchester: for Jay Peak, Vermont. His very first jobs as a teenager were as a lifeguard and ski instructor at Camelback. Jason Bay is my guest. Jason, welcome to the Storm. Awesome to have you. How you doing today?00:14:53.000 --> 00:15:00.000Jason Bays: Thank you, Stuart. Great to be here. I've been a listener from day one, so excited to join you.00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:14.000Stuart Winchester: I love that. I'm so hyped to hear that. I know I started with a little Northeast focus. You know, you're the… you probably know this already, but you're the second straight guest I've had on. There was a Mountain Creek alum, Chris Haggerty, on yesterday. Are you acquainted with Chris?00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:18.000Jason Bays: Yeah, Chris and I worked together, um, back in our days at Mountain Creek, great guy.00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:33.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, I'm, uh, I'm not sure, I'm sure you're aware I'm based in New York City and Mountain Creek is one of my go-tos and, and was my home mountain before I started traveling all over the place for the storm. So, so, you know, Jason, I, I think it's awesome that you grew up at Camelback. Tal.00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:41.000Stuart Winchester: your childhood Camelback. What was the kingdom of Camelback like to you, uh, when you were growing up skiing there?00:15:40.000 --> 00:16:03.000Jason Bays: Yeah, look, I, you know, took, I grew up in Pocono Kid, born and raised 10 minutes from the resort. After school ski program was the first, you know, first sort of foray into life at Camelback and was immediately hooked in the summer as a swimming pool and two water slides. I thought that was the most awesome place in the world too.00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:04.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:21.000Jason Bays: And my parents thought it was a great babysitting service, you know, relative to that. So it was just an awesome, awesome place to grow up and, you know, be part of the small but mighty ski community that is Tannersville, Pennsylvania, in this area, in the Poconos.00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:39.000Jason Bays: um, you know, when it came to get a first job, uh, there's no place I was, uh, gonna consider other than Camelback. It's where all my friends were, it's where we all hung out all the time, and, um, you know, really just got introduced to, uh, to the sport, and, um, had some freedom. It was the first time I had some freedom, and it was to be at Camelback, so that's.00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:56.000Stuart Winchester: So you worked there, and you were part of the machine, so to speak, and I realized you were sort of on the peripheral of the machine, as opposed to in the center of it, as you are now. But, you know, you grew up in the Poconos, and had that experience, and you had this vision of Camelback in your head, right? Then you went off and had a big life, as…00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.000Jason Bays: Yes.00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:00.000Stuart Winchester: as people do, and you went and worked at all these places that I just mentioned.00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.000Stuart Winchester: And then you came back to Camelback.00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:06.000Stuart Winchester: When you, when you arrived.00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:10.000Stuart Winchester: How had the place changed? And I just want to tee this up. I, you know.00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:19.000Stuart Winchester: before you came on, I was talking about how I don't generally write operations stories, right? Because it… there's usually a good reason for why a trail is closed, a lift's not running.00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:26.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, but a few years ago, I started to get an outsized number of complaints about Camelback.00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:38.000Stuart Winchester: And so I started to write a story about it, and then when you came along, I shelved it, because honestly, everyone immediately was like, oh, this is so much better. So, you know, how had…00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.000Stuart Winchester: Camelback changed.00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:42.000Stuart Winchester: when you…00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.000Stuart Winchester: Came back to work there.00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:51.000Stuart Winchester: And what were the challenges facing the resort? What did you focus on immediately?00:17:50.000 --> 00:18:08.000Jason Bays: Yeah, I'll just back up to say, you know, just to contextualize, um, from when I was there as a teenager and, um, through college on the ski team, too, I would say that community was a really big word, um, that was used all the time. You, you felt like it was, it was the Camelback community, and there's a really big emphasis on the ski product.00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:28.000Jason Bays: Um, as a ski instructor, like, what we were putting out, how we were doing lessons, how many lessons we could do, and the experience that was surrounding that. And same thing on the water park side. And, you know, I think the, um, you know, some of the observations, um, coming back to Camelback was, um, I think there's a little bit of focus, um, focus direction for, for, like, to focus on the ski product.00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:44.000Jason Bays: and focusing on the water park product, and I sort of look at it as, like, a… as Disney World, right? Whereas we fill out… if we do the ski part well, we do the snow tubing part well, we do the water park well, that puts heads in beds, um, versus trying to put heads in beds.00:18:44.000 --> 00:19:01.000Jason Bays: And then have them do the activities. We're leading with an activity front and centered focus. And that means making the strategic investments in the ski product, in our recreational product, and making that the very best that it can be.00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:23.000Jason Bays: back in 2008 when I was here as a teenager, that was all there was. There was no hotel product, right? So the ski product got outsized attention just naturally because it was a 560-acre resort that identified as a ski area and a water park. And I think some of the context that was missing was that while there's been a great evolution of Camelback as a four-season resort.00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:16.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:40.000Jason Bays: It's really important that, to me, that each of those business units gets the time and attention that they would deserve if they were stand-alone units, particularly because a cog… it's a cog in the wheel, and that wheel is… it's a flywheel. It needs to… it all needs to turn at once, and so we lead with.00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.000Jason Bays: the recreational offerings first.00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:48.000Stuart Winchester: You know, you mentioned the community, and I wasn't aware…00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:59.000Stuart Winchester: that there was such a strong community around Camelback, and I'm not surprised, because most ski areas have that group of folks who, you know, they're retirees, and they boot up at 8am, and they take runs together.00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:14.000Stuart Winchester: But they were really passionate, and the running theme, Jason, in the emails and messages that I got from Camelback locals was that they loved Camelback. It wasn't that they hated Camelback, they hated to complain about Camelback.00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:18.000Stuart Winchester: They wanted to love it, but they couldn't. There was there was.00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:34.000Stuart Winchester: a lot of things they cited, uh, not making snowmaking when it's cold, understaffed grooming, uh, missed lift inspections. I don't know if this is true. This is what people were… they were reaching, I think, for answers. Uh, put it all together, and there was… it was definitely…00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:47.000Stuart Winchester: seemed as though the ski product was not the focus. So when you came in, what did you focus on right away and say, okay, this is what we gotta change, you know, we have to cover every trail 100% right away, or whatever it was?00:20:47.000 --> 00:21:09.000Jason Bays: Yeah, I think that's, look, I would start, you hit the nail on the head that there's a very passionate skiing community here at Camelback and in the Poconos and it means a lot to people. This is second, third generations that are learning to ski here, bring their families here and be part of this. And to your point, everyone wants to be prideful of Camelback, right?00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:24.000Jason Bays: This was the, this was family run for a really long time and, you know, very focused on sort of the, you know, season pass holders renewing year after year.00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:40.000Jason Bays: You know, a couple of things. One is I think that how we authentically tell our story isn't done in a way that is, you know, is done in a way that's authentic. A, bringing back the Camelback Mountain Facebook page that communicated ski related content.00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:39.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:21:40.000 --> 00:22:06.000Jason Bays: Right? I think that, you know, there's only so many things you can say about a hotel room and how exciting it is. Like, we really lead now first with authentically telling the story. Our snow report got a lot more detailed, gave granular information as to what was going on. So, you know, did we have a perfect winter last winter? By all means, no, but we communicated that authentically. And where we messed up, we took.00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:23.000Jason Bays: the blame for it, and said, hey, we didn't get this right, and where we were working to improve the experience, we communicated that… communicated that story. So, to me, it started from a communication standpoint, that we were authentic, that we were honest, that we were truthful, and that we were communicating on a medium that.00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:31.000Jason Bays: our guests would see, um, and relate to. So I think a big miss was, I think, admittedly, a big miss was removing the, um, Camelback Mountain.00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:53.000Jason Bays: social media pages, um, and bringing those back were really important so that, um, we could tell the story authentically. I think SKUs really appreciate, um, knowing what's going on, and to your point on, hey, there's sort of this rumor flying or that rumor flying, um, you know, we were able to, uh, sort of hone in and, and tell, tell that story. Secondarily, I think from an infrastructure standpoint.00:22:53.000 --> 00:23:09.000Jason Bays: um, we really needed to make sure that we had, um, the right team in place. And we have an amazingly talented team at Camelback, um, but we did not have key positions filled, um, in certain areas. Um, and so, we bolstered up the snowmaking. Snowmaking team went from.00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:05.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.000Stuart Winchester: Like, what areas?00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:30.000Jason Bays: you know, 3 to 4 to 30, um, this past winter, um, that makes a big difference, right? Our trail rollout was, um, you know, first to open in the East, uh, for Pennsylvania, um, and, uh, um, and, and focus on the core products. Um, same thing with lift operations. We brought in a really experienced lift, uh, maintenance manager.00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:13.000Stuart Winchester: Hey!00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:14.000Stuart Winchester: Wow.00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:21.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:46.000Jason Bays: Um, to our team that really helped, um, support our Lyft, um, uh, operation. Um, decisions on when Lyfts ran and what time they ran, uh, you know, our thought was, let's, um, be more… like, you have to run the Terrain Park Lyft every day.00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:47.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:23:46.000 --> 00:24:06.000Jason Bays: to me, that's a commitment. We make that every day. We say we're running the Glen Lift every day. It services great novice terrain. It services the train park. And so, looking at the operational plan and saying, okay, what are ways that we can give back, you know, and make deposits back to our skiers? And in turn.00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:24.000Jason Bays: that builds momentum, right? People talk, and, like, the ski community is so connected, right? It's like, if you do something, like, people find out about it, because they're really, you know, they hear about it. And so, for us, focus on the core business was, um, you know, from a ski standpoint, was really important, and the infrastructure.00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:13.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:19.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:41.000Jason Bays: to be able to do it. And I would just, lastly, just say I go back to making sure that our team had the resources to do their job. We're supported, we're empowered, collaborative leadership, you know, we sat around the table and said, this is the operating plan, this is what we're going to do for our guests.00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:46.000Jason Bays: And then go out and execute it to the best we can.00:24:45.000 --> 00:25:03.000Stuart Winchester: You know, Jason, I, I, I think you could have run for governor with one of the first things that you did, which was get rid of paid parking. I, I, I don't think that I've ever, uh, heard people happier about anything. Now, now, and let me, let me qualify this, right? I think in, in some instances, paid parking and parking reservations.00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:05.000Stuart Winchester: make sense.00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:18.000Stuart Winchester: you know, super high volume days. Arapahoe Basin, I think, is a model in Colorado where they only charge for certain days and certain times, and they keep backing off which days as they learn when they really need it. Camelback was charging every day.00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:36.000Stuart Winchester: All day, you know, a Monday with, you know, 10 people on the mountain, they were charging for it. And, you know, acknowledging that sometimes it's appropriate, I think Camelback got pretty out of hand with it, and when I had Mr. Markowski on the podcast, great guy, we had a great conversation, but he was not backing off that. He said, nope, paid parking.00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:51.000Stuart Winchester: we're all in. You said no. So talk about that and how you sold. I'd imagine it was a revenue stream, right? And you had to sell management on that, and I don't know if I'm giving you credit for something someone else did, but talk to us about parking and the evolution there.00:25:51.000 --> 00:26:12.000Jason Bays: Yeah, that was a week one decision from the Camelback team when I got here made from our leadership team at Camelback that everyone was in alignment on our senior leadership team here at the property and myself to remove the paid parking. And I think definitely there's actually you have so many nice pictures behind you.00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:30.000Jason Bays: I have a picture of the old paid parking sign behind me there, if you can see it on the corner, and it actually serves to me as a reminder of the guest experience, because someone's put a sticker on that paid parking sign that you probably can't see there, but it says, Ski Camelback, we're not happy until you're not happy.00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:48.000Jason Bays: Um, and it's a reminder to, to me and our team, um, that we're here to have fun, and we're here for the guest experience, and we're here to live, live and breathe fun Camelback style. This is not a, um, you know, we want guests to look forward to, to being here. And I think, you know, yes, there was.00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:38.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:26:48.000 --> 00:27:05.000Jason Bays: So obviously we ran a financial model. We didn't just, you know, get rid of paid parking and not assume, you know, that there wasn't some revenue to be recaptured elsewhere with a strategy to do it. But I think more importantly, you know, think about it.00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:22.000Jason Bays: a non-busy day, it might even be raining, it's 40 degrees, the last thing you want is someone running around a parking lot telling you, like, hey, I need you to hand over $15, and by the way, then you're gonna schlep your stuff up two different levels of parking, um, you know, that might be even charged higher, and then get to.00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:38.000Jason Bays: uh, the mountain and go to guest services. You know, I have a 3-year-old. If my wife and I went skiing, that would be an incredible amount of friction, um, just to get to, uh, the front of the mountain. And so I think putting ourselves in the guest lens of saying, is that really what we want the guests to experience?00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:53.000Jason Bays: Um, it's not, and, and it was a burden to everyone at this, you know, you think I'm talking about, we talked to frontline associates too, like, the first thing that they had to tell people was that they had to pay for parking. You just imagine, sort of, the cascading effect that, that, that, uh, that that had, and we said, look, is there.00:27:53.000 --> 00:28:09.000Jason Bays: Um, is there a better way? Um, can we run shuttles to these lots and pick people up and bring them to the mountain and make them feel, um, you know, like our valued… like our valued guests? What does that arrival experience look like? Um, you know, that's really what we… what we looked at, and then said, okay.00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:25.000Jason Bays: can we… ultimately, will we drive more volume here? Will more people come because of a better guest experience? And I'll say that I would rather grow the sport, grow the industry. Our team would rather grow the sport and grow the industry than figuring out how to.00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:35.000Jason Bays: You know, sort of, you know, run a secondary ancillary business that's not to our core product and what we want our guests to experience here.00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:48.000Stuart Winchester: You know, it's a little counterintuitive, but sometimes, by removing a revenue stream, you get that less-is-more effect. Another example, your season pass, you know, according to my records.00:28:48.000 --> 00:29:04.000Stuart Winchester: Starting in 2020 to ‘21, the season pass was $599 at its early bird price, and it hovered between that and $649 for the next five years. This year, you put it on sale for $399. It's still at that price for unlimited Camelback.00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:20.000Stuart Winchester: That's a great bargain for, uh, for a season pass on the East Coast, and, you know, for the listeners, you are competing with the Epic Pass, which has Jack Frost, Big Boulder, right down the road, a couple exits down I-80, and their Northeast season pass is pretty affordable, and it's a pretty good deal.00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:33.000Stuart Winchester: So… so talk to us about that decision and… and… and how… how that $399 is worth it. You also wrote back, if you want to talk about, uh, the… the triple pack. I thought that was great, and I don't have the price right in front of me, but… but you've really done a lot to… to…00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:39.000Stuart Winchester: create more of a value experience for that loyal Camelback skier, from my point of view.00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:55.000Jason Bays: Yeah, thank you, and that's definitely the goal. Um, you know, I think our thought process here is let's get more people on Snow, um, and have them have a great experience while they're here. Um, I would love to tell you that there's some master business plan behind this.00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:52.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:10.000Jason Bays: But, you know, truly, at the heart of what we do is, let's figure out how to get more people on snow, get them to a spot where they want to come back and learn and be part of it. And guess what I would just share to that is.00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:24.000Jason Bays: you know, we were charging a day ticket in 2025 of $169, um, at its highest point, right? And I would rather have a lifelong… I would rather have one per… I would much rather, I think from business proposition, we would rather have.00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:17.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:39.000Jason Bays: one person definitely not come and spend $15 to $40 to park and $169 and say, I'm never coming back, versus $399, now they're like, wow, this place is awesome, I'm getting a great value, I bring my family.00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:33.000Stuart Winchester: Damn.00:30:39.000 --> 00:31:01.000Jason Bays: I want to come enjoy food and beverage. And hey, by the way, we also have this great snow tubing park and this great water park. And would you like to stay at our hotel when you come with your season pass and enjoy Aquatopia? And we're debuting The Curse of Camelback this fall, right? Which is the Halloween, if you haven't heard, it's a Halloween 13 scare zones. Take a chair, lift up to it.00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:03.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:24.000Jason Bays: But I say all that to say we've got so many great cross marketing promotional opportunities at Camelback that that really becomes a super compelling business case for us. And I think it's the right thing to do for the sport is grow it, make it more accessible, allow more people to come here and see what we have to offer. I can't tell you how many people I meet, whether it's snow tubing, skiing.00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:41.000Jason Bays: water park, the hotel, whatever they're here for, CBKMA or Adventure Park, they have no idea that the other part exists to, um, the resort. And I'll share that that's been the case even in, like, when I was, uh, at Jay Peak running the water park.00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:34.000Stuart Winchester: Hmm. Okay.00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:43.000Jason Bays: People would come there, and they'd be like.00:31:43.000 --> 00:32:02.000Jason Bays: what is this mountain that is here? And it's Jay Peak, like, one of the most hardcore ski resorts in the world. And there were people that were coming there and were like, I had no idea there was a ski resort here. So, if it's true at Jay Peak, it certainly is true at Camelback, where.00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:52.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:53.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:00.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:02.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:19.000Jason Bays: we have all these different offerings that people don't know about, maybe necessarily about all of them, so our fundamental business philosophy is make it accessible, make them lifelong, um, skiers and riders, and introduce them to everything that we have to offer here in the Poconos. And I would just argue, when I say Poconos.00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:41.000Jason Bays: Like go, like experience Shawnee and experience Jack Frost Big Boulder and experience, you know, the other great ski areas in this region and Mountain Creek and wherever else and get a flavor for it. I think that's, we could use more skiers in the industry and to grow the sport. So for us, that's sort of the long-term business model that we're using.00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:23.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:58.000Stuart Winchester: So, I just looked at the triple ticket, and it looks like $149, and I think that's no blackouts. $199 includes rentals. That's pretty amazing. So, talk about that product, and then you mentioned the $169 peak day ticket. Have you settled on prices yet for 2020?00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:03.000Stuart Winchester: 6, 27. I should have checked your site in advance, but I didn't. So I don't know if you've.00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:21.000Jason Bays: Yeah, we have not, uh, posted, uh, day ticket prices for this year. Last year, um, we didn't exceed around $110, um, on a day ticket. Uh, so we kept it, I think, pretty reasonable for, for, for a, for a Pocono offering. Um, triple tickets, massive, um, success, uh, for us.00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, okay.00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:15.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah.00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:37.000Jason Bays: Um, and when we talk about, like, again, getting more people introduced to the sport, you don't necessarily pick up skiing on the first time. Um, you think about that rental product, which we, um, tremendously… whatever we had on the pro forma for that was, uh, blown by by, like.00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:53.000Jason Bays: 400% on the triple ticket with rentals. And what I really believe in is that, you know, you become a lifelong skier by getting repetition, not by going once a year. It's really hard to sustain as a skier going once a year.00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:33:53.000 --> 00:34:11.000Jason Bays: and saying, oh yeah, that was our trip. We're really trying to create a guest for life and get them to return visit. That's in many ways more important to us than, again, trying to get, like, the highest yield on that one day that they picked. Like, come back and visit our resort and, um, you know, again, the business side to this is.00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:28.000Jason Bays: we're cross-marketing across all of our other offerings here that we have on this campus to say, come and visit us again. And again, to us, that's more important than, you know, the highest yield that we can get to. So the triple ticket's really successful. And I think one last thing I would share.00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:46.000Jason Bays: a lot of season passes in the market right now, um, the triple ticket's a great opportunity for people to get a couple of days at Camelback, even if they've committed somewhere else, and particularly, you know, our long season, um, there's plenty of time to use it, um, as well, uh, from the, uh, long season that we established from last year.00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:50.000Stuart Winchester: Jason, I think that's a really smart way to look at it as…00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:57.000Stuart Winchester: a… creating a habit rather than pulling as much yield as possible. And a lot of the larger operators.00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:11.000Stuart Winchester: get frustrated with me and the rest of the ski media because they don't understand why we focus on that peak price, right? Because the peak lift ticket this year at Beaver Creek is $392, set to be. Probably almost no one will pay that price, but…00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:28.000Stuart Winchester: What it does is it acts as a, a billboard for the rest of the ski industry and especially so, so Camelback for, for people who don't know when you're driving on I 80 I mean, you see it, it looms right over the highway. It is one of the major interstates in America, especially at night. The thing is lit up.00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:46.000Stuart Winchester: And so, chances are, if people think about skiing, and they think about where to go, they're gonna think about the most obvious one, and that's Camelback, and that's why, for many years, it was that, or Seven Springs was the busiest ski area in Pennsylvania, traditionally. So I think that's a really smart way to look at it, because if people show up that one time, and.00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:59.000Stuart Winchester: cost them, you know, $500 for 2 people, they're just not gonna come back, and they're not gonna try Shawnee, or… or Blue Mountain, or Jack Frost, or Elk Mountain, or Montage. So, um, I wanna talk about… Jason, I wanna talk about Lyft.00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:16.000Stuart Winchester: And… can you see this trail map? This is an old trail map. I mentioned that I know this, so for those watching on StormSkiing.com or YouTube, you can see this. So there's been a ton of changes, and I want to break all these down with you. The first I want to talk about is, over the past couple years.00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mark Antony and Cleopatra, these two lifts right here, an old triple and an old double, have been removed. Can you talk about why you took those lifts out of service, and if you plan to replace them with anything, or what you planned, or what the rationale was behind it?00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:49.000Jason Bays: Yeah, I appreciate that. Uh, that does predate my time here, that they had reached the end of their, um, uh, ability to operate. Um, and so they have, um, both been, um, sort of partially disassembled. Um, there is unfortunately not.00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:37.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:36:39.000 --> 00:36:41.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:36:49.000 --> 00:37:05.000Jason Bays: I, by the way, two of my favorite lifts when I was a ski instructor, because you could get right up and not wait in long lines on the weekends, so absolutely realizing and recognizing the capacity that they brought, but no opportunity for us to.00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:02.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:23.000Jason Bays: um, reinstate those lifts as presently, um, as presently, uh, uh, sort of, um, situated, um, and, and not, not, not able to, uh, um, not able to, uh, rerun them. It will require a, um, new, uh, chairlift to, um, to ultimately replace.00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:37.000Jason Bays: those two lifts. It saddens me to share that, but that is, in fact, what has happened there, and I've been very open with our season pass holders about that messaging and the why behind it.00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:41.000Stuart Winchester: So, so in fantasy ski resort world, Jason.00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:46.000Stuart Winchester: Would you put a new lift here, and what would you put, if you could?00:37:45.000 --> 00:38:04.000Jason Bays: Yeah, absolutely. Um, same thing. We've, uh, we've made clear, uh, with no time, no official time frame to share, um, but certainly, uh, we've, we've, um, had, uh, preliminary conversations, um, about a fixed grip, um, quad that would, uh, would be able to take the place of both of those lifts, uh, and create that.00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:04.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:10.000Jason Bays: original redundancy that those two lifts brought to the resort when they were in operation.00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:27.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, that would be really nice. So, so, so these are gone and I, I have a, a current trail map now. So, um, and, and it's not completely current. We'll discuss the new trails in a moment, but this is the most current posted on your website. So, uh, we go over, these are the lifts that remain and see, uh, yeah, I, I miscounted in my intro, so sorry about that.00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:42.000Stuart Winchester: So this one is Stevenson, and Stevenson was, uh, it's a high-speed quad, uh, for the listeners, and it… it was a real junker. It was always stop, stop, stop, and, you know, it was… it was really… seemed to be falling apart and have a lot of issues. Now, uh, in 2020…00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:51.000Stuart Winchester: 5, this year, or 2024, I believe, Camelback, uh, McCarthy, the GM at the time, sent out a letter saying it was due for a…00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:53.000Stuart Winchester: Waltz.00:38:53.000 --> 00:39:02.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, let me see what he said… like, a complete modernization of Stevenson. So, so did that happen? And talk to us about Stevenson, and what kind of shape it's in right now.00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:20.000Jason Bays: Yeah, great, um, yes, that was a, uh, look, an amazing, um, project that was completed by, uh, by Dave and team, um, to modernize that lift. Um, it has, essentially, Doppelmayr came in and put in an entire new, uh, minus the, uh, minus the, uh, uh, the terminals and the.00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:09.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:35.000Jason Bays: Um, uh, and the structure itself, um, essentially all new components, all new electrical, um, uh, wiring components to it, a lot of the things that had plagued it. Um, and last year, uh, it operated 138 days.00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:36.000Stuart Winchester: Unbelievable.00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:53.000Jason Bays: Uh, which for Pennsylvania, uh, that's pretty darn good. I think we recognize it's a workhorse, um, it's key to accessing some really, um, fantastic terrain for us, um, and that modernization project with Doppel… in, um, partnership with Doppelmeyer that was done in the summer and fall of 2025.00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:54.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:53.000 --> 00:40:08.000Jason Bays: um, was, uh, very, uh, so it's all immediate impact, um, with, uh, Stevenson Reliability this past year, and we expect that to, uh, you know, knock on wood, to, uh, to continue going forward. We essentially, again, have a brand new lift, minus the, uh.00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:10.000Jason Bays: Uh, minus the physical pieces.00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:26.000Stuart Winchester: That's a really smart way to do it because they are tremendously expensive, these new lifts. And for folks who are watching or listening, this Stevenson is really important because you walk out of this giant hotel that's right here, that's not on the trail map with 400 and some rooms, and that is how you get up the mountain. Otherwise you got to.00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:41.000Stuart Winchester: pull your way over, so when that lift is not running or has problems, it's a real big issue. So, the alternative was, over here, Black Bear 6, uh, you replaced an old high-speed quad that was there, and… and I love this Black Bear 6 lift. It is…00:40:41.000 --> 00:41:01.000Stuart Winchester: Freakin' Ferrari, man. I think the price they gave me was something like $12 million that they spent, or maybe it was $10 to put that in. So that's the alternative, right? If you don't just modernize that current lift, you replace it. So, uh, Black Bear is awesome. I love it. It has bubbles. Is it too much? I mean, I know that KSL Now Peregrine had reasons for.00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:16.000Stuart Winchester: for putting it in, but what have you learned from a couple of years of having BlackBerry around, which is, again, probably the nicest lift in the state of Pennsylvania and one of the nicest in the Northeast, but maybe a little heavier than what you need for CamelBak, but I don't know, you tell me.00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:41.000Jason Bays: Yeah, you know, you know what I would share to that, um, you know, we, we brought it back for scenic chairlift rides this summer, and I mean, it's a massive hit. The summer, summer guests love, uh, the bubbles, they put them down when it's sunny, they put them down, um, probably gets more use in the summer as a bubble lift than the winter, uh, but look, it's, it's nice to, uh, have on the days where, you know, there's some liquid precipitation out here. It certainly happens in the Poconos.00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:24.000Stuart Winchester: Hmm.00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:35.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:58.000Jason Bays: um, and, uh, and, and or, um, uh, you know, other, other weather events, it's, it's, it's a nice to have, um, and it certainly, it gets you up in, you know, a little bit over two minutes. Um, it's a smooth ride, it's a great ride. Um, you are not going to get any complaints from me that we have a, um.00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:48.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:52.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:11.000Jason Bays: bubble, D-line, six-pack, um, in place, uh, and able to operate as our main workhorse lift. Um, and, uh, I think the six-pack versus the quad was absolutely the right, uh, call. Um…00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:27.000Jason Bays: from my experience being here before with the Sullivan Express, um, with the four-seater, the six-seater, just the… the added, uh, ability, uh, there is, uh, is… is well worth it. So, uh, we're happy to have that… happy to have that lift. I… I wouldn't, uh… I wouldn't…00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:31.000Jason Bays: We won't be trading it in at this point. Let's put it that way.00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:38.000Stuart Winchester: It is a gorgeous machine, and I have to tell you, I'm that weird person who, if there's a line on one lift.00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:56.000Stuart Winchester: And no line on the lift next to it. Even if it's a slower lift, I'll take the slower lift, because I just would rather not deal with the hassle of the line. So right here, for those who are watching, is the Bailey Double, and this is an old chair lift. It's an old slow double, it runs almost exactly parallel to Black Bear 6, doesn't land quite as high.00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:16.000Stuart Winchester: on the mountain, but functionally, it does about the same thing for you. So I like Bailey, and I was glad to see that not only did you keep it, and it does run, and that was true even under the previous regime, but you got a new gearbox for it, which is a really big deal for a lift like this in several decades. Also, talk about the work you've done on Bailey, and how you hope to use that lift.00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:18.000Stuart Winchester: this year to complement Black Bear.00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:21.000Jason Bays: Yeah, so, um, Bailey Lift…00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:32.000Jason Bays: full disclosure, Bailey Lift, Meadows Lift, Raceway Lift, and our season pass holders are very aware of this. Um, unfortunately, uh, we're not, um…00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:41.000Jason Bays: ready for day one of last year, um, or even close. And so, uh, we had to do a lot of, um…00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:35.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:57.000Jason Bays: normal PM maintenance, um, throughout the, um, end of fall and into winter to have all of them operational. Um, what I share to that is, um, we will run, just level set here really quickly, we will run all the lifts that we have on this trail map.00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:44.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:02.000Jason Bays: Um, and take care of them, maintain them, operate them.00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:18.000Jason Bays: Staff them, everything that you would do to run the extra capacity, we certainly need it. We'd like more capacity, actually. So that being said, Bailey Lift is critical. We got it back online.00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:34.000Jason Bays: End of January, it ran for 2 or 3 weekends, and we had a failed gearbox, um, on it, which is really unfortunate. Um, this off-season, uh, we've replaced the gearbox, we've done a full PM over the course of the summer on it, which is…00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:50.000Jason Bays: the, as you, as everyone knows, the ideal time, uh, to be, um, conducting such work, um, so that it is ready on, uh, day one. Um, it is a critical backup lift. We will run it every weekend.00:44:50.000 --> 00:45:07.000Jason Bays: Um, that we're, you know, in season, I would say in the heart of season, we're gonna run it. Won't be shy to not run it. Um, same thing with the Meadows, same thing with the Glen, same thing with the Raceway, which, um, you know, I know that that was, um, certainly chief among the complaints of.00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:22.000Jason Bays: locals and guests who were visiting from out of town alike was Lyft availability, Lyft reliability. That was something that we focused as fast as we could on last year, but we're setting ourselves up this year to be.00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:39.000Jason Bays: um, very proactive to that, and recognizing the importance of, of each of, uh, uh, you know, each of these. And look, every once in a while, uh, if the, you always want to have, like, Bailey is critical because it's the only other, if there's Black Bear, without Black Bear, it's the only other thing left, right?00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:38.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:55.000Jason Bays: Um, and so, uh, you know, I think the, you know, back in the, when I was here, like, every Lyft ran on the weekends. It was Camelback. Um, it was busy, right? Like, everything was going. That's, that's essentially our, our, our philosophy, um, will continue to be our philosophy going forward.00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:48.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:11.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Jason, I'll admit, I didn't come to Camelback last season, so I wasn't able to experience it firsthand. I really wanted to come to your May thing, which I'll talk about, I'll get to in a minute, but I had a shoulder surgery, so I wasn't able to do that. But I wasn't only basing my perceptions of C.00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:19.000Stuart Winchester: on locals' reactions. I had skied there myself in recent years, and the lift line management, I have to say.00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:21.000Stuart Winchester: It was…00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:33.000Stuart Winchester: really frustrating from a skier point of view, when you're waiting for the Stevenson lift, and there's a big line, and every chair is going up with one or two people, and this is not peak COVID or anything else, this is several years later.00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:50.000Stuart Winchester: So, you know, and I had a lot of locals tell me, oh, we walk up Sun Bowl because the lift line is just too chaotic. People come from both sides. No, no, again, that was all before. What's your philosophy of lift line management? How have you tried to tame that? And there's always, it's always going to be a little wild and hard in Pennsylvan.00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:56.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, but they could definitely have been managed better. Is that something that was important to you, that you focused on?00:46:56.000 --> 00:47:15.000Jason Bays: Yeah, we focused on that. We have a new lift operations manager that was hired in November of 2025, who took the bull by the horns. We developed a supervisor team in fairly short order to that as well, to build out a well-rounded team. And then I would just share that our lift attendants.00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:32.000Jason Bays: All hired locally within the community. And I think that we were fully staffed in LiftOps this year, which was a big, very big win. It starts there, right? A, the people, and then B, the right people.00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:23.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:49.000Jason Bays: um, on the, uh, on the bus, um, as a catalyst to drive, uh, lift operations forward. Um, and then absolutely, uh, we focused on, uh, line management, queuing, um, we set new, in some cases, new queues. We had, um, uh, supervisors, in many cases, out.00:47:49.000 --> 00:48:04.000Jason Bays: um, putting up chairs, um, and, um, and managing the lift line. We added, once we got that right, and we felt like we were in a good spot, and we, you know, look, I think, admittedly, a couple technology hiccups here and there, it was not a perfect, uh.00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:17.000Jason Bays: we didn't, like, on opening day, it wasn't perfect, but, uh, we improved, it was a big focus for our team, and I think when we talk about fundamental ski operation, um, if we just were a ski area, we would absolutely be focusing on.00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:36.000Jason Bays: lift queuing, but we have to do that, like, we have to execute that every day because we are a ski area, um, and that's core to our business, and so that's important. Um, then we added, once we got queuing, uh, uh, correct, we added surprise and delights. Lift, uh, chocolate chip cookies were massively popular.00:48:36.000 --> 00:49:04.000Jason Bays: We handed out over 15,000 chocolate chip cookies this winter at the Stevenson lift line. And so, you know, then it becomes fun, right? Then it's the hospitality side of the business of how do we engage with our guests now that we have full chairs going up for the most part off of the Stevenson and the Black Bear and the Sun Bowl. So we hired extra associates to do that, to surprise and delight, to help our guests.00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:42.000Stuart Winchester: Cool.00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:20.000Jason Bays: The one other thing I would just share is Sunbowl is a great example. How many people get down to the Sunbowl and have never ridden a lift before? And so you need that extra human touch to be able to help. It's not even just putting people in groups of four. It's just helping them with like, here's where you go to load the lift. Here's what you do.00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:14.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:21.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:33.000Jason Bays: Um, I think that that investment in our people to provide that service to our guests is very well worth it, and it's the difference between someone having a bad experience getting on a lift and never coming back.00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:43.000Jason Bays: or having a great experience, feeling well cared for, and wanting to try again. Um, and so that, that, that was, um, you know, I think that's a core, um, focus for us.00:49:43.000 --> 00:50:02.000Stuart Winchester: So, one of the ways that I can tell the resort is being run by a skier, in addition to all the things you just said, and your passion for the minutiae of things like lift lines, which I share, is that you're cutting 3 new trails in a resort that's 60 years old, and I love that. So, talk us through these trails, Jason. I'll do my best to trace them.00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:08.000Stuart Winchester: on the trail map. I don't have the updated trail map, I don't know if you've created it yet, but talk us through these three trails.00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:25.000Jason Bays: Yeah, so we're really excited. Look, this, you know, came after, you know, the so many guests, new guests that visited us at Camelback this past season. We said, you know what, let's do something fun and exciting. And like, you know, you think about how.00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:43.000Jason Bays: Um, yeah, I just, you know, if someone said, anyone puts in a new trail, uh, the skier in me wants to drive to that resort, no matter how big or small, and be like, alright, like, let's do it. Um, and our team feels, uh, you know, much of the same way. So, um, that being said, uh, we had a lot of natural snowfall this year, so…00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:33.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:37.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, sure. Yeah.00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:59.000Jason Bays: I was acutely paying attention to where people were skiing when we had natural snowfall, where they wanted to go, and then, you know, maybe following those lines, too, and seeing what the fun was about. So, my point to all of that is, we said, let's create some, and I think for Camelback, too.00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:48.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:50:59.000 --> 00:51:15.000Jason Bays: it's very, um, you know, we wanted to create something that was sort of unique. I didn't want to just put in, like, regular trails that, A, we don't have a lot of space for regular trails, and B, um, we really wanted to create sort of unique experience. So, right underneath Black Bear, um, in between Sullivan and John Bailey there.00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:09.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:30.000Jason Bays: um, there's a, um, there's a chute, um, where the old Alpine Slide used to go. Basculus goes back into Rocket, uh, but underneath there is some really fun rolling terrain. Like, it's, it's because the mountain, the, uh, Alpine Slide.00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:54.000Jason Bays: back in the day did had several dips and curves and so we're going to lean into those dips and curves and create something sort of fun that you can get some you know launch some airtime off of if you want or carve a turn over it but it'll have some some really nice terrain variation in a way that most trails at Camelback don't have and they're coming off of an expert trail there so.00:51:54.000 --> 00:52:06.000Jason Bays: um, gives, uh, you know, anyone skiing Asp, Hump, Rocket, um, or Basilisk would be able to reach that trail, um, and, uh, and be able to, uh, just have a little bit more excitement on the way back down.00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:08.000Jason Bays: Um…00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:20.000Jason Bays: Upper Cleopatra there, if you go to the, uh, where the U is, uh, or where Upper is, we're gonna cut a trail through the woods there that's going to end up on the bottom of Big Pocono.00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:21.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:31.000Jason Bays: Um, so it's gonna go down and across. So, um, that… um, and I see where your cursor is. If you go to the… where it says Upper on Upper Cleopatra.00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:29.000Stuart Winchester: So, like, here? Or…00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:32.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, upper…00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:54.000Jason Bays: So, Big Pocono, that's Uncle B. Yeah, right there. Yep, we're going through there. Yeah, so that's gonna be, that's a narrow blue square. So, you know, I think one of the things that's fun for us is we're gonna create a blue square there. That used to be a trail back in the 60s and 70s, fun fact, when Walter Foger was designing Camelback.00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:37.000Stuart Winchester: Upper… oh, this one. Okay, so you're cutting through here?00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:39.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, cool. Okay.00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:51.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, cool.00:52:54.000 --> 00:53:09.000Jason Bays: Um, that being said, um, the… actually, it got filled in with pine trees, so it's gonna be really cool, because there's pine trees on both sides. Um, we made it narrow, so we kept the pine trees, um, and so that's gonna be a really fun, um, sort of narrow… I think about, like, the, um.00:52:58.000 --> 00:52:59.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:01.000 --> 00:53:03.000Stuart Winchester: That's cool. It's pretty.00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:26.000Jason Bays: the ending of Jay Peak with some of the blues at the very bottom there by Interstate. We're trying to sort of have that, obviously in a much smaller zone, have that same effect, though, where you're feeling like you're really in the trees, and you've got some nice twists and turns to it. It's not terribly steep.00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:13.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:44.000Jason Bays: Um, two things on that trail. One is, it takes traffic off of Honeymoon Lane, which is a main boulevard, it pushes it onto the Sphinx, which has much more trail capacity, which is great, um, comfortable carrying capacity, and secondarily, um, on weekends, we're gonna have a hot chocolate, um, hut that people can ski up to.00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:52.000Jason Bays: Um, and get shots of hot chocolate, um, as well, so we're excited to, um, uh, to offer that to our guests. We think that'll be really fun.00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:47.000Stuart Winchester: That's cool.00:53:51.000 --> 00:53:53.000Stuart Winchester: That was awesome.00:53:53.000 --> 00:54:17.000Jason Bays: And then the Stevenson, it's going to drop on the cliffhanger side and drop down that lift line and go right down into the Faroe there and follow that lift line. Vermont skiing in a very short array but very much Vermont skiing, that's an intimidating drop. Stevenson for those that may not be familiar has a extremely.00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:55.000Stuart Winchester: And it.00:53:58.000 --> 00:53:59.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:09.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I think so.00:54:17.000 --> 00:54:34.000Jason Bays: extremely tight, um, and high, uh, crest of the lift, because the mountain crests, um, really steeply. Well, we're gonna ski that, um, and, uh, and make snow on it, and, uh, and, and, uh, and allow our guests to, uh, um, and allow skiers to, uh, to, to, to test, um, you know, a more narrow.00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:44.000Jason Bays: um, uh, trail up there that has a really great expansive view ov

I begin this podcast episode by talking about my own trips to Action Park. I was so excited to go as a kid when I visited and got to go because it was close to where my uncle lived in Northern New Jersey. My mother was not a big fan of amusement parks unless they were connected to Disney, and she had started reading enough about Action Park to be worried. My uncle did not have the same concerns, so he took me there and I had a great time. I rode what I could, brought home brochures, talked about it all summer, and assumed I would keep going back. That didn't happen. Then I talk about how Action Park came to be. The story starts with Gene Mulvihill, Great Gorge, Vernon Valley, and the problem of what a ski resort is supposed to do when the weather gets warm. The Alpine Slide came first, and from there the place kept growing into something much larger. Action Park was built around participation, which meant you were not simply strapped into a ride and moved along. You had some control, or at least the feeling of control, and that was a big part of what made the park so exciting. Of course, that same idea also made the place dangerous. In the episode, I get into the rides people still talk about, including the Alpine Slide and the Cannonball Loop. I also spend time on the wave pool, Motor World, and some of the other attractions that helped make Action Park feel less like a normal amusement park and more like its own strange world. Looking back now, it is much easier to see how quickly excitement could turn into something else. The darker part of the Action Park story is impossible to avoid. I talk about the deaths and injuries connected to the park, along with the lawsuits and insurance problems that followed it for years. Some of what happened there is shocking even if you already know the general reputation. The park has become famous as a place that probably should not have been allowed to operate the way it did, and there is plenty of truth in that version of the story. But I did not want this episode to be only about the worst things that happened there. For a lot of kids from New Jersey and the surrounding area, Action Park was a summer trip people talked about afterward. It was a place that felt enormous, especially if you were young enough to believe you could eventually get to everything. The danger is part of the story, but so is the memory of wanting to go back. That is what makes Action Park such a strange subject for me. The stories about the park are real, and some are worse than I understood when I was young. At the same time, my own connection to the place is still tied to being a kid who thought he had found the most exciting park in New Jersey. My last trip there had already happened before I knew it, which may be part of why the place stayed so large in my mind. Action Park does not fit neatly into one version of itself, and that is why it still feels worth talking about.

We're filling out May's Watchcast schedule with a trio of documentaries that have been on our respective lists for a while now, and first up is Vinny's pick, Class Action Park! Join us as we recount our own memories of weirdo theme parks of yore, marvel at the brazen lawlessness of this whole operation, and wonder aloud if we aren't just living in Action Park all the time now.CHAPTERS:(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 178: Class Action Park (2020)(00:00:43) - Intro.(00:04:00) - Class Action Park is Vinny's pick this month, and here's why.(00:10:37) - How this podcast is going to go, generally, and our own personal experiences with local theme parks.(00:20:57) - How the hell was this allowed to go on for so long?(00:27:04) - Break!(00:27:32) - We're back, and it's time to talk about who made this movie, and who some of the folks speaking in it are.(00:32:11) - Kicking things off with who Gene Mulvihill was. and how he came to own this place. (00:36:26) - The Action Park complex, and the rides that didn't work out.(00:46:42) - Some of the rides that lasted the duration, and the Lord of the Flies situation going on here.(00:56:02) - The deadliest kayak experience this side of the Colorado.(00:57:31) - The wave pool deaths.(01:05:49) - Motorworld, and George Larsson's death on the Alpine Slide.(01:14:52) - How Gene Mulvihill dodged consequences.(01:24:05) - What became of Action Park, and what, if anything, is there to be learned from all this?(01:46:12) - Final thoughts.(01:53:26) - Our film for next week: Harlan County, USA!(01:56:18) - Outro.

Experience Big Bear Lake when the snow melts and the mountains open up for summer recreation. Johnny Mac rides the Alpine Slide (and survives the lines), finds the perfect yellow hoodie at the local running store, indulges in ice cream at North Pole Ice Cream & Fudge, and discovers that a simple chicken sandwich at Social Kitchen & Lounge becomes transcendent when accompanied by a two-person band (plus dog) playing Tom Petty covers. Explore how this accessible mountain town delivers genuine alpine escape without Aspen pretension, and why fall's golden aspens make this the best season to visit.

I feel like I've done way sketchier things

Join John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman as they take you on a journey through the Great Lakes State in this week's episode of Behind the Mitten. From scenic road trips to year-round adventures, there's something for everyone!Nick Nebonne of Pure Michigan talks about Scenic Drives & Road TripsDiscover the beauty of Michigan's highways, from the historic West Michigan Pike to the hidden gems of the UP. Whether it's the Tunnel of Trees or the Sunrise Coast, these drives are perfect for any season.Brittney Buti Primeau of Crystal MountainExperience the magic of Crystal Mountain, a year-round destination in Thompsonville offering everything from skiing and the Alpine Slide to garden tours and art parks. It's the perfect base for exploring Northern Michigan.Jordan Peck of Treetops Resort Golf & DiningTee off at Treetops Resort in Gaylord, Michigan, known for its stunning courses and breathtaking fall colors. Don't miss their progressive fall dinners, offering culinary delights amidst spectacular vistas.Steve Hoke of HastingsEnjoy live music in the heart of Hastings with community concerts, kids' shows, and Friday night features. It's a vibrant scene you won't want to miss!Tune in to catch all these exciting segments and more!#BehindTheMitten #ExploreMichigan #CrystalMountain #TreetopsResort #HastingsLive 

We're back with our monthly listener episode! On this week's episode, Seth and Josh play the “Guess that Guest” game, plus we hear stories from listeners! From stories about an alpine slide mishap, to what happened after one woman ate at a Perkins Waffle House and got sick…on the way to meet her pen pal, and finally one Irish listener gives Seth and Josh a talk about their Irish accent attempts! Watch more Family Trips episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlqYOfxU_jQem4_NRJPM8_wLBrEEQ17B6 Family Trips is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Theme song written and performed by Jeff Tweedy. ------------------------- Support our sponsors: Uplift Desk Elevate your workspace with UPLIFT Desk. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/trips for a special offer exclusive to our audience. Get Soul Right now, Soul is offering our audience 30% off your entire order! Go to GetSoul.com and use the code TRIPS ------------------------- About the Show: Lifelong brothers Seth Meyers and Josh Meyers ask guests to relive childhood memories, unforgettable family trips, and other disasters! New Episodes of Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers are available every Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martial arts and action movie legend Keith Cooke talks to Andrew Staton about; Bandanas and the famous Double Split Kick China O'Brien 1 and 2 Being bullied Discovering Bruce Lee Impact of Bruce Lee Seattle Kung Fu Club refused entry Hung Gar Roger Tung Jimmy Hendrix Quincy Jones Forms Grand Championships How did he break into movies? What is Picasso Trigger? How did he train Michael Bean from Terminator? How did he get his break with Ernie Reyes Snr on a Gatorade commercial? What was it like filming in Hawaii with Playboy Bunnies? When did Fred Weintraub get in touch? What was the Atlantic World Display Team? What was it like working on China O'Brien 1 and 2 simultaneously? How did he find filming in Park City, Utah? What is the story behind the false hand? What is the Alpine Slide? What's it like filming at 7/8,00 feet altitude? How do you do the Double Kick? Training with Wushu teams in China What does it mean getting the kick in early? What was it like working with Robert Clouse and Fred Weintraub? Did they talk about the death of Bruce Lee? What was it like working with the Hong Kong Stunt team? How did he react when he met Cynthia Rothrock and Richard Norton? How did he get involved with The King Of the Kickboxers? What was the audition like? What was it like working with Corey Yuen? How did he pull off the Triple Kick? What was it like working on the movie Heat Seeker and with Gary Daniels? How did they film 11 fights in 14 days? Why is Coverage key to a good fight scene? How did he become Reptile and Sub Zero in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat Annihilation? How did he find the movie star Christopher Lambert? What is it like being in the Star Wars universe in The Book of Boba Fett as a Tusken Raider? What is his connection to Avatar and Zoe Saldana? How is he connected to Alita Battle Angel? When did he become involved in Black Creek with Cynthia Rothrock? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sounds like an f'd up children's book.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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(00:00) Rich, Wallach and Ryan Johnston open the third hour of the show coming up with prize ideas for donating to Pucks & Paddles. (17:00) Callers share their stories of alpine slide accidents. (32:00) Jayson Tatum hit a clutch three-point shot to give the Celtics a narrow victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. But is his regular season playing time a concern for potential burnout?CONNECT WITH TOUCHER & RICHhttps://twitter.com/toucherandrichhttps://twitter.com/fredtoucherhttps://twitter.com/KenGriffeyRuleshttps://www.instagram.com/Toucherandrichofficialhttps://www.instagram.com/fredtoucherhttps://www.twitch.tv/thesportshubhttps://www.instagram.com/985thesportshubhttps://twitter.com/985thesportshubhttps://www.facebook.com/985TheSportsHub

“Behind the Mitten” is Michigan's premiere travel radio show and Podcast, and it has more than 430 episodes. It is co-hosted by veteran journalist John Gonzalez and former chef/beer expert Amy Sherman. The show has been recognized by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters as Best in Category.On this segment, Amy Sherman and John Gonzalez talk to Brittney Buti, manager of public relations at Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville, Michigan, about some of the things you can do when visiting this summer.We learn about some of the cool things, including their Alpine Slide, water park, sculpture park, newly renovated golf course and more. It's a great location to use as a base for touring throughout Northern Michigan.Learn more about Crystal Mountain at https://www.crystalmountain.com/.Listen to BTM:*8 a.m. Saturdays on WBRN - 1460 AM and 107.7 FM in Big Rapids (new affiliate)*8 a.m. Saturdays on Kalamazoo Talk Radio 1360 WKMI (new affiliate)*8 a.m. Saturdays on WILS-1320 AM in Lansing*10 a.m. Saturdays 95.3 WBCK-FM in Battle Creek (new affiliate)*10 a.m. Saturdays on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM in Benton Harbor.*1 p.m. Sundays on WSGW-AM (790) and FM (100.5) in Saginaw.*6 p.m. Sundays on WOOD-AM (1300) and (106.9) in Grand Rapids.Follow John and Amy on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten orTwitter at @BehindTheMitten and Instagram at @BehindTheMitten_.

“Behind the Mitten” is Michigan's premiere travel radio show and Podcast, and it has more than 430 episodes. It is co-hosted by veteran journalist John Gonzalez and former chef/beer expert Amy Sherman. The show has been recognized by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters as Best in Category.This week's show heads all over Michigan, with stops in Thompsonville, Lansing and Grand Rapids.We learn about some of the cool things you can experience at beautiful Crystal Mountain this summer, including their Alpine Slide and newly renovated golf course. It's a great location to use as a base for touring throughout Northern Michigan.Then we head to Lansing, to talk with Matthew Bates, whose family owns Harry's Place, a verifiable Lansing institution that is celebrating 100 years with a big party.Finally, Nate Blury from Drink GR joins us to celebrate National Tequila Day. Not only does he shake up some Michigan margaritas, he also shares some events around the state to honor National Tequila Week.This show aired July 23-24, 2022.BTM airs:*8 a.m. Saturdays on WBRN - 1460 AM and 107.7 FM in Big Rapids (new affiliate)*8 a.m. Saturdays on Kalamazoo Talk Radio 1360 WKMI (new affiliate)*8 a.m. Saturdays on WILS-1320 AM in Lansing*10 a.m. Saturdays 95.3 WBCK-FM in Battle Creek (new affiliate)*10 a.m. Saturdays on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM in Benton Harbor.*1 p.m. Sundays on WSGW-AM (790) and FM (100.5) in Saginaw.*6 p.m. Sundays on WOOD-AM (1300) and (106.9) in Grand Rapids.Follow John and Amy on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten orTwitter at @BehindTheMitten and Instagram at @BehindTheMitten_.

“Behind the Mitten” is Michigan's premiere travel radio show and Podcast, and it has more than 430 episodes. It is co-hosted by veteran journalist John Gonzalez and former chef/beer expert Amy Sherman. The show has been recognized by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters as Best in Category.On this segment, Amy Sherman of BTM talks to Brittney Buti, manager of public relations at Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville, Michigan, about some of the things you can do when visiting this summer.We learn about some of the cool things, including their Alpine Slide, water park, sculpture park, newly renovated golf course and more. It's a great location to use as a base for touring throughout Northern Michigan.Learn more about Crystal Mountain at https://www.crystalmountain.com/.Listen to BTM:*8 a.m. Saturdays on WBRN - 1460 AM and 107.7 FM in Big Rapids (new affiliate)*8 a.m. Saturdays on Kalamazoo Talk Radio 1360 WKMI (new affiliate)*8 a.m. Saturdays on WILS-1320 AM in Lansing*10 a.m. Saturdays 95.3 WBCK-FM in Battle Creek (new affiliate)*10 a.m. Saturdays on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM in Benton Harbor.*1 p.m. Sundays on WSGW-AM (790) and FM (100.5) in Saginaw.*6 p.m. Sundays on WOOD-AM (1300) and (106.9) in Grand Rapids.Follow John and Amy on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten orTwitter at @BehindTheMitten and Instagram at @BehindTheMitten_.

On a dangerous installment sure to leave you in traction, we take a ride down the Alpine Slide and pray that we survive as we visit Jersey's own Action Park. Meet us at the ol' shed for a dose of Uncle Gene's ingenuity, evade a few water snakes, meet MC Brimley, and stay the hell away from the wave pool!!!  https://linktr.ee/disinformedpodcast Sources:https://weirdnj.com/stories/action-park/ https://www.newsweek.com/5-craziest-stories-about-new-jerseys-infamous-action-park-1516411https://www.njherald.com/news/20181108/mountain-creek-announces-new-principal-owner https://www.njherald.com/article/20121027/NEWS/909027778 https://www.mountaincreek.com/about https://www.si.com/lifestyle/2019/07/01/action-park-new-jersey-water-park-rides-history-stories-mulvihill https://thecinemaholic.com/is-eugene-mulvihill-still-alive/ https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20150414/30160/rise-and-fall-and-scrapes-and-scares-class-action-parkhttps://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/what-is-an-etf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_slide https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/the-libertarian-theme-park-of-your-86494293/ https://www.mcwaterpark.com/ride-and-slides/surf-hill/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SxhNai4Zhs - Action Park Commercial Outro:Semi-Funk by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/4333-semi-funkLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sauce recaps his high amount of fun in Colorado, Power Trip Bets brings some more grease, John Kriesel makes his usual Friday appearance, Mr. Z talks movies, and Mark Parrish and Aj Mansour join the crew to play Initials Game 372!

(00:00) John Karalis covers the Boston Celtics for Boston Sports Journal and joins Toucher & Rich to talk the Boston Celtics, the Play-ins for the playoffs and much more. (15:30) Mike Gorman is indicted to the NBA Hall of Fame. There’s also a bunch of players that have no business of being inducted to the Hall of Fame. Fred is terrified of roller coasters and waterparks. Listeners share their experience going down the Alpine Slide (29:57) THE STACK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your more interesting friends travel to the great wall of China and teach the locals how to properly ride an Alpine slide.

I was at Action Park once…once.   Recorded February 26, 2021   Show notes:     -I feel like I need a shower.    -I’ve been to Action Park   -Mulvihill’s tactics   -Preventable deaths and injuries    -Reagan and the 80s attitudes   -Life is a little more complicated   -Death and deregulation; the family of George Larson   -People my age and “Back in my day”   -80s childhood   -Boredom and Balance   -80s culture   -The F word   -Progress is never a straight line   -Back to Action Park   -Ridiculous slides   -The danger of the Wave Pool   -Tarzan swing   -20 foot cliff   -Cannonball Falls   -Going slow on the Alpine Slide   -Big raft ride   -Bottleneck of people on the single person tube ride   -Amuseparks and the balance of thrill and safety   -Human element   -Former employees and Mulvihill   -Mulvihill, charities, and my cynicism   -Rulebreaking and mischief   -Overton Window   -Generational divide   -Tone of documentaries   -Regulation and Texas   -Feux rebels   -Bootstraps   -Nostalgia   -Learning from history, staying in the present, and looking forward   -Evolving   -Follow the directions from experts in this pandemic (wear a mask, stay home if you can, keep your distance, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, get vaccinated when you can)   -Get your information from credible sources (New York Times, BBC, NPR, Washington Post, etc.) and not from someone charismatic   -Plugs!   -Twitter https://twitter.com/mmampodcast Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mmampodcast    Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/music-movies-and-other-stuff/id1236495556?mt=2  Podbean https://mmam.podbean.com/ Email mmampodcast@gmail.com     © MMAMPodcast 2021 All Rights Reserved

Buy low, sell high! We’re day-trading and investing all our money into ramen and vape stonks. (We are not financial advisors, I mean come on, just look at us!) Why is everyone freaking out about GameStop & AMC stocks? Would you hit the Alpine Slide at Action Park? What’s the best chick flick to date? The answers to all these questions and the hottest stonk tips you’ll ever hear, all in tonight’s financial disaster of an episode!

Sorry for the audio issues, part of the recording got corrupted four times during recording. I tried to fix it to the best I could but there are still some glitches, and janky transitions here and there... You have been warned. In part 2 I cover the Alpine Center including the Alpine Slide & Cannonball Loop, and some other bad ideas that sprung up at Action Park. As the references list was longer than 4000 characters I can't link it on anchor directly so click the link below for the references used. https://controlc.com/8da5170e

We're joined by Seth Porges, co-director of the Class Action Park documentary, to talk about the insane rides and dangerous acts at one of America's first water parks, Action Park. From looping slides and other ill-advised creations, to fake insurance and in-house ambulances, you just can't make this stuff up!Class Action Park Official Site: https://www.classactionpark.com/Class Action Park on HBO Max: https://play.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GX0P9SwLUP4vDIQEAAAAeClass Action Park Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqg48h_uKYMSeth Porges on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sethporgesAlicia Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliciaStellaSubscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThemeParkStopSupport on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThemeParkStopFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ThemeParkStop/

Well this has some dark stuff but we thought we would capitalize on the Action Park craze and talk about one of the more uh dangerous rides to ever be built.

This episode is a raw conversation with Toni Lobo where we talked about the lessons we learned during our short family vacation in Big Bear, California. We talked a lot about parenting during a pandemic, kids staying at home and doing school from home. Toni also shared about her 100-mile journey during quarantine. Hope you enjoy this conversation and glean tons of life lessons that you can use in your daily adventures.Links to locations we visited:Alpine Slide in Magic Mountain - http://alpineslidebigbear.com/Woodland Interpretive Trail - https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/bear-lake-woodland-trailOJ's Donuts AKA "Mount Donuts" - https://www.yelp.com/biz/o-js-donuts-house-big-bear-lake-2Follow us on Instagram for updates: instagram.com/stuffbellesaysWould greatly appreciate if you'd RATE AND REVIEW THIS PODCAST! :)

On this weeks episode we had two local comedians, Dave Oakley and Jason Balmforth. We talked growing weed, Dave's recent trip to Atlanta and Florida, the Alpine Slide, cougars, having homeless friends and so much more. Thanks for listening, we love you all. Intrp/Outro music by Ethen Esparza (https://soundcloud.com/hiphoptrip). Dave hosts an open mic at El Rancho every Thurs (sign up at 8 show at 9). Follow Dave on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/daveolaughs/ Twitter https://twitter.com/DaveOLaughs Facebook https://www.facebook.com/david.oakley.1023 Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/glw_podcast/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/greenlightweekend/ and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvWtSBMa_E7fXnlDO-Ipdjg

Located in Vernon, NJ, Action Park was the fault of Gene Mulvihill, CEO and founder of Great American Recreation. Mulvihill has been described as quote- "a folksy industrialist in the vein of John Rockefeller, a mad scientist with an oversize toy set or a canny, sometimes pushy businessman who kept politicians in his pocket". Initially intended as a way to keep his ski resort open in the off season, Action Park started the Alpine Slide in '78 and it was all downhill from there. Whether they called it Traction Park, Accident Park or Class Action Park, the people who got the chance to experience America's deadliest amusement park seem to remember it fondly.

When GamerDude heard about the movie coming out called Action Point, and discovered it was inspired by the real-life amusement park called Action Park, which he'd survived in the 1980s and 1990s, he knew he had to share his stories about that crazy place.  If you've never heard of Action Park, here's one of the commercials for it from the 1980s.  It was like no other park, before or since, because of the freedom - and the danger! GamerDude's stories today cover the Alpine Slide, the Tarzan Swing, the underground water slide, and the Cannonball Loop.  He talks about the cliff diving and the wave pool, as well as the speed boats and the Indy cars. Once you hear these stories, you'll want to go there too!

Jim and Evan break down the latest from the Swiss National Bank, along with the #Tesla bond offering, #cryptocurrencies and much more. Click here to view the article discussed in this Podcast; Sell Coke 0:55 - Swiss National Bank 3:55 - Central Banks 6:05 - Corporate Bonds 7:23 - #Tesla 8:32 - Restaurant Jobs Growth 12:03 - Long Term Trends 14:19 - "Sell Coke" 18:34 - Bonds Subscribe to Grant’s Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, iHeart Radio and Google Play Music. Grant’s Interest Rate Observer is available at http://www.grantspub.com

Welcome to Financial Investing Radio, where you'll learn the secrets for consistent, high probability returns in the financial markets for additional income to change your life. Grant creates consistent, high probability trading systems for the financial markets and has applied them over the past five years. He's only recently started sharing these tried and true market secrets. As a gift to listeners, Grant is offering his high probability indicators for free. Go to financialinvestingradio.com and download yours today. Now here's your host and trading veteran, Grant Larsen. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Financial Investing Radio. My name is Grant. Hey, on a previous podcast I had mentioned the term reversion to mean or mean reversion. Now one of my listeners commented on that asking for more information, so let me start with that. I thought I'd spend some time there, make sure we're all in the same playing field. Mean reversion is the theory that suggests that price will move back or eventually move back towards the average, all right? This mean can be the historical average of market price. We'll talk about the probabilities of that and so forth. Sort of thinking back, as we were raising our children, near our home there was a place filled trampolines. I think it was called Jump Street. Our kids loved jumping on the trampolines there. They had some trampolines that were horizontal. They even had some that were at an angle. They were up against the wall so you could run up to them and bounce in it. I'd throw you back to the horizontal ones. It's kind of like the markets, these trampolines, right? For example, when we bounce on a trampoline, we go below the static surface of the trampoline, and we propel up. Likewise, as we reach the apex, we fall back down. In the market though, prices don't always revert to the mean, but there is very often mean reversion, so a very key skill about mean reversion is to know how to spot those opportunities. That's because market prices go sideways at least half the time, but the real question is what does it mean in order to have mean reversion? In other words, it's the average of what? Like, over what period of time? I spent some time working through that trying to figure out, you know, do I do this on a five minute chart? Is it on a weekly chart? Is it a monthly? I mean, what's the average that you pick that's going to be most meaningful? Some of that has to do with what kind of investor or a trader we are, but I ran into something that was a huge impact to my trading, and that was to use something called channels, and to use channels in a way that helped me to spot those opportunities of mean regression, so let me explain it this way. A few years ago, we were in the mountains, it was in the summertime, and we were at one of the ski resorts. I don't remember the name of it, but it had something called an Alpine Slide. It's kind of like a bog sled channel where you sit on a sled. There's of course no snow because it's during the summer. You're in a slide or you're basically in a channel. It has sides that come up on the left and the right-hand side. It's open above so that you can see the sky and whatnot, but nevertheless you're in this channel. On the Alpine Slide there's a few things of course you want to know, right? You've obviously got a brake handle. That will help slow you down. As you go down the side of the mountain in this channel, you hit one side of the channel and it knocks you back to the center. Then you hit the other side and again it knocks you back to the center. The market prices, or I'll refer to that as price action, is a lot this way. There's a channel of price movement and what varies is the steepness or the grade of the channel. Now on the Alpine Slide, you would never want to break out of that channel for obvious reasons, right? You could certainly get hurt, but in the market it does this all the time, all right? A price comes along, bouncing along a channel, and then wow, pam. It shoots out of the channel for a bit, and sometimes it returns and comes back into it. Channels on charts is a personal favorite of mine. It takes some practice, but it builds on your experience with drawing trend lines. I'm sure you've already been drawing trend lines, right? As you know, when you draw a trend line, you're looking to connect two places where a price has turned around and gone the other direction. Lots of times we call these pivots, right? Let's say the price was coming down, then went back up, and then later it came down maybe a little bit further and went back up. Those two points where it turns around, each of those points are called pivots. When we draw trend lines, we draw those along those pivot points, right? We touch, we connect the dots, something we did as kids in the coloring books. Well, we do the same thing with channels, so we draw the channel lines that connect the pivots, and we only need two pivots on one side, and one pivot on the other side. Let's say that the channel is going down. Then I want to draw two pivots at the top first, and then I come down to a lower pivot where prices come down and headed back up. I connect the bottom part to that. Then what you start watching for is how the price action behaves within that range, within that channel, all right? Thinking back to this Alpine Slide, we can think of a downward channel on a chart. It's kind of like an Alpine Slide, right? Within that downward channel, price goes down for a bit, and then it actually hits the bottom of the channel and then bounces up, and goes all the way across the channel. Then it gets up to the top of the channel or somewhere near it, and then it turns around and reverts back to the center of the channel. This kind of reversion is more common, the reversion to mean within a channel. It doesn't necessarily mean that prices are going sideways, although that is certainly one kind of channel, no doubt about that, but more importantly it's to identify the channel, the steepness of it. It may be flat, but the steepness or the direction or the angle of the channel can be up, down, sideways. Before we go further, I'd invite you to make sure you practice applying this on your charts. Understanding the range of motion for a particular instrument that you're investing in, in trading is critical. That helps you understand opportunities, you know? If I've got a good opportunity or maybe a not so good opportunity, it's about the location and channels help us to do this, and knowing that when it hits the edges of the channel, then it has some higher probabilities that it will revert or go back to the mean, meaning to the center of the channel itself. Okay, now I want to share a few secrets with you that I've learned about channels and how they've really impacted my trading. I don't invest in trade without them, or to say it the other way, I always invest in trade with channels up, all right? I have a couple of charts and one of those definitely shows what's the current channel that the market's in or does it look like it's breaking out of this channel, and now it's going to create a new channel and go a different direction, but it's critical to know that. Okay, here's three secrets. Number one, one of the highest probability moves of price is near the third point on a channel. What does that mean? Draw some channels and test it out yourself, but let me see if I can draw a picture in your mind, all right? Let's say that we have the channel that's moving down, kind of like this Alpine Slide, right? The Alpine Slide has got edges on both side. The price is going down, but it's bouncing back and forth. To draw the channel we start with the two pivot points on the top where price has turned down, and we draw the top part of the channel. Now we look for one or two lower pivot points to draw on the bottom part of the channel. Let's say that the price has just hit the bottom part of the channel. We just drew it down there. It's now moving up across the middle of the channel, and it's reaching the top of the channel now. When it touches, that will be the third touch at the top of the channel, all right? That third touch is one of the highest probabilities that it will revert to the mean and go back to the center of the channel. Let me say it again. When price comes up and touches either the top or the bottom of the channel, depending on each direction the channel is going, when it does that third touch, you be prepared for a higher probability entry to go the opposite direction, so even if you're trading on a daily basis, some stocks or some options, and you've got your channel set up, and it comes across and it touches that for the third time, you know you've got an opportunity that has much higher probability with you. That is reversion to mean. That is the most common reversion to mean that I've seen and this first secret is that if it's the third touch on the edge of the channel, you have the highest probability that it reverts to the mean. Okay, here's secret number two. The steeper the channel, the more likely the price action will move out of the channel, all right? If the channel direction is largely sideways, what I found is you can get four or five or six touches on each side of the channel. The more touches that there are, then the lower the probability of reversion because it keeps testing a particular area and finally it says, "Okay. I'm done testing this area. We're going to move past this now." The buyers and the sellers sort of wear out at the prices at that level, but when the channel is very steep, there's a much higher probability that price will break out earlier out of the channel. Think back to the Alpine Slide. Let me say it this way. If the mountain is very steep and you're going fast around a corner, and that corner represents the edge of the channel, the probability is much higher that you'll fly out of the Alpine Slide. In this case, you'll fly out of the channel. That's all we're saying here, okay? If it's really steep, if price is going down really fast over a short period of time, still bouncing back and forth within a channel, but if it's really steep and going fast, then it seems to take fewer touches on each side of the channel before it breaks out, and gets out of that channel and may ultimately go another direction, so in making investment decisions, be aware of the grade or the steepness of the channel. The steeper it is, again, the chance is for fewer touches, whereas the more sideways it is, there's a bigger chance that it will bounce back and forth for a little bit longer period of time. Okay, secret number three. When price breaks out of the channel, because price always eventually breaks out of a channel ... No channel is forever, all right? When it breaks out of the channel, it actually provides another opportunity to invest and maybe it might not be thinking in a way that you're thinking. Here's a scenario, okay? Let's go back to the Alpine Slide. You're going down the Alpine Slide. You go too fast and you shoot out of the channel, and you fly out of it. Let's say you don't get hurt, so what do you do? Do you walk down? Maybe. I suppose you might, but aside from all the other safety considerations, you get back in the Alpine Slide and you keep going. The market does that a lot. To say it another way, when price jumps out of the channel in the market, look for opportunities at support or resistant slides outside of the channel that will cause it to turn around, and come back to the edge of the channel. If that last part wasn't clear, I can cover that more at another time, so let me know because I've just said a lot right there that is actually very critical to investing in trading strategy. If you have your channel set up and price breaks out of it, and it moves away from the channel pretty quickly, there is high probability that it will actually come back and touch the edge of that channel again. That gives you opportunities for reinvesting or for buying or for shorting, depending on what your investing strategy is. Those three key secrets, don't forget. The first one is one of the highest probability moves is near the third touch on the edge of a channel. That is a high probability move that it's going back into the center, meaning mean reversion of the channel. That's secret number one. Secret number two, the steeper the channel, the more likely the price is going to jump out of the channel earlier with fewer touches, so be aware of the angle of the channel. Secret number three, when it breaks out, it provides an opportunity to invest. It generally comes out, and then turn around and comes back, and touches the edge of that channel where it came out of. Okay, so price action spends the majority of its time moving in a channel, whether it's trending market or a sideways market, so always, always be looking for the channel and you looking for the reversion to mean. That will make a big, significant difference to your trading. It really impacted my investing strategy when I discovered that channels are a fundamental part of this and they appear at multiple levels. They appear at very small timeframes. They appear, of course, at large timeframes. So it's worth your investing strategy to take some time to get to know it and understand what the mean to reversion is. It tends to work best to look for mean reversion across channels, all right? Give it a try. Draw some channels on whatever timeframe you're using, and look how that can benefit your investing strategy. Okay, that's it for now. Thanks for joining. I look forward to a feedback and future podcasts with you. My name is Grant. Until next time, trade with your channels. Thank you for joining Grant on Financial Investing Radio. Remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Don't forget to download your free high probability indicators before your next trade. Visit financialinvestingradio.com now.

The boys discuss memories of haunted houses, amusement parks, roller coasters, teacups, and the dreaded Alpine Slide. It's the Happiest Place On The Internet! (Please don't sue us Walt)